We were busy -- so I got fat

Alternate title: I have no self control.

January and February have been good to us! We certainly haven't been lacking for entertainment. Birthday parties, training for Ragnar, Church, school, kids. . . And of course being spoiled rotten.

Wicked!
For Christmas our husbands sent 4 of us away for the weekend to stay in Tucson and see Wicked. We left our 14 kids (but took sweet Aly with us) and headed off for a relaxing girl's weekend. I can't believe I got to eat so many meals with both hands!! Actually I can because I gained plenty of weight from all the good eats. I literally ate dessert twice in one night. We also stayed up late talking and Rickie and I got in a good hill workout Saturday morning. With so few hills (or none, I should say) around here, it was a nice change of scenery. Wicked was amazing, but spending time with these girls was probably the best part. I always feel so much love when I am with them.

Birthdays!
For Meredith's birthday I got to go out with some other of my very fun girlfriends -- the M's. We did breakfast at TC Eggintons (where I did really well until they bought Meredith a chocolate chip cookie birthday pie -- someone had to eat it!) and got the world's slowest pedicures. I felt rather guilty about indulging so much in the space of a week, especially knowing we were leaving a few days later for. . .

Grand Cayman!
Dustin and I headed off for the Ritz Carlton in Grand Cayman for 5 nights ad 6 days. Actually, the first night we stayed at the Marriott Resort there using points and then switched over to the Ritz for the rest of our stay. The Marriott was nice and we enjoyed it, but once we were at the Ritz we kept remarking on how the Ritz made the Marriott feel like a Super 8 (it's actually very nice, the Ritz is just that fantastic). The service was amazing. We went snuba diving by a ship wreck, saw sharks from a submarine, and held star fish and jelly fish while we kayaked in the mangroves. We also went to the most gorgeous beaches and sat around the pool enough for me to get 2 books read. The people who were there were so entertaining and intriguing. . .and the food. The food!

Eric Ripert made me fat. Dustin is a big time foodie and in the month of January he hit Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill in NYC and Graham Elliot's restaurant in Chicago. So when we saw Eric Ripert's Blue in the Ritz, we decided we had to eat there. I could not stop eating the cilantro sea salt rolls and the food just coming and coming. When we left I asked if I could get a roll in a to go bag since they were so amazing. They brought us our bill and this teeney tiny to go box and we were on our way. Or so I thought until our server came chasing us down with an enormous bag. I guess the little to go box was actually macaroons, and the giant bag contained a boat load of rolls. I couldn't NOT eat them. And we all know rolls are best fresh. . .

Fast forward a few days and we had a boat excursion from 5-8 pm. We ate an early dinner and decided to hit up Blue for their sticky toffee pudding for desert (seriously so good). Well if you go for *just* dessert and they remember you, they still bring you a basket of your favorite rolls. And then dessert. And then the tray of dessert samples. And then the macaroons. And if your waiter is from the Philippines and you force your husband to speak Tagalog with him, you get another ginormous bag of rolls to take back to the room with you. I probably ate 2,000 calories of rolls every day. And now you are probably bored out of your mind, but I really love food.

We also saw the Gin Blossoms
And also a HUGE thank you to my parents who watched the kids. My kids look forward to their week alone with Grandma and Papa every year.

Katherine!
When I came home I swore I would not eat out for a month. Except I had scheduled a GNO with all my old girlies for the very next night since Katherine and her ADORABLE baby were in town. I may have hogged Chase the entire night. I love these girls so much and I miss most of them since they have moved away. It's always fun to get back together.

And then I swore I wouldn't eat any more junk food, but the next night was our Ragnar team party. And there was the Girl's Camp Kick Off, and we fed the missionaries and you *have* to give them dessert. Followed by a bridal shower, and then I invited Karen over for lunch and it would be rude not to offer my guest dessert. The next day there was a birthday party and the Stake Valentine's Dance, which had tables and tables of candy and desserts. We were probably the youngest people there, but we really killed it on the dance floor. Maybe I burned off some of the candy I ate?? Please forgive the scary eyes. My phone did not do the greatest job ever, but we were laughing over how funny this picture would be.

On top of that we were doing out Girl's Camp fundraiser last weekend which included supervising the girls while they babysat 27 kids for a few hours, stuffing 200 candygrams and putting together 80 treat plates. And then the delivering. . . I *needed* to binge on those yummy treats. Besides, someone had to be quality control.

So Valentine's morning I woke up and swore that Monday would be the day that I did not eat sugar. I'm guessing you know what happened -- Dustin wanted to take me and the kids out to lunch. They were so well behaved we had to get dessert. Look! Luke ATE! With a utensil! And Sadie sat still!! Definitely dessert worthy.

My Visiting Teachers showered me with oreo balls, PB krispy balls, chocolate covered popcorn. . . and my sweet friend brought me homemade sugar cookies. I decided the best thing to do would be to eat them all in one night so I wouldn't be tempted. And Tuesday Ellie made sugar cookies at Activity Days and made one for each of us. How could I NOT eat the cookie she made for me?

But. . . TODAY! Today is the day that I don't eat dessert. Because tomorrow I'm making orange rolls for a brunch.