Chocolate Butterflies

When Chris and I first got married, I didn't know how to cook or even like to cook. It was something that I had to do to survive but it was usually full of fast and processed foods. Over the last couple of years though, I have made myself learn to cook and now I love it. It has become a real obsession for me and yes, you could even say that I am a "foodie." I rarely cook the same meal twice especially when it comes to desserts. I LOVE finding new desserts to cook. And I have gotten better at making them look pretty too. I saw these butterfly cupcakes awhile ago and just had to make them. AND since I am also in charge of the Relief Society activities at church, I decided I would make them for the ladies. It ONLY took me 4 days but I made about 70 of them and I actually surprised myself at how good they turned out. Now, I just need to work on my photography skills because the pictures really don't do them justice.

If you want to learn how to make them then you can either buy the book "Hello,Cupcake" or visit this website.

These would be great to do for a little girls birthday party or a spring get-together. However, I found that the adults appreciated my efforts way more then my children ever do. :)









For the chocolate cupcakes I used this recipe:
chocolate cake mix
box of chocolate pudding
mini chocolate chips

For the yellow cupcakes I used this recipe:
Yellow cake mix
box of Vanilla pudding
Filled with white chocolate pudding

And this is the recipe for the world's BEST and EASIEST frosting:
Combine with a mixer 1 pkg. cream cheese (not low fat...sorry girls, this is not a figure friendly recipe
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup powdered sugar

After well mixed, mix in 2 cups of heavy whipping cream (scrapping bowl a few times) and then putting mixer on high for about 5 min. until frosting is thick. Although this frosting tastes great, it is hard to use with the butterflies because it is not extremely sturdy. I used it, but with great difficulty. :) If you want to make the butterflies then you might want to use a nice and sturdy buttercream. If you use this recipe, then you have to keep it refrigerated between each step so the butterflies don't slide right off. Don't ask how many of mine did that?

The Biggest Loser

So, I am finally getting around to posting about our "Biggest Loser" 5K run. We had so much fun -- even Chris, who we had to talk into doing it!

The 5k was in beautiful St. George. Chris's brother and his wife were also running with us. We had to pick up our packets on Friday and the race was bright and early Saturday morning so we decided to make it an "over-night date." We got our packets on Friday afternoon and went to the temple and out to eat. We stayed up late in the hotel talking with our family (totally free of interruptions from our wonderful children) giggling like little kids ourselves again. It was nice to get some adult time but we always miss our kids when we are away from them.

We started the morning early and loved enjoying the crisp St. George air and beautiful red-rock scenery. My parent's brought the kids to come watch us and cheer us on during the race. We were so glad they were there. Seeing their bright smiling faces throughout the race really helped to keep us both going. Plus Austin has always disliked running and anything P.E. related but seeing us do this has helped motivate him in that area. So I am especially glad that he was there. In fact, he just ran his first mile in 8 min. 4 sec. Pretty good for his first time.

Here we are waiting at the starting line. There is a lot of excitement and energy in the air and our adrenaline seems to already be pumping.

There were over 600 participants in the race. Because it was a race sponsored by the Biggest Loser, they had a couple of past contestants from the show there that ran with us. If you have watched the show then you may remember them...Koli, Sam and Daris from Season 9. Anna and I finished with Koli.

The kids looking for us.

Still smiling after about a half mile into the race.

We saw the kids about 3 times through out the race, and they high-fived us as we went by. This is about 2.5 miles in the race and after we had just come us a big hill. It was good to see the kids here to keep us going.

Considering Chris hasn't been able to work out since about Christmas time because he has been swamped at work...AND since I got kicked out of the gym (haha) and wasn't able to work out for a month before we ran, I was very happy with our time. Chris finished in about 35 minutes and I finished in 36 minutes. That is actually faster than I had ever ran it on the treadmill so I was very pleased. We were very sore afterwards, of course, but I actually love being sore so I was OK with it. I would like to do it again soon. Hopefully we will be a little more prepared the next time.