International Tea Day 2026

I loved what we did for International Tea Day, May 21, last year so much, I wanted to do something similar this year.

I asked family members what they wanted to eat with our herbal tea. Cucumber sandwiches, of course, were requested. Our favorite recipe for cucumber sandwiches is in Whisk Me Away by Michelle Wright.

We also had raspberry honey butter (also from Whisk Me Away) on English Muffins. My husband requested coffee cake so I made Carrot Cake Coffee Cake (recipe from Mel's Kitchen Cafe). 

 

Lucky and I made biscuits (also from Whisk Me Away) that he had with leftover sausage gravy.

  

We spent so much time making food that Nichole and I only had time to eat half a cucumber sandwich each before we headed out to a Relief Society activity. I stage my picture and ate when we got home.

 

Our activity was a walk along the Provo River Parkway with a few other ladies. 

I had self control and didn't bring my binoculars and camera yet still got distracted by birds and got way behind the others while I was trying to find a Yellow-breasted Chat I could hear. I never did see it.

Ah, birds... and going for walks... and herbal tea... and celebrating.

Charming High Fives

April 16 was National High Five Day.

You better believe I was going around giving people high fives that day.

I even high fived sisters at a Relief Society activity where we made charm bracelets. That was fun.

Later, when Jr. Jr. saw me, he said, "I like your bracelet. It's very charming." Love that kid.

 

This is the bracelet Nichole made:

Second Week of March

March 8 was International Women's Day and National Oregon Day. I wore my Slugs Need Hugs shirt.

That night, Nichole and I went to watch the General Relief Society Broadcast at our stake center with dessert afterward. 

March 9 was Get Over It Day and National Meatball Day so of course we said our traditional "Get over it, you meatball" phrase that day. It was also Popcorn Lover's Day so Joshua made popcorn I think.

 

March 10 was Mario Day (MAR10). I woke up to one child whistling music from a Mario game. I wore my Mario shirt and a couple of the kids watch The Super Mario Bros. Movie. 

I had some fun with the menu plan for that holiday. I took the scene toward the beginning of the movie where Mario and Luigi are sitting down to dinner with their family and tried to recreate what their dinner looked like. We had spaghetti with alfredo sauce and mushrooms of course. We had salad, dinner rolls, green olives. What didn't fit in with their dinner table but we had to have were peaches, singing a certain song while dishing them out.

On World Plumbing Day, March 11, I wore my Mario shirt again and some of us played MarioKart.

Since March 11 was also Oatmeal Nut Waffles Day, for dinner we had oatmeal, nuts, and waffles.

 

The next day, Lucky, Nichole, and I went to a Utah County Birders movie night. We watched The Big Year and played BINGO while watching it. It was fun and interesting to do something a little different than our normal birding meetings.

March 13 was Friday the 13th and Open an Umbrella Indoors Day but we didn't do anything special to celebrate- just mentioned it. I did reminisce how 2020 had Friday the 13th on that same day (and that year was a big deal) and 2015 we celebrated it with a fun video.  

Jet wanted me to get him a board game from the library so I did- Pictureka- and several of us played it after school. 

 

The next day, Lucky and I stopped by the other library to pick up some things and we said Hi to Libby the Librantula who was out for us to see. March 14 was Save a Spider Day.

March 14 was Pi Day. I baked an apple pie in our Pi plate. We also had pizza pie.

Nichole went down to BYU the day before to celebrate Pi Day with a free piece of pie and a t-shirt.

I forgot to get out the potato chips for Potato Chip Day on March 14 so we celebrated that observed a few days later.

Fall Break 2025

When Jeremy is on trips (quite a few this year), he misses a lot (including us and we miss him, too). One thing we've made sure to do as a family, though, is when Jeremy is traveling, he calls in the morning and night for family prayer over the phone. Sometimes he joins in for family scripture study as well. It's important to keep that gospel foundation strong for our family even when we're separated.

 

Since Jeremy was gone so long on this last trip to South Carolina, he also missed Fall Break.

 

Slumber Party!

When our older children were little we had a tradition of having a slumber party the night before Fall Break or Spring Break. We'd watch movies or play video games then all sleep out in the living room together. Over time, we had less people sleep in the living room after our "party" and eventually the tradition kind of fizzled out.

After many years we brought it back this Fall Break with watching a movie and playing MarioKart while eating muffins. Only a few opted to sleep out in the living room but we did have good bonding time while we were up.

October 15 was National Mushroom Day so I wore my pajamas that have mushrooms on them and Jr. Jr. commented: That's why Jet didn't want me to have mush room on the couch. 

