crazy fun cake

ive never made a crazy fun cake before but last night we did. Check it out:

Here are instructions on how to make these fun rainbow cakes

its really yummy too which doesn't hurt!

crafty sunday

Today was a day of making things. I had to do a couple things for work, one of them being to bake numerous agave leaves for snack this week. I made cinnamon chips out of tortillas using a pastry wheel to cut the leaves out to look like an agave leaf. It is one of my "craftier" snacks (all of our snacks relate directly to the theme).

While I was making tasty agave leaves gabe was making whole wheat pizza dough. We got the recipe from Everyday Food which was a gift from Jim and Kathy and had a great January issue! (thanks Jim and Kathy!) It made 8 individual size pizza crusts which we layered in between wax paper and will freeze. Very handy for a quick yummy homemade fresh pizza! We'll let you know how they are, we haven't made this recipe before.

I got the sewing itch this morning and decided that I wanted to make something with my new sewing machine i got for Christmas from Gabe but hadn't used yet. I decided to make these thrifty pants from a t-shirt. After a number of good hearted attempts and making some seams and the sewing machine kept jamming up (the second project I attempted and it did the same thing the first time) Gabe decided we need to get a different sewing machine. So we gracefully took that one back and got a lovely green singer.

Sadly I was having some problems a bit further into my project and spent a good hour trying to figure out what was wrong. I was frustrated and gabe came through once again like the prince he is to solve my thread tension problemos. Hooray! I finished my pants, with few blunders. Well kinda - i still have some resolving to do with a small hole that somehow appeared...

Okay i can't seem to get the pictures to upload so i'll have to do try again tomorrow. i need sleep

Pizza dough - we made our pizzas tonight - it is SO yummy!

These are the agave leaves for my little kiddos snack this week. They sorta look like them...

My new beauty, i'm having fun!

From the too big to wear T-shirt to my new lounge/yoga pants!

Where's Gabe?

...across the 1/2 marathon finish line in 2 hours 9 minutes 52 seconds! Yesterday was our first tasting of the marathon world as gabe completed his first 1/2 marathon in the P.F Chang's Rock and Roll marathon. It was CRAZY! I heard (I haven't fact checked) that there were 50,000 runners - 35,000 in the 1/2 marathon.

I dropped gabe off and went on to mile marker 2.6 to cheer him on. It was a continuous wave of runners for hours. I literally would get dizzy scanning the crowd looking for him. I did this search 2 other times that day and learned to have a better plan next time he decided to do something crazy like this. Luckily he saw me and therefore i spotted him. He was feeling good at that point.

As you can imagine with 50,000 runners parking at the finish line was insane. Since i'm a cheap-o i wanted free parking. SO i ended up parking a mile and a half away from the finish line and therefore ran along the full marathoners to get to the finish line to watch for gabe. (funny how tired you can feel running a mile while running alongside those that are on their 25th or so mile) I found a spot about 10 people back from the fence you could view the finish line. My window was a neck on the right, a ladies sun hat on the top and her neck on the left that i could see the finish line through. I thankfully did get to see him cross the finish line and he looked so good, like he was still jazzed! Unfortunately no successful pictures of gabe crossing the finish line.

I am so proud of him, I don't think my body would hold up to even a half marathon. He did an excellent job running 13.1 miles in that time - EXCELLENT! But what makes it even better is he really did no training at all. I couldn't believe it, i guess he is a natural athlete, unlike some of us that have to work for all of it!

Great running gabe! I'm so proud of you...

Completed! Do you know how many people wear grey shirts and navy shorts? A lot

greek orthodox monastery

so one of the adventures my mom instigated was going to st. anthony's greek monastery. She had heard about it from a friend in minnesota but knew nothing about it. so after doing some good old faithful searching on google, i was able to locate it. Thankfully they had a website so we could prepare ourselves for their dress code and code of conduct.

Here it is from their website:

Proper Attire

Visitors must be properly attired to enter the Monastery grounds. In general, clothing should be modest and loose-fitting, and include the following:

Women must wear long skirts, long-sleeved blouses, and scarves. (Please, no tight-fitting clothing, no skirts with slits, hats, low-cut blouses, or sheer or small scarves) Shoes/sandals must be worn with socks at all times. Please do not wear sheer stockings. Please wear practical and comfortable flat shoes while at the Monastery as it is desert terrain and the pathways are of rough flagstone. Please wear flat shoes— No high heels, platform shoes or open-toed sandals.

If you are not properly attired, please go directly to the Bookstore, where there is a limited supply of clothing for your use.

Respect for the Monastery Environment

Due to the sanctity of this Holy place we kindly ask that you respect the quiet and solitude of the Monastery while on the grounds.

Smoking anywhere within the Holy grounds is strictly forbidden. Loud talking and laughing are always inappropriate. This I thought could be a problem for me given the dress code...

So we arrive after leaving phoenix an hour so ago and i have my skirt on with loose shirt and a scarf; well prepared. Mom had pants on but we brought a skirt for her to slip on over her pants and she thought a drying dish towel would do the trick for her scarf. We were well prepared guests, we thought....

Here are the pictures of our lovely outfits in the end. I was told my skirt was a little short and to pull it down a bit. (I was wondering if he'd rather have my butt or boots showing). I tried to tug it down a bit and was accepted. Mom on the other hand - well she has their skirt and scarf on.

It was a really cool experience, a complete different culture and way of life. There are 6 chapels an the grounds and they have amazing gardens. (I'm told this from docents at work - we weren't really allowed to go through the gardens. We really had a great time but didn't laugh too loud to show it! :)

The inside of their chapels were incredibly ornate. Everything came over from greece

Here are our outfits head to toe - click on it and it enlarges

Ward Adventures

My mom and dad came down on Christmas Day and stayed with us for a week of solid activity. We all had a wonderful time and had good belly laughs daily. We were so lucky this year to have family here for two Holidays within one month. We played a lot of games, went to the hot tub, and went on walks daily with my parents. They also golfed a lot (and now gabe is hooked!), went to an ASU basketball game, went to the Insight Bowl and some other unique fun adventures (one of which i think i must do a separate blog on).

The weather was nice and got mom thinking about retirement a bit more serious I think. I know it is brutally cold up there now and well we're having a warm front or whatever its called and it got to 78 yesterday!

On top of south mountain looking at the city

YES - dad was doing the dishes! :)

I took mom to the Garden to see Chihuly

At the Gopher game. Unfortunately KU won - still had a blast though!

At the block party after the game - new year's eve

Stretching it out before the big golf games