Recipe to Share

I hosted Bunco Friday night, and here was my menu:
Appetizer: grapes, artichoke/spinach dip, crackers, chocolate
Main course: green salad, taco soup, olive bread, garlic bread
Dessert: oatmeal raisin cookies, peanut butter brownies, pumpkin bread

The ladies were asking for the taco soup recipe, so here it is! I originally got this recipe from my friend, Beth.


Taco Soup
(do not drain any of the canned items)

1 lb. of ground beef (or turkey)
2 cans of diced tomatoes
1 yellow onion chopped (I use a bit less!)
1 can of pinto beans
1 can of black beans
1 can of corn
1 sm. can of sliced black olives
1 sm. can of diced chili's
1 package of taco seasoning
1 package of ranch dressing mix
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
grated ched. cheese
tortilla chips

Brown the ground beef, and onion... place the tomatoes, beans, corn (including all juices) and seasonings in crock pot... cook 4 + hours on low... serve topped with grated cheese, and tortillas...

Weekly Sports Report

Capo boys XC is going to CIF!!! That's the first time they've been to CIF in 11yrs! The coach is so happy that instead of practice today, he's treating the team to ice cream, LOL! (I wonder if the coach gets paid more if the team makes CIF?) Anyway, the Varsity team did really well, but the sophomore team came in 5th out of 6 teams... The top 3 sophomore runners run varsity, the next top 3 sophomores (the fastest 3 on the sophomore team) were/are all injured. The #1 runner hurt himself at practice this week and is out for 3-6 months. Chris is the #2 runner and this is his second race back after injury (he came in 4th yesterday). The #3 runner is also back after injury for his second race (he came in 6th yesterday). Chris is happy with how he did, and that's what's important. The entire team rides the bus to CIF, but only the Varsity will be running. Chris's XC season is over.

Chris's soccer team won their game last weekend, but missed making playoffs by one point. So, Chris's soccer season is also over.

Cheryl's game was rained out last Tuesday. It is postponed until next Monday... that means she has a game Monday, Tuesday, and Friday. Because of their dismal season, the team did not make Regionals. So, Cheryl's soccer season will be over after next week.

Halloween photos to share

Here are Chris and my dad at Cheryl's soccer game. Cheryl's team lost again... 1-2.

Here are Chris and Cheryl dressed for Halloween...

Here is my neice with Cheryl. She's dressed as a cowgirl. Maybe she thinks Cheryl is a horse. LOL!

Weekly Sports Report

It's been a while since I've had sports photos to share. Chris ran his first race in 3 weeks. He didn't expect to do very well. He hasn't been practicing since he hurt his foot. He finished 7th in the school (a nonscoring position) at 19:57. One of the other boys passed Chris's PR. That dropped Chris down to #3 runner. He's not disappointed... He's just happy that he's running again! There is one more race next Thurs.


Cheryl is a star defender. She still thinks defense is boring, but she's doing very well. I've noticed that her style is changing, because the photos that I'm getting of her are so different this season than what I was taking before. Maybe this is her taking on a more aggressively defensive style. Her team lost on Tuesday against Fullerton, but they had to play without their starting center midfielder (she was red carded last game). Well, another midfielder was red carded in the game against Fullerton.... The season is getting rough!

Weekly Sports Report

The Capo Varsity XC did really well at Mt. Sac.! They came in 2nd place, only missing 1st by 4 points! The Sophmores did terribly. The top 3 runners were all not running (Chris being #2). I heard that there were 60+ calls made to 911 during the Varsity and Frosh races. So, they cut down the length of the course from 3 miles to 2 miles... they still had kids dropping from heat exhaustion, so they ended up cancelling the last race.

We don't know how Chris's soccer team did, because he missed the game.

Cheryl's team played in the "Toilet Bowl" this week. That means the winner of the game comes in 2nd to the last place, and the loser gets the honor of being in last. Well, they won! Saddleback is in 2nd to the last place! LOL! Cheryl spent the entire game working in the Saddleback defense. Saddleback beat Santa Ana 1-0. Unfortunately, one of the starting center mid-fielders was red carded and can't play in the game today against Fullerton. Cheryl scored against Fullerton last time they played. Maybe she can do it again today!

Galaxy played in a "Toilet Bowl" of their own. If Galaxy had won, they would have beat Dallas they would have moved ahead of them in the standings. As it was, Galaxy and Dallas tied 2-2. This left Galaxy in last place in MLS West.

I took Chris to his weekly checkup for his foot. The doctor said that she's 90% sure (because of the way it's healing) that he had a compression fracture. We opted to not have it x-rayed right after he hurt his foot, because the treatment for a sprain and a compression fracture were the same. Chris is planning to run this week in the Cluster meet Thursday afternoon. All the sophmore runners will be back from injury! I'm not sure how well they'll do since they haven't practiced for weeks.

Book Reviews

I've really got the reading bug! I have lots and lots of books checked out from the library. I hope I can finish them all before they're due. Here is a new series called Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare that Chris and I started reading. Chris said it reminded him of Harry Potter, and he finished both these books (close to 1000 pages) in 5 days. It is definitely for an older group than Harry Potter, and I don't see much resemblence to the Harry Potter series (except that kids are the heros of the book, as they are in most kids books). There are demons, vampires, werewolves, and shadow hunters... great for the lovers of the fantasy genre.



