Pioneer Day 2012

The 24th of July brings more fun and celebration to our area of the world. So we always celebrate Pioneer Day in Spanish Fork because: one that is where my family lives and two they have a parade and carnival there. However, this was our first Pioneer Day that we've lived in Mapleton and it turns out they have a celebration too.  And they start the whole thing off at 6:00 am with all the cop cars and fire trucks and stuff, driving around Mapleton, with their sirens on. They have a parade too, but we went to the one in Spanish Fork because I have an aunt who lives on the parade route and a ton of my cousins kids would be there.

Kaylee really liked to watch the parade but was a little tired so she looks a little dazed.





Now they throw candy which made Kaylee pretty happy, but a local movie theater was handing out little bags of movie popcorn which was Kaylee's favorite treat that was being handed out.



Some floats had music and Kaylee would get up and dance.





After the parade we decided to go to the Mapleton booths and stuff to see what they had to offer since they closed at 2. They had a really yummy pulled pork lunch that was priced well and also huge cotton candy for just a dollar. They had little booths for kids older than Kaylee to play games. Also they had a craft tent to see peoples crafts. It was a neat atmosphere because it felt like a giant family get-together. It was nice.



We went to back to Spanish Fork to eat at my aunts house and chat. The food was good and it was nice to just sit and chat. Kaylee found some hula hoops and really enjoyed walking around with them.



After she got all muddy, we went to the booths in Spanish Fork. There was not much to buy, but Kaylee got a funnel cake that was yummy. All in all it was a pretty fun day.

Caramel Popcorn in the Summer Time

So Grandma was in the mood to have caramel popcorn so we made some for the 4th and the 24th July. It was a whole family affair. Kaylee went around helping everyone with their jobs. But her favorite part was taste testing I believe. Now I don't have the recipe on me to post, but I will get it and post it at the bottom.

Watching the popcorn pop.

Helping Grandma remove the hard kernels from the popcorn,

Stirring the caramel.

Laying out to cool

Week 30 of Pregnancy #2

Well two weeks ago I was 30 weeks pregnant. My gosh has it been hard to blog since being pregnant. First I was too sick to blog and now it has moved to my brain doesn't always want to function properly and I have trouble typing coherent sentences let alone a whole paragraph that makes sense. But I really want to be all caught up by the holidays/new baby. So my weight is doing good still, however, I have been told to watch my sugar. OH MY GOSH!!! Sugar is everywhere, but I'm actually proud that I have been able to cut back. I'm almost pretty much addicted to sugar to it's been hard, but I'm pleased.

Stadium of Fire 2012

Stadium of Fire was really good this year. I didn't think it would be because of who the the head liner was: The Beach Boys. They are so old and I really didn't think they would be any good anymore. But I really enjoy Stadium of Fire fireworks and they are way better inside with the music and stuff so that was the main reason we all went.

Here we are walking from Brick Oven to Stadium of Fire in the loveliness of the heat. So much fun.

Kaylee wanted to play around on the bleachers and so since the people behind us weren't there yet, we let her play.



So I am pregnant and it was so hot. Also it was around Kaylee's normal bedtime so she was getting really cranky.  I started thinking that this was a huge mistake. I was like why am I putting myself through this just for fireworks. When I was up I came across those frozen lemonades things and we got one because they are yummy. It actually ended up calming down Kaylee and then in turn calming me down to enjoy the show.

It started with some jets which made Kaylee nervous but she liked them at the same time. And then they were bringing out the flags and we all sang the National Anthem. Now Kaylee did have her hand on heart and I went to take a picture of it, right when she moved her hand. So it's not the best picture but I wanted to post it anyway.I tried to take a picture of all of us and this was the best one that I took but it's really not that bad.

So after the boring talking that they do every year. Scotty McCreery started to sing which I thought would be boring, but it wasn't. He played some up beat covers and then an emotional Letters from Home. It was nice and fun. And then the Beach Boys came out and they just started into their music and I think they played every one of their popular songs which is quite a few. They sounded good, I know all the words, and there was just a good vibe. Most people in our area spent about half the time standing up dancing. I danced and sang my head off, but so did my mom and Abe. Kaylee loved the music too. She would shake her hands and would move her head sort of to the beat. The sad part was she had a slightly glazed look on her face the whole time. Then the fireworks started to James Bond theme songs. Kaylee laid back and tried to go to sleep but it never really happened, but she was able to doze a bit.  Then after the James Bond tribute Alex Boye started singing a patriotic song and it was just beautiful and the rest of the music was patriotic and it was just awesome. I am so glad that we went.

And her is just a better shot of Kaylee in her super cute Fourth of July outfit.

Fun on the Fourth of July 2012

We went to Syliva's again for Independence Day. Kaylee had a really good time. She loved playing in the water. She found a gun and a ball that she toted around with her. The older kids for the most part were really good about not being too rough around her. She also enjoyed hitting the balloons that were around.

A Fourth of July Treat

So I was looking around at a Fourth of July treat that would look cool, tastes yummy, and easy to make. So when I came across this recipe on the food network and it sounded easy, looked easy, and I thought that I could do this no problem. I thought that the mascarpone would be the hard thing to find. I should have read the comments below about the tart cups. The only place I could find mini tart cups was the internet. So I adjusted the recipe a bit. I mixed with a spoon 8 oz of mascarpone, 3Tbsp of powder sugar, and 1/3 tsp of vanilla in a bowl. Then took fresh made whipping cream and folded in a cup into the cheese. Now because I add extra vanilla to the recipe I think that it might have caused the cream to be less white, but I liked the taste.  So since I couldn't find tart cups and I wasn't about to make them, we went on a hunt for something else. And we found these Pepperidge Farm Verona strawberry flavored cookies that we thought might work (in the third picture you can kinda see the cookies). Now some packages were better tasting than others, which were a little gummy. Also I lightly sugared the strawberries so they wouldn't dry out. I think that is all the information that would be needed to duplicate this fun little treat. Also this wouldn't have happened without my mom pushing me when things weren't working and looking for the missing things for me.

Week 25 of Pregnancy #2

So on Wednesday I was 25 weeks pregnant. Things are going well for the most part, my blood pressure is nice and low at 105/64, however, I did have a spike in my weight gain that I'm trying to not freak out about. The doctor said that sometimes there is just a big jump and it's normal, but if it were to happen again I'll have to evaluate what I'm eating and such. Also I'm kind losing a lot of hair. Again the doctor was like it's probably hormonal and nothing to worry about, but to be on the safe side, on my next visit while they are already testing for the glucose stuff, they are going to also test my iron count and thyroid to make sure that it is all good. Now even if there is a problem with that stuff they said that the baby will be fine.

I've been having a good amount of braxton hicks contractions. Abe thinks its more than I did with Kaylee, but I think its about the same. Honestly, though it was just two years ago, it's hard to remember more than the fact that I had them. This boy moves differently from Kaylee though. His movements tend to be quick or rolling, where as Kaylee's were repetitive like she would kick me in the kidneys. Also she would push really hard with a body part until I would have to push back to get it to stop.