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. 

Appreciate a Dragon Day 2025

January 16 was Appreciate a Dragon Day. While Nichole and I were out running errands that day, we listened to the soundtrack to Pete's Dragon in the van. Of course then we just had to sing the songs even when we weren't in the van. Love it.

That night we watched the live action version of How To Train Your Dragon as a family. Fun family time. 

Nichole got Douglas out (that's the name of this dragon) so we could appreciate him.

I also checked out the soundtrack to the animated version of How To Train Your Dragon from the library that day. Love the music. 

Nichole did some dragon art to celebrate but didn't send me a copy so I can't put it on my blog. Oh well.

I Like Celebrating with Food

January 11 was International Thank You Day. There was plenty of thanking going on.

It was National Milk Day. Milk was used in mashed potatoes that Jeremy made for our at-home potluck to celebrate Sunday Supper Day.

Here are the contributions, from oldest to youngest:

Cheesy garlic mashed potatoes, potato chips, grilled cheese sandwiches, cookies (not pictured), chicken pot pie, Koolaid, grilled cheese sandwiches. 

 

January 12 was National Curried Chicken Day. I made curry chicken with rice and aloo gobi. Mmmm, Indian food is comfort food.

 

January 13 was Korean American Day. We had Korean Beef and Rice.

 

January 15 was National Bagel Day. I made homemade bagels which made everybody happy. We all like bagels. 

I Love Reading Challenges

You know I love reading challenges. I participated in the 2025 Adult Reading Challenge with Orem Library and got a notebook and pen. I love what they both say. The notebook says, "Just one more chapter." You know I love that. The pen says, "My weekend is all booked." So fun.

Nichole and I both signed up for the Winter Reading Program at Provo Library. That one runs December and January. I was thrilled when I picked up my main prize from reading enough minutes. It's a tote that says, "The book was better." Ha Ha Ha Ha. I love things that have sayings related to books and reading.

Nichole and I took some bonding time one day to finish up the activities for the Winter Reading Program. We went on a scavenger hunt, we wrote poems, we texted each other, we colored bookmarks at the library. Then we picked up the prizes that still needed to be picked up (hot cocoa mix, candy, chips, etc.). 

On Peculiar People Day, January 10, Nichole and I had more bonding time. We went to the kickoff event for the 2026 Adult Reading Challenge at Orem Library. This year's challenge centers around The Hobbit. We got to be with other book lovers for "second breakfast," while listening to Lord of the Rings music. We got to learn about this year's challenge. We got a copy of The Hobbit to keep. We made junk journals to keep track of things during the challenge this year. We got pins that say, "Make reading a hobbit." We got to interpret some Elvish. It was nice.

As soon as we got home, I told people everyone was welcome to read The Hobbit. Jet immediately asked me to start reading it to him. So cute.

I keep the book and junk journal in my reading tote now so I can take it all with me while waiting for kids after school or after play practice.

I love reading challenges.

 
P.S. One of the book categories for the challenge is a book published in 2025. This is me going for a walk while listening to the audiobook of The Rules of Matrimony by Anneka R. Walker. I loved reading it last year and heard that the audiobook had good narrators so I listened and laughed out loud and loved it just like I love the physical book. Narrators really can make a difference for me wanting to listen to audiobooks.

I'd say Anneka R. Walker is one of my favorite authors. I can happily reread her books and get excited about reading those I haven't read before.

 

Pizza Face

January 8 was Elvis's birthday. We put on Lilo & Stitch (animated movie).

 

January 9 was my niece's birthday. I mentioned it to the kids. 

Jet wanted to help make pizza with me.

He must have remembered what I said about his cousin's birthday because he insisted on making a face with onions on the pizza then said, "He's excited because it's his birthday tomorrow."

When it was time to cut the pizza, I had to be very careful not to cut the face so we got a little creative with how the pizza was cut. Jet was very good at instructing me where to make the cuts. I love him so much. 

A Winter Poem

Poetry's not really my strong suit... at all. But I want free hot cocoa from the library so I will attempt to write a poem about the wintertime.

Here we go. Ahem. (Clear's throat)

 

Snow Falls and Melts by Kristin Telford

Snow falls

Creates stillness

In a chaotic world

For a moment

There is peace

Snow melts

Creates chaos

In a peaceful world 

No longer

Is it still 

This Is What I Do

This is what I do. I do a pretty good job of blogging for a while then... stop.

Excuses? Starts out with kids won't get off the computers then when they finally do, I'm too tired. Or I'm too busy. Or I'm too far behind. Or whatever excuse.

So I use it as an excuse to put up pictures of the sky until I get around to catching up. 

So... remember all those walks I took at the park during Christmas Break? Being out at dawn/sunrise is a great time for me to see beautiful changes in the sky. It's amazing how quickly it can change.

I figure now is a good time to show a picture (that I didn't already show) of the beautiful sky from Christmas Break.

