Cupcake Wars and Basketball Dreams

A couple of weeks ago, happiness struck twice. First, I was asked to be a cupcake tester at a cupcake war. Umm. . . . . 19 different cupcakes, judged on appearance, theme, and taste. Count me in!!! It was heavenly until around number 11 or so. I mean even a little taste of 19 cupcakes is a lot. Seriously, a lot and those little ladies kept coming in and saying, "Oh did you get a taste of the middle, because the middle has my special filling." I'm not going to lie, I was ill by the end, and the monkey brain cupcake just did not get a fair shake. Sorry monkey cupcake, I did give you a great on your appearance though. After the cupcake tasting, I decided never to eat cupcakes again, well until my mom gave me this recipe, which is amazing. Try it.

After coming home and resting a little, we took off to the Suns game!!!! I love being a Suns rebel rouser. We ended up invading the Jazz stadium and found our Suns magnetism attracting other Suns fans who ended up sitting by us. Every time something good happened, our new friend would say, "That's what I'm talking about Home Skillet!" and then he would give us high fives that never connected. Let's just say our Home Skillets weren't super hip, luckily, our team was. Take a look at the score, and know happiness.

You Don't Know What You've Got Till It's Gone

I often hear people complaining about having to go running, or exercising, or to the gym. I know, because I just might be one of those people. However, my New Year's Resolution is to never, ever complain about running or exercising again. My reason began in September, when I was training for a half marathon. (By training, I mean I was a complete slacker and ran a few long runs.) However, when I did run, it felt like someone was taking a knife and slashing it into my knee. After running, my leg would give out on me, and I couldn't even turn over in bed without it hurting. I stopped all physical activity, and pleasantly my knee felt better. However, there comes a point when you have to move again, and so I set up an appointment with a nearby orthopedic.

They took an x-ray and that big screw from my ACL reconstruction was still nicely attached. I breathed a sigh of relief. They sent in a P.A., he moved my leg around, looked at the x-ray and said it all seemed fine. Which should have caused me to breathe out another sigh of relief, except for the memory of my leg giving out on me and nearly falling over as I tried to get up from sitting on a plane. Or the memory of a knife slashing into my knee. So, I shared these vivid memories with him. He didn't seem phased and started to tell me all about all of the people who are just fine and have little tears in their knee. He said that was probably my problem. I don't think I looked convinced, so he started telling me about jeans. Yep, jeans that you wear. He explained how when you have a pair of jeans for a very long time, they just naturally rip because they are so old, but you still wear them because they just have a little tear. I was very confused at the meaning of this story because I am not 80 years old. I think I even turned around just to make sure that there wasn't some old person in the room that he was really talking to. However, he really was talking to me, and I left with no questions answered, but a clean bill of health to do what ever physical activity I wanted.

So, I ran, and the knife slasher, leg giving away came back. So I did what I should have done in the first place, and I called the doctor who did my ACL surgery and scheduled an appointment. I may have had to drive a lot farther away, but it was worth it. When I told him the jean story , he said he was going to immediately call and tell them how ridiculous that story was. I nodded emphatically. I was feeling so vindicated, that I forgot that this must mean there was a much bigger problem. He quickly looked at the x-ray and then moved my knee and it jumped. He stared at me and asked me if I felt it. I did. He shook his head and said, "Well unfortunately the graft is gone." My head was swirling, "Graft, graft." Then I knew. My hamstring used in the reconstruction was now gone, torn, stretched, gone. I wasn't quite sure this was really happening when he continued, "Yeah, that is the bad news, but the good news is I had a cancelation for tomorrow, we could do surgery then." I was speechless and unable to come in the next day, or for that matter until March. He put me under strict orders to not run, twist, turn, yeah, pretty much move. (But I can bike, thank heavens for that.) During music, I tried showing the boys a choreography move and about tipped over, so I've decided this is serious business. Which leads me back to my New Year's Resolution, and I am serious I will never, ever complain about the amazing ability to run or exercise again.

I Was Born in a Small Town

It's true, I was born in a small town, and I love it. One of the best parts of Christmas is coming home. I love the slow pace. I love going into a store and always seeing someone you know. I love the values and the priorities of the people in town. Most of all I just love being at home with my family. Every other Christmas we are small in number, as you can see from the pictures. However, it was still wonderful. We played games, and watched movies and made yummy food. Pretty much we just enjoyed our small family in our small town, and it was perfect.

The Golden Nutcracker

So, I'm not going to lie. I sometimes get a little carried away and create productions out of small things, but isn't it more fun that way? Last year, I was in charge of the school's faculty Christmas party, and I created this golden nutcracker trophy for the grade that had the best decorated table. (I thought it was a brilliant way to get people excited about having to decorate their own table, bring their own food, and supply their own gifts.) Well, I kept talking it up and egging people on and soon we had some pretty nice tables. However, I may have talked it up a little too much and the office staff blindsided me with an over the top skit and decorations. They stole my trophy right out from under me. Well, ever since that day I vowed I would get that trophy back. (Like I said, I get a little carried away.) The office has also been scheming all year. They told me in October they had their theme all picked out and then they started the smack talk. I knew the office was going to be good, and so I began to frantically think of a clever idea. At the end of one of our team meetings, I told everyone they could not go to Thanksgiving Break until we had our skit. Nervously, two of my team members told me they would be out of town during the party. I gave them my teacher look, but it didn't work, and I found myself frantically scrambling for an award winning idea. The theme was Countries Around the World, so I decided we would be "Country." (clever, right?) We dressed up as cowboys, rode in on stick horses, brought cowboy caviar, and recreated the Grand Ole Opry. Those missing teammates, I made into wanted outlaws. The office was gypsies without a country (definitely not as clever) and told each person's fortune. Mine said, "The Golden Nutcracker will allude you again." Gratefully, the office was not real gypsies, and we won, we actually won. Who needs an academy award, this was much, much better.










