General Conference Weekend

Friday, October 2, was Name Your Car Day. I told this to Jet and even though we'd already named both of our vehicles years ago, Jet insisted on naming the van when I picked him up from school. He named it "Car So Long." OK. Why not? 

Then when we got in the van, he decided it should be Name Your Banana Slug Day. Timothy, the banana slug, was in the van that day. He let me know Timothy should be renamed "Bernard the Banana Slug." Jet is such a hoot. He makes me smile, which is appropriate because October 2 was also World Smile Day.

 

Saturday, October 3, we gathered children in Car So Long and listened to General Conference on the radio on the way to Idaho. 

Road Trip! 

 

We drove to Rigby to visit the Farnsworth TV & Pioneer Museum. 

The last talk of the first session was from President Christofferson and he talked about the dangers of gambling. We missed the second session because we were in the museum but we watched it Sunday evening.

As soon as we walked into the museum on Saturday afternoon, the person to greet us immediately showed us an old fashioned slot machine, or "one armed bandit." Ha Ha Ha Ha. The kids were able to play with it. The museum supplied nickels and any nickels that came out of it were given back to the museum. We made sure to explain how it was pretend (even though it was a real slot machine from way back when) and to stay away from these things when they got older. I thought the timing was funny.

We had a good time at the museum. Lucky's doing a report about TV for school so we mainly made this trip for him so he could see first hand some of the history of Philo T. Farnsworth in Rigby.

There was a man at the museum who came up to us and let us know how he was distantly related to Philo T. Farnsworth. We explained how we were more closely related. How fun. Cousins! We had a really nice chat with the man. His name was Doug. It was lovely. 

 

On Sunday, October 4, we enjoyed General Conference at home with nachos, of course, and the next day Jr. made brownies for FHE treat since there isn't a Saturday evening session of Conference anymore so we can't have them then.

You Can Do Hard Things... And Get Rewarded

We had a successful Shelftember and saved a LOT of money on groceries again.

There was a day when we did decide to spend money on a special reward, however.

Jr. Jr. spent many hours one day on something hard but necessary. By the time he was done, he was exhausted. So we went out for Macey's ice cream.

There's a story behind my picture. I dropped Jr. Jr. and Dad at Macey's and ran home real quick to eat something because I needed real food. It was a lot of hours not just for Jr. Jr. 

I fixed myself a BLT then went back to where Jr. Jr. was still eating his ice cream and Jeremy went and got me a cone. I thought it would be funny to lick the hard outer shell. Just lick it over and over as if it was soft ice cream because a normal thing to do would be to bite into it. I licked it enough to get a little hole in it. Ice cream started coming out through that tiny hole so I found I could start sucking it through the hole. Hee Hee. Long story short? By the time I actually bit into it, a lot of the ice cream had already been slurped by me. Heh Heh. 

I had time, though. Jr. Jr. was not in a hurry and was content to sit and talk to Mom and Dad for a while. It was good for him. 

 

I'm proud of Jr. Jr. He can do hard things.

Literacy Continues

National Literacy Month may be over (no more calendar from Shadow Mountain Publishing) but literacy activities still continue...

Like reading while waiting to pick kids up from school.

There's always another book to read, always another activity to do. 

 

You know what also continues? Literacy challenges!

This year is the 25th anniversary of Provo Library being in the academy building. You saw the water bottle I got for finishing the Summer Reading Program this year, right?

I also did an Academy 25th Anniversary Challenge and picked up my prize the end of September.

I got a card, water bottle sticker, and magnet.

Then on October 2, the governor and first lady of Utah encouraged everyone to join a state-wide read-a-thon. Spend an hour reading as a family, school, library, whatever. Lucky's English class was chosen to be one of a few in the state to go to the capitol that morning for a read-a-thon there.

That evening, Orem Library encouraged families to get comfy, bring pillows and blankets, and have a read-a-thon there. Nichole, Jr., Jet, and I went. Jr. Jr. stayed home to read and Lucky already read at the capitol that morning. Jeremy listened to an audiobook on his way home from work.

Don't we love an excuse to go to the library? Jet and I read a few books together, one several times, which we decided to check out when it was time to go home.

Books are awesome. Reading is awesome. Libraries are awesome. Literacy is awesome! 

And there are so many different ways to do it.

National Literacy Month

Jet and I finished up National Literacy Month with Shadow Mountain Publishing's adult and children's calendars. 

