The Summer of 2010

This has been an eventful Summer for me... Where do you start with what happened??

So this has possibly been the fastest summer of my life, even while being the slowest!! I thought I might do a little photo entry to show what I have been up to!

Event #1 ~ Mum was here for 3 months. She was a heaven sent. We had lots of fun hanging around at home, Logan, Arizona, and Nevada. Mum came out just as school was finishing up for me. The kids loved meeting her and enjoyed having Mrs. Bailey signing all of their year books =) Half of the kids coming around had no idea who she was, but none the less loved it. Mum also helped me through the Ben break up. She made sure that I was alright. It was hard (and I am not going to post all the gory details), but I am still happy for the amazing time I had together with Ben.



Event #2 ~ I finished my first full year of teaching school!! YAY! I loved this year and can't believe how much I have learned and am excited for this new year and all the adventures that will come with only having a class of 24.

Event #3 ~ Logan for Barfuss Memorial Day games! We hung out with all the Barfuss family for a fun day. The Capareda's drove all night to make it there. Auntie Kay had broken her arm earlier in the week and just got out of surgery, but she was not to be deterred from spending time with family and games ;) Mum started a bean bag fight, and we even saw her running... It was an amazing sight to see.





















Event #4 ~ Mum and I went on a nice 2 week road trip. We started it off with a great trip to the Grand Canyon. Even though we both had been there before, it was still so amazing and breath taking to see it all. We spent a week with the Capareda's in Phoenix. We were able to play a bunch of games, eat some great food, and catch up with friends. I went to dinner with a bunch of the old gang and went to visit an old friend Chad. He had a big night of games and dinner, which was a blast. Mum and I also spent 5 hours floating down the Salt River in Phoenix. It was a hot, fun day. We went with my friend Shane and his wife and friends. I think Mum may have moved in order to get in and out of the tube, but she left Shane and I do the rest. She floated down attached to us and enjoyed the day. Even though we had plenty of suncream on, I still managed to get a nice burn on both my legs.

Event #5 ~ After Phoenix, we went to Vegas. We had a 5 days by the pool. When I say 5 days by the pool, it was literally that. Mum never left the resort, and I left to get some more books and some groceries. It was possibly the most amazing and relaxing fun week of my life. The view was amazing in a desert, and the tan was even better.

Event #6 ~ My cousin Mel married by best mates brother, Todd. It was a beautiful day and ceremony. A lot of the family was there and towards the end of the summer they had a lovely reception before they headed out to Australia.

Event #7 ~ Thanksgiving Point Dinosaur Museum. Jasmine, Isis, Phoenix, Mum, and I went and learned a lot about dinosaurs. Mum and I feel asleep in the 3D movie, obviously it was very exciting. Isis switched into high gear teasing. When we saw this huge shark, he leans over to Phoenix and says "That is going to eat you!" Can't imagine where he would learn to do something like that.

That was a brief run down of the summer for me. I loved having Mum here and spending lots of time with Jasmine and the family up in Logan. After Mum left I caught up with lots of friends that I had not seen much over the summer. All in all a pretty good summer. Hope all is well for you.

Love Candice xx

Happiness Is...

Happiness is spending a day outside with the sunshine and family.

Mummy to the Rescue!

Summer is finally here in Utah. Well its supposed to be, but today was 15 C and raining all day. What the?? I have finally finished school and there is no real sunshine to go out and play in. Life has been a little rough over the last month for me. Ben and I broke up, school finished, other life changes, and making lots of fun choices. There is a lot going on. I have discovered that often in life there are a lot of things to gripe about or get sad, angry, frustrated, ticked off, and annoyed about, but Mum is here and there is so much to be grateful for.

I have so many fabulous things in my life. I have wonderful family, great job, place to live, fabulous friends, car, job, so many things that I need and want. Heavenly Father has really blessed me and that is a great thing to be happy about.

President Monson gave a great talk on gratitude, Finding Joy in the Journey. He said "Our realization of what is most important in life goes hand in hand with gratitude for our blessings."


I hope we can all look for things to be grateful for, even when life seems hard.

Preparing to be a Princess!

This weekend is Phoenix's birthday party. She is so excited, so I have decided to get into the theme. I bought a crown so I can get all dressed up as a Princess. I am going to wear my blue bridesmaid dress and curl my hair all up! It will be lots of fun.

I have painted my nails, got the dress, hair curlers, and jewelry. Party here we come!

Spring Break - What to do??

After a long time coming... I finally got to have a week off! In order to ease into having time off, I started with a fun Friday night of Ben time. We went off to Steve and Hannah Adolfson's reception. It was a bit of a drop and run, I had a mission reunion to get to. We were late for the ELM reunion, but it was great. Sister Wheelwright filled us in on BYUH and all that was going on there. President took the time to teach us. It was great to take a step back in time. It was so much fun to see Nicky, Katie Lee, John Farr, and all the others there. President and Sister Wheelwright were excited to meet Ben. President gave him a little bit of a talking too, making sure he was a good man =)

The rest of the week was a bit of a blur. Ben's sister, Maryanne, and her family were in town. I was also babysitting Isis and Phoenix. There was General Conference to watch followed by some fun Easter celebrations. It snowed on Sunday morning, so a snowball fight was in order. I caught Ben unawares... Maryanne wanted us to all scooch in for a photo, so I had a snowball in my hand, waiting... waiting... waiting... when the time was right, I put it down Ben's top and rubbed it into his chest =) He was surprised that I did it, but then he stopped and realized that he should have expected it from me. It was a fun morning and Ethan and Hugh made a cute snowman.

