Proud to be an American! (Part One)

There are a lot of negative things that I could say about the fact that we have already celebrated the 4th of July in Utah but I want to focus on the positive. My family and I are very grateful for all of our wonderful blessings. Our freedom is at the top of that list. I am so grateful for freedom, our right to celebrate holidays how we wish and for all the men and women who risk their lives to protect our freedom.

Anyway, yesterday was Saturday July 3rd, aka the day Utah celebrated the 4th (because the 4th falls on a Sunday this year) and the day we went to the Marsh (Paul's grandma's family) family reunion.

The weather was gorgeous, the time with family was fun, the food was good, the fireworks were awesome and we live in a glorious country where we got to celebrate our freedom. What more could I ask for? (Maybe to celebrate on the actual holiday? Oh wait, I was going to be nice.)

Our day started early. Too early. I heard this noise that woke me out of a dead sleep. The sound resembled Andrew dumping a giant bucket of Lego's out in his room (His room is directly across the hall from ours so we hear everything he does!) I couldn't believe he was up. We had a very late night Friday. (We took a trip to Park City for an early start on back to school shopping. That is it's own post.) I thought he would sleep forever. Finally I figured out the noise.

We had landscapers come and do some work this past week. They cleared out all the junk that was under our deck. I know this still look crappy, but trust me, it is so much better.

We had them clean out some of our beds so they could put down weed block and put down some rock. Well they got everything cleaned and the weed block down on Tuesday but no rocks. They didn't come back Wed, Thurs, or Fri. Of course they came at 7:30 A.M. on Saturday, our one day to sleep in, to put in the rocks.  That's a hard noise to sleep through. We got gravel around our garden boxes making it so nice to walk around.

They also put large rocks around the side where the junipers were taken out last year. They are suppose to do more rock in the back under the houses' overhand and by our office window but so far that hasn't happened. It's anyone's guess when it will. 

Slowly but surely we are making progress on our yard. One of these years our house might be presentable. Ha!

Since I couldn't sleep I started baking for the family reunion. It was a good thing I started when I did. There is no way I would have finished everything if I hadn't.

I made two batches of cupcakes. The idea was that everyone in the family would decorate them. The kids slept through the rock debacle so Paul and I did the cupcakes. They certainly weren't what I had envisioned but they were festive and cute enough.

I saw strawberries decorated like this on a blog this week and knew I had to try it. I wanted to put them on the cupcakes. FYI~ The strawberries were very heavy making the cupcakes buckle under the weight.

I also made a batch of baked beans to take to the reunion.

We got to the reunion before anyone else. It was awful. We felt so out of place and barely knew anyone.

Once our immediate family got there it was much better. Mere, Matt, John, baby Kellen, Ben, Denise, Amanda and Calvin all came from out of state. It was so fun to see them. Look at how big Kellen is getting. He was totally eying the kids' food. 

How can you resist a bald baby head? He's so yummy.

This is one of the cupcakes Paul decorated. Isn't is lovely?

                         

After we all got some food in us we felt much better. The kids played on the playground with their cousins and of course I followed them around with the camera. Emma did a great job looking after Calvin.

M looked after John.

When you ask John to smile he gives you this face LOL!

Andrew was climbing everywhere and on everything.

We didn't stay too long since we had some things we had to pick up for Paul's birthday, we needed a nap and I wasn't feeling 100%. I'll just say I hate being a woman. We got some family pictures in our matchy matchy clothes. Thanks Matt! 

                           

          

When we got home the kids played with some smoke balls and then we napped. 

We're Easily Amused

Before school got out I got a few things that I thought would be entertaining for the kids to try over the summer. Jiffy Pop was one of those things. They have been asking since the day I brought it home if they could make it. I've been putting it off because I didn't know for sure what to do with it. Finally I admitted why I hadn't done it yet and they convinced me today was the day to try it. I couldn't argue with them. It's hot, I'm feeling too lazy to do much else and they were bored. When I read the instructions it said not to use it on the flat top stoves. Oops. We made it anyway and it ended up working just fine. Maybe it's because my range sucks and doesn't ever cool down. 


Here are some more pictures of the kids in action. Who knew that kids could be so easily amused by something that only cost two bucks!?! The bonus? It ended up tasting really good too! Way better than I remembered it.

I'm thinking that I accidentally punctured the edge of Emma's when I was taking the cardboard off the top. All of a sudden the side gave and popcorn started shooting out the side. We hurried and moved it off the heat. 

It didn't get popped all the way but it was still enough. 

Our First Trip to the Canyon in 2010

And it was interesting! 

Paul and I knew we weren't in the mood for hotdogs. Tuesday night over dinner we talked about our options. We figured KFC would travel the best. The kids opted for roasting hotdogs in the canyon. When we got to KFC Emma tells us she wants a kids meal. I'm like "no, you said you were eating a hot dog." She pouts and says fine. The teens running KFC were um, how do I say this nicely? Idiots? They tried not to give us our food. They took our $14 handed us our drinks and said "have a good day!" We were like, food please? They looked at us like we were asking for the world. Paul said "dang that's expensive soda!" Then the kid sort of got it. 

Half way up the canyon I realize I don't have buns for the kids' dogs. Emma was almost in tears. "How am I going to eat a hotdog without a buuuun?" We got there and tried to make the best of the situation. Paul and I realize our orders our wrong, we got potato wedges instead of mashed potatoes and no butter for our biscuit. Paul told Emma she could use it as her bun. It was awesome! She was not amused.  

Once the kids started eating we found out that I also forgot plates and utensils. Note to self; Make a master packing list for canyon trips. (Thanks honey for the suggestion.) Luckily we had sporks from KFC. Andrew was a trooper. He ate his hotdog with no bun without a complaint. 

A few bites in and Emma realized that her dog was still cold in the middle. Doesn't she look happy? 

She ended up eating half of my dinner along with her sad hotdog. I tried to perk her up with lots and lots of pictures. 

Emma drank away her sorrows while Andrew explored, played and kept his positive attitude. 

Then it was time for s'mores. That I didn't mess up. I had everything I needed for my Reese's s'mores. Mmmm.  

(I need to burn this shirt. I promise I'm not pregnant.)

Hey honey, you've got a little something on your face. 

I wanted a new more seasonally appropriate header for my blog so we tried to get a shot of all of us. I don't think I'm going to use it though.

After some chocolate Emma was in a much better mood.

While the kids ran around and played while we tried to smoke everyone out of the canyon. Our wood was a little green.

Enough was enough. Our eyes were burning. We put out the fire, pack up and started to leave. It was so beautiful in the canyon and it was in the 60's up there! I wasn't ready to go but there was no reason to stay since we didn't have a fire. As we came to the fork in the road Paul said "Do you want to go all the way around?" My answer? "YES!" We drove the Alpine Loop and went through Timpanooke Campground on the way. We are even considering another overnight camping trip. We saw deer, chipmunk, flooding and a bunch of wildflowers. It was so beautiful. 

I love spending time in the canyon.