Salted Caramel Chocolate Cupcakes

It's my friend Suzanne's birthday tomorrow, I am her visiting teacher, and she raves over my cupcakes.  Since I love fishing for compliments, I made her some guaranteed to please cupcakes.   I've really wanted to make Salted Caramel cupcakes for a while and this was a great opportunity.

I made my normal from scratch chocolate cupcakes but followed a recipe from a blog I found.  The caramel sauce was also from scratch and very easy, followed by a really easy icing recipe.  Here's the link to the blog I found http://cookiesandcups.com/salted-caramel-cupcakes/

I tested them at every phase and then the finished project.  Dang!!  They are good, Suz really liked them too.  Funny thing, I told Kali about them and she was so excited.  Then she tried one and hated it. Oh well, I think Salted Caramel is more of an adult taste anyway.  I'm glad she doesn't like them... more for me.

21 Weeks!!

I'm 21 weeks Pregnant!  I'm over half way... I thought it would take longer to get here.

• I had an ultrasound a couple weeks ago, seems like so far the baby is normal.  They couldn't see some of the spine or a good face shot so I get to have another one in December.
• I've been feeling pretty good, but pretty fat. 
• I'm trying to wean off the Diclectin, which is causing a bit of nausea.
• My placenta is growing in front of my belly, so it makes it hard to feel the baby, except when I'm being kicked in the bladder.
• My brain would really like to eat healthier, but my body is asking for the opposite.

I'm sounding like I'm complaining, but really it's great.  I have a super awesome husband who just loves to lotion my feet and loves my pregnancy body (he's nuts).  He said he's been waiting for so long for me to be big and pregnant, and he loves it (or lies).  I love that guy.  He's the BEST man in the world for me.

My new due date is April 1st.  I'm a little nervous to meet this new little one, I just hope she's like Kali.

No pictures :(

We just got back from an amazing holiday and I can't upload any pictures, since my desktop computer crashed.

We went to California, just the three of us, and we drove.

We rented a car in Great Falls and had a great time being together.  We stopped in Logan, UT to visit two of Spencer's brothers then in Cedar City to visit Spencer's sister, it broke up the trip nicely.  We planned this trip maybe six months ago, and finding out I was prego didn't deter us, I love vacations!!  We were gone almost 2 weeks, and didn't fight or get annoyed at each other, it was just pure bliss, I really LOVE being with my family, they are the BEST!!

We did Disneyland, California Adventure, SeaWorld, Universal Studios, and hit up Huntington Beach and Santa Monica Beach. I loved Cars Land in C.A., it was so awesome, probably my favorite part about the trip, and the hour wait for Radiator Springs Racers was totally worth the wait.  Also, it was Halloween while we were there, and the initial plan was to go trick or treating in Beverly Hills, sounds pretty sweet.  But too bad Kali got heatstroke the day before and threw up all night, so we spent Halloween day watching movies in our hotel.  I made her get dressed up that night, and we went to Huntington Beach where they closed off a few blocks to traffic to give out candy and set up a bunch of bouncy castles.  Kali had fun I think, and I liked how safe we felt in that area.

I can't say that I love LA, it's a bit too busy and big and smoggy for me, I'm a small city, Medicine Hat kind of girl now. And I did all the driving in California with my trusty GPS, currently named Jack, but sometimes he really ticked me off.  ((Side thought: Our GPS used to be named Doris, when she was speaking in a female British accent.  But I hated having a woman telling me what to do!! So I changed it to Jack.))  The freeways can be a little overwhelming, and traffic can be pretty crazy, it amazed me to a stupor to see people texting and driving on those freeways.

Spencer and I have no desire to do that trip anytime soon, we were probably in that car for 60 hours, no joke.  But for me, I just loved being with Spence and Kali, holding hands, exploring and having fun together.  It really brought us closer together, and I am still enjoying being with them.

Fifteen weeks

I think I'm getting over the tired phase of being pregnant, I can sometimes get throughout the day without a nap.  Every once in a while I throw up, but I have been blessed that I have only thrown up when someone is home to help me.  Spencer and Kali treat me pretty well and Kali doesn't cry anymore when I get sick.  I'm thankful that this pregnancy is a little better than my first and taking 4 Diclectin per day really helps.
On Monday, my brother in law did an ultrasound and we got to see our little one toe tapping and waving at us, it is quite a miracle.  Dr. Torrie thinks it's a boy but confessed he's not an expert and it's still a little early to tell.  We have our official ultrasound on November 8 and we hope to find out the sex.

Big News

This is Kali.

She has some big news!!

She has wanted this for a long time.

The expected time of arrival is April 4, 2013.

She has a sick Momma and an overjoyed Dad.

Grade 3

Kali is officially a grade 3-er.  She started last Wednesday and loves it.  Her teacher is Mrs. Harrison who is a very cool lady.  Kali has complained to me that she hates weekends and days with no school, we'll see how long that lasts. 

She has been growing up so fast and has taken to cooking and baking which is perfect, since I've developed a hating relationship with my kitchen lately.  She is learning to cook food we can actually eat but my favorite has been the cupcakes she made on Saturday.  They were chocolate cupcakes with chocolate mint butter cream icing, mmmmm.  Here's her enjoying one of her cupcakes.

I love this little lady, she is so awesome.  

My little girl's baptism