November Happenings and Festival of Lights

Here we are at the beginning of yet another month. Only this time we are in I would have to say my second favorite, maybe it is even tied for first. I love Christmas and the time before when everything and everyone gets ready for this special time. Before I get carried away talking all about Christmas, I need to spend time talking about what we've been up to this past month. I've already posted about our Thanksgiving and have posted my 30 days of things I'm thankful for. You're probably wondering what else could I possibly have to talk about or maybe you're just sick of me posting things. Either way, I'm here to give you an update any way.

Let's go all the way back to the end of October. Tracy attended two conferences the last week of October and into the first part of November. The first conference he went to was for the Geological Society of America (GSA). This year it was in Denver. He had a poster presentation which he was a co-author for. He wasn't the first author, so he didn't have to put together to poster just provide some of the information. The first time he saw the finish product was at the conference. He attended the conference with his adviser and his other fellow grad-students. He had a good time and met new people, as well as saw old friends.

I just picked a few pictures from the conferences to share that I think are interesting enough to share on here.

The conference center had this big blue bear outside looking in.

This is what Tracy calls the Droser posse.
It is his adviser ( in the white shirt) and her current and past students who were at the conference.
Only Tracy isn't pictured because he was taking the picture.

The day he returned from the GSA conference, he left again to the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology (SVP) conference. Only it was in LA, so an hour away. It was still far enough and not worth fighting traffic to drive back and forth each day. At SVP Tracy presented a poster on his swim tracks that he's working on for his Master's Thesis. I call them his swim tracks because he pretty much is only one working on the swims track in Southern Utah right now.
During the conference, he got to go to The de Saisset Museum. Here are a couple of pictures from there:

 He was right in downtown L.A.

I'm a big fan of buildings. The cooler it looks the better.

Tracy also attended a conference a couple of weeks ago in Death Valley. His adviser wanted him to attend because on the last day of the conference they had a field trip to some track sites that the general public doesn't get to see. He attended with some other fellow grad-students.

The weekend of the conference there was a full moon.

At the track site there are these hoof tracks. Pretty cool.

Pretty much Tracy attending conferences has been what our month was like. I got sick with a horrible cold that started out as a cough for almost 2 weeks, then turned to nasal congestion and cough for a week, then just a cough again. Finally it has left me alone, though I still cough occasionally. James came down with the cold a couple of weeks ago and still has a little cough. Tracy got the cold last week and is still suffering. Hopefully, this is the only illness we end up with this winter.

I'm still in the habit of taking pictures of the sunsets from our patio.

And of James watching me take pictures of the sunsets.

And of the other funny things James does.

Being a big ham.

He pretended to be a cat for several weeks.
He even had a name, Gnocchi. (Someone's been watching Curious George, A LOT!)
One day he tried to get in the kitty cubbie. Didn't work too well.

 James and I have a system when putting groceries away.

Now I think I have covered all the November happenings, except one, the Festival of Lights. The Festival of Lights has been going on in downtown Riverside for 21 years. It runs from the day after Thanksgiving till a few days after New Year's. It is completely funded and organized by The Mission Inn Hotel & Spa. The owners started the festival a year after they bought The Mission Inn. The Inn gets completely covered in lights and they put over 400 animated figurines on display. The festival includes an Outdoor Ice Skating Rink, entertainment each day, specialty vendors and food, Carriage Rides, and Live Music. It is so fun to go to.

Last year we went the night after Thanksgiving where they had the "Switch-On Ceremony" and we went again this year. The ceremony starts with songs played by the Riverside Community College Marching Band, which I enjoy a lot. We managed to squeeze into the crowd and got about as close as we did last year.

Then there's some talking, comments from city officials and the Inn owner. Then we all count down to turn on the lights.

Oh, did I forget to mention the fireworks? Seriously, the best "turn on the lights" ever. I'm going to miss that if we ever move. 

Thankful Post #4

Day 22: I am thankful for having 2 cars. When one is giving you troubles it is really nice to have a second one to use.

Day 23: I am thankful for talents and skills. And being able to use them and to gain new ones.

Day 24: I am thankful for kitty cuddles. I don't know what I'd do with out having a pet to cuddle with when I'm feeling down.

Day 25: I am thankful for Mondays. The day where I get to start a whole new week with new hopes that it will be better than the one before.

Day 26: I am thankful for my home. I really love my apartment. It is nice, haven't had too many problems with it. The grounds are well kept and the manager is great. I'm glad we found such a nice place to live with the short notice we had to find one. Now hoping I get some nice new neighbors, since the apartment next to me is empty right now.

Day 27: I am thankful for my little guy James. I was trying to save the best two things in my life for last (pretty close to last, though), but after today, I just couldn't help but feel grateful to be a mom to such a fun, loving, happy boy. I'm so glad to have him in my life to teach me to have more patience, to enjoy the tiniest things in this world (like ants) and to have unconditional love. How can you not love this kid?

Day 28: I am thankful for Tracy. I am glad to have him as my husband. There are so many things I love about him. 

Day 29: I am thankful for family and friends. Love spending time with my little family and my very large family of brothers, sisters, in-laws, friends, parents, etc.

Day 30: I am thankful for the holiday season. Such a great time to give thanks, give service and remember our Savior.

Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving, we ended up having the day with just the 3 of us. I hadn't thought much about what I would fix till yesterday, though I had our dessert picked out a week or maybe even 2 weeks ago (You see my priorities here? treats). My Pumpkin Cheesecake recipe has been sitting out in my kitchen for a week or so, staring me in the face. Yes, it is that good that I've been dreaming about it far longer than I've been dreaming about the other Thanksgiving type food.

We found ourselves on a tight budget this month and next month, because of grad-school applications and the 3 conferences Tracy attended the past month. Not to mention my car has died, so we have to get it fixed, too. Hoping all it needs is a new battery. Originally I hadn't planned on doing any thing special, except that cheesecake. One way or another I was going to get me some cheesecake, lol. Priorities, people, priorities!

So Yesterday I wrote up a shopping list and we hit the grocery store. After getting the things we needed for the week and picked up things I was planning on for today. We went to the meat department to pick up our protein. We didn't want a large turkey for just the 3 of us, because we knew we'd never eat it before it went bad. Yes, you can freeze it, but it is only good for so long. Plus, we couldn't afford a large one. They had small ones, but those were still a little pricey. My sister had told me she had Rotisserie Chicken one year. We considered buying one, but they are best the day of and didn't want to do shopping on a holiday. Finally we settled on a non-traditional Surf n' Turf Thanksgiving Dinner.

I made the cheesecake this morning. While I was making it, James knocked the eggs off the counter. Luckily, I only needed one more and one was saved enough to use. Tracy made our shrimp and steak. I love that he loves to cook and when he cooks it is always amazing.

Proof he was the one cooking. :)

Stake with Balsamic Reduction Sauce, Shrimp with Garlic Cream Sauce and Fingerling Potatoes.
It was incredibly delicious.
(I had to try before taking the picture.)

Pumpkin Cheesecake
I even whipped up my own whip cream to go with.

Before Tracy cooked dinner, him and James sat here together watching videos of car races/chases/other car related stuff.

I hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving! I'll leave you with this picture from a couple weeks ago:

I've become the master of train track building. :)