Leadership Retreat

On Monday, I headed up to Windy Peak Outdoor Lab School for a leadership retreat with 61 of our students. There were six of us teachers who stayed for the three-day retreat while five of our administrators drove up when they could get away from their district meetings. It was a great bunch of students- it will be interesting to see what they accomplish at school this year.
Here is a link to the story I submitted to yourhub.com, which is part of The Rocky Mountain News.
(On a side note: One of the best things I learned about at the retreat- when making a s'more, use a Reese's peanut butter cup instead of a chocolate bar. It is delicious!)

I was pretty worn out after three days with teenagers. Apparently my Mii was just as tired:

After my Mii woke up, she discussed the relationship between energy and mass with Albert Eintein. (Thanks to my ISU friend Adam for sharing him and Chuck Norris.)

Kera's Wedding

Kera, one of my neighbors from Casper was married in Winter Park this past weekend. My parents drove down to attend with me and Eric. Nice to escape up to the coolness of the mountains for the day, while getting the chance to catch up with some of my classmates from Casper. Kera met Keith right after our wedding and they are a great match.
During the "anniversary dance", my parents ended up being the couple who had been married the longest- 39 years! They actually tied with another couple who had been married on the exact same day.

Meeting Andrew

Here's is the layout from the first lesson of the digital scrapbooking class I'm taking this summer.
(Jessica Sprague - Now We're Rocking class)
I liked the new techniques I learned, but I'm not sure about the final look which was already chosen for us. It's a little too "shabby chic" for my taste. My favorite part of this lesson was learning how to add a sepia tone to the photo and then bringing back the color in part of the photo. Andrew's blue onesie really made the picture pop.


Sepia example #2 - Julie's Prom

Welcome Emerson!

Our dear friends Tony and Kalle had a baby girl on Friday: Emerson Mackenzie.
Tony is Eric's friend from college and is also currently flying for Northwest Airlines. Kalle is a super talented Intern Architect. I think we need to take a trip to Portland to meet this little one.

Fore!

Yesterday, Eric and I headed out to his old stomping grounds: the golf course at Murphy Creek in Aurora. We walked the course during the final round of the U.S. Amateur Public Links tournament. The winner was Jack Newman from Des Moines (I hope he's a Cyclone fan.) He'll have the opportunity to play in the Masters tournament next year; not bad for a 20-year-old. I enjoyed watching my first live tournament with my golf-savvy husband.


Eric beating the heat by playing Tiger Woods Golf on the Wii.

Morning Glory Muffins

Found this recipe last summer in Cooking Light magazine and think they are super delicious. Yesterday, I made them with dried cherries instead of the dried pineapple. Talk about a winner- I plan to use cherries from now on. I've also made them with craisins which tasted good, and use wheat germ instead of wheat bran. It's a pretty forgiving recipe.



Morning Glory Muffins
Ingredients
Cooking spray
1 cup whole wheat flour (about 4 3/4 ounces)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour (about 2 1/4 ounces)
1 cup regular oats
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon wheat bran (or wheat germ)
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup plain fat-free yogurt
1 cup mashed ripe banana (about 2)
1 large egg
1 cup chopped pitted dates
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup chopped dried pineapple (or dried cherries or craisins)
3 tablespoons ground flaxseed (about 2 tablespoons whole)

Preparation
Preheat oven to 350°.
Optional: Place 18 muffin cups liners in muffin cups; coat liners with cooking spray.
Lightly spoon flours into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine flours and next 5 ingredients (through salt) in a large bowl; stir with a whisk. Make a well in center of mixture. Combine yogurt, banana, and egg; add to flour mixture, stirring just until moist. Fold in dates, walnuts, and pineapple. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups. Sprinkle evenly with flaxseed. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes or until muffins spring back when touched lightly in center. Remove muffins from pans immediately; cool on a wire rack.

Yield
18 servings (serving size: 1 muffin)
Nutritional Information
CALORIES 186(21% from fat); FAT 4.4g (sat 0.5g,mono 0.7g,poly 2.8g); IRON 1.2mg; CHOLESTEROL 12mg; CALCIUM 42mg; CARBOHYDRATE 35.2g; SODIUM 190mg; PROTEIN 4.2g; FIBER 3.4g

Charlotte Moore, Toronto , Cooking Light, JULY 2007

Going Green?

In case you've been thinking about not using plastic bags:
I bought these reusable grocery bags (Envirosax) a few months ago online and love them. They fit into my purse and at the grocery store I receive a $.05 discount for every bag I use. I find these to be very sturdy as well.