So Cupcake!

One day I went down to Amy's after work and we took the kids to Sweet Tooth Fairy.  I told the kids I wanted to take pictures of them enjoying their cupcakes.  The pictures were so perfect for their personalities...

Soph gave me sass and barely licked the frosting on hers...very neat and tidy  Love her!

Jack went in face first...big mess!

 

 

Love this kid!

James took me on a date to the park one night for a picnic!  This has nothing to do with the cupcakes but I just thought I'd include this pictures.  James even had a little picnic basket kit that he got for his 16th birthday to take girls on dates.  Haha!  I love it!

Goodbye March!

I strongly dislike March.  It is just too long and too cold!  I feel like in January you are still rollin' from time off during Christmas.  February is only 28 days, so it is doable.  March is 31 long days with no holidays and you are beyond ready for spring to come.  As I looked back at all the fun I had in March, I was sort of sad to see it go.  I really did so many fun things!  From now on, March will be filled with fun!
The last Wednesday in March, Dan, Amy, James, and I went night skiing up at Sundance.  We stopped at Nyman's Snow Shop to rent all our gear and to see my old bishop's wife.  She went up there with us to ski.  Becky gave me my very first skiing lesson probably about 10 years ago.  I hadn't been skiing since then.  I remember skiing being fun but also painful.  Don't forget that I used to be really overweight!  Getting that bod down a mountain on skis was not pleasant.  I was excited to see if skiing with a much healthier body would be less painful.  I was also terrified of getting hurt.  I feel like it is sooooo easy to get hurt skiing.

Isn't he so handsome?!

Look how short my skis were!  We all laughed about that many times!

On the ski lift!

 

 

Yep we skied down that hill!

 Skiing is so fun and such an adrenalin rush!  It was just like riding a bike.  I remembered everything from my first lesson 10 years ago, and Dan helped James and I with a lot of great tips.  But let's be honest, skiing just hurts.  Ski boots are not comfortable at all!  We were so excited to take them off!  James and I both fell a lot of times, but we got through the night without injury!  A success!  I wish I had all my own ski gear and that it wasn't so expensive! It's a blast!

A few nights later, the four of us took our second curling lesson.  It was so great and we all felt so much more confident in what we were doing.  We had a really good instructor too.

So hard core!

One of the instructors told me I have really great form.  Perhaps curling is my calling in life!

Amy just happened to wear the exact same thing as the last time we went curling...haha!

Sweeping is exhausting!

 

 

We are going to try to go curling one more time before the season ends so stay tuned!  James may have split his pants really good this time around.  It provided lots and lots of laughs!  He just kept curling away!  Love him!

Here are a couple of other random March pictures..

Visited this little buddy on his birthday!

Soph helped me make homemade noodles for chicken noodle soup one day.

Here's James scraping my windows for me before I left one day.  He takes such good care of me!

He made me this dinner one night from scratch. Grilled chicken with goat cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, and sauteed mushrooms with balsamic basil pasta.  I named the dish Taylor Tuscan chicken.  It was a dream!

Bucket List #40 - Take a Cooking Class - Complete

This is a follow-up to my Valentine's Day post.  James and I went to the Downton Abbey cooking class last weekend that I bought him for V-day.  It was fun and chaotic at times.  James was one of two males there.  All the other ladies had come on their own or with girlfriends.  They all thought it was so funny that I had bought him this for V-day and not vice versa.  Little do they know that he loves Downton just as much as I do, and I think he might love cooking even more than I do.  This is why I love him!  The first night we cooked dishes for the "upstairs".  For all you non-Downton Abbey-ers, this would be the fine dining and cooking for the upper class. 

See the camera guy behind me...KSL was there filming a show for Studio 5 on this Downton Abbey cooking class.  I'm going to be on TV!

Such solid knife skills!

Stuffed mushrooms...these were my favorite!

Creamy asparagus soup

Rack of lamb with mint sauce

Potatoes Lyonaisse

His snooty upstairs face.

Dining like the Crawley's!

Christmas pudding with custard sauce

So the camera crew and a difficult member of our team made Friday night's class a little too overwhelming for me.  The class started nice and orderly learning knife skills and techniques, and then it was a total free for all to get all those dishes made.  We had one lady on our team who was a little crazy and over anxious.  It took everything in me not to smack her upside the head.  Deep breathing!
Saturday morning was a lot more calm.  The same lady ended up on our team again.  How did this happen?!?  But we had figured out how to handle her and kept her busy.  Saturday was cooking for the "downstairs" or for the servants. 

Toad in the hole on the top and colcannon on the bottom.

Food and cooking make him so happy!  I love it!

James was so patient with our new friend!

So we made toad in the hole (sausage covered in Yorkshire pudding), colcannon, and mushy peas.  It was all yummy!

I forgot to get a picture of the dessert but we had Tipsy Cake.  We always have so much fun cooking together, and this was no exception!  I doubt this will be the last cooking class that we take together.  Everyone in our group assumed we were married because we work so well together.  Haha!  James works in the temple every Saturday so he had to get this day off to go with me.  I loved spending a Saturday with him!

P.S. That's four bucket list items marked off in March alone...massage, shoot bow and arrow, curling, and cooking class.  Boo yah!!