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Welcome Holiday Season!

This week we have been busy getting into the holiday spirit- we visited Castle Rock for their annual StarLighting Festival.  Grandma treated us to the chili supper at the Fire Station followed by a visit to the local chiro for some apple cider & hot cocoa + guess who was there..... SANTA!

Tis the Season! 

Next on the To Do List is packing for the trip back to Iowa.  We'll be packed in the Camry with Hubble, Ash and Scott :) I know they are REALLY looking forward to it.   To prep - I stopped by the library today for a good selection of audio books (hopefully we can all agree on one) 

The choices are.... 

Seems like a pretty varied selection don't you think?  Still to do is packing up all of the necessities to get us through the next week... including Hubble's overnight bag :) 
We're really looking forward to our trip back for Thanksgiving (minus the 12+ hour drive)... can't wait to catch up with family and friends over the next couple of days! I'm sure our schedules will be packed full- so I'll bring back some pics to share with our whirlwind holiday trip!


If you are looking for something to take along to your next holiday gathering... I would recommend this recipe below.... YUM! 
You already know how much I love Iowa Girl Eats... so I'm going to share another recipe I found on her website.  We have been attending Sunday night dinners with friends here in CO (last night was SUSHI- yum! Thanks Rachel!) 

so I brought this along for dessert...

Apple Crisp!   
(I cut this recipe in 1/2 and baked in square pan)

For the Crust:
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup butter1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups rolled oats


For the Filling:
3 1/2 cups sliced apples (about 24 ounces)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
1 cup Caramel 

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.  Spray pan with cooking spray.
2. In a medium bowl, beat the brown sugar and the next 4 ingredients (through baking soda) until thoroughly combined. Mix in the flour and oats until crumbly. Scoop out 1 cup and set aside. Place the remaining crumbs into your prepared pan and press down firmly to coat the bottom.

3.  Mix apple filling in large bowl and place over crust.  Cover apple filling with carmel sauce (yum!)

4.  Sprinkle with remaining crust crumbs you had set aside. 

4.  Bake 35 minutes until apple mix is bubbling. 

Once again I forgot to take a pic of the finished product... but this got rave reviews from the dinner party crowd... and the pan was scraped clean when I took it home.

Now.. off to do more laundry and finish packing for our trip back to the midwest!

Goooo Broncos! Let's Eat!

I guess I have a little bit of catching up to do.  

Since we last talked we celebrated our first Halloween in Denver which included a pumpkin carving party with some new girlfriends.... can you tell I'm super proud of my little ghost pumpkin!? awww....  

Monday night I spent Trick or Treat volunteering in Parker, CO where their local Senior Center surprised us with a rendition of the Thriller Dance.  LOVE!

I  pulled out my old witch costume that made its last appearance in 2004 at UNI.  Maybe I'm a hoarder, but sometimes those random keepsakes come in handy!

We have also spent a couple of weekends Tebowing.  It's an emotional roller coaster with those Broncos :) Each game gives us a great opportunity to relax and eat though... so I'm turning into a football fan pretty quickly!

The first game we were joined by some fellow Iowa natives for White Corn Chili- the food was the best part since I think the Broncos lost by a million.

We've made this chili a couple of times... super easy and super yummy! Thank you Campbells Soup!

www.campbellskitchen.com

I was excited about our menu choice.

I guess we forgot to take a finished product pic... but trust me, You want to make this.

For the most recent Broncos game we made a trip down to Castle Rock to watch with my die hard bronco fan grandma.  I made some VERY yummy pumpkin bars.  I think they were impressed that I had made something completely from scratch. 

Frosted Pumpkin Cake

Found in Cooking Light Magazine

• 1. Preheat oven to 350°.
• 2. To prepare cake, weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk.
• 3. Combine brown sugar, 1/4 cup butter, and 1 teaspoon vanilla in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well combined. Add eggs, 1 at a time, to sugar mixture; beat well after each addition. Add pumpkin; mix well. Fold in flour mixture. Spread batter into a 13 x 9-inch baking pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 25 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool completely in pan on a wire rack.
• 
• 4. To prepare the frosting, combine 2 tablespoons butter, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, and cream cheese in a medium bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until combined. Gradually add the powdered sugar, beating until well combined. Spread frosting evenly over top of cake.

Enjoy! 

I also got to spend some QT with these fabulous ladies.  We adventured out last weekend for the - Art Walk on Santa Fe and then some great convos at Gov's

And that wraps up my last couple of weeks.  At least the fun stuff.  The job search continues for me, and Jason is  traveling this week at 6th Grade Camp... haha, so glad I'm not there.

PS- I think most of you Iowans enjoyed sleet, snow, and rain today.  It was 40+ degrees and SUNSHINE ALL DAY today in Denver.  Thank you Colorado :)  

You can count on me rubbing it in your face anytime the weather here beats your local forecast! 60's are in the forecast for the weekend! Yipeee!!!!!

Fire & Ice

Good thing we fit fall into a one weekend trip to Aspen... because its already winter!  

80 degrees on Monday... 6 inches of snow & 30 degrees on Wednesday - no big deal around here I guess!  

I was a little worried about my first snow commute, but it wasn't bad at all (cross my fingers this trend continues) and the snow was so pretty falling all day.  The trees hate it though, they haven't lost their leaves so the snow is way too heavy for them! 