More books that I have finished in the last couple months...

Kids books:

Oy, Joy by Lucy Frank	The Game by Diana Wynne Jones	The Time Paradox by Eoin Colfer
Rapunzel's Revenge by Shannon Hale	Peeps by Scott Westerfeld	By These Ten Bones by Clare B. Dunkle
Dragonhaven by Robin McKinley	The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan

Teen books:
These are still kids books, but may not be appropriate for young kids.

The Unlikely Romance of Kate Bjorkman by Louise Plummer

Marked by PC Cast

Betrayed by PC Cast

...And continuing with my vampire romance obession...

Crimson City by Liz Maverick	Vamps and the City by Kerrelyn Sparks	Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris
Wicked Deeds on a Winter's Night by Kresley Cole	Dark Needs at Night's Edge by Kresley Cole

Weekly Sports Report

I never quite got around to "Sports Report - Part 2" or even a regular sports report for last week.

Not too much went on. Cheryl's college team had 3 away games and lost all three. Her home game Tuesday was pretty exciting. (I missed the game because I was at work). Cheryl's team was down 0-2 at half time. Cheryl was moved back to defense... BTW, we call that defending a loss, which we don't see as a good idea... At the beginning of the second half, the other team scored and it was 0-3. THEN Cheryl's team came back scoring 2 goals and almost a third. The final score was a 2-3 loss. Cheryl assisted one of the goals (from defense)! She chipped the ball over the other team to the feet of the center midfielder, who turned, shot and scored! So, two kicks and the ball went 3/4 of the way down the field and into the net!!!

Now, Chris... Poor Chris... He's still out with a bum foot. He missed two soccer games and one XC meet. He'll probably miss the meet and soccer game this weekend too. His foot is getting better. He can walk on it without it hurting now, and has been running no more than 20 minutes on the grass. He has another doctor appointment this afternoon.

LA Galaxy played horribly and lost their chance for the MLS Playoffs. So, we are now Chivas USA fans! LOL! Cheryl met about half of the starting line-up for Chivas, and she pointed out that the players on Chivas are a lot nicer than the players on Galaxy. There is one more Galaxy home game this weekend, but win/lose/draw they are out of the playoffs. GO CHIVAS!

Weekly Sports Report - Part 1

The XC Cluster Meet was yesterday. Chris was expected to come in as the #2 runner. When I saw him about half way through the race, he was running in the #2 spot. Unfortunately, he hurt his foot after that, and managed to limp his way in as #5. He said that he doesn't know what happened... it just started to hurt and got worse and worse. He could barely walk when he got home, and it was swollen. We iced it last night and this morning. He's still limping, but he said that it doesn't hurt as bad.

Cheryl had a by on Tuesday. Her next soccer game is at HOME on Friday at 3pm. But, she has a very bad cold, so may not play.

Stay tuned for Weekly Sports Report, Part 2...

Still on my way to Woodsfield

I've run over 1000 miles this year, and am over half way to Woodsfield, Ohio! My current progress puts me in Kansas. Hmmm... that means I'll be there in another 9 months, not by Christmas, like I wanted to. Oh well, I hear that spring is nice in Woodsfield...

Weekend Sports Report

Cheryl played on Tuesday, by the time I finished work and drove down there, the game was already in the 2nd half and Cheryl was out. Now that she plays striker, she doesn't play the whole game anymore. She's the starting striker, so I didn't get to see her play at all. Sounds like not too much happened (offensively anyway). They lost 0-5.

Her Friday game was much better. They tied 1-1. Cheryl was in and out. She has to have her quad wrapped for the game. She said the wrapping fell off just before the game started; she had to have it re-wrapped; the re-wrapping was so tight, her foot fell asleep; and had to have it wrapped again. I also missed this game because the Cross Country team was taking team photos that afternoon.... no pictures of Cheryl this week.

There were no races this week. Chris played his soccer game on Sunday, and he actually started! He assisted a goal off a corner kick, and took three shots on goal (two over and one wide). His team won 7-1! I was so excited watching the game that I forgot to take photos (I even had my camera).

So, no sports photos this week. But here's a layout of the Disneyland Half-Marathon that I did this week for a challenge at Scrapbook Deals for You.

Weekly Sports Report

Chris ran the Dana Hills Cross Country Invitational this weekend. Since the varsity runners were gone to a National meet in Oregon, he started in the front row, and finished with a NEW PR of 17:53! He came in 54th overall (so just missed getting a medal by 4 places), and came in 2nd for his school just behind the 1st place runner. He said that he and the first place runner passed each other a couple of times during the race, but the first place runner has never lost to Chris and was determined not to this time also!

That evening Chris played a game with his soccer team, and played great! He played first half as a defender and 2nd half as a mid-fielder. Towards the end of the game, he was still running the entire length of the field while everyone else was pooped... that XC training really pays off!


Cheryl seems to have cemented her new spot as a starting striker. They defeated Santa Ana in an away game 1-0 on Tuesday, and on Friday they lost to Fullerton at home 1-2. She scored her team's only goal that game (by running up on a through ball and shooting just inside the 18yd line)... her first goal of the college season.

We ended up going out for ice cream twice this weekend... on Friday night to celebrate Cheryl's first goal, and on Saturday night to celebrate Chris's new PR!