Snow Day!!

In OCTOBER nonetheless!

The snowstorm has finally passed. It continued for about 48 hours straight, complete with snow, wind, and cold cold temps. Schools were closed all over the Denver metro area most of Wednesday and all of Thursday. Some even continued to be closed Friday. So natually, during these days when driving was limited to essential trips, we played outside in the 24 inches of snow in the yard. We made a little snow park and goofed around on our snowboards; we made snow angels; I attempted to make a snowman (the snow was too dry); I got buried in the snow; and we played fetch with Crockett, who was very entertaining as he bounded through the snow that was deeper than he is tall. It was tons of fun, and so far, the snow hasn't gone anywhere. So I'm sure there will be more playing, and lots of shoveling.

(If you look closely, you can see my snow angel!)

Calling All Horrible Drivers

It's your time to SHINE!!

The first winter storm is blowing it's way through Colorado. Schools are closing, drifts are forming, roads are icing...it's the real deal. And it's not even Halloween! If only this continues through the winter, it will be a great snowboarding season!!

Treats, Treats, and More Treats

This past Sunday my friends and I had a full blown "Fall Day," and we did it right. To be perfectly honest though, we didn't get it all done. We had plans to sip on apple cider all day while making pumpkin bread, caramel apples, pumpkin seeds, and carving jack-o-lanterns, but we only got to the first three because studying took up more time than planned. Pumpkin seeds are carving jack-o-lanterns got rescheduled to this coming Tuesday (tomorrow); I'm sure I'll have pictures and stories to come.

If you want to have a nice little 'fall day' of your own, just follow these simple recipes and enjoy! (All recipes came from "A Taste of Heaven," a cookbook my parent's Sunday school class put together a few years ago. I have yet to come across a recipe I don't like.)

Spiced Cider: (Compliments of Carla Fields)
1 gal cider
2 qts water
1 cup sugar
2 tsp whole allspice
4 sticks cinnamon
12 oz frozen orange juice
12 oz frozen lemonade

Combine all ingredients in a large pan and simmer for 1 hour.
(The men chose to enjoy this drink with 1 oz of whiskey per mug of cider while watching football. Yeah, they weren't too involved in our 'Fall Day' except for enjoying the products of our labor.)


(Picture compliments of Google Images. Honestly we just bought apple cider, but the recipe sounds delicious and I recommend anyone try it!)

The pumpkin bread, however, we made from scratch and it was delicious! Mmm, so moist and good. (The picture is still borrowed from Google Images because I forgot to take a picture of ours, but it looked very similar.)

Pumpkin Bread: (Compliments of Mary Ann Ryan and Kris Spengler)
1 cup oil
3 cups sugar
2 cups pumpkin
4 eggs
2/3 cups water
3 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
1 heaping tsp cinnamon
1 heaping tsp nutmeg

Mix together oil and sugar. Add pumpkin, slightly beaten eggs, and water. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, salt, and baking soda. Add dry ingredients to liquid ingredients, and mix well. Add spices, mix well. You may use two large greased loaf pans or 4 smaller ones. Bake in 350 degree oven. For large loaves bake 1 hour. For small pans bake 35-45 minutes. Bread is done with toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool in pans for 10 minutes; then remove from pans to cool completely. Wrap in plastic wrap or foil for storage.

Finally, we made some caramel apples. This was a pretty simple process, and the recipe followed was on the back of the bag of caramels we used. The sticks for the caramel apples were also in the bag of caramels. Simply take 5 apples and wash and dry them well. (If they aren't completely dry the caramel will not stick to the apples.) Insert popsicle sticks into the stem side of the apples. Place a piece of wax paper on a large plate, spray with cooking spray, and set aside. In a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, combine 1 bag of caramels and 2 tbsp water. Stir constantly until caramel is completely melted and smooth. One at a time, dip the apples in the caramel and spin until apple is covered in caramel. Scrape the caramel off the bottom of the apple and place on waxed paper, drizzling top of apple with caramel if needed. Repeat with the other apples, and place in the refrigerator for 1 hour. Optional: prior to placing in refrigerator, dip in chopped peanuts. Enjoy!!

