Selfie Wars- Pacific Northwest Addition

Selfie Wars

Who did it best?

And some that didn't make the cut:

Pacific Northwest Trip- part 4

Traveling to the Pacific Northwest was a well needed trip. I used to do a lot more traveling but haven't done as much since Jet was born. 2020 also changed a lot of things. The only overnight trips I've done since 2019 have been this year.

July 30 was National Father-in-Law Day. We said goodbye to my father-in-law then drove two vehicles back to Idaho with a "quick" stop to visit our friends again then back to Utah. (It wasn't that quick. Sigh) We were going to have kids switch vehicles from time to time during the trip (people want to try out the new car), but we ended up just sticking to the vehicles we started in. We had an audiobook we were listening to in the van so had reason to stay where we were. Well, I would have stayed there anyway since I was driving. 

Since we couldn't switch off drivers we did have to stop from time to time. We got home somewhat late that night. 

 

Now here's where testimony that Heavenly Father is aware and does care comes in. Jeremy had already taken off extra days of work to spend time in Washington. He had to get up early and go to work the next morning. He needed to save vacation days, etc. for later in the year when he had fair conventions and for big balloon builds. But he was exhausted. It was a long drive from Washington to Utah, including getting up early and getting home late.

The next morning as he was about to get up he got a notification on his phone that there was a voluntary time off availability. Voluntary time off doesn't eat up into vacation, etc. days. There hadn't been VTO offered in months. And he was able to get it on the day that he really needed it. He needed a day to sleep and recuperate. Now I know that was a blessing from Heavenly Father right there. He is aware and he does care.

Pacific Northwest Trip- Part 3

Jet got his first haircut while we were in Oregon. Mostly to get the hair out of his eyes (and there's only so much you can do with a wiggly three year old). His curls stayed. Phew.

 

The day we left was Gorgeous Grandma Day, July 23. 

We got pictures with my children's gorgeous grandma in Oregon then we drove to Washington to see my children's other gorgeous grandma who gave us ice cream for Vanilla Ice Cream Day. I love that we have relatives who like to help us celebrate.

 

July 24 was National Cousins Day but we celebrated that later in the week when Jeremy's sister and brother who live in Washington came for a visit and brought their kids. We visited Jeremy's other brother and his family in Idaho back in March.

July 25 was National Hot Fudge Sundae Day. Guess what Grandma gave us. More ice cream!

 

Jeremy flew to Washington. He brought me flowers. Awww. Although I'd take my husband over flowers any day, I still enjoyed them. It helped me celebrate Take Your Houseplants for a Walk Day on July 27.

After taking pictures for that holiday, we put the flowers back and Jeremy and I went on a nice walk around the neighborhood, just the two of us. Sigh. That's a contented sigh. I was so happy to have my husband with me again.

July 27 was also National Sleepyhead Day in Finland. Thanks for the use of the squirt bottle, Mom.

I didn't actually squirt him. It just makes for a good picture. 

It was also National Chili Dog Day. And Refreshment Day.

 

July 28 was Beatrix Potter's Birthday. We watched the movie, Miss Potter, after a long day of seeing animals like you might in Beatrix Potter books. There was a rabbit and a squirrel in the yard and lots and lots of wildlife at Nisqually Wildlife Refuge where we took all the kids this trip.

I must admit I am amazed at the different colors of the tree frogs we saw. We spent I don't know how much time looking at them.

My brain must have been working just right that day because we played an impromptu game as we were walking where someone would call out a date on the calendar and I would say off the top of my head what holiday or "reason to celebrate" was on that day. Some would take a bit longer to remember than others but I was getting them all. I couldn't believe it. My family couldn't either. I've just been calendaring celebrations for so many years that a lot of them stick with me. Maybe the exercise of running around Nisqually helped get the oxygen to my brain and helped me think better. It was fun.

While we were there, Lucky did activities in a workbook so he could become a Junior Refuge Manager. He was "sworn in" and got a badge.

It was like the Junior Ranger patches the three oldest earned at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge way back in 2016 (we had to buy their patches then). There are Junior Ranger programs you can do all over the place.

July 28 was also Milk Chocolate Day. Again we had chocolate milk.

 

July 29 was National Lasagna Day. Mmmmm, do I love lasagna.

 

Our Pacific Northwest trip was awesome and well needed for all of us.