Trick or Treat

*Happy Halloween*

Dinner Tonight :: Slow-Cooker Turkey Chili

Ok, I lied it was dinner Saturday night but I'm sticking with the 'Dinner Tonight' theme for my recipe posts! Anyway, on Saturday we hosted a little pumpkin carving get together. It was thrown together last minute and we weren't sure how many people would show up, so I knew I had to cook something that would both satisfy the masses and be pretty hands off. I was flipping through my Southern Living Magazine the other day and flagged a Slow-Cooker Turkey Chili Recipe, this was the perfect hands off casual meal. At the end of the evening, 9 bellies were happy and there was much pumpkin carving fun had by all. That equals a last minute dinner party success in my book! Enjoy!

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Slow-Cooker Turkey Chili

Makes 4 to 6 servings {I actually doubled the recipe}

Ingredients

1 1/4 pounds lean ground turkey
1 large onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 (1.25-oz.) envelope chili seasoning mix
1 (12-oz.) can beer
1 1/2 cups frozen corn kernels
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 (28-oz.) can crushed tomatoes
1 (15-oz.) can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 (8-oz.) can tomato sauce
3/4 teaspoon salt
Toppings: shredded Cheddar cheese, finely chopped red onion, sliced fresh jalapeños

Preparation

1. Cook first 4 ingredients in a large skillet over medium-high heat, stirring often, 8 minutes or until turkey crumbles and is no longer pink. Stir in beer, and cook 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Spoon mixture into a 5 1/2-qt. slow cooker; stir in corn and next 6 ingredients until well blended. Cover and cook on LOW 6 hours. Serve with desired toppings.

I Need To Do This More Often:

Desk Yoga

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Since I sit at my desk for at least 8 hours everyday and I usually eat my lunch at my desk, I should take a few minutes to do some desk yoga. Click here to learn some new moves. Let's hope my boss doesn't suddenly walk into my office while I'm doing the 'cat - cow stretch'.

Namaste.

Parents visit!

My parents flew into Seattle on Thursday for the weekend and we decided to explore Mount Rainier. On Friday we drove to Mount Rainier National Park it was a beautiful scenic drive.

Here are Mom and Dad hiking into Carter Falls, it was about a 2 mile round trip hike.

Garrett and I, did I mention the leaves were GORGEOUS!

My Mom said they looked almost neon

Carter Falls - we made it!

Mom and I at the Falls!

Parents

awww

After our hike we headed to Paradise where the Visitor Center is...


Beautiful meadow... Mount Rainier is hiding behind those clouds...

After exploring the park, it was getting late and we were getting hungry so we headed to the house we rented for the night and ran into these fellas on the way....

ELK - they were just prancing through the neighborhood we stayed in! Come to find out that a person was feeding them, which in my mind is a no no since these are wild animals.

Anyway, we got to the house and it was an amazing find - it had 2 master bedrooms, a fire pit, hot tub we were pleasantly surprised! We had some wine and appetizers by the fire pit and then headed off to dinner at the local bar at the only place that served dinner for miles, an experience to say the least but we all got burgers and full bellies sooo mission accomplished! Then we headed home and got in the hot tub and laughed all night about our dinner experience!

The next morning we explored a bit more then were on our way back to Seattle via scenic route over the Chinook Pass through Yakima.

Here is Mom with a huge tree!

On the drive we saw multiple herds of Big Horn Sheep and we stopped to look. I didn't even know these existed in Washington State let alone just outside of Yakima! This guy was thristy

We also stopped at Snoqualmie Falls

It was just beautiful!

We got home and my Dad and Garrett watched some football while Mom and I sat outside and just talked and talked. We went to dinner at a nearby restaurant I've been wanting to try out called Ray's. It was delicious, my Dad ordered the Northwest fish sampler and his dish won best meal ever - the Sablefish was to die for!

On Sunday we headed down to the Market to get dinner supplies. My Mom made homemade Alfredo with dungeness crabmeat. Yum Yum, love anything my Mom makes :) My Dad and Garrett headed to the Seahawks game {my Dad's very first professional football game}. He had an absolute blast and I think he enjoyed watching all the crazy intoxicated people as much as watching the Hawks smother the Jags with a 41 - 0 Win! While the boys were at the game, my Mom and I went shopping in downtown Seattle. We hit up some of her favorite stores that aren't in Birmingham - Nordstrom and H&M - and shopped at Macy's and {my favorite} Nordstrom's Rack. The one thing I miss most about living so far away from my Mom is shopping with her - it's always been one of our favorite things to do together, even if we don't buy a thing. So this, for me, was the perfect day spent with Mom! :)

Mom and Dad with Mount Rainier (of course it wasn't hiding the day after we left - ha)

Mom, Garrett and I!

Thanks for visiting Mom and Dad - Hurry Back!!!

