Days of 47 Parade Float Preview

Monday, July 16

We went to the preview party for the parade floats for the Days of '47 Parade again this year.  We found out just before that our stake will be doing a float for the parade for next year so we thought we'd go and see what other stakes did for this year.  All I can say is, "Wow!"  There are so many creative people out there and there were so many impressive floats to look at.  Here are a couple of the floats:

Happy Birthday Blondie!

Sunday, July 15

Blondie turned 9 today!  We let her open a few gifts before church so that she could wear a new skirt and shoes to church.

She has such a cute smile when she's excited/happy!

Decorating with fondant

Saturday, July 14

Blondie wanted cupcakes decorated with fondant icing for her birthday this year.  Since her birthday was on a Sunday we decided to make and decorate them on Saturday so they would be all ready to go for Sunday.  I got the recipe from off of the internet and we found some cute decorating ideas there as well.  The girls all had fun helping and designing the cupcakes.  This was my first time working with fondant and it was kind of fun.  It definitely has a different taste than the typical buttercream frosting though.  Some of my kids liked it and some didn't care for it as much.  We frosted the cupcakes with buttercream frosting first and then cut the fondant into circles to go on top of that.

Here are the finished products:

M&M made this one to look like Blondie.

Zoo trip

Friday, July 13

Usually when I go to the zoo for a class field trip I end up buying a year membership because with the size of our family you only need to make 2 trips there during the year to make it worth the price.  Since all of the kids were home and Luke and Blondie have not seen the new exhibit, I decided to take the kids there for a visit.  It was a relatively cool morning and we just stayed until lunchtime.  We were able to see the bird show and the new Rocky Shores exhibit which features a polar bear, seals, a sea lion and otters.  It is an awesome new exhibit!  One of these days we'll have to go when DH can come too.

This seal kept swimming right up to the window.  MJ loved it!

I love these big viewing windows!

The bird show is probably my favorite part of the zoo.  I love when the birds swoop overhead like this one!

This polar bear was very entertaining to watch.  It would get in the water and swim over to this rock which was right near the window.  It would push get up on the rock and then push off the window and do a back dive back into the water.  Then it would swim around and repeat the whole thing.  The kids loved watching it!

Kay really wanted to ride the carousel but I managed to talk her into the train ride instead this time.  After much complaining I think she really enjoyed it.

Evening at the Park

Tuesday, July 10

Took the kids back to Copperton Park for some fun in the cool of the evening.  It was the first time that M&M and Luke have been to that park.

MJ was not too happy that Luke was scaring her in the tunnel...

Hiding in the tires from their siblings.

MJ wasn't too sure if she wanted to go down the slide.  Finally she was talked into going down on M&M's lap.

More bouncy house pictures

Wednesday, June 27

I found some more pictures of the kids in the bouncy house - and some better ones with Kay in it:

4th of July - 2012

Tuesday, July 4

It was a little weird not having M&M around for the Fourth of July this year (she was at Oakcrest Girls Camp).  We went to our annual neighborhood parade and pancake breakfast.  It was nice this year to be able to use the new pavilion/bowery that they built at the back of our church parking lot.  We actually had tables that we could sit and eat at this year!  Luke and Kitty rode their scooters for the parade, I helped push Kay on her tricycle, and Blondie rode her roller blades and pushed MJ in the stroller.

After the parade we got out our inflatable pools and let the kids play in them.  It was a pretty hot day so I'm sure it felt good for the kids.  (And Luke decided not to put sunscreen on because he thought that his skin was tan enough and he ended up getting sunburned pretty good on his shoulders.  We also missed a part of Kitty's shoulders and she got a little sunburned as well.)

Look what I found Mom!!  An ant!

My parents came over for dinner and then we did some fireworks at our house.  I made my usual flag cake with the strawberries and blueberries on top.  I also tried a cool drink where you layer red, clear and blue drinks and they stay separated.  They looked really cool and apparently I forgot to take a picture of it.  Here is a link to instructions on how to make the drink and includes pictures if you want to see:  Layered Patriotic Punch

We usually go to a big fireworks show on the 4th, but with M&M gone we decided not to do that this year.  I purchased a pretty good fireworks deal online and we had a nice little show in our front yard.  Because of a really dry summer we had some additional fireworks restrictions, which included parts of our neighborhood, just the next street over.  We live in a pretty well cared for neighborhood though and didn't feel there was much risk for starting a wildfire where we live.

MJ absolutely hated the fireworks.  She sat in Grandma S's lap almost the whole time, just sitting there hugging her!  And my mom tried to keep MJ's ears covered because she especially didn't like the loud sounds.  Kay tolerated the fireworks and sat in my dad's lap the whole time.

DH tried his hand at photographing some of the fireworks:

This was a tiny, awesome fountain called Popcorn Party that looked and sounded like popping popcorn and lasted at least 3 minutes!

Love the aerials that are now legal in Utah!