Birding Trip

Road Trip!

 

We are trying to do the Utah County Birders challenge this year. The challenge is to get 26 species of birds in certain counties of Utah to spell out U C BIRDERS! For example, for U, we needed to get both Utah and Uintah counties. We had some success earlier in the year. Some counties we needed and need to go back to to get the rest of our birds.

So Saturday, October 18, we got up early and headed down to Beaver County to look for some birds. Since we got a good start and happened to pick good spots for birds, we were able to get the birds we wanted in the morning. We only needed a few more birds for Iron County so we were going to head down to Cedar City. The last birds we found in Beaver County were closer to the highway than the freeway so we decided to take the highway into Iron County. 

As we were driving, we decided to stop at the Parowan Gap Petroglyphs again. We enjoyed that last time we went there in May. Maybe we could get a bird or two there. We did.

Then we continued to drive through the Parowan Gap and happened to get the last birds we needed for Iron County. Woohoo. We didn't need to drive all the way to Cedar City. We took the freeway home and made it there before evening. Hooray! 

I took a nap because I needed it. 

 

Since October 18 was National Pasta Day, people ate pasta. 

 

It was a successful birding day.

We do need to do a few more trips to complete the challenge. We're not going to get all the letters but we are aiming for five for the Bronze level (that's still 26 bird species in each of 9 counties). Wish us luck. 

Shwarma and Sourdough

Thursday, October 15, was National Grouch Day. Lucky accused me of celebrating that holiday.

It was also Shawarma Day so I made shawarma while watching some MCU stuff, including some stuff with the Avengers.

 

I also got out a toy that is kept in the freezer a lot. I was watching some Fantastic 4 so the invisible woman toy hung out with me. Her uniform is dark in the freezer but in room temperature she turns "invisible."

By the way, going back to the shawarma, the best recipe I found for pita bread is from A Season of Family Meal Plans, volume 1, by Jordan Page. They actual work as pockets. 

 

That night was another Relief Society activity about sourdough. I learned some things the last time we had one so I learned some new things and actually knew some questions to ask since I've had a little experience since. 

 

Friday, October 16, was World Food Day. I took time to work on the sourdough some more (since it is a multiple day process). I also prepared food for a trip we took on Saturday.

I baked the loaf this morning. 

I still have a lot to learn (especially about shaping the dough). I just need to take the time to practice. Sigh. 

 

P.S. It turned out better than I expected actually, and it was a hit with the family. 

More Holidays

Let's talk more holidays.

 

October 12 was International Moment of Frustration Scream Day. I did get frustrated. I did not scream, though.

I think Jet celebrated enough for all of us that day.

 

October 13 was Silly Sayings Day. There were plenty of silly sayings going around in our family.

It was also International Skeptics Day, though I don't really believe it was. 

 

October 14 was National Fossil Day. We had dino nuggets. Tee Hee.

Teenage Cuteness

I don't know what to say. My kids are such hams. I love it.

Moldy Sandwiches?

October 8 was Fluffernutter Day. We made fluffernutter sandwiches.

October 9 was Moldy Cheese Day. I took a picture of some cheese I found in the back of our fridge a couple weeks before. I held onto the picture (and threw out the cheese) so I could show people on the holiday. 

 

At a random restaurant in Denver, Colorado (I've never been to Denver), Breakfast Burrito Day is celebrated on October 10, so we celebrate Breakfast Burrito Day on October 10, even if I don't take pictures of what we eat, even if I have intentions of doing so. Oh well.

 

October 11 was It's My Party Day. I didn't cry but I sang about it, and I made excuses of "it's my party" in order to not do some things like make sausage pizza for National Sausage Pizza Day.  

Sick Season

October may be Spooky Season for a lot of people but I feel like it's always Sick Season for my family. Sigh.

When Jeremy was feeling under the weather, I made sure to make him chicken noodle soup just in time for me to get sick myself. Sigh.

It was appropriate to eat it on October 6, though, since it was National Noodle Day.

Unfortunately, me getting sick came at just the wrong time. We had some important things scheduled. Luckily Jeremy was starting to feel better so he was able to take care of things... because he's an awesome husband.

Let's talk about what I missed. 

Jonathan had an orchestra concert to go to. He wasn't performing but he was supposed to go watch. Jeremy took him and they watched together. 

The next day was the Grand Lunch at the elementary school. Jeremy went to have lunch with Jet. Jet loves time with his dad. It went well even if I couldn't be there.

After school were parent teacher conferences for Jet. Jeremy went and called me so I could be a part of the conversation from home.

Jeremy picked Nichole up from class that evening and we did NOT go to my cousin's wedding reception, which I was bummed about. I told my sister to wish her well for us because she was going. 

I had been looking forward to this. I missed seeing my cousin at my Dad's birthday party because of car troubles and I missed seeing her at her reception because I was sick. Sigh.  

 

I do appreciate Jeremy, though. He cares about supporting our family. He likes to be involved in things like grand lunches and parent teacher conferences. He's not always able to go because of work or traveling. We've had him on the phone for parent teacher conferences before. But when he can, he does, and our kids know he cares. And I can't tell you how many times he's stayed up late to help Jr. Jr. with schoolwork or to let him talk.

He is my hero. Sigh.   

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.