Last M's Game of the Season

On Sunday we left Leavenworth early and headed back to Seattle for the last Mariner's game of the season. Garrett's Grandmother, Phyllis invited the whole family out to the game to celebrate her birthday. Happy Birthday Phyllis!

The whole gang after the game!

It was a beautiful warm sunny day!

The Mariner's won 4 - 3 over the Texas Rangers. After the game the whole team did an impromptu victory lap around the stadium and lifted Ken Griffey, Jr. onto their shoulders and carried him off the field. It was very emotional to watch, there is so much camaraderie on this team. I'm glad we were able to be there to see what might be Griffey's final at bat!

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Oktoberfest

Last weekend, we headed over the Cascade Mountains to Leavenworth for their annual Oktoberfest Festival. Leavenworth is a cute little Bavarian Village just a couple hours away from Seattle. A few months ago, about 10 of our friends decided that this year we would rent a house for the weekend and run the Leavenworth Half Marathon. The house turned out to be a fabulous find, complete with a hot tub, old fashioned popcorn machine (!!!), air hockey and foosball table... What else could one need?!

On Saturday 8 of us (myself not included) ran the Leavenworth Half Marathon. It was a beautiful crisp clear fall day and almost everyone set a new PR {personal record} - way to go guys!

All the finishers - Mike, Drew, Sara, Garrett, Tony, Geoff, Brian and Liz

After the race we went into town to grab some food and I had to get a picture of these guys sitting at the bar in traditional German lederhosen. From there we headed to the tents to taste some German beer and watch the bands and performers flown in straight from Germany! It was a fun weekend with friends, I'm thinking we should turn this into an annual trip!

30th Birthday Celebration - Disneyland Style

We continued celebrating Garrett and Ky's 30th Birthday Weekend with a trip to Disneyland on Saturday. It's funny, Ky's Mom - Wendy - sent Ky a Disney themed birthday care package complete with Mickey ears. If you look carefully in the two pictures below you can see us with the Mickey ears on... I think these ears were meant for little kids, but we rocked them! We took these photos at the entrance just for Wendy!


You can barely see the ears, but they are there!

We headed straight for Indiana Jones to start off the day, and was a favorite ride for all of us. Here is a picture from Splash Mountain... This was my first time to Disneyland (I grew up going to Disneyworld).. I was feeling adventurous and decided I would volunteer to be in the front.

Yup, you guessed it. I was SOAKED, but it was well worth it. This seriously makes me giggle every time I look at it! SO.MUCH.FUN.

Time for Garrett's favorite - Star Wars - when we walked out of the ride we saw a Jedi training going on {above pic on the right} Of course Garrett took like 5 pictures - he missed his chance to become a Jedi in training by about 25 years! ;)

Here we are at the Castle... Being a Disneyworld native, I thought the castle was tinny tiny...

Actually when I first saw it, I asked Ky if it was the real deal or just a preview the the BIG castle? Ha. I was mistaken. I guess I expected a ginormous castle like the one at Disneyworld! Notsomuch. But I learned it's the original castle and that's why it's special!

We got fast passes for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and they were a huge time saver! This was my favorite ride at Disneyland and we ended up going on it 3 times and caught the very last ride of the night!

Sitting in the back it the best place to be!

Next, we headed across the street to California Adventure... We were on a sugar high really excited...

Ha Ha. Love it!

I had to get this shot. L = Lauren!

By far, my favorite ride of the day had to be Soaring Over California at California Adventure. It is a simulated hang glider tour over the state of CA, flying over the Golden Gate Bridge to the orange groves, where you actually smell the oranges, to the Redwood forest where you smell trees. Amazing.

Navigating our way through California Adventure... Of course, I had to get a Mickey Ice Cream Sandwich!

Right when we walked out of Tower of Terror, we ran into Dopey and had to get a pic! He didn't have too much to say.

We headed to Downtown Disney for dinner at ESPN Zone, hoping to catch the football games and have some downtime while we ate. Then headed back to Disneyland for the night time shows.

Disneyland had just started their annual "Halloween Time" so these were the first spooky Fireworks and Fantasmic Shows. It was cool to see all the Disney Villains out, my favorite was Ursula from The Little Mermaid!

Between the two shows we rode Space Mountain and after Fantasmic we headed to the Haunted Mansion which was extra spooky since it was during Halloween Time. Then we went to Indiana Jones one last time. It was about 11:30PM (park closes at midnight) when we finished Indiana Jones so we booked it across the park to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and were able to ride twice before they had to close the ride!! I was well worth the run, even though we were all completely exhausted.

Loved seeing Disneyland at night all lit up!

After 15 hours at the park, we decided to call it a day and head home. I think we got to ride all the rides that each of us wanted to = Fun times and successful day at Disneyland and California Adventure.

PS: I learned that Pirates of the Caribbean Movie, was based off the ride at Disney... Learn something new everyday!