Music Video

We had an exciting family activity tonight. We ate snacks and watched my niece's music video premiere on YouTube. Jr. Jr. especially liked the "popcorn" part in the video. We ate popcorn as one of our snacks.

"Give Me Something to Talk About" by Carina Hodson

Check it out. She is a talented singer/songwriter.

Productivity

June 20 was World Productivity Day.

The kids and I had "dishes and laundry boot camp," where I taught them about efficiency in doing those chores. Jr. Jr. got into it and would ask questions or make comments, "with all due respect, ma'am." Awesome.

Lucky and Jr. also got into it by having to do pushups and things like that for insubordination. Heh heh.

During dinner we watched the Studio C sketch, "The Best Book for 24 hours of Productivity." All 18 minutes of the YouTube video of it (the sketch on the TV episode is much shorter). Funny.

Celebrating with Family at a Distance

July 22 was National Hammock Day. I wished my brother a Happy National Hammock Day. He makes his own hammocks and goes camping with them. He's put together several YouTube videos about it.

 

July 23 was National Gorgeous Grandma Day. I wished both my mom and my sister Happy Gorgeous Grandma Day. It was also National Vanilla Ice Cream Day.

 

July 24 was National Cousins Day. I wished lots of family members Happy National Cousins Day.

It was also Pioneer Day. We sent the kids to bed but I ran out to get a few fireworks pictures (I love that we can see them so well right outside our home). It was a laid back Pioneer Day (and Cousins Day) even though I got up early to go up Nebo Loop to the same place Jeremy and Nichole went to celebrate her birthday. Lots of birds, no crossbills, though. There were also squirrels, chipmunks, and a weasel (and plenty of cows and deer on the drive). And lots of bugs.

Oh, it was a lovely morning.

"Lookin at a Thing in a Bag"

How many of you are familiar with Homestar Runner? It was thing when I was in college (and beyond). A website for our generation, referencing things from the '80s (and the 30's?- not my generation- and the future?), but done nowadays (can 20 years ago count as nowadays?). Ever heard of Strongbad, Trogdor, Teen Girl Squad? All from homestarrunner.com You can find videos on YouTube of some of the cartoons and Strongbad emails.

We introduced our children to it a few years ago and every once in a while random quotes will pop out of my mouth (or Jeremy's) and our children sometimes know what we're talking about. They do know the Trogdor song by heart. And if we say, "Throw the baby in the lake," they don't worry.

Anyway, for Family Home Evening activity on Paper Bag Day, July 12, Jeremy came up with a few activities and we wrote them on slips of paper and put them in paper lunch sacks. We rolled a dice then whatever number that was we looked in the bag and did that activity. We only got through a couple activities but we had fun.

We showed the kids the "Lookin at a Thing in a Bag" cartoon from Homestar Runner. I made Kool-aid and got a picture of a cool guy looking at a thing in a bag with a drink.

 

Dinner was simple since July 12 was also Simplicity Day. We had tortillas with peanut butter, raspberry jello without any added fruit for Eat Your Jello Day and I think we may have had cut up apples as well.

Jr. Jr. didn't stay simple with his jello, though. He had fun creating cool patterns in it but did eat it.

Itsa Gooooood!

I love my brother, Paco. In a lot of ways growing up I wanted to be like him, to do things he was doing. I got into drama because he was doing drama. I learned some balloon animals because he was learning balloon animals. I got into juggling because he was juggling. I'm sure glad I did that because I got to know my husband through a juggling club in college. I've mentioned before that I've videoed myself juggling in different places because I copied my brother with that.

My brother and I definitely have differences and I don't follow him in everything (I don't build skateboards or walking sticks for example). My brother is fun, though, and my kids and my husband also think he is fun. Since we don't see him in person very often, living in different states, we enjoy watching "Paco videos." Every year he puts up a New Year's video on YouTube and we get a kick out of watching those as a family. He has a lot of other random videos and we get a kick out of those, too. Sometimes we even celebrate Paco's birthday... two states away. Sometimes we eat cake, sometimes we put together a little video for him. This year I contacted him while I was working on the menu plan and asked what he would suggest we eat for a Paco-themed birthday dinner. He suggested eating a "Confuso" while wearing fake mustaches. Of course! I told the kids the idea and Jr. Jr. told me we should also get cans of lemonade to "shake gently before opening."

So that's what we did. I spent the day before and the day of preparing ingredients and on Paco's birthday, we followed his instructions to assemble the "Confuso." Then we turned on the "Shake Gently" video and copied Paco's movements while shaking our lemonade.

It was a fun evening and all the kids actually ate the food. "Itsa gooooood!"

I love my brother. It's fun to celebrate his birthday since he is such a fun person.

Mom's Day Off

I learned recently that the first Friday in September every year is National Lazy Mom's Day. So I made it clear to everyone in my family in advance that Friday, September 4, was going to be Mom's Day Off. The kids would have to put dinner together that night because I wasn't going to do it.

That morning, Jet and I slept in, Jeremy made sure all the kids got off to school okay and when Jet woke, Jeremy gave him some breakfast while I rested some more.

I explained how I didn't want to just sit around all day. I wanted to get out and since September 4 is also National Wildlife Day, Jeremy suggested I go for a drive up Nebo Loop. Yes! So Jet and I headed out. 

My brother has been juggling all sorts of places lately (Oregon Coast, Redwoods, Mt. Hood) and has been taking videos of himself doing so. They're on his YouTube channel, PacoJuggles. I've been wanting to do more juggling to exercise my arms and Paco inspired me so I took juggling balls up Nebo Loop and did some juggling while Jet and I were up there.

The leaves on the trees were already starting to change colors in some places so that's one of the first things I did- juggling with the Fall colors.

I'll tell you one thing. Taking care of an infant is not lazy so Mom's day off (plus baby) was actually a lot of work. Jet may have slept for the first little while but once he was awake, he was ready to be out doing things. That included helping me juggle and that is even more exercise juggling while holding a baby. And setting up cameras for taking pictures and videos while juggling a baby and juggling balls? Whew. Good exercise.

We stopped at several places and Jet spent some time asleep, some time in the stroller, some time in my arms, and some time in the van eating or playing.

He discovered a new game. Grab the seatbelt and pull it then let go then grab it, pull it, and let go again.

And once he was out and about, he did not want to be put back in the car seat. It was necessary to move on to the next spot, though, where we could get out and move around again.

Beaver Dam Overlook

Utah Lake Overlook

9000 feet!

By the time we reached Devil's Kitchen, Jet was asleep again, so he missed out on the juggling there and I didn't get a picture of the two of us with the rock formations. Oh well.

We finished the loop and headed home. Jr. made dinner and gave us all pretzel sticks and more chocolate chips than I normally allow for a treat because September 4 was Eat an Extra Dessert Day. He didn't have time to make a fancier dessert.

We did scripture study, the kids went to bed, and I fell asleep on the couch. 

By the way, I did see wildlife while we were up there. Here is a list of some of what I saw:

squirrel, bugs, turkey vulture, dead squirrel, cows, horses (those last two are more livestock than wildlife), buteo, kettle of turkey vultures, kestrel, more bugs, loud bugs, buteo with another kettle of turkey vultures, deer, almost dead squirrels (good thing I slowed down), someone's dog?, another very live squirrel