Curtis Stone's 100 Calories Cupcakes

I posted a blog post on Curtis Stone's 100 Calorie Cupcakes over on my food blog. Check it out.

Pumpkin Pickin'

Saturday we headed down to Devries' Buffalo Ranch in Montrose, Colorado to pick pumpkins. We did this last year and had a blast. They have a HUGE corn maze that you would get lost without a map. It took us 30 minutes to get through the whole thing and we were moving quickly and using the map so we would not get lost.

We went down with friends of ours who has a son 6 months younger than Lily. Sam and Lily have been forced to be friends since they were born because his mom and I are best friends. They even got to the same daycare.

Lydia is Sheri's daughter and she is 3 years older than Mikayla but they get along great.


At the Buffalo Ranch they were Chuckin' Pumpkin's. So there was a lot more going on than normal. They had a bouncy house that the kids loved playing in.



Overall this was a great weekend with lots of family fun time. I had a blast and since my birthday was on a Friday it seemed like a birthday weekend.
Saturday we headed down to Montrose to go pumpkin pickin'

Birthday

Friday, October 15th was my 32nd birthday. Our babysitter is out of town, Mikayla was on mid-fall break and the dentist I work for was out of town so I had the day off. We decided to hike Old Monarch Pass. We have passed the turn of to this road many times but have never taken it.

We were just getting ready to go up Monarch Pass (the paved one) and Lily had just fallen asleep. We decided to go and see a town called White Pine in order to give Lily time to sleep in the car. Also, during our little detour we saw where Old Monarch Pass comes out. Instead of starting it on the other side on Monarch Pass we decided to start up Old Monarch Pass from the west side. The road was great. There is logging on the road so it is narrow but well kept. The drive up was beautiful. Lily woke up shortly before we started up Old Monarch Pass and kept giving me dirty looks like she was going to scream and demand to get out of her car seat but she wasn't fussing so we kept going.
We were up so high you could see Tomich Dome and the snow covered San Juans.

The Continental Divide Trail crosses the top of Old Monarch Pass so we decided to hike a little bit of it. After all we came up here to go hiking.


You might be wondering what Lily is wearing. Earlier I mentioned Lily giving me dirty looks in the car. Well, she was getting car sick and eventually she threw up everywhere! Oh boy - I told Joe to stop the truck and we got out. I am just looking at Lily thinking - I don't want to touch her - it is everywhere! Then Joe's cell phone started ringing with work calls. The only place the last 30 miles where he could get cell reception and I had a sick kid - what are the odds?

I finally pulled Lily out of her car seat and stripped her down right in the middle of the road. Good thing there was no other cars. Lily is recently potty trained and therefore I had no spare clothes, no wipes or anything so I cleaned her up the best I could then I gave her my sweater to wear because it was cold up there.



We found snow up in the high country and the girls enjoyed playing with the early season snow.






The paved road is the current Monarch Pass.


As much as I complain about living in Gunnison I gotta admit most people would be showing these pictures as their vacation pictures and just another day in our lives. I had a wonderful birthday. After our adventures we went out for a couple of birthday drinks and appetizers with friends and then they came over for a birthday brownie sunday.

Time to get back in the game.

Well, August and September were tough months but now I am moving forward. I lost a few pounds in August and September due to stress but now those pounds have come back. I also have not been sleeping well so it is time to start working out again. Normally at this point I go overboard which lasts a day or two and then I give up but not this time. My goals for this week are going to be the following:

1 - Monday, Wednesday and Friday get up at 5:30 am and do a weight workout.
2 - Monday, Wednesday and Friday go for a run during my lunch break.

At my old job I use to run almost everyday during my lunch break because I had a full hour and I was excepted to use my lunch hour unless I was super busy. Now at the dentist office it depends on our schedule but I normally get 45 minutes or so. I do miss running so it is time to get back in the game.

You know you need a break and need to read something funny.

Thank you sooo much Brilliance Wasted for leading me to this link.

We all need a break and we all need to read something that will leave you laughing outloud. I just wish I was the only one in the room and the dentist was not sitting less than 10 feet away so I could laugh louder! Go ahead and click the link - it will leave you laughing.

Things I do NOT do:

I got this idea from Kristen at Green Style Mom. I work two jobs, I am a mommy, I am a wife, I am a runner but there is still a list of "mom" type things that I do not do and that I do not feel guilty about.

1 - Scrapbook. My mom gave me a scrap book of Lily - she started it and expected me to finish it. Did this ever happen? Nope! Hey mom an idea for Christmas would be for me to mail this book back to you and have you finish it - ok?

2 - Bargain shop. Living in a small town without a lot of options leaves no options for bargain shopping. I do hit the local second hand store for the kids so does that count?

3 - Clip coupons. I have noticed that coupons are for name brand products and if I am only saving 35 cents my money is better spent on the generic brand instead.

4 - PTA

5 - Sew cute clothing for my children. This will never happen. My mom (sorry mom) forced me to learn to sew and I hated it. I do wish I had a sewing machine to fix a few small things but I really don't even want to try.

6 - Hand make everything in my home.

7 - Decorate extensively for any holiday.

8 - Iron. I do have an iron and an ironing board and if you want something ironed you have to do it yourself. The dryer works pretty good on getting out wrinkles anyway.

9 - Send cards.

10 - Comment on every blog post I read. I try to comment but if I don't have anything to say I don't.

11 - Make salad dressing. This is Joe's department and sometimes he does and sometimes he does not.

12 - Mow the lawn. Joe's job.

13 - Cook Dinner. This is Joe's job as well. He is so much better at this than I am and he enjoys it. Unless I am planning a big meal this is a task I would rather pass on.


What do you NOT do and do NOT feel guilty about?

Nurse

If I had the money I would like to quit my job and go back to school and become a nurse. Well, yesterday I had second thoughts about that yesterday at work.

I am now an office manager for a local dental office. I really enjoy my job and everyone I work with. Part of my job description is helping the dentist when everyone else is busy. Yesterday we had an emergency scheduled and we had to pull two teeth. Yesterday was my turn to turn to help out. I was helping and watching all of this going on and I almost passed out! I think it was watching the tooth being pulled out but it was not that gross or anything but still I came close to passing out. I walked out of the room and the other girl saw me and said that I was white as a sheet.

The dentist finished without me and later when we talked about it he said he would give me another chance which is what I wanted. Let's hope next time this does not happen!

For all of you in the medical world has then happened to you?