The Balloon Gal's Blog

Thursday, October 15, 2026

Teenage Cuteness

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

Wednesday, October 14, 2026

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.

Tuesday, October 13, 2026

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.

Monday, October 12, 2026

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.

Sunday, October 11, 2026

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.

Saturday, October 10, 2026

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.