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.

Twins are everywhere!

So Nicky is having twins and I am in the process of planning her baby shower! It is so much fun to have something exciting to plan for. Maybe I will have some other things to plan for in the near future??

It seems that everywhere I go, I see Twins. On Saturday night at Chillis a couple walked in with twins in little capsules. I was definitely getting a little clucky. I also found out that another friend is having twins too. I think there must be something in the water in this town, twins all over the place.

Besides seeing twins everywhere I have been snowboarding a few more times. I went last Friday night and finally started to feel like I was getting better. I went down the mountain twice, which is better than I had done before and I went down in 40 minutes rather than almost 2 hours. That was the exciting end to the story, but getting up the mountain was scary. The wind was storming and it was snowing. I was holding on for dear life and closing my eyes. Ben was being so cute, he was trying to calm me down and help me think of how to get off the life with out falling over. The first time up I managed not to fall, then second time I was not so lucky. My bum is still sore from the fall on the ice. It was quite a fun time. I still spend a lot of time concentrating and trying to figure it out, and when Ben talks to me I block him out. If I stop thinking and start listening to him, then I fall over! It is getting to be lots of fun, I can say that I am somewhat disappointed that the season is over. If I had another month, I think that I would really be getting somewhat decent at this.

Besides snowboarding I have not been doing too much. Work has been really busy. Rex was sick for 2 weeks, so I had to take over his class as well as my own. That was rather stressful, but he is back, so that is one thing off my chest! I am excited for Spring Break next week. I am going to be babysitting Isis and Phoenix for a little while. That is going to be fun and really busy! Ben's sister and her family are coming into town for a holiday too. It's going to be a busy week, but nice to take a break from school.

Well I will go back to my event planning... wishing and hoping =)

Love you all xx

Snowboarding - The art of falling & getting back up, all the way down a mountain!!!

Last night was the first time that I had the chance to ever go play in the snow!!! I finally sucked it up, and Ben took me to go night snowboarding at Brighton park. We got there and I really wanted to chicken out. The weather was nice, meaning not too freezing cold, and it was not snowing, but there was lots of fresh powder on the ground.
Ben gave me a quick run down on how to do it and we got up the ski lift. On the lift I was not really scared of the height, so hoped that I could over come that and enjoy the mountains. As we were getting off the lift I was all ready, Ben had explained exactly how to do it, he has missed out one important fact that I did not know. As you get off the lift there is a small slope to get out of the way, and as to be expected I got off, screamed, and rolled down the hill. Coming up quickly behind me were 3 other boarders. They ditched so they didn't hit me, and were really nice about the fact that I was learning.
I got all buckled in and then came the big obstacle, standing up! WTF?? Ben did it like it was nothing, I have no arm muscle, or really muscle anywhere, so I was writhing in the snow trying to do it, even had some men yell from the lift something about my nice butt in the air. Got to love that encouragement. Anyway I finally figured a way to get up and as long as there was a slope, I could do it.
Now I knew I was going to fall over a lot, but I don't know that I was really ready for how much time I was going to spend in the snow. We went down a small slope and I fell, got up, fell again, got up fell again. Ben was trying to show me the different ways to steer, and I just kept falling over. I was wondering if I was ever going to get up and stay up for more than 30 seconds. Amazingly I did manage it. Not too often. Ben was really patient with me. He was encouraging the whole time, and not getting impatient with me. I was so scared I was going to fall into the trees or off a cliff that it really did take me forever to get down the hill. I had one nice long run, where I was finally getting it, but then I fell over and psyched myself out. I started to chicken out again.
When I fell I twisted my knee. I was worried for a minute that I had hurt myself, but I was able to get up and keep going. I had to tell myself repeatedly that I can do this. Lots of positive self talk. Ben never once forced me or tried to hurry me up, so it made it a lot easier for me to do it at my pace. I got up and kept going, after another one of my many falls, I had just stood up when a skier came flying down.
She was new to the slopes too and instead of ditching to not hit me, she ran straight into me. I went down with a ski pole to the face and goggles, and her ski twisted in my board and twisted my knee the other way. She was profusely apologizing and asking if I was ok. I could not answer, because I wasn't sure. When you have lots of people asking, you want to cry, but I had my back to her, her friend, and Ben, so I just waved a hand and said I was ok. After a minute, I realized that I was not really hurt too bad did I get up. The last section was harder, because I could not master the heel steering, I kept falling over to stop myself heading into the trees.
People all along the way were really nice. They would slow down to ask if I was ok when I was on the ground. One time I fell backwards and just about killed myself. It was all rather funny. I was quite proud of myself all in all. I didn't cry once from pain, frustration, annoyance, or any other such emotion. Ben was so supportive the whole way down for me. I know he was champing at the bit for wanting to get out and have fun. He has not been boarding all winter long, but he was great! Even when I had to stop and sit, because my calves were burning up.
After many more tumbles and several videos taken by Ben we made it to the bottom. I ended up unhooking my snow board to walk the last little bit. My calves and every other part of my body were feeling like jelly. It took me a little bit to get down, but I got to the bottom. Ben went on another run, and I went to the car. There was one last hill to get down, and I about wanted to cry. I said to the guy next to me, how in the hell am I supposed to get down, but I managed. Once I had my board and boots in the car I went into the lodge to get changed. I almost fell over trying to change my pants. Legs = Jelly + small confined space = a long, hard time getting changed. When I took my pants off, I about died when I saw my knee. There was a massive lump and bruise forming on the right side, and a little swelling and bruising on the left.
I was worried that I had done some real damage to my knee, but I could move it fine and it didn't hurt when I moved it, so I figure it's just some bruising that will go down. Here is some video of what the bruising looks like on Saturday night (24 hours after the fact).

