Two Thanksgivings...so I went running again!

 My last sister in Utah moved to Washington this month. Sigh.  I've got my brother left here, and a great sister-in-law he's married to, but now, of my three sisters, one's in Boston, one's in California, and the last one's in Washington.  Pretty lame for family get-togethers from now on: only 30% of the family is left.  Anyway, we had our family Thanksgiving (before she left) at my house so I could be "the hostess with the mostest".  Really, I love to host(ess).  We had a great table set-up (which I didn't get very good pictures of),

 A great meal (which I didn't get very good pictures of), favor bags with Thanksgiving quotes and pumpkin pie spiced truffles (which I didn't get good pictures of), ....and pies which I DID get pictures of! (priorities friends. priorities.)

 French crumb apple pie.

 Two layer chocolate-orange cream cheese pie with Oreo crust, chocolate bark, and intense orange coulis.

 Sweet potato pie  ---per request from my Dad, who's birthday we were celebrating.

 Raisin-sour cream pie, which I'd heard about in old novels, and wanted to try.  The sour cream is cooked into a type of custard with egg yolks and sugar, and then there's a brown sugar meringue on top (which I almost mastered this time; one more pie should do it).  It pulled away from the edge, and I had to add a garnish of cream and raw sugar.

 On Thanksgiving-Thanksgiving, we went to my in-laws.  I have to tell you, my mother-in-law is famous for keeping you well fed and coddled.  However, the last few years have been kind of hard on her taking care of her mother --who lived in the house, was 100 years old, and was bedridden until she passed away last summer.  I came still expecting the worn-out mother-in-law, and was prepared to cook everything.  We got there, and she already had everything done and the table set.  She did let me mix up the sweet potatoes so my feelings wouldn't be hurt. :)  What a sweet, sweet lady. 

 

 I was stuffed over the course of two and a half days with thick cream, pie, Parker-house homemade rolls, hand dipped chocolates, homemade waffles.... anyway, I was dying for a good workout.

 My in-laws live in Redlands, a part of Grand Junction Colorado, and it is one of my favorite places to run.   So....after a hiatus of 5 (?)  months, I RAN again and it felt pretty dang good.  I purposefully left my Garmin at home so I wouldn't be tempted to pace fast, and just did an easy, maintainable pace --I'm guessing 9 1/2-10 minute miles, and and enjoyed myself so much I ended up going for about 70 minutes.  I was a little cold to start, but it warmed up a bit, and the scenery was breathtaking.

 

Right down the street from my in-laws' house is Rigg's hill, where a paleontologist discovered a brontosaurus (or something) a hundred years ago.  We took the kids out there for a hike late Friday evening.

 

 It got kinda dark and cold. OK, really really cold.

The reason I like that hill is because it's where Jeff and I did our engagement pictures.  Isn't he cute with his longish blond hair?  I always thought he looked like Brad Pitt in "A river runs through it" (although I never did like Brad Pitt's mouth).  Now my guy's even cuter --aged like a fine wine....not that I've tried a fine wine or any wine for that matter, and not that he's even aged that much.  You know what I mean.

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