Here's some snapshots from our little sneak peak to winter.  It's supposed to be back up to 60's this weekend... LOVE CO! 

Transitioning into Coloradans

"When one door closes another door opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us." ~ Alexander Graham Bell

Keeping this quote in mind tonight! Moving out here has given me the opportunity to take a step back and decide what I want to do next in my career life.  So what is it?  Do we ever really know what we want to be when we grow up?  I know something good is coming... I just need to be patient.
Which I'm not, so it means I need to be distracted.... which is pretty fun!

 My distractions lately include: The blog, Being tourists in CO, Trying to be more domestic, meeting new friends, and Thinking about being athletic... since moving to Colorado I've discovered that I do not fit in.  EVERYONE works out here.  Whether it is training for a trail run marathon up Pikes Peak or training for an Ironman in Mexico or Hawaii, or training for a bike ride across the entire WORLD...
EVERYONE is training for something.  

SO- now I am too! :) hahahahaha, get your laughs in now because I'm serious.  I am training (or will start training) for a Sprint Triathlon for next summer.  I'm thinking it will be the Iron Girl Boulder which just took place at the end of August 2011- so I have plenty of time to train up for my 1/4 mile swim, 17.2 mile bike, and 3.1 mile run... right?!  

www.irongirl.com

Here's what my training programs looks like so far:

Whoops!  We better get our brew tours out of the way this winter so my spring can be devoted to healthy living :)   We just discovered this little gem about a block or two from my office.

Denver Beer Co. has many different seasonal offerings- Jason's current fav is the Pumpkin Porter.  They just serve beer and pretzels.  So the fun thing is they have different food trucks pull up in the parking lot for more food options! We'll have to stop back to try their Graham Cracker Porter- Bronze Medal award winner at the Great American Beer Festival last month. 

We stopped for a beer on Friday afternoon before our trip to the Denver Aquarium.... Yes, the Aquarium. Jason's nice students gave him a coupon for free admission so we enjoyed a couple of hours gazing at the fish, sharks, and sea horses! (they were my fav).  Here's a snapshot of Jason's new BFF and me in the Shark cage.  

After our flashback to childhood we stopped at Forest Room 5 in the Highlands for a continuation of happy hour and a quick bite to eat.  Love this place!  It is just a little corner restaurant with everything outdoor themed... including the sink- check out my snapshot from the bathroom.

We found a nice spot outside next to one of many fire pits and surrounded by a little forest in the city.  I tried the Forest Cider and we split Chicken Tacos & Truffled French Fries.... yum!
Inside people were checking out the STAG event.  It's a singles social gathering.  Little did I know it was sponsored by the Denver Public Library- Clever right?!

www.denverlibrary.org

Jason has been treating me to dinners this week so I don't have any recipes to share- I'm sorry! (are any of you trying out the yummy recipes I've been sharing anyway??).  Jason's on a roll with this fab meal plan: Yesterday mozzarella chicken for lunch, clam chowder for dinner, and cheese ravioli with pesto marinara sauce for dinner tonight.  I tried to talk him into taking pictures and "guest blogging" but he wasn't into it.  Maybe next time!

Now- on to research triathlon training plans... or maybe I should start with a 5K training plan?  I'm back to my 1 mile run around the block... barely!  Here's to fitting into my new athletic life style!

We'll see how long it lasts since we're supposed to get EIGHT (8) YES 8! Inches of Snow on Wednesday!  It was 80 Degrees today and is supposed be 70's this weekend.
Weird.  But Love it. 

Golden Days

This weekend we took our first hike with fellow new Coloradans the future Mr. & Mrs. Scotty L. :) (We'll see if I get any comments from posting that!)

We met up in Golden, CO to make the drive to Golden Gate Canyon State Park for a Sunday afternoon hike.  There were only a few hiccups along the way- like... agreeing to meet at Starbucks but going to two different Starbucks locations on Washington Avenue.  Who knew that Golden, CO could have TWO Starbucks on the SAME street?!

Once we made it up to the park we immediately decided we should have brought camping equipment and made use of the camp sites!  But- it's getting cold at night (there was snow on the trail) so we'll add this to our "To Do" list for next summer.  Here's some highlights from the trail...

The second (almost) miss of the day would have been turning around before this beautiful Panoramic Point.  We really need to learn how to read trail maps.  I mean, really, we almost turned around probably 500 feet from the trail stop where we took these pics.  But, we made it...and we made it back to the car safe and sound before dusk.

After the hike we headed back into downtown Golden for a brew.  Scott & Ash recommended this place- Golden City Brewery.  Known as the 2nd largest brewery in Golden :) 

It's in a neighborhood and is required to close at 6:30pm for being in a residential zone!  So, we showed up at about 6:15 and had time to grab one brew and the end of this fabulous local band for some live music.

This place totally reminded me of Chris P.  There was a lot of grandma/cowboy dancin'!

We missed the chili cookoff and the rest of the mini-festival... so we're going to have to plug into the local event calendar before our next visit.

I did get to enjoy their Pumpkin Ale- ummm yum!  It came with cinnamon/nutmeg sprinkled on top.  Definitely the best beer choice of the night if I do say so myself.

Such a good way to wrap up the weekend! 

Here's a little sneek peak to a dinner party at Kar & Abe's....

Yep - McD's hot fudge sundaes, compliments of none other than the future Mr. and Ms. Scott L. They really do know how to contribute to a classy dinner party!