After all this fun and good times we went to go get some dinner. I was not feeling too good. I was tired and coming down off an adrenalin high. So Red Robin at 10:30pm at night, it was. We came home and both were worn out. I have not slept so good in a long time. I woke up a few times, aching a little, but all in all I was ready to go to bed.
When I woke up this morning I was able to get up and get out of bed with out too much difficulty. My legs were not too sore, my back was probably the worst. I knew that I would be sore, but I thought it would be worse. I was definitely doing things slower than usual, but I managed to make it through the day quite nicely. With all the fun that I had, we are going to head out again next weekend. I figure the more I do it, the better I will become, and the more Ben can go :) The goal is to learn this heel thing so I can more around from side to side and eventually learn how to carve in the snow. Also I need to learn to better overcome my fear of heights and speed combined, that way I can really learn to love snowboarding. I did enjoy the rush and fun when I was upright and moving, so I think it is something that I will like. You should all give it a try sometime...

The Big 31

I arrived back from Australia to the wonderful, cold place of Utah. The trip was not too bad, a little vomit from Isis, but all in all a nice flight. Ben was there to pick me up and that was all that mattered. We got back into life quite nicely, starting back at work in Monday.
With a week of work under my belt, Ben and I drove to L.A. for Sean and Ambers Wedding. It was such a fun week. I can not tell you how much I enjoyed catching up with Carla again and all the Chitwood clan. Ben survived meeting them and their references to Tud and all things Australian. It was such a nice break in weather being in California. Ahh I do miss the summer of Australia during the winter time here.
Before I realised it, my birthday was quickly approaching. Ben and I went out for dinner at Tuccanos, YUM!!! Then on Saturday began the naughty couch incident. Ben and Mark tried to move my couch into the basement and it would not fit!! Not once did the boys get frustrated, but I was a bit upset. Finally after a break to Red Robin, Ben, Marj, and I decided that we needed to return the couches. So I was back to step one. No couch!
To cheer myself up we had a little get together of friends. It is so fun to see people that you have not seen in ages and catch up. After the party, Ben and I caught up with Maura and Mike for some In & Out. Nothing like a late night snack to get you started!
On Sunday, the official day of birth, I went to church, took a nap, and Ben came over for the night. We watched movies and ate dinner, lots of fun stuff.
So I have officially been kicked out of the Y.S.A. and I feel totally fine about it. Well I will continue to update the blog with more events and some fun photos.

See you around. x