P.S. For dinner earlier we made shawarma for Shawarma Day.

 

The next day, we had leftovers for dinner for World Food Day on October 16.

We got some snuggles in before Nichole and I went to a Relief Society activity to paint pumpkins. 

Normally I'm hands on involved in the activities (remember the sourdough?) but this time I was content to just sit and socialize. I also was able to praise Nichole's pumpkin painting. 

 

I got Kiki's Delivery Service vibes from it and not necessarily the movie. Isn't it so cute?

 

Fall Break Fun!

I hiked up Big Springs area with the kiddos. We'd been wanting to for a while and finally got the chance. We even had sun that day. 

A couple times, Jet and I took pictures of each other. This is how they turned out. 

Jr. Jr. pointed out to me how in Jet's picture the first time, Jr. Jr. was standing by me. In the other picture that I took, Jr. Jr. was standing by Jet. Ha Ha. Clever noticing. 

When we got home we had pasta to celebrate... National Pasta Day.

The mountains were gorgeous at sunset.

I love nature and I love living here and I especially love my children. 

 

The two oldest and I had some bonding time watching a movie one evening. While we watched, Jet watched Kiki's Delivery Service in a different room. I think he heard our conversation about Nichole's pumpkin.

 

Jet requested going to the library during Fall Break so on October 20, he and I went together. He was so well behaved. He followed directions. He stayed with me. We did a children's activity in the children's wing with pumpkin emotions. He got to play in the children's area and when it was time to move on to gather books on my list, he didn't put up a stink about it. He was quiet in the quiet areas, even when we had to get a book from the quietest area in the library. He was very good at whispering. We watched construction on the new courtyard/greenhouse area. He helped me check out our books and did a good job. I am so proud of him.

He did not yell, "Tractor!" in the middle of the library. Once we got out to the van, he was able to. "Tractor! Burninating the countryside..." For those that get the reference, he yells, "Trogdor!" but thinks it's "Tractor!" If you listen to Strong Bad from Homestar Runner, it does kind of sound like "Tractor."

Since October 20 was International Sloth Day, Jet requested a book about koalas. Why not?

I love bonding time with my children. And I love how this Fall Break went.

Catching Up April 2025 part 2

April 12 was Grilled Cheese Sandwich Day and National Licorice Day. We celebrated by having both. We did have tomato soup with our sandwiches.

April 13 was National Peach Cobbler Day. Yes, I made some. I tried a different recipe that didn't use as much sugar. My peach cobbler loving child said he liked it so yay. Less sugar.

We had an at home potluck that evening. We haven't had one of those in while. Here are everyone's contributions from oldest to youngest: cookies, peach cobbler, pizza, pickles and cheese cubes, sparkling apple-grape, lemonade.

That day was also Palm Sunday. This year I tried to do a better job with celebrating Holy Week. The Church had some good resources for every day leading up to Easter. It was a good way to focus my scripture study.

 

April 14 was Look Up at the Sky Day. It was National Dolphin Day. It was International Laughter Day.

How did you celebrate?

 

April 15 was World Art Day. I went up Provo Canyon to get a look at a place that I think looks like a piece of art. When I was there on World Water Day, I got that impression so I wanted to enjoy it again.

Nichole sent me several art pieces she had to celebrate World Art Day.

I love that she uses different so many different mediums.

April 16 was Charlie Chaplin's Birthday. Who else puts rolls on their forks and makes them dance to celebrate?

P.S. It was also National Banana Day. 

 

April 17 was, in no particular order, Bat Appreciation Day, National Cheeseball Day, Blah Blah Blah Day, National Haiku Poetry Day, and National High Five Day.

This is what happens when I hand my daughter some seasoned cream cheese on these holidays.

This is what happens when I take seasoned cream cheese and ask my son what I should make.

Son: A penguin!

Me (after "sculpting"): I think it looks like a ghost.

 

Lucky was the one who let me know it was National High Five Day. I gave him a high five for that. Jeremy showed me a haiku or a few.

We had Blah Blah Blah for after school snack. Remember that? Apple slices with peanut butter and honey? Except lately we just use honey peanut butter instead of adding honey to regular peanut butter. 

 

That evening I went to a Relief Society activity and learned a new skill: embroidery. I've done a lot of counted cross-stitching in my past so some of the stitches were similar but there were definitely some things for me to learn.

 

The next morning, I had to wipe snow off my vehicle. Note the snow covered hills across the lake. Ah, that "Spring" weather.