 

September 23 Share your reading-journey story

Read somewhere new

 

September 24 Read a chapter before screen time

Talk about your child's favorite character

 

September 25 Follow an author online

Donate a children's book

 

September 26 Visit a bookstore

Read aloud to a sibling

 

September 27 Finish a book

Act out a scene from a book

 

September 28 Reflect on what you've learned while reading

Build a reading fort

 

September 29 Read for personal growth

Read 3 books today

September 30 Celebrate Literacy Month with your next read

Celebrate by choosing a new book together 

 

That was awesome. I'm glad we did it and we really did. We did an item from each of those two calendars every day. Way to go, us. 

My Reading-Journey Story

When I was a child, I loved books. I remember my mom reading Berenstain Bears books to me as well as many others. I still remember the voice she used for Mama. 

I remember enjoying the elementary school library where I had my first introduction to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl and of course many others.

I didn't have much access to my small town's public library as we lived outside of town so I only remember going to it a few times. I did, however, devour school library books throughout elementary school and middle school and part of high school.

My mom introduced me to Agatha Christie books and I would always take them to read when we went on vacation. I loved Agatha Christie.

As happens with some people, books became less fun for me when certain ones were assigned in high school. No offense to the those Charles Dickens fans out there but I did not like A Tale of Two Cities and it's possible I didn't even finish it.

So in high school and college, I was less of a book worm.

After I got married and started having children, I discovered my love of books again. My husband and I read to our children when they were young and since he also loves reading, it's no surprise that all of our children developed a love of books.

For many years I loved mysteries with a hint of romance or other genres with a hint of romance. I was wary of anything in the "romance" genre because I was worried about content. My high school friends understood if I asked if something was "Kristin appropriate." I didn't like being exposed to foul language or crude/inappropriate jokes.

Then years ago I was introduced to a new genre of "clean romance" books. I read Julianne Donaldson's book, Edenbrooke, and loved how the main characters became friends before realizing their love for each other, probably because it echoed my own love story with my husband. 

I read some other books from time to time like that, including Seeking Persephone by Sarah M. Eden, so many years later when they announced they wanted to make a movie of it, I jumped at the chance to support the project and I was not disappointed with the result.

In the last few years, I've grown to love clean romances more than I did those many years ago. There are so many books out there that are "Kristin appropriate." I'm grateful for the authors who write them.

I've become more of a book worm again and have enjoyed getting into lot of different types, not just clean romances. I even have some cookbooks based on books.

I've gotten involved with book clubs, library programs, author events.

Sometimes I do them on my own, sometimes I drag family members with me. We all get involved in Summer Reading programs with local libraries.

I've learned how great it is to interact with authors and learned to value supporting them in different ways, whether that's taking a look at a Timmy Termite book for Stephanie Goodman to give my opinion before it's published or posting on social media over and over about how much I love A Lady's Guide to Love and Pirates by Jennifer Moore.

It's been quite a reading journey getting to where I am but it has been good for me and I can genuinely say I LOVE BOOKS!   

Oh, Jet. Your hair looks so cool.

I took a picture of Jet's nicely combed hair one day (it doesn't always stay combed) and he insisted I send the picture to Daddy. He knew Daddy's response would be, "Oh, Jet. Your hair looks so cool."

Daddy did give that response... after a little coaching from Mommy. 

Be a Good Neighbor

I mentioned that Stephanie read to Jet that Sunday evening. Jet wanted her to read some more but it was getting late so we agreed that maybe we could go after school the next day. After school on Monday we did check with Stephanie and she was happy to have us come. She read so many books to Jet, including some she illustrated herself. She's really good with different voices of characters, too.

September 28 was National Good Neighbor Day and Stephanie is definitely a good neighbor.

That morning I was looking at the Calendar of Celebration and reading that day's holidays out loud.

"My brother's birthday, National Family Day, Ask a Stupid Question Day, National Good Neighbor Day, National Sons Day. Oh, I need to make sure I wish my brother Happy Birthday."

Jr.'s response was, "Why?"

I just looked at him.

He asked, "What are the holidays?"  

It took me a moment. Jeremy had just walked out the door but he got it. Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha! 

I did spend time with sons on National Sons Day and that night we celebrated National Family Day with Family Home Evening.  

 

The next day, September 29, was Happy Goose Day. I told Jet that I wanted him to be happy that day since I call him a silly goose all the time. I mean it in a nice way.