We Did What We Said We Would

Monday, December 1, was Antarctica Day. It was cold. I also wore a shirt that had snow flakes and a Wintery scene on it.

It was also Eat a Red Apple Day. We ate a red apple with dinner.

Tuesday, December 2, as you know was Giving Tuesday. Sometimes I don't think about those simple acts of service as service. Jeremy reminded me on his way out the door that morning that I serve him every morning when I make his lunch and breakfast. I didn't think of it like that. It's just what I do because I love him. He appreciates it. But it's also an act of service? Oh yeah, I guess it is. But it's just what I do.

I agreed to give a ride to one of Lucky's friends after play rehearsal yesterday since his parents needed me to. I didn't think of it as actively doing service. It was just a nice thing to do. I was happy to. But it was service. Sometimes service doesn't take extra effort but it still makes a difference. I was already picking Lucky up and that family lives in our neighborhood. It was easy for me but the parents appreciated it.

Sometimes service does take a little extra effort. I took the other kids with me to pick up the boys from rehearsal and we let Lucky's friend know since it was "Giving" Tuesday we were "giving" him a ride. Then when we got to his house, Lucky grabbed a plate of cookies we brought with us and let him know we were also "giving" his family cookies.

After that we delivered cookies to a couple other people.

A few days before, the kids helped me make the cookies. Also service.

Oh, and while I was delivering taquitos and something he left at our house to Jr., a couple of my children cleaned the living room (as per my request). Service.

I gave Jr. a ride somewhere earlier in the day. 

It's amazing how sometimes we don't even realize we're doing service or we don't think to label it because it's just a kindness that we show. I think that's great. And like I said, sometimes it takes a bit more effort.

I'm not saying this to toot my own horn. I'm saying this because sometimes we don't realize that we are making a difference in the little things we're doing. 

That night a few of us sat down to watch a movie together. 

Sometimes service comes in the form of spending time with someone... or listening. Instead of turning on a show to watch or an audiobook to listen to while I made dinner, I listened to one of my sons share what he had come up with about different fantasy creatures and fantasy realms. He has such creativity and a great imagination.

Thanks for doing me service and reading all my rambling. I'll probably share some more of the service that goes on this month but there are those times when service is done quietly and doesn't need to be shared publicly so I won't share everything.

Birding Field Trip

I miss getting together with other birders. It's been a while for obvious reasons. It was nice to meet up with one of our birding friends when we had our two day date. We ran across another birder we knew looking for the same bird. 

Utah County Birders have had less in person meetings and field trips the last couple years. It makes a difference when you have octogenarians in your club and want them to be safe. We've been having virtual meetings. Plans for field trips this year are mostly Saturday trips, not so much carpooling, and not too much crowding when we're outside. Jeremy and I took the opportunity to get out for a field trip to Burraston Ponds and Mona Reservoir recently. It was cold but worth it. I loved seeing more birding friends in person. There were approximately 14 vehicles and it was nice to see that quite a few of them had multiple people in them, spouses or families or close friends.

It also happened to be my brother's birthday the day Jeremy and I went out so we took the time to let him know we were thinking of him that day.

 Happy Birthday, Paco!

 

Before we headed on the field trip that day, we stopped by Thanksgiving Point and set up a balloon caveman at the Museum of Ancient Life for an event they had that day.

 

After the field trip was over, Jeremy and I stopped for lunch then headed to another spot to see some birds along the Provo River. 

We had a nice walk.

Going for a walk with the ducks.

 

Toward the beginning of our walk, Jeremy kept saying how he thought he heard brown creepers. We saw several other birds but didn't see brown creepers. However as we were walking back we heard the sounds again and Jeremy looked up and spotted a brown creeper. Then we spotted another brown creeper. So he was right, he recognized the sound and we got to see two.

It was a good birding day.

Spring Break- Wednesday

This day was so action packed it gets its own blog post.

We started out early in the morning to head to the Henefer Lek to listen to and watch the sage grouse displaying. It was fun to take the whole family this year. Most of the kids have never gone (like I said it is an early morning trip). It worked out. Jet mostly slept through the whole sage grouse part of it. He started stirring as soon as we got to the lek. It's not so good to have a baby crying while you have windows down. We got him back to sleep, though. 

