With Class Valentine’s Day Parties just around the corner, I wanted to share with you some ideas for some Non-Candy Classroom Valentine’s that my kids are giving out this year. I knew it would be a busy time of the year, so this year I decided to make it easy and order them from Minted. Minted has such a cute selection of Classroom Valentine’s, and you can come up with so many ideas on what to pair them with.
I love the Geo Heart Foil Valentine Card by Ana Sharpe. My favorite part about this Minted Card was that I was able to customize it to what I needed, and change the font to my liking. I ended up putting, “I think You’re Brilliant!” on the card. I thought that was a cute card to add a little mini Rubik’s cube (puzzle cube favor) that I found at Zurcher’s Party store. My little Norah is so excited to give them out to her class!
Ezra my third grader is quite the little sports lover. He loves Football, so this “All Star” Valentine from Minted was the perfect option! We paired it with a little mini football bouncy ball for his classmates. I loved the optional print on the back side of the card too. It was fun to customize each card with little details.
I grew up in Utah, but did not grow up in a ski family, or grow up skiing at all actually. In fact, it wasn’t until my freshman year at Brigham Young University that I even skied for the first time. So, it wasn’t until I was 18 years old, when I took a P.E. class at BYU, and learned how to ski, and that started my love of the sport. I ended up getting a season pass, and hitting the slopes after classes, and bringing a book to read on the lift.
The next three years, I taught ski lessons to little kids, and skied a lot during college. I dreamed of marrying a skier, and having skier babies, and ski family vacations. Then, I met my husband, and he had only skied a handful of times, and life went on, we moved to a state with no mountains, and I was either pregnant or nursing for several years, and skiing was on the back burner.
Fast forward a few years, now my kids are all old enough to hit the slopes, and have skied the past few seasons and love it! I got my husband ski lessons for Christmas a few years ago, and now we love to go skiing together! It is such a fun family activity, and I always am trying to talk everyone I know into becoming a Ski Family! There are so many good reasons, and I wanted to give you all of them below!
Here are 15 Reasons to be a Ski Family:
If you live in a state with low temps and a long winter, it helps get you outdoors and active. If you hate the winter, become a skier!
The Great Outdoors. I am a huge lover of the outdoors, and love to spend time in the mountains, it’s my happy place. I love being able to spend that time in the mountains in both the summer and winter. Once you get to the top of the mountain with those breathtaking views, you breath in new life I am convinced. So good for the soul!
You’ll love the snow! When you’re a skier and it snows, it isn’t such a bad thing, in fact, you’ll find yourself praying for it to snow!
Bonding time on the lifts! Skiing is such a great way to spend some time together, you can ski and enjoy your time down the mountain, then chat and catch up on life with conversations on the lifts.
Skiing helps with family support, and teamwork! I can’t tell you how many times my kids root for each other, and help each other up when they fall. They show support for one another out there on the slopes.
Ski Vacations. When I learned to ski, all I wanted in my future was a family of skiers and family ski vacations. There is nothing better than skiing all day, and cozying up in the mountains somewhere with your family. Magical.
Feeling the wind in your hair. Old or young, there is nothing like flying down a beautiful mountain. That adrenaline rush can’t be beat! My kids are smiles all around after a great run!
Pushing yourself. My kids, husband and I all have pushed past our fears, and conquered the mountain all in our own ways. It is a great sense of accomplishment!
It’s never too late to learn. As someone who didn’t learn to ski until the age of 18, I love that there are still things out there that you can just fall in love with that you haven’t tried yet. Take my husband for example, he didn’t really learn to ski until last season, and now he’s loving it. He even has been heading up a time or two before work to get some runs in. I can’t tell you how happy it makes me that he’s converted to the ski life!
Lodge life. There’s nothing better than a day out on the slopes, and building up an appetite and having a minute to sit in the warm lodge with your family and talk about how the day is going over some warm ski food! Usually some cheese fries, and maybe a cookie or two. That’s the type of stuff that becomes a tradition, and a cherished memory.
A great break from technology. With phones, and tablets, and tv being a big distraction among families, especially in those long winter months, it is nice to get a break from electronics and get outside and in nature.
Great Exercise. Skiing is such great exercise! My legs definitely feel it when I ski hard, and you can burn a lot of calories while doing something fun!
A great skill to have. I always tell my children that I am so jealous of them learning to ski at such a young age! I remember being a kid growing up in Utah with all my friends hitting the slopes, and invitations weren’t coming my way since I didn’t know how to ski. It is a great skill to know that you can keep with you all of your life! Like riding a bike!
Family Traditions. We love to head up to the mountains often during ski season, and usually it involves making a stop at our favorite gas station to grab a few treats for the lift, or some hot cocoa. We love the little traditions of being up on the mountain, and playing games on the lift, and inspecting the individual snowflakes that fall on our coats.
And, the best part of being a Ski Family. Skiing is such a fun activity to do together as a family! A great quality time bonding activity that the entire family can do together, and enjoy those memories and experiences for a lifetime!
We recently were able to try out a new Ski Resort that we had not been to before, Solitude Mountain Resort up Big Cottonwood Canyon in Utah.
(Hit the Read more button for more details on our recent Ski trip!)
Pot de Crème is one of those desserts that looks fancy, and has an added measure of sophistication to it. It is the perfect recipe to show your love for someone at the end of a romantic meal, and can be easily made for a large group. Sharing love through food is one of my absolute favorite ways to show my love for others, and well let’s be honest, chocolate is always a good idea!
Surprisingly, Pot de Crème is very simple to make, and it is easily made in advance to serve at a dinner party or gathering. This chocolatey custard has the perfect amount of chocolate, and serving it in heart shaped ramekins makes it even more special for Valentine’s Day!
Preheat the oven to 300° F. Line a large roasting pan or baking dish with two layers of paper towels. Place eight ramekins, in the pan. Bring a medium saucepan of water to boil. Once the water comes to a boil, remove from the heat and cover. In the meantime, place the chopped chocolate in a large heatproof bowl. Bring 1 cup of the heavy cream to a boil in a small saucepan. Once the cream reaches a boil, pour it over the chocolate and let stand for 1 minute. Stir with a rubber spatula, starting in the center of the bowl and working outward in a circular motion, until the ganache is smooth; set aside.
Combine the remaining 1/2 cup heavy cream and the whole milk in the saucepan and bring to a boil. Meanwhile, in a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, sugar, and salt until slightly thickened and pale yellow in color. Drizzle in a small amount of the hot cream-milk mixture, whisking constantly, to temper the eggs. Pour in the remainder of the hot liquid, still whisking constantly, until completely incorporated. Finally, gently whisk the egg mixture into the ganache until incorporated. Spoon any skin that has formed off the top of the custard.
Divide the custard evenly between the prepared cups. Pour some of the previously set aside hot water into the baking dish around the custard cups so that it reaches about halfway up the sides of the cups. Cover the top of the pan tightly with foil, poking two holes in opposite corners. Very carefully slide the pan into the oven. Bake 35-40 minutes, or until the custard jiggles only a bit in the center when tapped or lightly shaken. Carefully remove the pan from the oven and transfer it to a cooling rack. Allow the custards to rest in their warm water bath for 10 minutes, then remove the foil and very carefully transfer the cups from the water to the cooling rack. Once they come to room temperature, cover individually with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to serve. Can be made a few days in advance!
Top with Homemade whipped cream! And, a few chocolate shavings, and Valentine’s sprinkles if you want to make it extra festive!
Enjoy!
This post is sponsored by Lindt Chocolate: Master Chocolatiers since 1845.
