Mom and Daughter Workout

Hey everyone! I wanted to share a workout my mom and I did last night :) I loved the feel of it because it was nice to chit chat with my momma and the workout was gentle on our bodies. Great for a day that you're already spent after work (this was the case for us) or a Saturday after a week filled with tough workouts that made your body sore.

Here's what we did:

We started with light stretching:
neck roll and look from side to side
shoulders roll forward and back
arms across body and over head
soft lunge to stretch the calves gently
forward bend and down dog (for me the yogi wannabe)
and seated glute stretch on the floor or balance ball.

Next we walked on the treadmill for about ten minutes .65 miles for me, speed was 2.8 at the highest (short legs) walking peppy but not fast. 

I like to use my back warmer during cardio workouts for the extra warmth in winter and the extra sweat. It's probably weird but I love to sweat! Just had to share lol! 
My mom wears a turtle neck for extra warmth during winter workouts, if you don't like the extra sweat factor but you want some warmth or you don't have a back warmer.
The reason I added this tid bit is because it is very important to be warm during stretching and workouts to prevent injuries like pulled or strained muscles. And it's a good idea to always wear a sweater when you leave the gym to walk outside to prevent the shock f cooling off to fast. (i do this even in the summer because if there's a breeze at it it will cool me off too fast, all that sweat and all haha!)

Then we kicked it up a notch on the elliptical (my personal fav)
I started with a resistance level 5, three minutes forward and three minutes backward 
then I dropped the level of resistance down to 4 and jogged until I reached 1 mile (according to the machine)

We finished with more stretching:
soft lunge for calves
toes on the wall and lean forward for a more in depth calf stretch
seated forward bend for hamstrings and low back
side lying quad stretch
butterfly stretch for inner thighs
I always like to finish with a gentle roll up for good measure

Here's how I roll up:
 feet parallel, knees bent, curved spine like you're slumped over, engaged abdominals and roll up one vertebrae at a time until you're standing upright, roll the shoulders back and stand straight, muscles engaged while you inhale and exhale to finish a job well done!

My Ballet teacher always reminded her students to be gentle with our bodies because they are our instruments. My husband has a few guitars and he keeps them in pristine condition, cleaning them and handling them gently and with caution. Good imagery right? 

Anyways, I sometimes over work out and this causes too much soreness. This soreness makes me want to just lay around and heal for a few days but it seems like this method only makes the soreness last longer. It also causes me to lose flexibility. So I'm working on being more gentle, doing strenuous work out on non-consecutive days and in between those days doing some moving like this work out along with stretching to keep up my flexibility and heal my soreness faster. 

I'll add some pic soon :) just for fun, but enjoy the workout and modify to fit your needs!

Our First Christmas Time in Our First Home

Our first st of Christmas Decorations! 

 Our Patio:

Multi-colored Christmas lights :)

 Our Christmas Tree

no ornaments near the bottom because of Kirby ;)

Merry Christmas love, The Mr. and Mrs.

 Merry Christmas love, Kirby!

Here's our tag along who comes to our front door.. we call her Little Girl.

Merry Christmas love, Little Girl

Homeade Marzipan

There seems to always be that person at Christmas who is the toughest to shop for. Every family has one. In ours it's Beau's dad Gary. He never says what he wants if you ask him but he does have his favorite things in life so usually we just capitalize on those things: the green bay packers, fox news, pigs, cats, and marzipan. (He's an unexpected character in the story, so random and so funny!) Anyways Marzipan is his favorite Christmas time treat and we usually raid our local Cost Plus World Market for the selection of it but this year I wanted to add a special touch so I wanted to try and make it myself! It's not the same as the store bought stuff for sure but it is very yummy with a sweeter flavor and more texture. 

Here's how I made Marzipan: 

For the Marzipan:

2 cups almond meal (I bought blanched and slivered almonds from the bulk section of our grocery store and ground it myself in the food processor)

2 cups powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon almond extract (approximately I didn't really measure just poured a splash in :)

Water

For decorating:

1 cup of semi-sweet morsels

sprinkles for that Christmas time flare

Red and/or Green food coloring

Directions: 

Mix almond meal and powdered sugar in a large bowl. Add almond extract and then SLOWLY add water to the mixture while stirring until it forms together in a large clump. 

(Mine was too wet because I poured the water in too fast :/ so to recover I just pulverized some more almonds and added an equal amount of almond meal and powdered sugar to get my marzipan more dry. That last pick is the fixed up version, so nice)








Decorations:


Next I separated the marzipan into 3 sections. Well actually two equal sections and one of those sections into two sections, but you can ration it how ever you want. The two smaller portions I used food coloring on. One red and one green then rolled them into little balls for eating. With the larger portion I rolled it all in to balls and dipped them in melted chocolate and topped with sprinkles. Yum! 

leave the chocolate dipped ones out to dry before storing. store best in zipper bags, or air tight containers.

I brought over a few pieces for Gary to try the other day to see if he would approve, being the connoisseur of marzipan in the family, and he never put them down. He said they're great but there's only enough for tonight :) Yep, I know what I'm making him for Christmas!

