St Patrick's Day

We didn't do too much for St Patty's Day....

 We just had green mashed potatoes, a green salad (spinach, broccoli, cucumbers, bell peppers, and green ranch), corned beef, potatoes, cabbage, and Leprechaun Poop Biscuits (I wasn't going to die the biscuits green but Ben said I should but I had already kneaded the dough out. We just speckled the dough and called it Leprechaun Poop...). It was so yummy!

And some pictures of our happy girl!!

Ben took all of those pictures. I never get her to smile like that when I have the camera!! :)

Hope you all had a fun St Patrick's Day! 

Last November....

My neighbor is a photographer and offered to take some FREE pics of me and the fam... Yes, these were from Novemeber but I just got them today so they are up on the blog! (Peyton's blog has all of the pictures... these are just some of the best ones). She was being super cranky so we couldn't really get her to smile. Oh well!

It's crazy to think that it has only been a couple of months and I already feel like she is so much bigger right now then just 4 months ago! She has a lot more teeth, a lot more hair and a lot more personality! I love that little girl!

Banana Bread

I was on the computer writing an email to my sister (she's serving a mission in Ventura, CA) when I realized that Peyton was very quiet.... uh oh. She climbed on the kitchen table and grabbed the bunch of bananas... There were maybe 6 of them total. Using her teeth and hands, she opened up all of them and proceeded to throw and or smash them on the table and the ground... I guess she wanted banana bread! I found this recipe and tried it (using the bananas from the table, not the ground...) and it is SO GOOD! Enjoy!!

Janet's Rich Banana Bread

• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 2 medium bananas, sliced

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.
2. In a large bowl, stir together the melted butter and sugar. Add the eggs and vanilla, mix well. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt, stir into the butter mixture until smooth. Finally, fold in the sour cream, walnuts and bananas. Spread evenly into the prepared pan.
3. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. Cool loaf in the pan for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

* I didn't have white sugar, only brown.... still tastes good! Also, I creamed the sugar and butter together. Added 1 tsp of lemon juice with the vanilla, added 1 tsp of both baking soda and baking powder, and used approximately 1 3/4 c of flour instead. I didn't measure how much banana I put in... I just put in a whole bunch and mashed them instead of sliced them. 

It was so good!!

Its that time again...

#1 - Read Scriptures and Pray DAILY

I don't know why this is so hard for me! Is it tough for anyone else? I pray every day... especially since Peyton is going to nursery now and I really want her to understand what prayer is. But scripture study? I think about it and then don't do it.... and before I know it, it's the end of the month and I'm checking on my progress. Anyone have any ideas how I can do it consistently? ** For some reason that word looks weird to me... but it's right. I feel like I've always spelled it with an "a" instead of an "e".... sidetracked!**

#2 - Go to the temple at least once a month

I didn't go through the temple but Ben and I did take Peyton to the temple a couple of times to walk around. We had a talk about it and we are both going to make a bigger effort to encourage each other to go to the temple. Yay!

#3 - Join a fitness class/get in shape

I just got back from running a mile... and I'm not going to say how long it took but I did it and that's what matters! Also, I'm thinking about doing a cleanse but I'm not sure about it. Anyone done one before?

#4 - Pay my bills on time

Sorta Yes!  (But I am putting my rent check in the mail today...It's due today but my landlord is out of town so we mail it to the bank instead)

#5 - Blog

This whole month I've been thinking about what I can blog about and then I don't do it :( Oh well! I'll let you know in the next section! Plus, people don't like blogs without pictures and I don't know how to put pictures on this computer just yet....

#6 - Make Memories!

Oh goodness, did we make some amazing memories this month!

Peyton's nursery leaders said it was alright to just leave her there... So we did! She did amazing. The next Sunday, we were walking out of the chapel when Peyton saw her nursery leader walking into the nursery room at the end of the hall. I've never seen Peyton run that fast EVER! Seriously, she ran so fast to the door and then banged on it until I caught up with her (serious). As soon as the door opened, she raced in and didn't even look back. We'll see how long this lasts :)

Ben never heard back from the Cumulus Media job... oh well! He's still looking for other job opportunities but his job at Traditions Mill is picking up so it would have been a bad time for him to leave since they are pretty busy. Meh...

