Christmas Eve with the Adlers

Bryan and Jill Adler, our mentor-friends here, whom I have mentioned before, invited people over to their house for a Christmas Open House before the Christmas Eve service at Heart of the Springs (HOTS), their church. We had a blast! Jill made a TON of food-- pumpkin bundt cake, amazingly delicious English toffee, cranberry punch, cranberry scones, taquitos (Bryan "made" those), fudge, and probably some goodies I am forgetting. We hung out and played a few games... like Jacob's new "Toy Story alien" game, and Ella's "peanut butter and jelly" card game. Great times!

Snowshoeing in Breckenridge

On December 22nd, we had the privilege of meeting some friends from CA (Matt and Amanda!) at a halfway point between Matt's parents' house in Grand Junction, CO, and our place in Black Forest. Breckenridge has great skiing and boarding, and numerous trails for those of us with snowshoes! Matt generously lent everyone a pair from his family's collection, and after meeting at a coffee shop for our morning lattes, we were off! After a short detour down a "no outlet" road (thanks to GPS), we found the trailhead. Snowshoeing is not much harder than walking, and feels almost like wearing flippers, only the flap is behind you, and it's far less cumbersome to walk. We strapped our shoes in, two straps over top, one behind the heel. The ball of your foot rests on a little platform that pivots within the frame, and the platform has metal spikes on the bottom. Traction was great! The scenery was absolutely amazing. We had a blast!!


My new fascination with Picasa, my picture program, is collages! Enjoy the collage and some more pictures.

Chocolate Zucchini Bread!

It felt a little like David and Goliath at first, but my little shepherd-boy grater would not be defeated by a haughty, gigantic Philistine zucchini! This veggie was a gift from our friend Jill, who along with her husband Bryan (and six-year-old Ella and four-year-old Jacob) hosts a few newlywed couples for Bible study every Thursday night at their home. Lots of good discussion and prayer, and fun times with the kids! And Jill always has hot cocoa or hot cider available. They are very sweet, genuine people and we are so enjoying getting to know them!

I know it looks funny at this point, but it will taste amazing once the green stuff is mixed in and the whole thing is baked!

In the process of baking in our little toaster-oven-that-could... (pans also courtesy of Jill, what a sweetie!)

And... the finished product, which turned out well without needing to be adjusted for altitude! (Most quick breads don't need adjustment, as it turns out.) What do you do when you don't have any toothpicks handy to test for doneness? Use the matches your mom sent you for your trunk-winter-emergency kit, of course! (Sorry, Mom.) It's called resourcefulness... or maybe "repurposing" of a common household item for an unexpected, somewhat unconventional use.

And take pictures and blog about it. That's what you do. :)

-M

Something must be done!

During our down time lately, we have been so lethargic that we decided the only (or at least the most effective) way to motivate ourselves to be active was to register for a race of some sort. That certainly adds some urgency to our workouts. :) We have experientially proven the notion that it's way easier to get out of shape (just don't do anything!) than to get back in shape (work, work, work). Thankfully, we found the Chilly Cheeks Duathlon Series in Denver, with a race coming up in February! They do the race "snow or shine," so it should be interesting. You never know what the weather will be like in Colorado in February, apparently. My friend Jill told me recently that here we usually have more snow at Easter than at Christmas! That will be a new experience. Since we don't currently own bikes, we pounced on the "four-mile run only" option, which is long enough to be decently brag-worthy, but short enough to train for adequately in two months after a spate of ZERO physical activity. Cold weather impedes the California-acclimated outdoor runner, but earmuffs, gloves, lots of layers, and Underarmor do much to make it bearable.

This afternoon, in fact, we initiated "Training Session #1," a.k.a. a nice hour-plus jog/walk at Cottonwood Creek Park, not too far from home. It has warmed up so much from last week, and we now deem a temperature in the high 30's to feel amazingly pleasant. I think we're adjusting to the climate! Most of the snow on the roads has disappeared, and only patches remain in grass areas or shaded roof angles. In our wandering through the park, we invented a game! We found a large area of iced-over creek (and checked for thickness before stepping out onto it, don't worry, Moms). I must objectively report that Sean "won" the competition of seeing how far we could slide on the ice on our feet, after a running start. I was a little too timid, and wary of falling on the slippery ice, so I didn't get up as much speed. :) It was so beautiful, and so refreshing to be outside. There's something cathartic about gazing up at wispy clouds in crisp winter air, or stopping to ponder a bird on the topmost branch of a bare, spindly tree. There's such variety in creation. What a great God we know and love, who made it all out of nothing.

