Fresh Strawberry Cake

My sister has a food blog she and some other women from her ward post good recipes they make at luncheons they have or just because. It is called bellavistacooking.blogspot.com. This recipe is from one of my sister's friend. I made it last night and it was so good. Taylor loved it and he is a tough critic.

1 pkg. white cake mix
1/2 c. water
1 pkg. strawberry jello
2 heaping Tbsp. flour
3/4 c. vegetable oil
2 C. fresh strawberries or 1 (10 oz.) pkg. frozen strawberries
4 eggs

Mix dry ingredients together. Add water, eggs, oil and berries. Reserving 3 Tablespoons of berries for the icing. Beat 3 min. at moderate speed. Bake in 9 x 13 for 35 min or until done. Do not overbake.

Icing
1/2 C. soft margarine
1 Ib. pkg. powdered sugar
3 Tbsp. thawed strawberries
1/2 tsp. vanilla
Dash of salt.

Beat until smooth. After iced, refrigerate. Does make a lot of frosting.

26 weeks pregnant

I was thinking that I haven't taken any pictures of how pregnant I am getting. Here are a couple pics of me and the growing belly.

Baby Shower!

A couple friends of mine and I threw our friend a Halloween themed baby shower. She is having a girl but wanted to do the Halloween idea. It turned out really cute. We all pulled whatever decorations we had and I bought a few things and the table turned out so cute. Just wanted to show you how it looked. For brunch we had cinnamon rolls, sausage, egg and quiche, fruit and dip, and yummmy muffins. The food was quite tasty.

She wants to wear her new boots everyday

I bought Callie some boots for this fall and she asks to wear them all the time. Well we don't live in Minnesota. It has still been in the 90s here lately. But the second weekend in October we did see the low 60s. So she did get to wear them once. She looked so grown up in her sweater dress and suede boots. Too Cute!

Blueberry Coffee Cake Muffins

This recipe I found when I was watching Barefoot Contessa on the Foodnetwork. It is very yummy. It is very moist because of the sour cream.

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 extra large eggs, at room temperature(I only had large eggs and it worked fine)
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup sour cream
1/4 cup milk
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt(I used regular)
2 half-pints fresh blueberrie, picked through for stems (you could use frozen too, just thaw in fridge)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place 16 paper liners in muffin pans. I would use the liners because mine got stuck.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. With the mixer on low speed, add the eggs 1 at a time, then add the vanilla, sour cream, and milk. In a seperate bowl, sift together, the four, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture to the batter and beat until just mixed. Fold in the blueberries and with a spatula and be sure the batter is completely mixed. Fill each cup liner just over the top and bake for 20-25 minutes. You may have to adjust your time less or more.

Callie learned to tie her shoes.

Callie was sitting on the floor the other day waiting for us to leave to go somewhere. Taylor had his tennis shoes laying on the floor and she put them on and started to try to tie the laces. Sure enough she figured it out. I was very impressed.

Preschool Field Trip to Oak Glen Apple Orchards

Last week Callie's preschool went to Oak Glen Apple Orchards. They got to learn how apples are grown and the different kinds of apples. We got to sample all the colors of apples. They took us on a tour to show us how they sort apples. They can leave the apples for 6 months if stored cold enough. Then a boy's parents in Callie's class own a restaurant up in Oak Glen and everyone had apple pie and apple cider. Yum! Here are some fun pictures from the field trip.

Preschool Field Trip to Oak Glen Apple Orchards

We're having a ........

