Me Time

I wanted to do something for myself (as much as I love doing things for my family) so the beginning of August, I went to an event at the Provo Library- a panel and book signing with 20 or so clean romance authors. 

I got to chat with some great people, got some books, got some book recommendations, and even got a picture with Josi Kilpack and Nancy Campbell Allen.

It was a nice evening.

Speaking Of...

Continuing on with what has become tradition this year. When we got back from our Pacific Northwest trip, Jeremy and I got a selfie with the American flag because they forgot to take it down after Pioneer Day. Heh Heh Heh.

Speaking of my husband, we were at the grocery store one day and he saw some chili cornbread in the discount bakery section and said it looked so good. I told him I could make that at home. Cornbread is easy to make. We had green chilies in the pantry. So later, I made some. Yumm.

Speaking of American flags, one day we were sitting at home and there was a lovely rain and windstorm happening outside. A few of us went outside to enjoy it. It definitely got the American flags blowing. And check out Jet's hair.

Speaking of Jet, one day we needed help bringing in Costco supplies from the van. Jet really wanted to help so he grabbed the first two shoes that he could find, put them on, then went up to help.

Speaking of helping out, one day my sons said this to me. "You wanted us to help pick up the living room, right?" This is what I found them carrying:

Speaking of carrying, one day Nichole, Jet, and I went to a park so I could let Jet run around without worrying about him running off. He went a little ways then decided he just wanted Mommy to pick him up and hold him. Ha Ha Ha Ha. He sure liked the swings, though.

Speaking of Jet again, he's decided it's hilarious to pull my apron strings, not just to untie them, though, but to pull them hard enough to make me have to step back. He is so fun.

Pacific Northwest Trip- part 4

Traveling to the Pacific Northwest was a well needed trip. I used to do a lot more traveling but haven't done as much since Jet was born. 2020 also changed a lot of things. The only overnight trips I've done since 2019 have been this year.

July 30 was National Father-in-Law Day. We said goodbye to my father-in-law then drove two vehicles back to Idaho with a "quick" stop to visit our friends again then back to Utah. (It wasn't that quick. Sigh) We were going to have kids switch vehicles from time to time during the trip (people want to try out the new car), but we ended up just sticking to the vehicles we started in. We had an audiobook we were listening to in the van so had reason to stay where we were. Well, I would have stayed there anyway since I was driving. 

Since we couldn't switch off drivers we did have to stop from time to time. We got home somewhat late that night. 

 

Now here's where testimony that Heavenly Father is aware and does care comes in. Jeremy had already taken off extra days of work to spend time in Washington. He had to get up early and go to work the next morning. He needed to save vacation days, etc. for later in the year when he had fair conventions and for big balloon builds. But he was exhausted. It was a long drive from Washington to Utah, including getting up early and getting home late.

The next morning as he was about to get up he got a notification on his phone that there was a voluntary time off availability. Voluntary time off doesn't eat up into vacation, etc. days. There hadn't been VTO offered in months. And he was able to get it on the day that he really needed it. He needed a day to sleep and recuperate. Now I know that was a blessing from Heavenly Father right there. He is aware and he does care.

Pacific Northwest Trip- Part 3

Jet got his first haircut while we were in Oregon. Mostly to get the hair out of his eyes (and there's only so much you can do with a wiggly three year old). His curls stayed. Phew.

 

The day we left was Gorgeous Grandma Day, July 23. 

We got pictures with my children's gorgeous grandma in Oregon then we drove to Washington to see my children's other gorgeous grandma who gave us ice cream for Vanilla Ice Cream Day. I love that we have relatives who like to help us celebrate.

 

July 24 was National Cousins Day but we celebrated that later in the week when Jeremy's sister and brother who live in Washington came for a visit and brought their kids. We visited Jeremy's other brother and his family in Idaho back in March.

July 25 was National Hot Fudge Sundae Day. Guess what Grandma gave us. More ice cream!

 

Jeremy flew to Washington. He brought me flowers. Awww. Although I'd take my husband over flowers any day, I still enjoyed them. It helped me celebrate Take Your Houseplants for a Walk Day on July 27.

After taking pictures for that holiday, we put the flowers back and Jeremy and I went on a nice walk around the neighborhood, just the two of us. Sigh. That's a contented sigh. I was so happy to have my husband with me again.

July 27 was also National Sleepyhead Day in Finland. Thanks for the use of the squirt bottle, Mom.

I didn't actually squirt him. It just makes for a good picture. 

It was also National Chili Dog Day. And Refreshment Day.

 

July 28 was Beatrix Potter's Birthday. We watched the movie, Miss Potter, after a long day of seeing animals like you might in Beatrix Potter books. There was a rabbit and a squirrel in the yard and lots and lots of wildlife at Nisqually Wildlife Refuge where we took all the kids this trip.

I must admit I am amazed at the different colors of the tree frogs we saw. We spent I don't know how much time looking at them.

My brain must have been working just right that day because we played an impromptu game as we were walking where someone would call out a date on the calendar and I would say off the top of my head what holiday or "reason to celebrate" was on that day. Some would take a bit longer to remember than others but I was getting them all. I couldn't believe it. My family couldn't either. I've just been calendaring celebrations for so many years that a lot of them stick with me. Maybe the exercise of running around Nisqually helped get the oxygen to my brain and helped me think better. It was fun.

While we were there, Lucky did activities in a workbook so he could become a Junior Refuge Manager. He was "sworn in" and got a badge.

It was like the Junior Ranger patches the three oldest earned at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge way back in 2016 (we had to buy their patches then). There are Junior Ranger programs you can do all over the place.

July 28 was also Milk Chocolate Day. Again we had chocolate milk.

 

July 29 was National Lasagna Day. Mmmmm, do I love lasagna.

 

Our Pacific Northwest trip was awesome and well needed for all of us.

Pacific Northwest Trip- Part 2

My parents were happy to help us celebrate while we were visiting. A couple of my brothers visited while we were there, too, and also joined in. Some of the holidays were celebrated observed because of schedules.

July 18 was National Sour Candy Day. We ate sour patch kids and made sour faces.

 

July 19 was National Hot Dog Day.

 

It was also Stick Out Your Tongue Day. 

We went to Shore Acres, did a little birding while there, then went down to the beach so we could introduce a couple of the kids to putting their feet in that cold Oregon ocean. Jet enjoyed it.

Lucky didn't want to take his shoes off to wade in the water so he "tried" to run away from the waves but just got his shoes and socks wet. Sigh.

We got to see some brown pelicans which was fun. We're used to seeing white pelicans in Utah. We've only seen one brown pelican in Utah before.

July 20 was Moon Day. We ate "phases of the moon" cookies and creativity took over. We had half moons, full moons, gibbous moons, moons with the Cheshire Cat smile. We had the man in the moon and the moon on the man. 

Nichole opened up a cookie and started eating it. I pointed out it was a full moon. And as she ate it she replied, "Yep. And now it's waning."

"It's the moon!"

 

We of course couldn't visit my parents' house without visiting the nature area that is down the road. I got the kids up and made them go out with me. We got our target bird- green heron- as well as plenty of other birds in the area. There were actually 3 or 4 green herons in that area.

My parents' ward had their Pioneer Day picnic while we were there so I got to see some childhood friends and give a hug to the woman who was the Young Women's President when I was a youth. My kids had fun running around and playing (or sitting reading depending on the child) and Jet had fun running around with his uncles.

It was a great trip to Oregon.