The recipes were delicious and we had a great day. I hope you all (if anyone reads this) gets a chance to enjoy these recipes too. And if you do, enjoy your treats!

Well, Hello Winter!

Yes I know it's not really winter, but if you lived in Colorado you just might think it is.

One ski area (at least) opened October 9th! And then, the next day, it snowed/sleeted down in Denver (and this wasn't even the first snow). Man was that a cold, dreary, lazy Saturday. We made chili and watched TV all day. I'm not going to lie, I kind of enjoyed it. :o)

The next weekend was beautiful -- thank you, Colorado weather. We had 60-70 degree weather and beautiful sunny skies! Then, naturally, it snowed at least 6 inches the very next Tuesday.

You would definitely think it was winter here, except for the few remaining leaves on the trees and the pumpkins sitting in front of most people's homes.

Hopefully it's nice for trick-or-treaters!!

Oh How I Love Fall!

You know that question, "What's your favorite season?" I have a hard time answering that because there are certain things I love about each season. I love Winter because I LOVE snow, and I love sledding and snowman-making and snowball fights and snowangel-making, and I especially love snowboarding. In general, I like playing in the snow. There is also a certain feel of coziness that comes about in the winter, especially around Christmas time, another reason I love winter. I love Spring because that is when everything comes back to life, flowers are blooming, trees are budding, days are getting longer. It's just a fresh feeling of being alive. I also used to run track, which I loved, and it was in the Spring. I used to love Summer because of the long break from school. However, I still do love it for the long days, fresh summer produce, cookouts, warm weather, swimming/boating/etc., outdoor nighttime activities, and the many other wonderful summer traditions that come to mind when I think of Summer.



And then there's Fall; oh how I love Fall. Everything about it makes me happy -- crisp mornings, changing leaves, apple orchards, pumpkin patches, apple cider, carving pumpkins, caramel apples, pumpkin bread (I like apples and pumpkins if you can't tell), football games, bonfires, roasting marshmallows, hayrack rides, haunted houses, trick-or-treaters, candy...doesn't it just make you excited reading this?! It does me. So you can imagine my minor disappoinment last year when I realized Colorado wasn't quite as awesome as Illinois when it comes to fall activities. Leaves turn color and fall pretty quick here (within about 2 weeks), and the climate isn't ideal for apple orchards and pumpkin patches. Not to mention there aren't as many cornfields for hayrack rides, corn mazes, and haunted activities. In general, fall just doesn't have quite the zest and appeal it does in Illinois. But this year, I found a pumpkin patch, and you can bet you butt I didn't miss out on this opportunity. Even though it was an entire pumpkin festival, complete with games, activities, and food, (also meaning it cost money!) I coughed up the money to attend this delightful event. Of course, I also dragged my boyfriend along with me (I think he wanted to go, even if he pretended to feel otherwise), and my friend and her guy came too.



The morning of the Pumpkin Festival, we got up and headed to the pumpkin patch about 10am. Much to all of our surprise, there was a line to get into the parking lot, and it was no short line. It took about 20 minutes just to get parked. This place was packed!! And it only got more crowded as the day went on. It was pretty funny to look around because this was clearly meant to be a family function (there were games, activities, carnival rides, pony rides, face paintings, etc.). Everywhere we looked there were parents with their children. Literally, we only saw one other couple that didn't have at least one child with them. We joked about borrowing a child for the event...we felt kind of out of place. But I didn't care. I was at a pumpkin patch and I was pretty excited about it. So, off we went in search of the perfect pumpkin! And out we came with our prize.







There was even a pumpkin daycare; that's right, you could leave your pumpkin at this daycare and enjoy the rest of the festival knowing your pumpkin was safe. It was pretty cute.