Later that day John and Vicky came over with their girls. We had a great roast dinner and an Easter egg hunt for the kids. They were just in heaven. On Monday we had a failed snowboarding attempt. We got up the canyon and they were closed! Argh! Luckily they gave me a refund on my board rental. So instead of exercising, we went to Pirate Island Pizza. The pizza was yum and we had lots of fun in the video Arrrr-cade! The competition was on! Ben and I had to have a rematch over the car racing game. He won the first game and then tried to offer me a bit of a handicap. I was not going to take it! He still won and my level of competition was increasing. Ben was kind enough to let Hugh win a race against him. It was a real fun night!

We took all the kids bowling Tuesday. The boys were trying to see who could bowl the fastest ball. I think Ben won (21 miles per hour), but this meant they were not bowling properly. Thus my win over Ben, did not cancel out from the night before :) By the time were were done with 1 game I needed to take Isis and Fi Fi home. It was after 11pm and they were exhausted! We were up bright and early the next morning to get ready to head up the mountain again. I got some real empathy for Jasmine and Nick and why there are always late. I got the kids all ready, but everything took so much longer. So I was running a little late.

The snowboarding was fabulous! I went up twice, and spent the rest of the time with the kids. Maryanne was kind enough to look after the kids while I went up the mountain. They had a blast drawing and playing, but were definitely ready to go at the end of the day. Hugh and Ethan both had snowboarding lessons and loved those. I ran into a couple from Freo up on the mountain too. Ben was being the man, he boarded from the top of the mountain to the bottom in 5 minutes. He loves snowboarding and is really amazing! Yes I can be proud of my man.

The rest of the week was spent playing video games and polly pocket princesses. Isis was loving the chance to play video games with Ethan. Phoenix was holding her own court. Ben, Mike, and Maryanne were all playing with her, telling stories, singing songs, and ust giving Phoenix all the attention in the world. She was in complete heaven! I have never seen a 4 year old command so much attention. I was relegated to dishes duty. Phoenix is in love with the handsome prince Ben, I am not as cool as he is =)

On Friday night, Ben came over to watch Planet 51 with the kids and I. Near the end Jasmine and Nick got back. The kids were so excited to see them, but they still stayed here for the night. Marj came down to spend the night, I have missed my Ginger Midget. Too much time away!! We had Nicky's baby shower in the morning. I was stressing a little, but everything worked out great. Lots of people, great food, friends, and presents for Nicky and the babies. It was a great way to spend the morning.

I said good bye to the kids and Marj, Rachel, and I headed to the Provo Bridal Fair. That was a fun and interesting day. Then I finally got to have a date with my love. We went out for dinner and watched a movie. It was real nice to spend some time with Ben, by myself. This last week was a blast and it was great to get to know his family better. I could not have wished for a better week off. Now I am back to the real world. Teaching! I am counting down the days till the Summer. Mum has decided to come and visit, which will be so much fun. I have a lot to be thankful for and so many exciting things to look forward too.

Love to you all, Candygirl xx

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Creative Cooking Treats

So I decided to try and cook a few new things... I realized that I have been cooking the same things over and over, cause they are easier and I am used to doing it. So a few weeks ago I started cooking new things.

First trial - Banoffee Pie... I volunteered to make a pie for Pi Day here. I wanted to make something new, something that the Americans haven't tried. Banoffee Pie here I come. I boiled 2 tins of Sweetened Condensed milk to turn it into to toffee. It didn't come out as think as I wanted, so I cooked it on the stove with some golden syrup. It turned it into a real nice toffee. I put some toffee in the bottom of the pie crust, layered with lots of sliced bananas, and then more toffee on top. I whipped some cream and then melted chocolate over the top of the pie. Success #1. It was amazing if I do say so myself, and so easy. Everyone loved it and so simple to create!

Trial Two - Chicken Alfredo...I got a recipe online that used cream cheese in the sauce. I thought I would use this as the basis for my sauce. I cooked the pasta and grilled a chicken breast that was seasoned with garlic and onion salt. The sauce was made by melting butter and then the cream cheese. Once I had that I added some garlic salt, and I was supposed to use milk to thin the sauce down. I was not sure if my milk was still good, so I used cream instead! Yes it is already a fat feast, but it was great. I thinned the sauce with cream and added some pepper and herbs. I mixed the sauce with the pasta and the cut up the chicken on top. Yum! Fat Fest? Most definitely. Unhealthy? I can still feel my arteries hardening. Worth it? For Sure.

Trial Three - Ben had the unhappy job of house painting tonight, so he missed the yummy dinner I made for my roomies. I cooked my own Philly Cheese Steak Sandwiches. I cooked some hot chips and made some nice side salads (good to have something healthy). Then I cooked onions and green capsicums. Once they had caramelized, I cooked some thin steak. I added garlic, salt, and pepper, and mixed it all together. Then I melted on top, cream cheese and white cheddar cheese. I put them into a fresh baguette.

I love that I am thinking of different things to cook. I have forgotten how much I enjoy cooking for people. Also it is really cathartic for me. It is the way that I release my artistic talents, I guess. So as I keep thinking of different things to cook, I will let you know how they all go.