250th Birthday of the USA

We made it back from the Pacific Northwest in time for 4th of July weekend.

Friday the 3rd of July, I watched hot air balloons even driving to a nearby park to see them closer and to get juggling videos and pictures. 

Jet, Nichole, and I went to do a story trail at the new Delta Gateway Park. "How the Beaver Got His Tail" is one we read back in 2023.

Then we went to the library (libraries?) and picked up some Summer Reading prizes. 

Jet earned a trilobite fossil.

 

That day was Chocolate Wafer Day. Jr. Jr. told me, "We're having them after scripture study to remind us to never wafer in our faith."

Have I mentioned I love that kid?

The kids watched Pooh's Heffalump Movie to celebrate Drop a Rock Day and Eat Beans Day because rocks drop on the trap to catch the heffalump and Pooh ate jelly beans. 

 

Saturday, the 4th of July, was the 250th birthday of the USA and our celebration of it was kind of chill.

We were still recovering from vacation so there were some naps going on.

I did look at the hot air balloons from our front lawn first thing in the morning.

We played with bubbles and shadow puppets while waiting for a jet flyover. 

We watched jets with Jet like we did in 2020.

Then it was time for sidewalk chalk before going in and relaxing.

It was Play Outside Day. 

I did have a drink with a red, white, and blue straw.

For dinner we had hot dogs and salad with Caesar dressing because it was Caesar Salad Day.

For dessert we had red, white, and blue ice cream.

The funny thing is a different day we needed to get ice cream for Nichole's birthday and ice cream was on sale so one of the types of ice cream we got was red, white, and blue ice cream. It was so good.

On Independence Day we heard no fireworks, no sirens, and no dogs barking. This year there was a fireworks ban because of too many fires.

We were planning on more activities, but I'm okay that it was kind of laid back.

 

Sunday, the 5th of July, the kids and I went out for an evening drive and saw the giant flag flying in Grove Creek Canyon. They used a different flag this year. This year it was a Betsy Ross flag, which you can't really tell in the pictures Nichole took as I was driving. Oh well.

Nature's Cool, Man

 

While we were in Idaho visiting relatives, Jeremy spotted a lone cloud standing (floating?) out in front of the gray clouds in the background. I got a quick picture with my phone then started singing, "I'm Just a Little Black Raincloud," from Winnie-the-Pooh. It wasn't a little black rain cloud, but it seemed to fit because it was all alone, hovering under the other clouds. 

I Love Birding Challenges

Besides the annual reading challenge I'm doing, it is another year for a birding challenge through Utah County Birders. Books and birds. Aren't they great? And yes, I will sometimes listen to an audiobook while I'm looking at birds.

Jeremy and Nichole (who are also doing the birding challenge), got out one evening for some bonding birding time to the Provo River Delta and saw a barn owl among a few other birds.

Jeremy and I decided to go the next week for a morning birding adventure to see if we could find the owl.

We got there nice and early. You know I love mornings in nature. It was cold, we didn't see the barn owl, but we saw so many other birds. It was worth it.

And somehow I turned the exposure way down on the birding camera so all the bird pictures we took are dark. Sigh.

Oh well. We still enjoyed seeing them... together.

 

I love bonding time! 

 

That day, January 17, was Popeye Day and Hot Heads Chili Day so we had spinach salad and chili on cornbread (I added hot sauce on top of my chili).

The next day, January 18, was Winnie-the-Pooh Day. We had foods with honey: Honey garlic chicken, salad with honey mustard dressing.

It was also Thesaurus Day so we had fun figuring out different way of saying things. Lucky wanted to make Kool-aid. I corrected him and told him it was "Colored Flavored Sugar Water." He needed to put crystalized sweetener in it (aka sugar). The funny thing is the honey I used for dinner was crystalized (crystalized sweetener) so I had to heat it up in order to use it. Heh Heh Heh. 

Catching Up January 2025 part 2

In 2024 both Nichole and Lucky got out for a lot of birding with us, so Jeremy and I took them to the Golden Corral for the annual Utah County Birders dinner there in January 2025. Both Jeremy and I earned Bronze level for the 2024 challenge so we each picked a pair of earrings. Jeremy gave his to Nichole and I kept mine- owls.

Another day, Jeremy, Nichole, and I went to the kickoff event for Orem Library's 2025 Adult Reading Challenge.

January 12 was National Sunday Supper Day and National Curried Chicken Day so for Sunday supper, we had coconut curry chicken and some sort of rice from "A Season of Family Meal Plans," and bread.

We ate dinner early enough that we were able to go over to our friend's for banana splits. 

I love these gals. One is my ministering sister and one Jeremy ministers to and it just so happens that we're already friends.

January 13 was National Rubber Ducky Day. There were a lot of rubber duckies in our home that wanted to be involved in things.

That night, Orem Library had a Winnie-the-Pooh Day event (Winnie-the-Pooh Day is on January 18). Jet, Lucky, Jr. Jr., and I went.

It was definitely catered toward Jet's age group with crafts and activities and stories.

January 14 was Hot Pastrami Sandwich Day. Some of the family members look forward to grilled pastrami and cheese sandwiches for this holiday. We enjoyed them.

January 15 was National Bagel Day. I didn't think we had bagels until I was looking through my pictures to do this post. 

Me: Wait. We had bagels on National Bagel Day?

Jeremy: Yeah. Didn't you make some?

Me (bewildered): Yes, I did.

We had toasted bagels and hot chocolate with fried rice. Mmmm.

 

January 16 was Appreciate a Dragon Day. Nichole usually draws pictures of dragons that day but she was working on another project so she appreciated a dragon she already had.

 

January 17 was Hot Heads Chili Day. We made chili. 

January 18, besides being Winnie-the-Pooh Day, was National Thesaurus Day. We talked about dinosaur related stuff for "The Saurus Day."

Winnie-the-Pooh Day 2024

You know I like to menu plan based on holidays. Well, I kept it really simple on Winnie-the-Pooh Day this year on January 18. Peanut butter and honey sandwiches and in some cases just honey sandwiches. I had planned on apple slices and carrots but I ended up saying, "Eat whatever side dishes you can find." This was because Lucky, Jet, and I were in a hurry to get to a Winnie-the-Pooh even at the library where we were able to play games, listen to a beekeeper (get some honey sticks), and get some prizes.

I love the Orem Library and of course the librarians.

 

There was some Winnie-the-Pooh movie watching that day and we got out some plushie friends to play with. Jet loved that. A couple of them even came with us to pick up Jr. from school.

After the Winnie-the-Pooh activity at the library, I dropped the kiddoes off at home and went to a Relief Society activity where we talked about Self Care.

We did facials (I was humming "Wizard of Oz" music), self massage, drank hot chocolate, and did some meditation. It was relaxing.

 

It was a nice Winnie-the-Pooh Day.