Screen Free Week 2026

Last week was Screen Free Week. Let's talk about highlights from the week.

Monday through Friday, I went for daily walks to Bridal Veil Falls, including on a day when it was raining. I just took an umbrella.

 

I listened through several audiobooks.

One day I walked beyond Bridal Veil Falls and walked along the Provo River Parkway for a bit. I kept having to dodge little inchworms hanging from their silken threads. I tried to get some pictures using my hand as a backdrop (without touching them) but I couldn't get it to focus on the creatures.

Finally I gave up and started walking back. After a bit I looked down at my sleeve and saw a little inchworm sitting there. I was able to get pictures and a video of it (because my sleeve was a good backdrop) before I picked up a stick to encourage it off of me.

I found another one that I also got off. When I got back to the van, I took off my vest and brushed myself off but I didn't have any more of those little caterpillars on me. That was fun. 

 

May the Fourth, I took a couple kids to the library with me. We said Hi to Libby the Librantula (twice) and picked up some books.

There was a display in the children's section for Star Wars Day, so I picked up a book to read with Jet later.

We ate "sand"wich people at home. 

I wished my friend a Happy Star Wars Day and she let me know they were watching one of the movies.

We didn't watch a movie because it was Screen Free Week but we played a card game that night for Family Home Evening.

May the Sixth was No Diet Day so I told everyone to "Fend For Yourself" for dinner. 

 

May the Seventh was National Tourism Day so we ate Greek Pitas.

I wore my slug shirt I wore on our Pacific Northwest trip a couple years ago. Jet carried around Timothy, the banana slug we got from Mount Rainier on that trip. Jet and I both wore brown shirts and black pants that day.

May the Eighth was No Sock Day. I wore my socks some of the time but took them off other times.

It was also Fintastic Friday. We had Sharkleberry Fin Koolaid and Jeremy brought us home gummy sharks.

That night, I introduced another person to the movie, Seeking Persephone. It's a monthly tradition. This person, however, has read a lot of books by Sarah M. Eden so she is very familiar with the book this movie is based on as well as the series (and a related series).

I know it was Screen Free Week, but this movie watching was postponed from when we were going to watch it in April (I got to watch it with my in-laws). The kids were okay with it because they got to watch a movie during Screen Free Week and eat cucumber sandwiches and drink herbal tea.  

 

Other things from Screen Free Week:

Snuggles

Jet  showing that he learned "Skidamarink A Dink A Dink" at school

Jr. Jr. letting Jet play with the train he built at school (how cool is that)

 

Jeremy finally getting a haircut

Roses blooming 

I'll blog about Saturday and Sunday later. Those days were big deals. 

What Have We Been Up To?

What have we been up to?
The kids finished up school for the year.  We went to their end of the year dance festival.  They all did great.

 Lucky got into it as well.

These pictures are before and after school on the last day of school.  There are pictures of the older kids on the first day of school on my post from August 24, 2016.  A picture of Jr. Jr. on his first day of school is on my post from September 6, 2016.

We celebrated my birthday.  Jeremy even sent me out for some alone time on my birthday while he worked on dinner.  I went to a park, sat down to read a book and eat my lunch and got to talk to my mom on the phone.  It was relaxing to have quiet time in the shade while listening to the birds around.

 

Happy Birthday to You! or Me!

Since school's been out, we've had family time at home.

We've had family time out.

Yesterday, we went up to Big Springs to have a BBQ.  We all had a good time.

The kids found a caterpillar.

At one point, the caterpillar moved off to somewhere else.  This is what I heard from the kids:
Nichole:  Jr., your caterpillar has flown the coop.
Jr.:  It's not my caterpillar.  It's nature's.

Well, we enjoyed our nature time.  We tried out something a friend suggested for camping.  S'mores in a waffle cone.  You take chocolate chips and mini marshmallows, stuff them in a wafflecone, wrap it in foil, and put it on the fire or on the grill or whatever.  Some of us had peanuts/peanut butter in ours.  Yumm.  Warms it up nicely.

The kids enjoyed getting to play with outside activities as well.  We got a new frisbee.  It can light up so we'll have to go out sometime while it's getting dark to try out that function.

When we got to Big Springs it was a little windy so that made playing with bubbles fun.  The kids didn't have to blow them.  They just had to pull the wand out of the container and the wind took care of the rest.

And of course there were plenty of birds to listen to.  Gorgeous.  And sometimes they even let us see them and get pictures.

 
The robins certainly let us take pictures.

Before we left home, Jr. Jr. brought me a present he forgot to give me on Mother's Day.  A necklace he made at school.  What a sweetheart.

Wow.  We've been busy.
So now you know why I'm too exhausted to blog so often.  We're too busy doing.