End of 2016

December 23
A soggy morning, but no major precipitating, so I strolled to the grocery store for some random baking ingredients - unreasonable excitement for spending a day in the kitchen! Rudy checked out the Constellation trails while I did some ridiculous baking: rye bread, sugar cookies, peanut butter blossoms- also no bake cookies.  Early afternoon, Trevor and Karlene departed on their vacation, leaving us in charge of the place and cats! My domestic fun was completed early enough to get in a little run - some trails, some road - misty, but great to get out and burn off some cookie dough! During my run, Rudy took in Star Wars Episode I. Kept it simple with spaghetti for dinner, then finished The Godfather Part II. After dinner, my stomach was unhappy - not sure if I caught something, or just something I ate, but it didn't stop me from consuming a few cookies during the movie, which I'm sure didn't help...

December 24
My tummy was definitely not good and I stayed in bed until afternoon. Should probably be grateful we weren't living in the van this week! After evacuating the stomach I felt a little better and was able to eat a little, including a bean burrito - which sat OK - no cookies though :( By the time I looked outside, most of the winter storm was done, totaling 8" of snow!

Desert plants in the snow amuse me

 


A good day to lay around and march on the Star Wars marathon - I partially, and Rudy fully watched  Episodes II, II, and IV.

December 25
A cold, Merry Christmas! I was still not feeling awesome, but managed a little yoga in the morning, and endured the smell of bacon and eggs Rudy made for himself. I was sticking to small, mild meals. We watched Star Wars Episode V to allow the temperature to get above freezing before hiking the Thumb Butte Loop - it was actually a nice day to be out!

The place we are staying is off some steep neighborhood roads, so might be a couple days before the van goes anywhere. After the hike, I was able to make and enjoy some Christmas Dinner!

Ham, green beans, smashed potatoes and baked sweet potatoes - good stuff. After eating, we watched Star Wars Episode VI, with cookies, and called it a night.

December 26
A quiet day around the house. Rudy did a little shoveling, there was a longer yoga session for me and a run/jog Thumb Butte Loop again - feeling a little better yet. Then the first use of leftover ham - Split Pea Soup! We also tackled Star Wars - The Force Awakens.

December 27
The van made it out of the neighborhood and we headed down to the Black Canyon Trail and meet up with friends Adam and Micah from Grand Marais. We all did some biking on the Kay Mine and Skyline Sections - Micah and I pretty much did little out and backs between river crossings. The guys took on the river crossings and got in a longer ride, while us girls took advantage of the warm, sunny day to just hang out and chat. Even the guys had a relatively shorter ride so our friends could continue their journey south. Rudy and I had time to catch a matinee of Rogue One in Prescott Valley - I didn't enjoy the movie much early on, but by the end, I decided I did like it! Just some leftovers for dinner, then we played some Phase 10 - 2 games, Leslie won both.

December 28
Another good yoga session for me, except a sore neck/shoulder at end - not sure what triggered it - ick. I also got in a little run - just on the road, feeling better, but still not quite 100%. Rudy's big activities for the day were splitting fire wood and assembling his new bike. I make simple dough for pizza - first time without whole wheat flour. More ham use with a pineapple ham pizza - crust is just so-so, but pizza is always awesome. We took more advantage of games we don't have in the van and tried Dominoes - Leslie won 4/5, with the version we were playing - not convinced we had all the rules straight!

December 29
I woke up strangely early, but I like waking up early :) I tried some easy yoga - neck/shoulder isn't getting worse at least. Also got out to Thumb Butte trails for a little run. We both went out for a few errands around town, including hanging out at the bike shop for about an hour, and made our way to the Constellation trails - a bit much for me for biking, especially with wet conditions and patches of snow - a cool area though, and only one little crash.

Chunky granite everywhere!

The trail goes through there....

This marked Rudy's first ride on his new bike - he really likes it. After the riding, bean burritos, then a start on The Godfather Part III.

December 30
With the wintry weather and reading about other people's winter fun, I'm feeling like we need to get some where warmer, I'll be missing snow...OK, probably not. We headed to Sedona for the day before the next round of cold and wet moved in. Such a good choice, it got up in the 60s and sunshiny - so nice! I planned a longish run and felt unexpectedly good, so tacked on almost another hour to make 16 miles for my final run of 2016. Rudy got in a good long ride and managed to sell his old bike - yay for more space! We got back a little late and it was nice to have plenty of leftovers for dinner. More gaming - Scattergories - Rudy 1, Leslie 2, and 3 ties.

December 31
Yoga again - I think I can attribute the damp cool weather and being relatively inactive a few days to my sudden consistency with it, I guess I need to get some movement in the morning! The forecast had been for an icky weather day, but the chance of precipitation disappeared, so we headed to the Constellation trails again. I got in some great hiking and Rudy had fun biking around in the Granite Dells.

The Red Bridge Loop on Willow Lake

Rudy lovin' it

Headed up the Apex Trail

View from the top of Apex Trail

Still a bit chilly though, and a great afternoon to enjoy a sauna! Made some bean soup, including the last of the Christmas ham, and collard greens. Then got in more Scattergories (didn't keep track of wins, seemed pretty even) and a game of Phase 10 to bring us to the New Year - Happy 2017!