A Proud Wife

Jared did his first triathlon this past weekend. I am so proud of him! He is probably the best person I know at coming up with a training regimen and sticking to it. He did amazing throughout the race and beat his goal time by 7 minutes. Now he is thinking of doing the New York triathlon next summer. Hmmmm.... Does that mean I get to go shopping? :)

Can you find Jared? Getting ready for the start

The MADNESS! It was hilarious to watch the start of the swim

Grey watching for Daddy during the bike

Back from the biking--only running left. I was tired just watching

Grandma & Grey waiting for Jared during the run

I am going to embarrass Jared and put this up--I made him a poster. hehehe

Perspectives

This morning I had another one of my big training runs.  I get pretty anxious before a big run because it is SO FAR and don't sleep well the night before. It didn't help having Cooper (the dog) up at 5 throwing up and then Grey pretty much up for the day at 5:30. All the while knowing I had to get out of bed at 6:30 and run 10 miles.

After I ran, I took Grey to Story Time and then treated myself to some Taco Bell. The girl was having serious issues getting my order right, not giving me any change for a $20 and forgetting the sauce. She apologized saying, "Sorry, I have been up since 8 this morning and my brain isn't working."

Oh how I wish I could sleep in until 8!

Arachnophobia

I will preface this story by saying I HATE spiders. No offense to you spider-lovers out there. They scare me to death and living in an old, leaky house has intensified that fear. I was doing some cleaning this week and had stuffed a sheet in the hall closet NEXT to our bedroom. I pulled it out and was trying to put it on the top shelf when a monstrous spider fell out and hit me on the head, crawled down my shoulder and jumped onto the trash bag I needed to take out. This spider was the BIGGEST I have seen outside of the zoo or in a glass aquarium. I ran screaming into my bedroom freaking out with chills all over.

Obviously the story does not end there since I had to somehow get rid of this nasty creature. I opened the front door and having no idea where it went, tried to throw the trash bag out the door hoping it didn't crawl on my hand. It jumps off the trash bag before I can get it outside and runs into the shoe closet. I had to pull shoes out of the closet to find it, all the while fearing it would attack me again. Lucky for me I find it and suck it up with the Dyson. The length of the vacuum attachment is as close as I will get to spiders. I am feeling creepy crawly just writing this...

While I was looking for a picture of a spider, I came across this awful article about these spiders that have are taking over the park. Ummmm... Does that freak anyone else out? It looks like a horror movie.

Zucchini Chocolate Chip Muffins

I am constantly in search of healthy recipes for our family. I use all possible means to get whole grains and veggies into Grey and Jared's diet without them knowing. :)

This is a recipe that I came across when I did Weight Watchers and I modified it a little bit. I always make a few without the chocolate chips for a healthier snack for Grey. He absolutely loves them and they are great for an on-the-go snack.

3 large egg whites
1 large egg
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/3 cup canola oil
2/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 cups zucchini, grated and drained
2 cups whole wheat flour
2/3 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 cup (or more...) chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat 2 muffin tins (12 each) with spray. Beat egg whites until frothy. Add egg, sugar, vanilla, oil and applesauce. Beat until thoroughly combined. Beat in zucchini.

Add flours, salt, baking soda, baking powder and cinnamon. Mix well. Stir in chocolate chips. Pour into prepared pans and bake in the middle of the oven until a toothpick inserted comes out clean, about 20-25 minutes.

VARIATIONS: You can add a variety of things in the batter such as 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or 1/2 cup chopped raisins. You can also make this in 2 loaf pans instead. Cook for closer to 50-60 minutes.

Tarantulas & Butterflies

We finally made it to the Butterfly Pavillions. Grey LOVES butterflies, so I have been wanting to take him for a while now. Thanks to Pam, Ryan & Addie, we had an extra fun time there. I was brave and held Rosie the Tarantula. I won't lie... I was pretty nervous!

Little Miss Sunshine--Isn't she adorable?!!

Ryan & Grey--they are so funny together
Grey looks like he is posing for an engagement photo. :)

My little man

Some pictures I took of the amazing butterflies. They are so beautiful to watch!

Chocolate Cherry Chip Cookies

I love to cook and tweak recipes for fun. I have thought about starting a recipe blog, but that will take too much effort. So I will just add them to this blog periodically.
These cookies are Jared's absolute favorite in the world. They aren't necessarily my first pick, but they are yummy and oh so cute. They work really well for girl baby showers or Valentine's Day. ENJOY!!!