Such a pretty sky.

 

Speaking of the pretty sky. There was a night in November when the Northern Lights were showing up again. I was out running errands in town anyway so I got info from a friend and I stopped quickly by a park where I had a view of the red sky.

I didn't have time to go out of town away from the light pollution but I did see them.

I tried to get pictures with the birding camera when I got home but it didn't work out. Oh well.

Can You Tell They're Related?

 

Can you tell he's related to Jeremy? See the last blog post I published.

Catch of the Day

We were going to go out together.
Jeremy: Is my hair okay? Or is it kind of goofy?

Kristin: Here. I'll fix it for you.

 

My Outside Time Has Changed a Bit

Now that the kids are back in school, I'm not able to get out in the dark with the Christmas lights at the park as easily so morning walks are a bit different.

Yesterday morning after dropping kids off at school, I went for a short walk around Riverview Park. The sun was shining nicely on the river so I of course had to go take a look (and a couple of pictures).

I got this picture then all of a sudden I saw a great blue heron flying along the river and into the trees farther downstream. How cool. I didn't even realize it was there but when I looked very closely and zoomed in a lot on my picture, I could see it toward the left side of the river. How fun.

I'm glad I chose that park and visited the river while I was there.

 

Since that day, January 6, was National Cuddle Up Day, Jet and I got to cuddle up to read together.

Since it was also National Bean Day, I made black beans and rice for dinner. Then I made cornbread to go with it. Then I threw together some fruits and vegetables and we had a balanced dinner. Woohoo.

 

This morning instead of going for a walk in a park, I decided to celebrate National Bobblehead Day and Old Rock Day, January 7, in a similar manner to how I used to celebrate. I used to go for drives and take pictures of Jr.'s bobblehead with mountains in the background because mountains are old rocks. Since we've had such a mild Winter so far, I just drove right up into the hills and went for a short walk on a hiking trail. The bobblehead went hiking with me.

I got distracted, of course, when I heard scritch-scratching in the brush. It was most likely a spotted towhee based on location and what I know of behavior. I heard one call later. I didn't bring binoculars or the good camera so I didn't get a look at it. That's okay. It was still fun celebrating actually being among the old rocks.

Have I mentioned that I live in a beautiful place? 

National Bird Day 2026

Yesterday, January 5, was National Bird Day.

I got out for my morning walk... with more lights than last time. Instead of listening to music, I listened to and looked at some birds.

I watched the movie, "The Big Year," while washing dishes and making dinner. I love that movie. For dinner we had chicken tortilla soup because chickens are birds and I have no problem eating them.

Jet wanted to get a picture of his food, too. Love him.

Nichole drew a barn swallow to celebrate. I just love to see her use art to celebrate holidays. 

Oh, and funny thing. I was looking up info about birding in certain counties in Utah (getting ready for this year's UCB challenge) and I clicked on a question to be answered, "What is the rarest bird in Utah?"

The AI Overview talked about how rarity can vary but it mentioned the brambling that we saw in March of 2024. It mentioned a couple other rare birds that I have not seen. Then it said this:

"Rarity depends on location and timing, with birds like the Yellow-billed Loon or Black-capped Chickadee also making rare appearances in specific counties."

I laughed so much when I saw that. While it's true that I've only seen a Yellow-billed Loon once (December of 2020), I don't think I would EVER call Black-capped Chickadees rare. In fact, I was hearing them on my walk yesterday morning and easily recognized their sound because I've heard them sooooo many times.

Let this be a lesson to you. AI Overview isn't always correct. Also... birds are cool. 

 

Happy Birthday, Utah!

Yesterday, January 4, was Utah's 130th Birthday.

It was also National Trivia Day and National Spaghetti Day. I asked Jeremy some Utah trivia. Some people ate pasta.

I took a long nap but I made sure to say Happy Birthday to Utah. 

Daddy, Look

Jet: My brain powers up things and even Christmas lights.

Happy Birthday, J.R.R. Tolkien

It's J.R.R. Tolkien's birthday (January 3). It's a Saturday.

Yes, we can have a Lord of the Rings marathon. 

Science Fiction Day 2026

It's Science Fiction Day, January 2.

I went out for my first morning walk of the year this morning and listened to Doctor Who music while I was walking. About half the lights were out at the park, though, so it wasn't as pleasant of a walk. I'm not sure if it was the weather or not but Jeremy said on his way to work this morning, the fog was thick as pea soup. He made it safely, though.

I've been menu planning while watching episodes of Doctor Who today as well. Enjoying celebrating Science Fiction Day.

 

Yesterday was kind of a laid back day. I got a new set of scriptures for Christmas so I started the New Year the right way with my scripture study.

Yesterday afternoon, we introduced the family to Seeking Persephone because they sent a link for the digital copy of the movie on New Year's Eve. Woohoo! It was fun to watch it as a family.