A Braun Family Tradition

Here's a little glimpse at our (this would be technically our third but we were back home for the holiday last year) 2011 Thanksgiving. We had some friends up from San Diego who were with us for our first Thanksgiving in California and are moving away soon as he begins the Interim Manager process. It was a treat to have them with us again, as well as my mom, who was also with us our first Thanksgiving in CA (a little deja vu :). Another operator and his wife, as well as his parents also joined us for dinner :) It may have been a bit cramped with nine adults and two dogs in our apartment, but definitely cozy and yummy! We have so much to be thankful for this season, and always. Praise the Lord for His bountiful blessings and saving grace!

I tried to set the table simply with a little bit of Fall flare...I got all the little decorations at Hobby Lobby (the first one built in CA just happens to be in Rancho! Woot! Woot!).

Our delicious spread :)

Yea, football was definitely on :)

It has kind of gradually become a tradition for Corey and I to cook the Turkey...Corey loves to make the stuffing, which is his dad's stuffing recipe that we've modified with our own special twist, mostly so he can eat it out of the turkey pan :) We had a Thanksgiving celebration with our group of friends the Saturday before Thanksgiving that we cooked the turkey for as well...needless to say, we had our fair share of turkey this Thanksgiving ;)

Our dear friends, Mark and Laura.

Fellow Operator, Justin and his wife, Audry, who we have grown quite close to :)

One of the best cooks I know :)

Banished from the kitchen :)

They're not spoiled, just loved :)

You'll Know at the Finish Line

This adventure begins nestled in the rolling hills of Malibu, California. At 7:30am. It's not usually "cold" in southern California but on the coast, in the early morning, under cloud cover I would definitely have classified it as "cold". Corey and I were originally set to run in a "Muddy Buddy Race" (a 5K race with a buddy switching off between running and biking with a few obstacles thrown in there) in early November but decided to go with a Spartan Sprint Race (mostly due to the fact that some friends suggested we all do it together). With the help and encouragement from our CFA trainers we had been training off and on for few months in preparation for the race. I'm not actually sure how much good the training did us - it's kind of hard to prepare for something like that without knowing exactly what you're getting into. The Spartan Sprint consisted of about 3.5 miles of steep hill running with lots of "fun" obstacles sprinkled throughout. By "fun" I mean we began by fumbling through cold creek water and ended by crawling through muddy gravel under barbed wire, with hoisting a bucket of cement to the top of a tree some where in the middle. It's hard to actually explain all that the race held for us but I will say that it was challenging, crazy, cold, muddy and rewarding. It's one of those situations where you're thinking in the midst of it "what have I gotten myself into?" but afterward you feel pretty hard core :) I can say with confidence that we will definitely do another Spartan Sprint - and that I will train a little differently for the next one. I don't say all of this brag about what we've done, it's not like we finished with a great time or anything, only to share with you something that we really enjoyed doing together and with friends. It was a great alternative to the mundane running and working out - it gave us something to work towards together and it was an engaging, unique experience :) Next time we hope you'll join us, you won't be disappointed (just a little sore, and maybe bruised).

(I'm supposed to be getting a picture that a lady took of us at the end of the race and I'll post it as soon as I can, but for now I just have one from that morning.)

http://www.spartanrace.com/