what in the wrong direction on the way home?!

You can barely tell, but Curt is standing by the sign that proves we ended up in Placerville (on the way to RENO people, headed east ... we needed to be going south to Fresno, whoops) on our way home from Christmas break a couple weeks ago. More of the story to follow below :)

Sooo... It's been awhile since my last post! I am currently getting cozy on Facebook (I like it much better than Myspace, which I seldom frequent anymore...) and realized I hadn't updated our blog for weeks. Christmas was wonderful with meeting our two new nieces for the first time (they are beyond precious), but it was hard leaving too, as the next time we see them they will be about 6 months old! Goodness how time will fly.

In other new news... I finished my last class for my Master's in Teaching program this past Wednesday, and will start student teaching in another week! I am scared and excited all at the same time, but I think it will be fun :) It will just be an adjustment switching from homework to early mornings! hehe -- something I haven't been too familiar with the past couple years.

Another fun tidbit is that Curt left at 4 am this morning for Washington D.C. for the inauguration! He has 10 high school kids in tow with him (and many chaperons from the tour company, so not to worry there. They even have night guards at the elevators and stairs in the hotel! haha) But they are all wonderful kids, so he's not expecting any trouble that way. It will be utter craziness though with a projected 4+ million people attending! We are praying they are able to do everything they had scheduled, no one gets lost, and they all come home safe and sound :) I am way excited for their adventure!

Here are a few pictures from Christmas.... and ooooh! Our trip home from WA a couple weeks ago was quite the car ride. First our cat lily (who lives to torture us) leaped out of the car at a rest stop and we chased her all over the place until we mercifully caught her right before a pack of dogs got out of a truck to use the potty. (Cat, you would've been soooo dead). Second, we somehow took a wrong turn as we busily chatted away, and ended up going 45 miles in the wrong direction until we realized what we had done (by the grace of God). We then tried to take a sneaky short-cut back to the interstate we needed, only to be thwarted by 35 mile an hour mountain roads and pitch darkness. We opted to turn around and back track. We were SOOOOOOOOOOOOooooo tired. Then, as luck would have it, kitty cat couldn't hold it any longer and at 2 am tinkled all over in her cat carrier. This wouldn't have been so bad if I hadn't braked suddenly to get off the road to clean it up, only to have her cage pitch forward and spray urine all over the dashboard. Cue tears. We almost let her go in the field we pulled over by, needless to say. Also, in our defense, we had given her chances to use a to-go litter box, which of course she did not take. Bad kitty cat, bad.

But hey, we made it home, in one piece, with funny stories to tell, so we were thankful. :)

Will update again soon.... Love to everyone!

Our beautiful nieces... Curt is holding Lucy, and I have Madeline :)

Lucy with her eyes open and arms up... Madeline sleeping so sweetly! They are the cutest EVER.

Let it SnOw!

The weather here in Walla Walla is crazy! Gorgeous, but crazy. My parents said they haven't seen snow like this since 1985. We are so excited to enjoy a white Christmas :) Thankfully we made it here last Saturday night... b/c I-84 from Portland closed 2 hours after we made it through, and has apparently been closed ever since! WHEW. Thought I'd attach a few pictures to share.... Merry Christmas everyone!

The front walk at my parents house.... check out that snow on the bushes!!

The snowy backyard... with little Charly (my parents poodle) enjoying the chilly weather.
The front yard.... You can barely tell where the street is!
Looking up my parents street.... Although they did finally plow the roads this morning.

We are auntie Katie and uncle Curt!

Some incredibly exciting news... On Saturday, Curt's sister Kelli had the twins!! Lucy and Madaline. The girls were born more than a month early, but are doing really well and will hopefully be coming home with mom and dad soon. We are sooooooooooooo excited to see them in a couple weeks and get to know our precious new nieces! Love you Kelli and Ethan! We are praying for you guys and the new additions each and every day :) (p.s. I stole these pictures from your blog, hope that was okay!)

The Great Outdoors!

As you all know, living in the desert does not really allow for much outdoor adventure (at least our favorite kinds: hiking, camping, and fishing), especially in the summer when it's 110 degrees out... so you can imagine our excitement when we discovered Mammoth! Just a few short hours away in the eastern Sierra Nevada's, we have found a haven for camping, hiking, fishing, skiing (now, if we just hadn't garage-saled all our ski stuff.... ), eating yummy food, bike riding, walking, exploring, basically, you name it... Soooo, I thought I would share some of our pictures of one of our most favorite places in Cali!

Here we are with some of our good friends at Minaret Lake, 7.5 miles one-way (we had yet to go down at this point and are all still looking quite cheery. I honestly thought my feet were going to fall off on our return trip -- or my legs. It was brutal. BUT, absolutely gorgeous).

