Quarters don't lie...

Well at least I hope not... right at this moment I am dancing around the living room to my new iTunes downloads as I pack for a week long trip to Albuquerque, New Mexico... Wait a minute... week long means I will be in NM for new years... hmmm.... this land better be enchanting... Thank you Lord that I have work... even if it takes me out of town... ALL THE TIME....

:-/

At least I will get to zip up to Santa Fe for a ski day while I am in t0wn...

Skiing...

Out of order again - I FINALLY did go skiing this week - with over 4 feet of fresh snow how could I not!

It was PACKED but the softly falling snow and amazing conditions totally made up for the long lift lines...

Wonderful Christmas...

Despite the heavy rain we had a wonderful Christmas! On Christmas eve we went to 2:30 service at church and then on to Doug's parents house - fun and food was had by all -

Christmas morning was at Lisa's... per our tradition we made latkes with biscuits and gravy. Lisa totally has Doug trained now - he jumped right in to help grate the potatoes...

I did the mixing & frying; they came out totally awesome - crispy and tender...

Lisa was in charge of the biscuits and we made gravy from Dad's store which was perfectly savory...
After breakfast we opened some gifts.... I made Dad a calendar of family pictures at the Kodak kiosk - he really seemed to like it...

We got Uncle Ron some sweaters (he is always so cold) he was happy too...

I had time today to read my friends the Johnston's blog - they live in Japan and are missionaries... they had an amazing Christmas and it made me cry to see how they are showing the love of our Savior; Jesus Christ this time of year... which is really what all of the hullabaloo is about right?

Merry Christmas to you and yours...

Cake Balls 2...

For the record - they were amazing... like a pop of sweet cake!

Christmas Party...

Sunday was our annual Christmas party at Dad's store... There was a great turn out and fun was had by all -

Jayanna's dad dressed as Santa for the kids - it was so cute - and wow he really looked the part...

The food was awesome as it always is; Carmen's famous taquitos with guacamole, Dad's lasagna, Lorraine's Arby's sandwiches, pizza, chips, dips, I made amazing hot wings and lot of other treats... I was so full!

Carmen and Doug gave Dad a Purdue hat - he was so happy... It's nice to see my pop smile these days...

In the gift exchange I got a $15 iTunes card... along with the one Barb gave me I am gonna be chillin with fresh new music for the new year....

White Christmas...

The second major storm of winter is blowing through today dumpin MORE SNOW on southern California. I cannot believe it! I have not seen a winter like this in years. Here are some shots of the drive up to my Dad's store - yes these pictures are the desert.

Cake Balls...

I got this idea from The Pioneer Woman. Instead of cookies or fudge Shel and I decided to make cake balls for Christmas this year - Yea Cake Balls!

You start by baking some cakes, then you crumble them to pieces.

Next you toss in 3/4 tub of frosting and mix it well.

You will have a glob of cake a frosting that feels gross on your hands.

Then you roll the cake into balls and freeze them.

After an hour you melt some chocolate - we used holiday green and red

Then using a lollipop stick you dunk the balls in the chocolate to seal the tasty little treat!

You lay them on waxed paper overnight to harden and your all set! W made 120... fun and messy!

Thoroughbred Christmas Lights...

This Tuesday in lieu of bible study my small group got together, had some cocoa and walked along Thoroughbred Lane to see the Christmas lights... I was super cold but the cocoa warmed us up -


The lights were beautiful - they reminded me of driving through as a child - it used to be a tradition in our family... I guess till we got too cool for it...

Afterwards we ended up at Cocos eating soup and fried things when a band of merry carolers serenaded us.... yes really - it was nice and creepy at the same time....hmmm

Dressed in white...

We had a huge storm this week and the mountains now have multiple feet of snow on them... The crowds at Mt. High will be crazy this weekend I'm sure!

The Metrolink Holiday Express

The commuter train I take to work each day hosts the Holiday Express each year at every station in the system - its really a lot of fun for kids. Basically the train pulls into the station playing holiday music decorated with hundreds of lights and they put on a Christmas play for the kids. Over a hundred people show up each year, its really pretty cute.

My friend Sheri and her kiddos met me at the Rancho station (just in the nick of time) for this years train.

This years show was Santa Hog... yes... Santa Hog... Apparently Santa Hog goes to all the farms in the word and gives presents to good animals...

Well its for the kids right...

Deep fried raviolis!?!

So my work Christmas party extravaganza was this week and before the big fancy dinner there were various activities to choose from - I opted for the cooking lessons... We went to Roman Cucina a very nice Italian place where the chef/owner showed us how to prepare 3 recipes. My favorite of them was the deep fried raviolis. There were deliciously amazing so I had to make them for Carmen Saturday at work.

Basically you take some yummy store bought uncooked raviolis and soak them in buttermilk for about a half hour.

Then you coat them in Italian style bread crumbs.

Into the fryer they go for about 2 min

I topped them with some marinara sauce - I should have used some Parmesan cheese, but oh well - they were crunchy and delicious - I will definitely make these again!

Finally Open!

At long last Mt. High is open for the winter ski season. I was there on opening night for my typical 7 runs after work.

It was warm and the coverage was pretty thin but I still had fun!

Modesto...

So I went to Modesto last week (I know my entries are all out of order - I am behind) and stayed in the amazingly awesome SpringHill Suites...
The room was modern, cool and set up differently than other hotels - the bathroom was in the back by the bedroom (made sense) and the free breakfast was super!


Kinda pricey but worth it... To drive I got a sweet Chrysler 300M - fast for cruising around cow town...