Passion fruit Mousse, Sushi and the gym!

Random: I'm in Paraguay...Ryan is in Brazil!! International smooches are fun!...and weird when everyone is saying: "Becca push in a little harder, no Ryan ...ok, hold it...hold it....wait, Becca just a little bit more...got it!!" And as you can see it is right on the international border!
**Yeah...they made me wear those horrible shoes instead of flip flops....sigh**

Well, I haven’t written in a while so I decided to start the blog this week. I don’t really know what I will talk about, so hopefully whatever comes out isn’t going to be me rattling on and on. I guess I will start with the events of the weekend. For some reason Thursday I was really tired so I napped a lot. Friday I started to feel a little feverish and very sleepy so I stayed home from the gym. Saturday I was sleepy as well. Oddly I get enough sleep every night, because I can sleep in whenever I want, so to be tired is very strange. I normally wake up peacefully and well rested. I woke up from my nap on Saturday with all these great ideas for the desserts that I had to plan and prepare for our ward's Valentine’s Day Party. As you know I was over the ward Christmas Party’s food…it was not fun. I learned many things, and swore I was done with the food!! Lo and behold…I am doing the food for the next big party. I am just the food lady for the activities committee in our congregation. Anyway, I wrote everything down, and then figured out all the ingredients I had to buy and from where, and decided that I obviously could not do it all myself, so I made cake kits to hand out in church the next day. I even cut up the egg cartons, placed the ‘3 egg carton’ in plastic baggies that I made into bubbles to keep the eggs safe so that I could safely provide all the ingredients necessary to bake the cake that I wanted them to do. Our printer is broken, so I wrote the directions to each recipe on a cute piece of paper and taped the paper to the outside of the kit. It was a perfect plan, executed very well. I knew I wanted to be more organized this time around, so I was. Sadly, I got stressed when divvying out the kits to people (too long to explain why) and forgot to add the wet ingredients to the kits (I should have just placed the kits in the fridge all made up, but I kept the cold ingredients separate, bad idea). So now I do not know who had what (another long story even though that was planned out as well). I will trust they will bring the cakes on time.

Passion Fruit( Maracuja)

While I was telling that story to my mom, the thought came to me that I was being prepared to be like a woman from my home ward who I deeply respect: Patricia (Pat) Morey. This woman I swear could do it all. Along with my mother and sister…she is the woman I call. She has more experience with ward activities and their food than I thought I ever wanted to learn. The inner workings of a ward and it’s social schedule are down to an art form with her. I have looked up to her, loved her and admired her, my whole life. I can only hope to be half the woman she is. I am finally grateful for my calling, and the challenge that it has giving me so that I will be able to grow, and ultimately become like one of my role models. The Lord knows me, and loves me…and has given me this calling in my congregation to progress and to refine my talents. What an opportunity!

Just to make you drool…Our menu for the desserts on Saturday will be: Lime Cake (creamy sweet and sour lime ‘glaze’ over a yellow cake mix); Strawberry Jello Cake; Passion Fruit Mousse Cake(yellow cake mix with a layer of passion fruit mousse in-between cake layers and topped with a cool whip/passion fruit topping); Berries and Cream Chocolate Truffle Cake (my secret weapon); Chocolate cake with sticky White Mountain Frosting; Yellow cake with the same frosting; Better than anything cake: Vanilla and Chocolate versions; Brownies; Oreo Truffles; Fresh fruit and some other things. It is going to be SOOOO GOOD!!!!!!!!!

I have been faithfully going to the gym for 2 weeks now!!! I have lost 8 lbs! Yay! 35 more to go! I absolutely love going to the gym. I go M-F/T-Sa (if I miss Monday I go Saturday) from 6:30-8:30 on most days. I do almost everything…cardio, weights and pool/wet and dry sauna/hot tub as much as I can on those days. I run about 2.5-5 miles daily so…which is excellent for me! That is 12.5 miles-25miles a week!!!!!!!!!!!!! HOLY COW!!! The treadmill and the elliptical really help with that. It is motivating to see how fast I’m going, how many calories I’ve burned and how far I have gone. Not having to watch traffic or the sidewalk for a raised side walk block is nice. I usually don’t drink water. I have never been a big fan of the stuff, but working out forces me to crave it so that has been nice.

This is my gym! The biggest Gold's Gym in the country...nice to have all the equipment!

The business hit its busy season a month early, which is nice. I work from 9/10-6, so I am happy to drive over to the gym which is only 5 minutes away afterward. We definitely need more translators in order to keep up for what will inevitably happen to our email accounts in the next few months (clients sending more documents). At the end of December as well as at the end of January we got a really large document. Ryan has been a trooper and is almost done with the 37 page document. It is tedious, but those two documents have allowed us to stay afloat!

