Derby death? I don't think so!

Summer is almost over. I'm usually very sad about this but this year I am counting the days until Christmas.

On June 18th at my very first away derby bout I tore my acl right before the half. It didn't hurt fortunately. I was just skating around the bend and heard/felt a pop on the outside of my knee. I went down feeling like something was really wrong. I got up and was able to skate to the sides but I knew it was not good. I went to see the doc and he ordered an MRI even though he thought it was only a torn meniscus. He gave me the bad news that I severed my acl completely and if I wanted to do anything sports like again (read irish dance and roller derby) then I needed to have it repaired.

I had surgery on July 14, 2011. I had to use crutches for three weeks then I could walk. I haven't been in too much physical pain. The emotional pain from being sidelined from life has been much harder to deal with.

I'm dong well at physical therapy, they say I'm way ahead of schedule pain and range of motion wise but I still have to give my graft st least 12 weeks to mend. I might be able to start exercise in a couple of weeks and maybe be able to start to skate at the four month mark. So maybe in November I can get my sanity back.

It's amazing how much exercise helps you to control your aggression. Or maybe it's slamming into another girl with all my strength that does that.

I miss derby.

Oh I forgot to tell ya that I had to change my derby name. I wanted Keltic Storm but as soon as I had decided on it a month later another Derby girl in New York had it registered. It takes about six months to get your name registered so she had it before me. It was disappointing anyway. Everyone had already started calling me Storm and I really liked it so I decided to go with "Storm Warning" My derby number is -40 degrees since that is a way cool number relating to the weather. -40 is the only number that is the same in Fahrenheit and Celsius. It's also the temperature that skin freezes instantly. Cool huh???

The St. Patrick's Day parade was really fun this year. We had a few performances that night as well.

Scrimmage! We play a game every week, I kinda suck now but I think I'm starting to get the hang of it. We had a fantastic party to announce that we are going to a banked track this year. It scares me a little, the speed and the new track. Maybe just the unknown.

Thanksgiving was wonderful. Both sets of Grandparents were there and brought delicious food. The turkey was the best ever. Salt brining the night before is absolutely the way to go.

















Sierra went to a friends birthday where they did the most amazing face painting. How cool is this?












New coat! Sierra's teacher is the best1 She loves her and takes the best pics and sends them to me. She loves her school and is learning SO fast! She is already reading sight words and sounding out everything. She is a genius.














Ward Christmas party. Best. Santa. Ever!

Roller Derby!

Oh ya baby. I tried out... I made it. I am now officially a Salt City Derby Girl.

My Derby Name is Keltic Storm and my number is #32˚.
Tell me I'm crazy, don't care. I'm doing this and I'm going to love it! Yes I will be wearing fish nets in public. Yes I'm totally fine with that.

Graduating!!

My little girl is graduating! I'm so proud and sad at the same time.

Cupcake contest

And the winner is....ME!! Woo! I mentioned that there was a cupcake contest between all the Kneaders pastry chefs. There are three of us at our store so we were able to enter three cupcakes. So last month the other pastry chef and I worked on them and came up with many designs and flavor combos. We picked two that we like and decided to enter them. Last week they came to pick up our entries. The first one we decided to do was a white cake with a little lemon flavor baked into it. After it was baked we dipped the bottom in white chocolate ganache, then filled it with raspberry filling. On top of the cupcake we layered white chocolate lemon truffle filling and put a swirl of raspberry whipped cream. I then put a curl of sugared lemon and some sugared lemon zest for a little flavor pop.
I think it turned out so pretty.












This cupcake won first place.
Click on it for screen size goodness.
The next one was a white cupcake with a chocolate dipped bottom, it was filled with vanilla mousse, then topped with raspberry filling then a swirl of whipped cream on top and a chocolate covered cherry on top. I don't have of pic of this one yet, I could kick myself for not taking pics when we made them.

I'm not sure if this one won second or third place.

The last cupcake was a complete after thought. We hadn't decided on a third design and Joy said whatever you want to do is fine, so instead of taking one of the designs we had done before I had an idea in my head I wanted to try.

We made a white cupcake, and dipped the bottom in chocolate, then I made some chocolate buttercream frosting. I piled it high in the center and smoothed the sides. I then made what I call chocolate "shards". I put a layer of chocolate on a baking sheet, let it cool and then broke it into long pieces. I didn't get a pic of the the ones I entered but here is some I did later that day for Jax's scout banquet. They don't look quite as good as the ones I made for Kneaders but you can kinda get the idea. I was so excited and happy we won 1st, 2nd and 3rd place out of 27 entries. I really didn't think we had a shot since the people that started Kneaders own a store in Provo and their daughter owns the one in Orem. I thought there is no way we have a chance. Woo! It totally made my day!