Fiesta Days 2019

If you have been following my blog for a while, you might know that I absolutely LOVE the 24th of July. Here in Spanish Fork it is a huge celebration called Fiesta Days and it is one of my favorite times of year. This year, I was determined to make it to everything I possibly could, and it was a PACKED week.

Monday the 22nd was Drums Along the Wasatch up in Sandy. It is a drum corps competition and The Battalion (mainly Julianna) was going to be there. We hadn't seen her since  we went down to Ephraim before she stared tour so we were extra exited. 

This year's competition piece for The Battalion was called "Humanity" and in the last minute and a half of the performance a voice over says "we are one humanity" and the entire corp crowds around the pit while the color guard takes the entire field behind them and it is so powerful they had my hormonal, pregnant self in tears. 

More tears followed when as soon as the performance was over and KK wanted to go down to the field to see Julianna and I told her that we might not get to see her because I wasn't sure when they had to get on the road again. It was a huge melt down. We tried to calm her down by telling her Julianna would be home in just a couple of days but she wasn't having it. In the end, Julie took her down to see if they could at lease say "hi" to her really quick

As it turns out, it was all for nothing because Julianna had plenty of time to talk and we actually left before she did. Slightly different faces in those two pictures, am I right?

Tuesday the 23rd was Rodeo Day! We hadn't gone to the rodeo in years and KK had never gone at all, but when we won two tickets from Spanish Fork City, we knew we all wanted to go and invited Julie to come along.

It was seriously such a blast! The kids were on and off entertained but they loved it still. Spencer ins't a big fun of the rodeo in general but he was a super good sport and still have fun.

A not so fun story from the rodeo was when I eventually had to take a potty break and I came back to our row, there was an older gentleman that had to move to let me in. Trying to be nice, he asked when I was due. When I said "not until October" and his eyes just went wide and he immediately said sorry and that he hoped I wasn't too miserable with the heat right now. That's right guys... I'm so big even random older strangers feel sorry for me right now.

Wednesday the 24th, Pioneer Day. We didn't get home from the rodeo until about 11:30 the night before so it was a debate as to whether or not we were going to be able to make it for the parade the next morning. Spencer was never planning on going since it was going to be a lot of walking and he had already had to walk a lot for the rodeo so it was just the kids and I and we were going to meet Julie. In the end, I decided that I would really regret it if we didn't go so we got up and did it... and I am so glad we did!

Because Tio Adam wordk for the Spanish Fork City Network, he had to be there bright and early to film the parade, which meant we got to sit in the VIP section next to him. It was the BEST! This was our first year sitting next to the announcers which meant that we got to hear what every single float was instead of trying to guess. It was also the perfect spot because since that is where the cameras were, that is also where all the floats stopped to perform so we got to see them all. I'm pretty sure our days of regular parade viewing are tainted now.

I had also purposely not told that kids that Grandpa Mark would be playing in a band on one of the floats and they LOVED seeing him. They both said that was their favorite

Needless to say, after the parade and walking back to our car, I was pretty beat. So Spencer went to meet his old marching band friends at One Man Band for their annual scones and I stayed home and took a much needed nap

For dinner we had burgers at the Tita's (not pictured because I seriously felt so bad at this point) and then went home and hung around. We had originally planned on trying to make it to the fireworks but there was no way I could park and walk anywhere else that day (besides I was already in my pajamas as I had been from the second we got home from the parade, yes even to dinner). Once again though, I knew I would be more sorry if I missed the fireworks so I decided to take the kids in the van and just park at Spanish Fork High School. Far enough away from the sport's park that we would not be caught in traffic but close enough that we would still have a good view. That was the PERFECT decision. We were able to see the fireworks great and the kids LOVED that I let them sit on top of the minivan to watch. (Yeah, I can be a cool mom sometimes)

Thursday the 25th was Sidewalk of Fire! Let me take a second and give a little backstory for those that might be new. Every year, my in-laws host a huge neighborhood party for the 24th called the Sidewalk of Fire. Everyone comes, there is food, live music and (as the name would imply) a firework show. Well, when we bought the house and my in-laws moved to Orem, we knew that Sidewalk of Fire was going to be the first thing to go. I mean it is a huge party, and I'm seven months pregnant we were NOT about to throw that. People in the neighborhood assumed we were though; in fact, a lot of people actually assumed that my in-laws would be coming back down from Orem to throw it themselves. Crazy right?! We decided months ago that we were just not going to say anything; if anyone directly asked us about it we would tell them that there was not going to be a party, but we would not bring it up to anyone. Mark did talk about it with our across the street neighbors though because they have helped with it so much throughout the years and they decided they wanted to ahead and throw it themselves. Were we offended?... OF COURSE NOT! It was GREATEST EVER!!!! It could seriously not have worked out better for us. For the first time, all we had to do was walk out of our house and enjoy. What could be more perfect than that?!

and because there "must be opposition in all things" on Friday the 26th it rained and we had our first flood as homeowners. Lucky for us (or really unlucky when I stop to think about it) this was not our first rodeo (see what I did there) and we were able to get it cleaned up. Also lucky for us, this flood was due to "user error" where the young man that mows our lawn had accidentally left the extender hose for our rain gutters too close to the basement window and the problem has now been addressed and will hopefully not happen again.

Here is a random and beautiful picture of KK with her "friends". The kids came upstairs asking to borrow my phone to take a picture and I actually gave it to them (remember what I said about me being a cool mom sometimes) the  Little Guy took this picture. They thought there were being silly but look how cute she looks!

This post has gotten way too long but last story.... On the 24th, we parked right by the city carnival to get to the parade and, of course, we were right next to the kiddie rides. The kids really wanted to go but not only was I exhausted after the parade those rides are so expensive! Seriously, they are $3-$6 per kid per ride. Crazy right?! besides we take them to Lagoon for Labor Day every year so I really don't feel bad about them missing on an over-priced carnival. Well they were obviously a little sad about it so I decided to take that opportunity to teach them about modeling. I told them that they were both super cute but they were both pills when it came to taking pictures, and that maybe if they stared taking good pictures companies would want them to model for them and they could make their own money for things like the carnival etc. See, I though I was being clever and was putting it in their heads that they needed to start taking better pictures (usually if I get one of them sort of looking at the camera, I call it a win. Just scroll through my Instagram feed for proof). Of course, there is no "being clever" when it comes to my children. A couple of days ago I was read a book to KK and when I was done she asked me to take a picture of her with the book.

As soon as I snapped the photo she said "Mom, I just smiled really good, can I have money now"... and things like that, are why I can never win....