Ryan is faithfully studying Chinese, reading his scriptures and working hard! He is such a hard worker. I am amazed at how much he can do! I am thankful for my sweet hubby!

I have been enjoying cooking as always. Ryan’s desire for sushi has forced me to get a little more creative. A mixture of pureed crab, shrimp, cream cheese and cayenne pepper makes the meaty portion. I lay a row of that down, place a whole green onion on top, I do the same with some thinly sliced gala apples and some sliced avocado, then roll it up to perfection….mmmmm….mmm! Ryan has been liking the raw salmon lately. I like it, but not as much as shrimp and crab.

We make the Makizushi :)

I am on my “lucky” month of Clomid as I call it. Technically last month was supposed to be my last, but the women pharmacists “accidentally” gave me an extra month…so here’s hopin’!!!! We are praying for twins…we really, really, really want twins!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh I think that would be the most wonderful blessing! I dream every night of them. I can’t wait to carry them for 8 months; even through all that can happen to my body…I want the entire experience so badly! So hopefully I have twins! To bear, nurse and raise children is probably the deepest and most sincere desire of my heart…

Well, that is it for this blog. We love and miss all of you!

POLITICS, RELIGION AND FOOD

One of my Sunday meetings got canceled today so I thought I'd take a minute to jot down a few things. Yesterday Becca and I got an in a food making mood. She made a fluffy coconut cake and I made a mound of sushi rolls. My eyes proved to be bigger than my stomach and I stuffed myself more than I intended to. I think that I got my sushi fix for the month of February. Becca was not wholly satisfied with her cake because it was supposed to be more chocolaty. I still think that it was tasty, so much so that I'm going to have to end up giving a bunch of it away or we'll end up as big as balloons. Even so, we've been trying to get that under control. Becca went to the gym five times last week (including a session with a personal trainer) and I went jogging four times for a total of ten miles.

The Lord blessed us tremendously at the end of this last month and February is also starting off with a big work load. We are as grateful as we are busy! In addition to the work that our present clients are giving us, two more school districts have contacted us inquiring about our services. Hopefully they'll sign us up too. Becca and I were looking at our calendar and we realized that, unless we get some help, we won't be in a position to really take any vacations until Labor Day. That's kind of the catch 22 about having your own business.
Is everyone voting? I think it's important for all of us to cast an at least somewhat informed vote. I'm concerned about the attitude of the voters that are interviewed on T.V. and on the radio. For example, I have seen several women interviewed on television and on the radio that say that they were going to vote for someone else but that they wanted to see a woman in the White House so they voted for Senator Clinton instead. I think that it's terrible to vote for or against someone for such a superficial reason. I'd like to urge everyone to take a few minutes, get online and read a little about the candidates instead of blindly supporting or opposing them based on hearsay or just one issue. For example, there is a rumor going around about Barak Obama being a Muslim that is untrue.
Mitt Romney should not be excluded from the presidency simply because he is Mormon any more than Barak Obama should be voted down just because his father is black or John McCain solely because he's 71. Dislike Romney because he openly condones the torture of terrorist suspects; dislike Obama because he wants socialized health care; dislike McCain because he told bold faced lies during his presidential campaign in 1999. I also think that knowing both sides of the issue is important. On that note, like Romney for his ability to turn failing business and government organizations into overwhelming successes; like Obama for his aplomb and honesty; like McCain because he is the only candidate who has any idea what war really means. I also urge you to look at the past records of these candidates. Personally, I think that any one of them will say just about anything to get elected so their past decisions and actions are probably a good indicator of what they would really do in the White House.

Since I just touched on the taboo of politics I might as well talk about religion as well. A week ago today the president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints passed away after just entering his 98th year. There was an open casket viewing for two days in Salt Lake City and then a televised, satellite broadcast funeral service seen by millions of people all over the world. Gordon Bitner Hinckely was one of the most beloved leaders of that the LDS Church has ever had. We were truly blessed that God granted him the health to travel so extensively so that he could visit, uplift and instruct so many people all over the world for such a long time. There is no doubt in my mind that his counsel to focus on the simple, yet fundamental, aspects of Christian living were exactly what the world needed to hear. The humanitarian efforts performed under his leadership, temple building and constant denouncing of pornography are only a few of his many contributions to the world. His tireless efforts to do God's will enhanced the lives of people from every religion and walk of life. He was a man of God and I will miss him.
As much as I will miss Pres. Hinckley, I also have faith that the new leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints will also be inspired to lead and direct God's church on the Earth. This is His work and it is a marvelous work and a wonder.