My work has snowboarding passes to Sundance. They are corporate passes which means we don't ever have to wait in line and can just cut to the front... The passes are super cheap too! For an all day pass, it's only $15. For a night pass, (brace yourself) $5. F-I-V-E. That's it. So we definitely take advantage of them and go as much as we can which is about once a week. The first week in Feb we took some people I work with... They've never been before and it was the first time Ben and I had gone this season but we all had a great time! The third time we went up this past month, the snow was AMAZING! It was light and powdery and awesome. I finally got carving down and it seriously makes snowboarding so much better! I felt like a professional and Ben even said that I am good enough to go with him wherever he goes! YAY!

Superbowl Sunday

and of course....

Hope you had a great Superbowl!! 

We just had a small group of friends (Ezra and Ariel, Toshi and B, Ben and me) come over but we had lots of food and fun! Thanks guys :)

Goals Revisited....

I'm definitely the type of person who makes New Year's Resolutions and keep them for 1 - 2 weeks.... and then that's it. So I decided that I should make them New Month's Resolutions and at the beginning of each month, I'll revisit the goals and see how I've been doing!

#1 - Read scriptures and pray DAILY. ----- Sorta check. I read the entire books of Moroni, Ether, and Mormon (each in a day) and then that was it. I definitely slacked on that part. BUT! I have been praying daily... personal, family, and with Ben.

#2 - Go to the temple at least once a month. ----- It's all about honesty... so no, didn't do this! Its just so easy to forget! I'll do it this month though!

#3 - Join a fitness class/get in shape. ----- I went with Toshi and it was so much fun! This month we're going to kickboxing and pilates! Also, if I don't go with her, I'll do sit ups and push ups during commercials while I watch all my favorite TV shows! That counts, right?

#4 - Pay my bills on time! ----- CHECK!

#5 - Blog! ----- I'm working on it :)

#6 - Make memories! ----- In January, we got back into the groove of working and living here in Provo without Glenn. We definitely miss him but I'm so excited that he's doing so good back home in Oregon.----- Mira went to Hawaii this month and brought back so many fun things for us. -----While she was gone, we were going to go to St George to visit Grandma Wheeler and Grandma Tweedie but Peyton and I got sick so we couldn't go. Ben took care of us and didn't complain once! I love him.----- Ben heard an ad on the radio for a job opportunity for a company called Cumulus Media.He thought that he fit the description perfectly and applied. A week later, he received a call to come to a job fair. It was really a group interview and he ROCKED it! They called him back the next day and asked him to come in for an interview. The next day they called him and asked him to call the corporate office for a final interview. We're so excited to see if this job will work out for him!!-----Peyton went to nursery! She's not quite 18 months but she's able to go if Ben or I are in there with her. And oh my goodness, she LOVES it. She could care less if mom and dad were there. But who could blame her? Other kids her size, food, toys, food.... she's in heaven! :)

I'm "Too Polite"

I work at a treatment center that gets a little crazy... ok, a lot crazy. I've been called everything under the sun. I've had curses put on my family. I've had death threats. I've seen girls (and this is gross) poop, smear it all over their arms, and then eat it. I've had girls try to kill themselves and have had to stop them from doing it.... Needless to say, through all of this, I really feel like I am good at my job. No, I'm great at my job. I don't want to sound prideful... but I really do take pride in being able to do this exceptionally well. Almost 3 years down the road, a position opened up that I felt was perfect for me. I felt like I was ready to take on more responsibility so I applied!

And like all the other many jobs I applied for.... I didn't get it! AGAIN?! I won't go into details because I could go on and on but I won't. I'll save you the theatrics and give you the basics: I am one hundred and ten percent confident that I was the better, more qualified applicant.... and just about everyone else on my shift agrees with me. The hard part is that the person who received the position is my friend... who I trained for 6 months. Sigh...

The reason why I didn't get the job? I'm "too polite". Oh well....

After talking with my supervisor, she feels like I AM ready for more responsibility so even though I didn't get the position, I will be put in charge of some programs that will hopefully give me the edge some other time. So I guess this all works out??