The boys in the back seat were content because they had devices. 

They did pause to listen to and look at the sage grouse from time to time.

 

Nichole, Jeremy, and I were content because we had a camera and binoculars.

There were a bunch of grouse near the road so we were able to get a good look when we were on our way out. 

After the lek, we headed over to East Canyon Reservoir. It was coooooold.

There were plenty of birds and ground squirrels to take pictures of, though. I even got to hear a loon in real life for the first time ever. I've been wanting to and I did. I was so happy.

We picnicked in the van at another spot along the reservoir. Since I forgot to bring out the Twinkies the day before, we celebrated the anniversary of the invention of the Twinkie Observed on Wednesday and had them with our lunch. While we ate, I gave the kids a background about how the Twinkie came to be.

After the reservoir, we stopped at another reservoir, Deer Creek, to look for more loons. There were at least a couple and guess what. We heard another loon calling. Eeeeeeee. I was even more happy. Two loons at two different reservoirs. Yay! 

Jet was ready to be awake by that point so we decided to go somewhere where he could run around. We went to South Fork Park. This is what we got when we arrived. 

This

vs this

Eventually everybody got out so we could get family pictures with Flat Stanley.

This is what happens when you get out so early in the morning. You fit a lot in. Jeremy and I were even able to get a nap in after we got home before we had an Easter Egg hunt in the back yard. Much different from last year when Jet could barely reach the eggs on the living room floor.

He even enjoyed playing with the empty eggs after we got back inside (we had the kids empty their eggs into ziplock bags so we wouldn't have all this candy sitting in eggs for so long).

So it really was an action packed day. We haven't had one of those in a while. I'm so glad it worked out.

 

By the way, April 7 was National No Housework Day. Perfect day for all of this. It was also National Walking Day. Perfect for running around at the park. It was also World Health Day. Getting out in nature is so good for our health.

Pluto Day 2021

This Pluto Day, February 18, was cold. I made the boys stand out in the cold when it was time to take Jr. to school in order to make them celebrate the holiday. "Happy Pluto Day." Pluto is cold.

Actually, I made them stand out in the cold long enough to tell them to get in on the other side of the van. That particular sliding door does not like the cold so it's better to get in and out on the other side. At least that is the case in the morning. By afternoon and time to pick up Nichole, it doesn't have as much trouble opening and closing.

They warmed up on the drive.

Winter Signs

One day when Nichole didn't have school at the school building, Jeremy, Jet, Nichole, and I went out to Mt Timpanogos Park to look for a bird. We didn't find that particular bird but we saw other things. There was a squirrel standing upright on a rock for an awful long time. Nichole was able to get pictures of a Downy woodpecker that landed in a tree close by.

We walked one direction through the park then walked back along the Provo River Parkway. When we got to the bridge that crosses to Canyon View Park, Jeremy pointed out the sign next to it.

Jeremy: You can tell they put this sign up in the Winter.

Kristin: Canyon View Park. Brrrr.

Kristin: And they were too cold to put the rest of the Rs on it.

Later, as we continued walking along the trail, we came to another bridge with a sign.

Kristin: Timpanogos Park. Brrr.

Jeremy: I'm telling you, it gets really cold here in the Winter.

After that, it became a "thing" to find other "Winter" signs. There are quite a few of them that can be found along/near the Provo River Parkway, but only in the canyon. I made a point to look for them as I made my trek along the trail.

I had to go back to get pictures from the first part of the trail since I had already walked it before this experience and didn't know to look for the signs.

When Jet and I were waiting for Jeremy to pick us up after our walk from Bridal Veil Falls to Canyon Glen Park (see previous post), we walked around the park. We crossed a couple of bridges that had "Winter" signs. One sign said "Canyon Glen Park Lower. Brrr." The other said "Canyon Glen Park Middle. Brrr." We walked all over the park but I just couldn't find an "Upper" sign. It wasn't until the next section of the Parkway when my suspicions were confirmed. "Canyon Glen Park Upper. Brrr" was above the park as part of the trail itself. I had left the trail where it first connected with the park (it connected in a few different places) so I missed the sign the first time.

Note: Since we went looking for Winter signs, a fire started that went into Provo Canyon and burned a lot of area in there. So please enjoy the pictures on my blog from before the fire.