Watercolor Evening

July 16 was Ginger Rogers' Birthday. I fell asleep during a movie with Ginger Rogers in it.

I also fell asleep before I remembered to tell anyone to use spinach with their lettuce for taco salad. It was Fresh Spinach Day. I didn't have any myself because I fell asleep. Luckily other family members put the leftovers away because I didn't.

I was tired because we did all this after Nichole and I got back from an evening Relief Society activity where we made watercolor cards.

I am not the artist Nichole is and don't know what I'm doing with watercolors. That's okay, though. I still enjoyed socializing and eating snacks. 

I based my watercolor picture on the rainbow we saw in Oregon last month. 

Nichole based hers on this picture she took at Cape Arago on our Shore Acres day in Oregon. 

I like that our Relief Society has been doing such a variety of skills and activities. I still wear my charm bracelet on most Sundays to church and have been keeping my sourdough starter alive for over a year.

Pacific Northwest Trip 2026- part 10

Sunday, June 28 was Mel Brooks' 100th Birthday. I wore my bow earrings.

After church, my mom wanted pictures with the tree they planted for our wedding reception so many years ago. It was itty bitty at the time. It was hit and miss with how the pictures turned out because of Jet. He is still a wiggly little boy.

 

My mom made sure to get her short girl picture. She says she has so many pictures like this of young men this age who she teaches at church or she used to teach and they're getting ready to go on missions. My short mom with the kids who stand heads taller than her. 

I have plenty of those pictures with my own children. My children did not get my (and Grandma's) short genes.

 

That evening, we played Rummikub with Todd. We like playing games with Todd.

One time, everyone was able to put tiles down but Jr. Jr. could not. He kept adding more and more until he couldn't fit them on his board.

After this picture, he picked two more tiles, the last one was one he needed. Right before Jr. Jr.'s turn, Todd put his final tiles down and finished. Oh man. We all looked at Jr. Jr.'s tiles and saw that he was indeed correct. There was nothing he could do to get started. And just to show what could have happened if Todd hadn't put his last tiles down, Jr. Jr. started putting his tiles down and realized he could have gotten EVERYTHING down on that one turn and he would have won. Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha. Sigh.

While we were playing, we noticed the lighting was gorgeous on the trees on a nearby hill. 

We stepped outside to see and realized there was a rainbow (double rainbow). A bunch of us piled outside to get pictures in the rain. It was lovely. Absolutely beautiful.

I can't get over Jet's frolicking. That's how we all felt out there that evening.

Panorama function on my phone for the win.

Panorama function on Jr.'s phone for the weird. 

 

This is what my mom caught.

We had a beautiful end to the day. 

School Lovers Love School

A few days before school started, a couple people from the junior high came by to drop stuff off for Jr. Jr. and let him know they were excited about having him back for the school year.

Then we had back to school nights/meet the teachers. Teachers asking Jr. Jr. how he feels about school starting. Mixed feelings. Teachers asking Lucky how he feels about school starting. He would rather be at school than at home. Sigh. 

Speaking of back to school nights... the high school and junior high had overlapping schedules for that night so Jr. Jr. had to come with us to the high school to meet Jr.'s teachers. And it just so happened there was a big rainstorm. Like big. We luckily didn't get flooded and missed the flooding that was on State Street. We did get soaked just going from the high school front entrance to the van and we did get to see rainbows on the road as we were driving. We were able to drop Jr. off then head to the junior high and luckily it had stopped raining because we had farther to walk to the school from the van. It poured down again while we were in the school.

Jeremy unfortunately had an outdoor show in the rain. Sigh.

When we got home, this was the view from one direction and from another. So different.

 

At the elementary school back to school night, the students were given a punch card to make sure they took care of certain things (find out where your class lines up, make sure your student info is up to date, visit your teacher) then got a prize for completing it. One of the punches was to take a back to school selfie so Lucky took my phone and got his selfie.

 

The boys didn't have rain on the first day of school. I did get pictures before school. Yippee!

 

When I dropped Jr. Jr. off at the bus, he and I had this conversation-

Me: You good for the day?

Jr. Jr.: Just a sec.

(Comes to my door and gives me a hug)

Jr. Jr.: Now I'm good for the day.

Me: Awww.

Besides the snuggles I got from Jet while the boys were at school, I also baked bread because nobody had bread to make sandwiches. Sigh. See how organized and put together I am?

When Nichole started classes a few weeks later, she remembered to send me a first day of school picture. Yay! That's my girl.

Grand Lunch and Weather

The elementary school hadn't done their "Grand Lunch" for a couple years for obvious reasons but they started it up again this year.

Jeremy and Jet dropped me off at the school before picking up the older kids from school. I ate half my lunch with Lucky then the other half with Jr. Jr. That meant half my sandwich, half my chips, half my pudding cup, etc. 

After saying goodbye to Jr. Jr. I decided to walk home. It was a pleasant sunny day.

That did not last. By the time I picked up the boys from the bus, it had been thundering and some of the clouds were pretty dark. 

Jeremy, Jr. Jr., Lucky, and I went back to the elementary school for parent teacher conferences and afterward we got to see a beautiful rainbow as we went to get gas in the van.

Fun times. Crazy weather.

The KAT's Meow

I was singing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" while I was doing dishes.  Jr. Jr. heard me sing, "If happy little blue birds fly beyond the rainbow, why, oh why can't I?"  He started to explain to me that I can't because I can't.  It's obvious to the 5-year old that I can't fly so why would I ask such a question.


Jr. Jr. - Dad can I have some vanilla yogurt?
Dad.- Yes, just let me see what we have. (Opens refrigerator and pulls out yogurt)
Jr. Jr.- I'll just have the rest of it in that container.
Dad.- This is an unopened container, you are not going to eat all of it.
Jr. Jr.- But, it's for true love!

Catch of the Day

Catch of the Day- Prayer Works

As we sat down to take pictures at the North Window Arch in Arches National Park, a gust of wind blew Nichole's hat right off her head and over the edge of a dropoff. So sad. Jeremy went down to see if he could get it or if it was gone for good. The kids and I stayed sitting right where we were and said a prayer to ask for help for Jeremy to be able to get the hat if it was possible. If not, we would try to get Nichole a new hat, but this was her special hat. I saw Jeremy coming back up with empty hands, but he gave me a thumb's up so the kids and I immediately said a prayer of thanks. Apparently after the dropoff it became a more gentle slope, so Jeremy was able to go around on a bit of a switchback to where Nichole's hat fell. If it had been blown just a few feet more in one direction, it would have ended up in some crevices where Jeremy could not have gotten it. After that Jeremy kept Nichole's hat in his pocket. We were very grateful for the blessing of getting Nichole's hat back and for the reminder once again that prayer works.