Here we are over 4th of July with our good friends Brian and Andrea getting ready for fireworks over one of the lakes .... Here are some more of us hiking (don't we look like a pair with his hat and my bandanna around my neck, haha):

Curt finally gets to go fishing... he is PUMPED!

There's always swimming as well, but this is quite chilly:

Last but not least, enjoying the warmth of the campfire on a cool mountain air night...

AHHhhhhh, Mammoth. :)

Thoughts on the RAW food diet...

Well, I can't believe the 3 month raw food experiment is over already! And while the first few weeks were the hardest... asking myself over and over again, "Now why again am I doing this?" when I just wasted a bunch of expensive products making an inedible dish (pine-nut cheese anyone?? or perhaps sunflower seed taco meat?) Yeeeaaaah. Those were the rough days, but by the end, I was indulging in delicious pumpkin pie pudding, Italian salad with delicious dressing, rich guacamole with raw flax crackers, and yummy green smoothies! It was generally a wonderful experience, and while Thanksgiving saw me crash and burn a bit (did I accidentally have my mom's rolls and homemade apple pie? oooopps.) I made it through the 3 months predominately raw. My results?
Better sleep! More energy for sure. Not as many stomach aches; and I didn't have to take enzymes with my food anymore! Joint and muscle aching? Better off and on. Gorgeous clear skin? not so much. It almost got worse! That said, this is why I believed that happened: Eating raw massively detoxes your body -- especially when you jump into it with both feet one random day like I did. Your body with push those toxins out of your body in any way they can -- your skin being one of the main paths for this. Thus said, I'm sure the flare ups where due much in part to eating sooo healthy. Crazy huh? But it makes sense. Anyway, I am still eating about 80% raw these days, so we will see if my skin will get better if I keep this up.
My thoughts on all of this are: I loved this experiment, I believe that eating raw IS the healthiest way to live. I have read sooo much and seen sooo many wonderful testimonials and pictures to believe any differently. Is 100% raw for everyone? I guess it could be, but no, we all have to listen to our own bodies.... But, all of us can work to incorporate more raw foods into our diets each day. :) Like, while I plan on giving myself the option to eat steamed or cooked veggies and lean proteins at dinner time, I also plan on staying wheat, dairy, and refined sugar free. I still have a green smoothie in the morning, a big salad or fresh salsa or guacamole for lunch, raw LARA bars, fruits, and veggies for snacks, and eat yummy raw desserts (raw brownies, dates, and ice-creams are my favorite!) at any time in the day.
This raw food experiment was encouraging, fun, and helped to give me a lot more info and insights into what our bodies need to function well and keep us healthy! :) Who knows, maybe someday I will go 100% raw and never look back, but for now, I plan on taking it day by day and continue listening to my body. I also plan on continuing to post fun recipes and pictures for those that would like to add more raw foods into their diets in really delicious ways... So stay tuned! And in the mean time, check out the raw pumpkin pie pudding, salsa, and green smoothie recipes below:
Cheers! :)

Raw Pumpkin Pudding:
1/2 c. cashews (soaked overnight)
meat of 1 young coconut
1 c. carrot juice
1/3 c. raw agave nectar
1/3 c. coconut butter
3 dates, pitted
1/2 tb. pure vanilla extract
1/2 tb. cinnamon
1/2-1 ts. ground ginger (I usually go 1/2 ts. first and see how it's tasting)
1/4 ts. nutmeg
1/8 ts. ground cloves
1/4 ts. sea salt
*blend everthing until smooth and creamy. Pour into containers and refrigerate or freeze. Freezing it will make it last longer... just set out for 15-20 min. to thaw and it's almost like pumpkin ice-cream!

Fresh Salsa:
4 Roma tomatoes
1/4 bunch of cilantro finely chopped
1/4 c. red onion finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic (minced)
juice of 1/2 a lime
sea salt to taste
1 red pepper finely chopped
1/2 red Chile pepper very finely chopped (more or less to taste, depending on how spicy you want it)
*mix together in a bowl and enjoy! :) Great alone or with slices of avocado or guacamole and baby carrots or crackers for dipping.

Chocolate Banana Spinach Smoothie:
2 ripe bananas (optional: freeze one or both of your bananas to make the smoothie thicker)
1 heaping tb. cocoa powder
a large handful of spinach
6 ice cubes
1 tb. of raw honey or raw agave nectar (optional or to taste)
2 tb. raw almond butter
1/4 c. water
*blend until smooth, ignore the green color, and enjoy! :)