Happy Birding to You

So far this year either Jeremy or I have been out birding every day.  Of course yesterday, January 5, was National Bird Day so we had to go birding.  Jeremy and I both went out along with Lucky.  We saw some neat things.

We also ran into some other birders.  One birder we know directed us to where we were able to find a new bird I'd never seen before.  The pictures I took weren't that great, but I was happy to get a new life bird.

Yesterday evening Jeremy made rice crispy birds to celebrate the holiday.

The boys played my birding card game that I got for my birthday last year.

We weren't going to go birding today but right after we got home from a Primary "getting to know you" breakfast this morning (we got to wear pajamas), a fellow birder called us to let us know of a bird we'd been looking for.  We were able to make it in time to see this bird.  Hooray!

I love this birding community we're part of.  So many great people with this shared interest in birds and who are so willing to help each other find what we're looking for.

Bird Trivia

This morning, Nichole and I made lunch together to take to school (for her) and birding (for me).  Since it's National Trivia Day, January 4, Nichole put a trivia question on my lunch bag.

On one side the bag said- "Identify this bird (answer on back)"- with a drawn picture of a pelican.
On the other side of the bag it said- "If you guessed "Nigel", you are correct!" 
It was the pelican from Finding Nemo.  How fun.
Nichole also made a sandwich and labeled the ziplock bag it was in- "Dad's sandwich in Mom's bag (don't tell him)"
I love my family.

Quiet! I'm Tolkien here...

Today is JRR Tolkien's birthday. He is well past his hundred and eleventh year but his writings live as long and elegantly as his elves.

This evening my husband (who is awesome) was trying to do an author search on a local library catalog. He was trying to find a book on how to improve his writing by the author Dean Koontz. After doing the search the author's name came up along with the number of his books they have. Clicking on the link my husband was greeted with this...

Four pages of JRR Tolkien's book "The Hobbit." Each book the exact same copy. None of it had anything to do with Koontz or writing- the book's not even Silmarillion! Well played, library catalog. Neither Merry nor Pippin could have done it better.

Great Horned Owls

Today we worked together as a family.  We had an assembly line going taking things out to the trash.  It was fun.

Then Jeremy and I did some birding.  We went looking for a certain bird (didn't find it), but it was worth it to go out as we saw a pair of great horned owls.  It was nice to have such a clear view of them- not like our first great horned owl pictures back at the beginning of 2016.

Now That's How You Start a New Year

While the kids and I ate nachos and watched movies at home, Jeremy went on a birding field trip to start the New Year.

How's that for starting off the new year right? 
Hello 2018!