Dirty Dash

A couple weeks ago, some friends and I did the funnest race ever!! (and Ami, if you read this, don't worry, I do know that I shouldn't say "funnest") It was called the Dirty Dash, a 10k in Spokane. The 10k is already my FAVORITE distance (with all my vast experience of a 10k and a 5k, haha) because I love that it's long enough to feel like an accomplishment, but short enough to just run and get on with your day.

But anyway, not only was this a 10k, it was a "mud run," so our run was filled with mud pits and obstacles like haybales and walls that we either had to scale or army crawl underneath through mud. They also had a beer chug event during the race!

Here is out team at the beginning: Dan, Doug, Rach, Christa, and me

A couple of the mud pits. Our feet got SO heavy from all the mud in our shoes--we got to wash our shoes out in a river and my feet felt so light and fancy free.

The best mud pit of ALL was right at the finish line. We dove in and got completely covered!

Too bad the "showers" were just a trickle!

Mom and Brody came and picked me up after the race to shop in Spokane (Ellis and Dad were backpacking), so the Arby's bathroom became my shower until I got a real one that night. Even after washing my hair 6 times I STILL had mud in it--it was awesome!

Here we are after our mudbath--cannot WAIT to do it next year!

Happy Fourth!!

So much to catch up on!! I pretty much never have the computer these days since Ellis is using it to study for the bar, but hey, who needs computers in the summer? :)

Ellis and I had an AWESOME Fourth of July. We went camping--without the Brode this time--with a big group of friends. SO MUCH FUN!!


We went to a GORGEOUS little reservoir called Spring Valley, just 25 minutes away from home and totally FREE!! We canoed and paddleboarded and talked LATE into the night around the campfire with a newfound friend, Mark, who showed us how to gut and cook fish.

Had a BLAST with Rachel and Lenora on the paddleboard!

Simon taking it easy

Ellis, Parker, Ethan, and Nathan

Parker, Mark, Rosalie, and Caleb gutting the fish

Fishing was pretty much the big event of the trip for a lot of the guys--they fished for dinner, fished in the dark, and Caleb was up at 6 AM Monday morning to fish!

Dinner was super exciting for me, because 1) I've never had fish caught fresh from the water, and 2) I've never even had fresh-water fish PERIOD. So I got to try something new, and felt pretty hardcore peeling fresh fish flesh from their creepy poky spines.

Here are some of us cooking dinner.

Such a blast! Can't wait to do a trip like this again!!

Loretta's Baby Shower

One of my best friends from Regent, Loretta (in the middle), is having a baby girl in the next couple weeks, so my friend Grace (on the right) and I threw her a baby shower! It was my first attempt at shower-throwing, so I was a little nervous, but thankfully Grace was a seasoned veteran!

Lindsay, Adeline, Loretta, me, Grace

Briane, Loretta, Shea, and Victoria

My friend Kathryn threw Brody and me a fabulous baby shower in Moscow back in May, which we used as a jumping point and inspiration for Loretta's. I loved her "It's a Boy" paper garland she did for Brody, so we did "It's a Girl" for Loretta's baby girl!
We even copied one of the recipes Kathryn used, Cheddar Scallion Muffins! YUM! Thanks for letting us copy you, Kathryn! :)

Grace also made Rachael Ray's Rosemary Potato Frittata, which was amazing!

Instead of games, we decided to have everyone decorate onesies for baby Arianna! It was so much fun and everyone had super cute ideas!

Congrats Robert and Loretta!

The White Part of Christmas

The coolest thing happened in the South this Christmas:


It was so nice that even though we weren't able to go out to the Northwest this year, we still got a taste of the pretty part of winter weather! Although honestly we're getting plenty in Virginia this year too!

The day after Christmas church was cancelled, so we headed down to our friends the Pruetts' for food and singing and pretty snow.

Grown Up Thanksgiving

This is Ellis' and my first Thanksgiving as "grown ups." As in the first time I've had to actually help in the planning and organization of the holiday. I've made part of the meal at home with my family, but now I see that it's not the cooking that is the work--it's the planning of the cooking. And the shopping. And actually, mostly the thing that feels grown up is the paying for the shopping. It's totally different to make macaroni pie when your mom buys all the cheese than when you buy all the cheese. ;)

We did an early Thanksgiving in DC with my aunt Tammi this last weekend (which was AWESOME and I will put up pics), and now we are going to do Thanksgiving Day with some friends from law school tomorrow. We are really missing our families out West, but it's kind of exciting to be doing Thanksgiving as adults for the first time!

Another thing that's different this year is instead of the typical sweet potato casserole, I'm gonna be making my aunt's amazing Squash Souffle recipe!

{image via Taste of Home}

Tammi made it on Sunday and it was delicious, and I thought it would be a fun twist on the usual menu. Maybe everyone else knows all about squash souffle on Thanksgiving already, but to me it was new and exciting! (Also, it circumvents any marshmallow v. brown sugar and pecan debates- which is good because Ellis loves marshmallows--all the time with everything, and I don't like marshmallows with anything at any time.)

So here is her recipe!

Tammi's Thanksgiving Squash Souffle

1 package frozen squash (12 oz, I think)
1 stick butter

Cook, in a saucepan over medium heat for approx. 20 minutes
(make sure the butter coats the pan so the squash doesn't burn and stick)

add 1/2 cup sugar, stir with whisk
add 1/2 cup flour, stir with whisk
add 3 eggs, 1 at a time, stir with whisk
add 2 cups milk, stir with whisk

dash of nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Cook at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Let sit for several hours. Reheat at 350 for 20 mins.

Maybe I should've waited till I actually made it to post the recipe, but even if mine turns out awful, my aunt's is amazing, so it's still a great recipe! Enjoy! Happy Thanksgiving!

11/28--Edited to Add: Super easy, and turned out yummy! Give it a try! :)

Another Ali Giveaway

My friend Ali is giving away this sweater! I would love to win it to put Brody in it--green is one of my all-time favorite colors! Go check it out and enter to win on her blog!

Ali's Awesome Giveaway

My crafty inspiration friend Ali always has these awesome giveaways on her blog. This time it's for a super cute little lamb....which I totally want as a unique stuffed toy for Haymitch! I totally don't want him to be the kid--like Emily used to be, haha--with a huge hammock full of stuffed animals, but something fun and homemade like this--esp. by someone I love--is totally different!

A Warm Saturday!

Abby and I went antiquing in Norfolk and I found an amazing window, which I will post really soon!!

Ellis and Brandon had to do some studying but we wanted to take advantage of the fact that it is FINALLY nice here! So here is our dorky little Dawson's Creek pic--the "ooh, we're the cast that likes to pose like we're being candid" pic. Although this one actually is candid--they didn't know I was taking the pic yet.

Here are Brandon and Ellis studying on Mount Trashmore--they had to huddle together sitting on the concrete electrical cover because the ground was wet and so everyone thought they were gay


Niki and me at Mount Trashmore...the next pics are from our walk around the "mountain" while the guys studied :)