Cookie Fail and Learning to Recover

Here's the story of how I failed at making my favorite Christmas cookie:

Beau and I have made it a habit of making ginger snaps at Christmas time and they usually turn out wonderful, soft, fluffy, with the cracks and delicious sugar coating. Seeing as how this is our first year married and first with our own kitchen, I was so excited about the baking for this year.

Beau wasn't as excited, he was very busy this week working full time, finals week for us, and playing guitar at church on the weekend. Our original plan was to bake the gingersnaps on Friday night but then ended up being postponed to Saturday night. Saturday night wasn't as good for me because I had gotten up early and went out shopping with my mom and sister in a few towns over and then went straight to church and we weren't back home until 8:30 or so. Then we ate dinner and relaxed a little while... we didn't end up baking until 10:30!

The dough just never was right and I think it has something to do with the butter being too soft, it's a very sensitive part of making cookies, and I've always been better at whipping up a meal than baking something. Baking is so precise! Sure it seems real easy when Martha does it but it's not for noobs. (noobies, beginner, novice) lol!

Anyways the first round just flattened out like those lacey looking crispy cookies and were all wrong! I did two minuets less time on the next tray but no luck, same outcome only a little lighter in color. 

I know it shouldn't be such a big deal but my heart just sank. No amount of my husband tasting them and saying "but Bug they taste good" would help. Bless his heart though! 

Failure is not a feeling I enjoy but the truth is I fail, and I fail often. I'm far from perfect and I can't stand the feeling that I've come up short and if I can't contribute these cookies to Christmas somehow I'm not worthy to partake. I know, dramatic right? but these are real feelings. The sermon this weekend was about the real reason for the season and, this did come as a shock to hear my pastor say, but he said Jesus isn't the reason for the season, sin is. His point being that because we have failed to live according to his glorious standard we needed a savior. I still think Jesus is the reason for the season because He is that Savior for us but I loved the point of saying it that way. 

I need a savior, not because my cookie failed but because I was born this way, broken, a sinner. I fail. But Jesus came as a humble baby to live a perfect life and die on the cross to take my place. He then raised from the dead and raised me with him. Now I am saved, redeemed and I'm worth something to Him. I'd say I'm worth a whole lot considering all He did for me. 

He did it because he loves mankind! He created us and He loves us! Amen?! 

God has changed my life forever by giving me life, real life, eternal life with Him. He's taken this hunk of flesh, full of failure, and made me something special. So this I what I needed to do with the remainder of the ginger snaps cookie dough. 

The next morning I surveyed last night's mess and saw the dough in the fridge... I decided I would turn these into a cookie-cake-brownie of some sorts and hope for the best. I pulled out the brownie pan and filled it with the rest of the dough. I pressed it in to the corners of the pan and sprinkled sugar over the top. I watched t closely as I cooked in the oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. 10 minutes, then another 10, then five more, then 2 more and finally I decided it was done. I pulled it out and let it cool as we ate lunch. I cut it up into squares and Beau was eager to try them :) he's so kind! They turned out great! Oooy gooey ginger goodness with crunchy edges. Much better than the crispy flat cookies haha! 

I hope you all have a wonder Christmas and you make ginger cookie-brownies out of your problematic dough. hehe!

Ginger Snaps! Recipie:

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups butter

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup molasses

4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

additional sugar for rolling 

Directions:

In a mixing bowl cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each one. Beat in molasses. In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, salt and nutmeg. gradually add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture. Refrigerate for an hour or until the dough is easy to handle (because it is very sticky at first.) Roll into 1 inch balls , roll balls in sugar. Place 2 inches apart on baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 8 to 10 minutes or until puffy and lightly browned.  Cool on the cookie sheet for a minute before placing them on a wire rack to continue to cool.

I have successfully made this recipe many a time with my bear but this year God had a different plan ;) I'm glad I could share this tragic cookie story an I hope I've in some small way encouraged you today.

Love, Cait

Happy Thanksgiving 2013

Happy Thanksgiving!

Here's a few photos of our first thanksgiving 2013! 

I'm so proud of my husband for making us a beautiful bird to eat and for being 'all in' on our first thanksgiving dinner together! I loved shopping with him, cooking with him and the feeling of our relationship coming full circle. You see on November 25, 2009 we spent our very first Thanksgiving together with each of our families and that night at midnight November 26th, 2009 he asked if we could make it official, I said yes, then he asked if he could kiss me for the very first time and I said yes of course! Four years ago this was all taking place and now we are married and I couldn't (and don't want to) imagine my life without this man! 

Le Turkey

us figuring out ways to set the camera so we are both in the shot lol!

 All golden brown rubbed with butter and spices!

Smells so yummy!

 Kirby is ready to grub!!!

"come on mom, lets eat!" 

-Kirby

Thanks for enjoying the pics of our first Thanksgiving in our sweet little home! We hope you had a great Thanksgiving too and wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Enjoy this season and stay warm!!