Here is our little country Christmas skit:
(I hesitate to post it because it is embarrassing, so embarrassing, but so fun, and I promised the majority of my readers I would post it (my family.) So enjoy!

The Pilgrims and the Indians

I love Thanksgiving; it is one of my favorite holidays. I love all the yummy food, being with family, and focusing on gratitude. This year we celebrated Pilgrim and Indian style with all the cute kids.














We visitied with my wonderful grandma.


In attendance were two new sweetheart babies.


We ate delicious food.


We celebrated my niece's 16th birthday, and she had her first date with her dad. How can she be that old when I am still so young?


We had a true blue Cougs party. (The food was great, the company was great, the actual ending of the game was not so great.)






Of course, the best part was just being together.

FALL

I have a friend who took her blog and made it into a book, as a journal of her life. I loved that idea and want to do that. However, I recognize I have huge gaps in my life on this blog, and so in an attempt to lessen the gaps here is a quick catch photo catch up of fall:



Hiking in the fall is a must. This is one of my favorite hikes, Bridal Veil Falls.




For Fall Break, I flew down to Arizona to hang out with my parents. My mom and I went to Time Out for Women. It was a much needed time out from the world and a chance to focus on hope. We had the opportunity to make kits for a women's shelter in Phoenix and learn how we can have and be a hope for others.


To get into the spirit of Halloween, we got a group to go to The Organ Loft, which features silent movies and this amazing old man in a tux who plays this sparkly organ. It is so cool! If you live in Utah, go. They had the old silent Phantom of the Opera movie. It was quite an experience.


We also decided to do a little ghost hunting and went on a storytelling adventure around Salt Lake. Our storyteller was a lot of fun and the tour took us to all of the famous haunts of Salt Lake. This particular picture was taking at Fort Douglas, where a mischevious ghost named Clem supposedly plays tricks. They said to check our pictures and see if he might be in them. Do you see him?


At the Rio Grande, which was once a train station and now houses a Mexican restaurant, they have a very special ghost. This is the purple lady. She supposedly got in a fight with her love who had just come home from the war. In her anger, she gave him back her engagement ring. In his anger, he threw it. In her haste, she ran for it, but didn't look where she was going and was hit by a train. They say her ghost haunts the bathroom. I'm not sure why, but they say she does. We didn't see her, but others have seen her? And she told them, she was pushed. Ooooooooooo!!!!! Anyway, they have this likeness of her for all to see. All in all, it was a pretty fun time, perhaps a little weird, but filled with lots of good stories.


The end to these fall adventures was Halloween. This year I was the famous Math Girl at my school. I also made Math Girl her own costume and she was me. My class thought it was the most clever thing ever done. However, besides the sixth grade, most people don't know Math Girl, and so when little children pointed and asked their parents who I was they just said, "Um. . . . some Math person, or I think she is suppose to be Wonder Woman, but she has the W's upside down." Oh well my children knew, and I used my powers to only eat one of those divine sugar cookies they give each classroom. Only one, truly a feat for a super hero!

Give Me This Mountain

This year on a river rafting trip my ward's theme was, "Give Me This Mountain." Ever since that trip, I haven't been able to get those words out of my head. I think the words have struck me so much because it seems like everywhere I turn there are obstacles and challenges that seem too overwhelming and too daunting.

As I was reading about Caleb who spoke these words, I found that he was sent to scout for the Israelites after they had been brought out of bondage from the Egyptians. After scouting for land, all of the scouts but Caleb and Joshua brought back a depressing report of how they couldn't inhabit the land because of the walled cities and Anakims, who looked like giants. After hearing this news, the Israelities did not dare go into the land, they didn't have the faith. And so forty-five years passed, until there was a new generation that would go down into the land. This task still seemed daunting and Caleb was now 85 years old. However with full confidence he requested to go down into the land saying, "Give me this Mountain." I love those words, because Caleb had such trust in the Lord that he was ready for whatever challenge came before him, whether it was big or small.

As I've been working on applying these words in my life, I thought of a recent hiking trip I went on with a friend up a mountain he had described as being inhabited with huge boulders. I found that he had exaggerated quite a bit, but it was still tiring and steep at times. However, once we reached the waterfall, my mind forgot all of that work, and I sat moved by the beauty and peace up there. We then turned and moved to a place overlooking the Salt Lake Valley. Once again I was moved by the view. As I sat there, I pondered on the huge mountains in our lives, the power to triumph, and the beauty in and after the climb. I've come to understand that our Heavenly Father has not left us alone to conquer our challenges. This gives me the courage to say, "Give me this mountain."