Chocolate Cherry Chip Cookies

1 cup melted butter
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 (3.5 oz) package instant chocolate pudding mix
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 - 2 cups cherry chips (I like Log House cherry chip baking morsels-found in well-stocked grocery stores near the chocolate chips)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees

2. In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars. Add pudding mix, eggs and vanilla. Combine flour and baking soda; add to creamed mixture and mix well. Fold in cherry chips.

3. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes.

I have never been SO happy!!!

Ikea is coming to Denver---you heard me right! I am so happy right now!!!
I thought I would never see the day... I mean who goes to Utah before Colorado?

What's in Your Oven?

I noticed Grey lingering around the oven this evening and he had that "I might be in trouble" look. So I thought I should do some investigating. I opened the drawer under the oven and found a wide assortment of things that Grey has apparently been collecting. I found:

1. shredded up (possibly chewed up) toilet paper
2. cars and trucks
3. tons of crumbs from who knows what!
4. a shirt I have been missing for weeks
5. a bottle of old, curdled milk

Why in the world would he think that is an appropriate place to put things? It is no wonder we had mice last year. I guess I need to be checking random places more frequently.

Labor Day Weekend

I am a little late getting this up, but our weekend was so much fun because Heather & Jason came out to visit us FINALLY! They have not been able to get on a flight out to Denver for way too long. Poor Heather & Jason were probably exhausted. We took them all over the place! Saturday started with an 8-mile run (just Heather & I). Heather kept saying she wanted to go on my training run with me... So we did it! And it really helped to have her.

When we walked in the door, we hurried out to Cherry Creek to play at the lake and let Jared swim again. Then we came back and all napped while Grey napped. Oh how I love nap time!!! After that we checked out SNIAGRAB at the big sports authority and wandered around the Taste of Colorado. It was a crazy-filled Saturday. Come back soon Aunt P & Uncle Joey!!! Love you guys!
Some photos for your enjoyment---

Tagged!

Thanks for the tag Leslie! This was such a fun one to do. Hopefully I don't bore everyone. Are you sick of hearing from me yet?

i am - a wife, mother, sister, daughter and every now and then just me

i think - optimistically

i know - what I want out of my life and who I eventually want to become

i want - a happy and healthy family

i have - everything i need

i wish - for a good night's sleep or to travel the world

i hate - rudeness, egotism, hatred

i miss - quiet, alone time with Jared

i fear - not being a good mother and teaching our children well

i feel - tired most of the time

i hear - silence... aaaah

i smell - clean sheets and freshly baked cookies

i search - for ways to improve myself

i wonder - what my future holds and who my children will be

i regret - not living in NYC or traveling more

i love - my family and friends, hot baths, eating, working out, date nights, waterfalls, oceans, yoga, having quiet moments to myself, trying new things and snuggling up with Jared when it is cold outside

i care - what people think even though I shouldn't

i always - check my email many times a day--it is an obsession

i am not - perfect

i believe - in happy endings

i dance - to make Grey laugh

i sing - in the car, at church, to Grey or when playing Rock Band

i don't always - shave my legs

i write - in a journal only once or twice a month

i win - when my family and friends are happy

i lose - when I am short-tempered

i never - get everything done I want to do in a day

i listen - to advice

i can usually be found - at the computer

i'm scared - of bees, snakes and spiders

i read - books, magazines, blogs, news--I love to read anything

i'm happy about - life!

I also copied Leslie and did the Flickr search as well. If you want to do it, type your answer to each of the questions below into a Flickr search. Using only the first page, choose your favorite image and copy and paste each of the URL’s into the mosaic maker.

questions and anwsers
1. What is your first name? {christina}
2. What is your favorite food? {italian}
3. What high school did you attend? {ponderosa}
4. What is your favorite color? {red}
5. Who is your celebrity crush? {mitt romney}
6. Favorite drink? {water}
7. Dream vacation? {bora bora}
8. Favorite dessert? {chocolate}
9. What do you want to be when you grow up? {more spiritual}
10.What do you love most in life? {love}
11. One word to describe you. {happy!}
12. Your Flickr name. {thedailygrey}

1. beautiful, christina aguilera 2. back from my mediterranee villa 3. more abandoned in ponderosa
4. how much more red could this be? 5. mitt romney 6. water is life!
7. bora bora 8. hot chocolate 9. to change my wild river?...never!
10. still in love? i think so ;) 11. i love new york 12. hay day: the end of

I tag whoever wants to do this!!! It really is fun.