One week 'til Christmas! :) Actually, I think we will celebrate our little "Allen Family Christmas" on the 22nd due to Sean's work schedule. Should be fun! We are very much looking forward to our first Christmas together. Last year he helped me and my then-roommate Amy decorate our tree in our apartment... but things are way different now! We weren't even dating at that point. How things change! :) We hope to create special memories to cherish in the future.

-M

Baking Gone Awry

I like to think I spend a fair amount of time baking. Turns out baking can quickly go awry! What does a (former) Johnston do when she drops an open container of flour in the kitchen...? Take pictures of the aftermath, of course!

The damage doesn't look too bad...

Ok, so I got a little on my jeans.

Notice the chunks of flour on the wall.

And for the piece de resistance.......

For the record, the culinary masterpiece itself turned out fine. :)

Thoughts on Driving in Snow...!

In my very limited exposure to driving in snow (three trips so far), I've already observed some things. :) Here are just some quick thoughts on it.

-When there's a solid layer of snow on the road, with no lane lines visible, you just follow the tracks you see from prior cars... or stay toward the right of the road. Sometimes, if there is enough traffic, people's tires will have worn away the snow so there are almost lanes.

-You might see lane markings cris-cross beneath the exposed parts of road, but you just stick with the tracks. (It's usually only a slight deviation.)

-Stoplights remind you how many lanes there are supposed to be.

-35 mph is perfectly acceptable on a highway if it's snowing.

-Windshield wiper fluid freezes, becoming useless, and your wipers just smear things around if there's currently no snow falling. It's hard to refrain from turning them on, though. Conversely, wet snow falling is wonderful for clearing a windshield.

-Sideview mirrors can frost over, but you can still see headlights, sort of.

-Thankfully, people tend to drive more slowly when it's snowy.

-People tend to run red lights rather than try to brake, especially if the road is sloping downhill. I did it twice today, but the lights were mostly yellow.

-When executing a turn, you can slide even at slow speeds. I usually slow to about 10 mph, but it's still a little squirrelly.

-Snowy conditions look just like fog, only different. :) The whole sky becomes overcast in a grey-white color, and especially at night, the falling snow reflects off headlights and decreases visibility.

-Moonlight reflects great off snow-covered ground.

-Snowplows make sparks! (extra visible at night)

-Parking lots are like lanes on the road-- people sort of park in rows, but they're a little more creative because there's a blank, white slate to work with.

I'm sure more oddities of snow and winter will become apparent to us as we live in it. The weather lately reminds me of stories I've seen on the news in the past, about winter storms elsewhere.... now it's life! Was out shopping with Sean today (in 11 degree, snowing weather) and we marveled at how we live here now! Pretty exciting! We love it, even though it's a little intimidating sometimes. Definitely a lot different than California! But it's great to learn and grow through new experiences.

Toaster-Oven Cookies!

Yesterday Sean and I discovered that yes, it is possible to bake cookies in a toaster oven! For the next month or so, we are living in a wonderful home with generous, hospitable people. We have our own bedroom and bathroom, as well as a large common area (theater, pool table, foosball) to share with one housemate, Logan. However, our kitchen area was intended to be more of a wet bar, so we have a dishwasher, microwave, tiny sink, and... toaster oven. No "real" oven. But that's ok! We improvised, and not only did the toaster oven bake the cookies, the altitude did not deter us or defeat us! I adjusted the recipe slightly based on tips from a web site, and voila: cowboy cookie goodness. Enjoy the photos-- we enjoyed the cookies! In fact, none of them survived past yesterday. We ate them all, with help from Logan, Travis (Logan's buddy), and Cameron (our good friend from Vandenberg days).