Full weekend and a farewell to Back Porch Revival

I had a bunch of fun this weekend!

It started with nailing my final tempo run and then tree decorating at Mom and Dad's house.

Saturday morning was the annual THS Band craft fair, where I bought a couple gifts and some yummy candies for myself.

After some work at home, Brad, Dad, Lindsey and I hit the trails at Tryon for an hour of foggy, sweaty fun. It was a beautiful, drippy afternoon. Loved it!

Sunday was a 5:30 a.m. wake-up call for handbells at Newberg Friends.

After a nap and more house work (the bathroom remodel is ALMOST DONE!), I went with Mom and Eryn to the farewell concert for Back Porch Revival. 

Gene Greer was the first producer I ever worked for in the TV news biz. He sent me home crying the first day but ended up being my mentor and a long-time friend. I've seen his band play many times, and when I heard they are taking a break, I couldn't miss their final concert.

Since we were at Mississippi Pizza, we had to partake!

Front man, Gene:

The band played a solid 2-hour set, playing originals and standards. It was a great show - so glad we could be there!

BPR - you'll sure be missed!!

Christmas light run

Lindsey joined us last Wednesday for a fun Christmas light run in Tualatin!

RoadRunner Sports was hosting the run, which went from the store on Nyberg to the big Christmas tree at Bridgeport Village. We gathered for some pictures before heading back to the store.

After about 3.25 miles, we snacked on cookies and hot chocolate - and then all three of us won water bottles from Hoka!

We all tested Hoka shoes. Lindsey's demo pair:

It was super fun to hang out with Lindsey doing something I love! We kept the pace easy and just enjoyed the night run. ALSO - it was supposed to dump rain that evening. But the storm held off, and we were dry the whole time! It wasn't too cold or windy, either - perfect running weather!

After, we had to refuel with dinner from a Taqueria Las Casitas :)

Last tempo!

Yesterday was my final speed session of this training!!!

A spent some quality time on the treadmill after work, completing one last tempo run before my goal race. I ended up with 6.25 miles while binge watching Flashpoint: 

It's definitely the hardest of the prescribed workouts, but I nailed it!

After a shower and some dinner, we went to Mom and Dad's house to decorate their gigantic tree. It is a real beauty this year!

We enjoyed treats while filling the tree with precious ornaments from the past :)

Clark County Turkey Trot (11/26/15)

Sticking with tradition, we started our Thanksgiving with a race!

This year's selection was the Clark County Turkey Trot. They offered a 5K and a 10K, so Brad, Eryn and I opted for the longer race for maximum pie-burning calories :)

Brad and I stayed the night at his parents' house in Vancouver, then it was up early for the short drive to Salmon Creek Park.

If you remember, it was super cold that day - 26 degrees at the start! We got there nice and early to secure parking, then sat in our cars until race time.

Formal Flush donated a couple luxury porta-potties - and they were unbelievable!

Heated (AC for the summer), photos on the walls, running water, "flush" toilets. Seriously nicest porta ever! THANKS, FORMAL FLUSH!!!

The before - notice the frozen leaves:

The after (Steve and Donna scooted out before we grabbed a pic):

This was a really good event! The course was gorgeous and almost totally flat. The volunteers were terrific. The crowd was cheerful and fun. I would definitely do this one again! It seemed a bit less festive than other turkey-day races we've done (perhaps because of the COLD), but it was still really fun.

I love this family tradition and hope to keep it up for a long time!! :)

Two dinners and a day of shopping

Just two Thanksgiving dinners for us this year!

After our annual Turkey Trot, our first stop was Friendsview for early dinner with Brad's family. My first plate - YUMMO!!

 

Some of the gang:

Then it was home to for a brief rest and also to put the finishing touches on our offerings for Dinner No. 2. I just took a little this time around:

Pie options:

Brad says there's always room for pie:

My side of the family, gathered at Eryn's house:

Both celebrations were very yummy and very fun!

Then after some cleanup at Eryn's, it was off to plot our Black Friday adventure.

We dug through the ads and made lists and a route for early Friday. After a few hours of shuteye, it was time to shop!

My alarm went off at 3:30 a.m. for a quick shower and oatmeal before picking up Dad at 4:30 a.m. Waiting for Fred Meyer to open at 5 a.m.:

It was a fruitful day of shopping and lots of fun to spend the day like this!

Have you seen these ride-on things at Washington Square?!? You rent the animal-shaped scooters and zoom around the mall. A bunch of teenagers were on them - and it was hilarious!

After our all-day shopping extravaganza, it was time for family and friends to gather for our annual holiday kick-off Christmas Vacation viewing:

It's not going in our yard, Rusty ;)

Tree time!

After church, we caravaned to a family Christmas tree farm on Leander Road on Chehalem Mountain.

We quickly chose this year's beauties but then spent a long time figuring out how to get them home. Usually we cram them in the truck bed, but they were too big this year!

Eryn's tiny tree rode in her front seat:

Our tree and Mom and Dad's trees were in the truck:

And Eryn's was on our roof:

Happy tree hunters!

The view out our skylight on the way home:

:)

Happy December!

:)