Pre-Christmas Catch-Up

Wow, I am behind with my blogging! I'll try not to make this too long. Backing up to Saturday: First off we went to cut our Christmas tree with Kev's parents up by the Mt. Rose Ski Resort. It was a beautiful crisp morning, and I would put up a picture of the sparkling snow, except it didn't quite turn out. So instead, here we are hiking out into the woods~

I put off my run on Saturday because my throat was a bit scratchy, but after the hike we got in, I don't feel guilty at all! Here are the boys taking a breather~
And Ashton peeking back at me~

"This one?" It was my pick, even though it looks a little small with the tall trees behind it, and bare at the bottom. But actually we were able to save a couple feet for firewood for camping, and made the perfect sized tree for our living room all trimmed down.

And the trek back to the truck, which included spotting a small grove of several awesome trees close to where we parked that we plowed right past in our excitement.


We set up the tree and headed out for an annual concert that Kevin and I play in every year: Tuba Christmas! It's free, and this year was held at the Wilbur May Center in Rancho San Rafael since Parklane now has a new owner. Now, I do not play tuba, but I did play euphonium in high school and in college, but other than that, this is the only time I get to play anymore. Kevin brought home a sousaphone and a Wilson euphonium for me for this special occasion. Here he is, being his usual self before the concert:
And a picture of me- sorry for the Holy glint off my horn. :)

Here is a pretty good one of Kevin playing too:

The concert went really well, and there were a TON of people there! There were probably three times more people in attendance than I've ever seen at any of the previous concerts I've participated in. And I'm estimating about 40-50 tuba and euphonium players as well!

After all that excitement, we went home and decorated the Christmas tree- Kevin set up the lights and the train and the boys did the decorating, with a little help from mommy with the high fragile pieces. Here is Sean~

And Ashton~

And the three of 'em settled in for the evening watching the train go 'round and 'round and 'round...

And Max watching warily from the corner as well- until the train derailed and she high-tailed it out of there! Ha ha!

Finger Trama (Warning: Graphic!)

This morning Ashton slammed his finger in the car door for the first time. 6 is not bad; I remember doing it much earlier in life, and still vividly remember the pain. He got his finger stuck on the inside of the door, on the side with the hinges- he had his right hand fingers clutching the frame while he closed with his left hand. He managed to open the door again, but then the blood started flowing. It was a nasty cut, one of the worst car door slams I've seen. Poor baby! I'm pretty sure he didn't do any bone damage, but he is going to lose that nail. Here's the shot I took this evening after a bath and a second bandage change because it hasn't quite stopped bleeding yet.

Runnin' Miles So Far This Year

I guess it's a running thing, to calculate the total miles you've run in a year. I've always kept track of how much I run (yes, the old fashioned way, with paper and pencil), but I've never done a total at the end of the year. But since it seems to be the trend with more serious runners- both to keep a total and make a yearly mileage goal, I pulled out my calculator and hopped on board. (With the tallying part, not exactly the mileage goal part.) I have two separate totals, and then one final total, because I count my walking distance separate from my running distance. This way I can include my hikes and warm up/down before and after my runs. I'd feel guilty if I tried to say I actually ran up and down Mt. Rose! So here they are, as of today, 12/08/08:

Running miles: 553.5
Walking miles: 48
Grand total: 601.5

This does not include all the biking and swimming distances I've accumulated in 2008, but they are far less anyway. I could try to set a running goal of 600 miles before the stroke of midnight on 12/31, but I know there's NO way I could run 46.5 miles in 22 days. I'll post a final total after the 31st, and possibly the total for previous years if I get around to totaling them up too...

Maybe it will be a new goal for me in 2009 to start keeping track online with my new Garmin ForeRunner 50. And perhaps I'll set a running goal of 600 miles as well.

Mexican Pumpkin Soup

So I had this sugar pumpkin that I bought around Halloween that needed to be either eaten within the next week, or tossed. (You know me, I love anything pumpkin!) So I checked out a Vegan cooking blog I subscribe to, and today a recipe on what to do with your Thanksgiving leftovers (namely pumpkin) was posted. I chose this one from the list because the picture had the best looking soup. And also because I must have 3 pounds of leftover potatoes. It is a very hearty (read: filling) and healthy soup, not to mention savory and tasty! Here is a picture of my lunch bowl before it was quickly emptied.

If you're looking for something to make with your unused portions of pumpkin (fresh or canned) since most recipes only call for half of a can, there are lots of good ideas on FatFree Vegan Kitchen. Have I mentioned lately that I LOVE fall foods?

Climbing with Uncle Scotty

It's been about a year since we took the boys to the climbing gym, so Friday we headed out to RockSport with Scott and my cousin Michael and harnessed Sean and Ashton up. Last time we went, the boys were a bit trepidatious of the heights of climbing, Ashton especially. This time went much better. Sean wouldn't quite climb all the way to the top, and Ashe would only climb to just above the red bouldering line. Here is Sean just getting started:

And another one of him at his highest point (couldn't quite talk him into ringing the cowbell at the top):

Ashton really didn't like the feeling of the rope pulling him- he might just climb all the way to the top if I'd let him without it though.

My cousins Michael and Peter are attending UNLV (both are on the water polo team) and drove up at about 4 a.m. on Thanksgiving to spend time with family. Peter didn't come today, but here is Michael bouldering to warm up:

My brother Scott is the real climber of the family. He has ripped abs like you see in magazines because that is his job- he works at the climbing gym in Berkeley and sets routes for a living. Here he is lead climbing (meaning he is clipping the rope in to the wall as he goes, instead of hanging from the top, aka top rope) one of the more difficult routes.

This picture of Kevin was taken from across the gym, but as a close up, and as a result turned out a little dark.

And finally, some fun little videos. First is Sean on a joy ride:


You can tell Ashton is still afraid to be up high in this video.