GIRL!!!! Can you believe it? I wanted a boy so Preston could have a play mate but Callie was right. She has been telling me we're having a girl. Callie was so excited when I got home. I am excited, I just feel bad Preston is going to be stuck between two girls. Maybe the next one will be a boy. We'll have to buy him lots of trucks, cars, and other manly things. The pictures aren't very good because it is a picture of a picture. I don't know if you can see the arrow pointing, showing it's a girl. And the holding the bladder part during the sonogram was terrible. I had to go at 3:30 and had another hour to go. I got to the front desk and told the lady I couldn't hold it any longer. She told me I could empty a little. Well let me tell you that was very difficult. Then the lady called me back farely soon and she started taking measurements and said I need you to go to the bathroom. She said,"Your bladder is so full I can't see the baby". No kidding. I felt so much better. They told me you have to have a full bladder to measure the cervix. I think it is ridiculous to make a pregnant woman drink that much and then make her hold it. Anyways it is over and I will live.

Our babies sonogram today at 4:30!

Today is my sonogram appointment to find out what were having. I was excited until I remembered they are making me drink 32 oz. of water one hour before my appointment. The bad news is I can't urinate. How terrible is that. They are going to be pushing on my stomach the whole time and how miserable is that going to be. I never had to do that in Texas. They said they need a full bladder to be able to see everything well. I will let you know how it goes. Wish me luck.

Our soon to be little football player!

Preston came to really like playing football in Indiana. He would tackle his cousin, Clay to get the ball back. It was so funny to watch. He even has the look of a football player with the helmet on. So cute.

Football game!

The last night we were in Indiana we went to my nephew, Jackson's, football game. Jackson played so well and their team won. Here is my niece Madelyn with her brothers sweaty uniform on. We were all like gross, don't put that on. But she looked so cute in it. Preson and his cousin Clay chillin in their lawn chairs. They kept fighting over the football. Callie and Madelyn had fun just running around during the game and being our little cheerleaders.

Holiday World Continued!

Preston, Daddy and Callie on the merry go round. I love Preston's smile. He had so much fun that after we went to the water park, he crashed in this red wagon for 2 hours. He was so worn out from all the fun.

More fun at Holiday World

Callie, Preston, and cousin Baylee riding a water ride. Preston decided to dip his fingers in the water and then licked them. Callie and Preston driving cars. They enjoyed that. And who knew the Alamo was in Kentucky.

Holiday World in Santa Claus, Indiana

Preston and Callie's first ride at the park. Preston loved it. He was smiling from ear to ear.



On Saturday we went to this water park/amusement park called Holiday World. It really is in a city called Santa Claus. The park has different areas like Christmas where they play Christmas music, Halloween area and so on. We first did all the amusement park rides and then we did the water park. The kids had so much fun. Preston is very daring; he takes after me and Callie is like Taylor. He wanted to ride everything. He was sad when we waited in line for a ride and then found out he was to small to ride.

Louisville slugger museum

Here is our family photo in front of the huge bat. Not a great picture of me. Here is one of my sister Britney and her cute family.

Lousiville Slugger Museum/Louisville, Kentucky

We went to the Louisville Slugger Museum with my parents, and my sister Britney, and her family. We went on a tour of the musuem to see how bats are made. It takes 40,000 trees to make enough bats for one day. That is a lot of trees. They have contracts with many famous baseball athletes they make bats for. It was cool to here about how different each athlete wants there bat made. There was an area for the kids to play baseball and a huge marble glove to climb on. They really liked it. Everyone also gets a free bat to take home. They are smaller size though. There is a huge bat in front of the musuem. We took pictures in front of it. I'll put it in a different post.

Apple Works continued

Our trip to Indiana/Day 1

We got to Indina late Wednesday night. The next day we went to this cute place called Apple works with my parents and my sister Heather and her family. It had animals you could feed and a tractor the kids could play on and a cool slide. We ate lunch under this beautiful pavillion and the landscaping was really nice. The weather was perfect.

Visiting cousins in the DFW airport

We flew threw Dallas/Fort Worth on September 2nd and flew onto Indianapolis. We had a two hour lay over so Taylor's sister Carrie came with her 3 kids and his parents and they brought us yummy Taco Bueno. It was fun to see everybody. Here are some pictures of Tyler, Mikayla and Callie playing in the airport. They were excited to see each other.