Baby Food Factory and Donner!

My friend Kristi and I have a commitment to our children's health and this commitment took form over the weekend as an entire day of making baby food.  First we went to the farmer's market and loaded up with the good stuff.  When I say "loaded" I'm not kidding.  It happens to be squash season and squash are not light!  We were basically hauling ourselves and our children back to the car after making our purchases.

Aren't they so sweet?  Our trip to the market was really lovely and uneventful.  The weather was perfection and the changing colors of the trees always makes me happy.  Our only if-y moment was when we were practically pulling into the driveway and both babies began to cry simultaneously.   Thankfully we were home and we both got a humbling giggle about how maybe we aren't ready for baby #2 just yet.

The rest of the day was spent peeling, chopping, steaming, baking and scooping.  So much prep!  And so worth it...

We unintentionally stumbled upon how to make applesauce, it was super yummy!  What lucky babies we have.  Next, everything took a whirl in the blender.  Hopefully Kristi won't hate me for posting this picture of her, I think it's totally cute and represents our afternoon well :)

Look!  Our eggplants have hearts in them!  This baby food is absolutely infused with love:

And finally, everything gets poured into ice cube trays and frozen.  There was SO much puree!  This is just a small peek into the final result, I think we'll be set in the baby food department for awhile...

Yay for good friends, we love our Kristi and Em :)

But wait!  The next day is my mom and my sister-in-law's birthday!  So I whipped up some vegan (and super delish) chocolate cupcakes with a non-vegan caramel and chocolate icing, so pretty and sooooo yummy.

My amazing mother decided that for her birthday she wanted to do the Turkey Trot which is a 7 mile race around Donner lake.  So I decide to join her....a nice idea at the time.  That morning, up at 6am.  Not a cool idea anymore.  Driving up into the mountains: snow.  Ugh!  Really?!  Luckily I love my momma and we didn't turn around.  It was COLD up there.  COLD.  The wind wasn't helpful.  Everyone was bundled and I got nervous when an announcement came over the speaker about taking care on the hills because of snow and ice.  Seriously.  Despite it all, we ran.  And it was perfect!  We even got hot and had to peel a layer or two.  We also had a nice discussion about whether or not there were human bones in Donner Memorial Park and whether or not they had been chewed on by other people....
We finished the race in 1:30ish.  Just where we wanted to be!  And my mom, the rockstar that she is, had to pull me along the last mile or so- I was pooped.  I am so glad she wanted to do this for her birthday, it was beautiful and amazing and I loved it!