Towel Day 2026

May 24 was Escargot Day. Nichole celebrated observed when she did art the next day and drew a snail, as well as a bunch of other cool things.

The grackle drawing was based on this photo Nichole took when we were at Tonaquint Nature Center in St. George.

 

May 25 was Towel Day. It was also Memorial Day so I made sure to bring a towel to our Memorial Day breakfast by the church.

I made sure I had a towel around for everything that day... except when I forgot to grab my towel when going to pick Nichole up from her afternoon of art. I told myself, "Don't panic." The drive home was okay because Nichole did have a towel in her bag. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.

I encouraged the kids to use a towel for everything, too. :Oh, they were so enthusiastic. 

It was also Brown Bag It Day so I made sure to put some recycling in a brown bag. 

 

Cheeseballs

When I wished Jeremy a Happy National Cheeseball Day on April 17, he texted me this picture.

He's a cheeseball.

 

Speaking of cheeseballs: in years past, Nichole has contributed short stories and artwork to UVU's Warp & Weave journal. 

Jeremy and Nichole toyed with the idea of submitting pieces to Warp & Weave together and they did so this year. Jeremy submitted a short story and Nichole submitted a piece of art that went along with his story. They were both accepted so when we went to the event for them to get their copies of the journal, we found out that the picture was placed right after the story. Good job, editors. 

We celebrated Blah Blah Blah Day while we were there.

Speaking of cheeseballs, earlier in the day, Nichole sculpted a cheeseball in the shape of a bat because April 17 is also Bat Appreciation Day. It's become tradition.

She also created this art piece for Bat Appreciation Day and International Haiku Poetry Day, also on the same day. 

I love my girl and her talents. I also love my husband and his talents. I'm also happy to support them. I spent time with Jeremy's short story, helping him edit it (there was a word limit). I also gave them a ride and went to the event with them since I knew how to get there.

Artsy Ham

April 15 was Glazed Spiral Ham Day. It was also World Art Day.

We ate glazed spiral ham.

Nichole did art.  

The End. 

Sunday Sketches

It's been a while but Sunday Sketches are back. Jeremy, Nichole, Lucky, and Jet sketched that hermit thrush that Jr. Jr. and I saw while hiking. They used that picture I shared as reference.

 

Here's Jeremy's

Nichole's 

 

Lucky's. He got a later start than the others so didn't draw as much.

 

Jet's. He started out telling me about the head and tail he was drawing. Then he decided to embellish. "I made that bird and a machiner attached to the robot bird." Then he decided to really embellish so the original picture is lost in there somewhere. 

I love seeing the art my family creates. 

Appreciate a Dragon Day 2026

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.

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. 

 

A Little More September Catching Up

We found out September 6 was National Hummingbird Day. How did we not have that on our calendar before now? It has since been added. First Saturday in September.

To celebrate, Nichole created this picture. I do a lot of celebrating with food. She does a lot of celebrating with art. I love it.

September 7 was the anniversary of when the first fully electric TV set was achieved by Philo T. Farnsworth. Now Philo T. Farnsworth was my grandma's cousin so he's kind of a big deal in my family. I have a friend in our ward with the last name of Farnsworth so I finally asked him if he was related to Philo T. Farnsworth. Yes! Me, too. When he found out we were both related he asked if we as kids also all wrote reports about Philo T. Farnsworth for school. Yes! It was funny to find out that my family (including cousins) isn't the only family who did this. Someone I didn't know I was related to did it, too. 

Anyway so this year for the anniversary, I sat down with my friend and we figured out how we were each related to Philo T. Farnsworth and so how we were related to each other. That and Jeremy made a card for him. 

I can't find the card on the computer and I didn't take a picture before I gave it to my friend. Oh well.

 

September 7 was also Grandparents Day. I wished my mom and my sister Happy Grandparents Day.

 

September 8 was the anniversary of the original Star Trek. I wished that happy anniversary to a friend who likes Star Trek.

 

It was also Tim Bergling's birthday so I went around singing an Avicii song.

 

September 9 was Ants on a Log Day. 

 

It was also President Nelson's 101st birthday. I decided not to try to put 101 candles on a cake so we just put one in the middle and Jet got to blow it out. 

Summer Reading Kids Art Gala

Orem Library had a Kids Art Gala during the Summer Reading Program. Jeremy and Lucky volunteered and taught simple balloon animals to people there.

Here's Lucky with one of the librarians teaching her how to make a flower.

 

In order to prepare, we had balloons all over our living room and Jeremy had a big balloon box that worked like a tent for Jet. He and I had some fun playing in it and reading books. 

Catching Up June 2025 part 2

Johnny Depp's Birthday was on June 9. I made sure to wear my bow earrings (which I like to wear on birthdays) and my Black Pearl (the ship) necklace. And... I had to be by water.

Here's a better look at my necklace.

When I remember, I like to wear it for International Talk Like a Pirate Day.

 

I couldn't help it. 

Judy Garland's Birthday was on June 10 so I wore my bow earrings and pirate ship necklace again.

Did you know Judy Garland was in the movie "The Pirate" with Gene Kelly? 

 

June 10 was also Black Cow Day. The kids had root beer floats with chocolate syrup. 

Look. Nichole can make art out of anything. 

 

It was also National Herbs and Spices Day and Egg Roll Day. I used my air fryer to make egg rolls.

June 11 was Corn on the Cob Day. Corn on the Cob is popular around here.

 

Catching Up June 2025 part 1

Back in Utah, we celebrated again.

June 4 was National Cheese Day. We had Cheeseburger Pasta. Yumm. 

Another day, Nichole and I got to go celebrate our friend, Stephanie's birthday. She is amazing, She is Wonder Woman. 

Nichole designed a card for her. Butterflies are definitely her thing. Stephanie is also an artist so she really appreciated it. Nichole and she get together often to do art. 

 

On Name Your Poison Day, June 8, I told Nichole the holiday and she immediately started naming several different poisons. She wants to write a mystery so she is often researching poisons. She even took a medicinal plants class in college to learn more.

We also had an at-home potluck that day. Here were the contributions (oldest to youngest):

zucchini bread, strawberries and cream, tacquitos, sparkling apple-grape, otter pops.

 O.K. That's enough catching up for now.

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.