Now It Is Fall!

September 22 was Hobbit Day. Jr. played LEGO Hobbit.

I wore my bow earrings to celebrate my sister's birthday.

The Autumnal Equinox/First Day of Fall was also on September 22. We didn't do anything except mention it.

The next day, however, Jet and I went for a drive up Kyhv Peak Road to see the beautiful Fall colors.

Gorgeous.

That day, September 23, was Great American Pot Pie Day. I made chicken pot pie and for Family Home Evening on National Family Day (also on the 23rd) we played Pictionary drawing by mouse on the computer.

Guess what the word was for this picture:

 

I yelled out, "Trogdor!" then calmly said, "Dragon," to get it right.

The KAT's Meow

While we were in Oregon on our vacation, there was a point where my brother Todd, Jet, and I were playing with some dragons and mythological creature toys. Jet was playing with a little dragon and I was playing with a phoenix.

Little Dragon (Jet): I have teeth.

Phoenix (me): Do you have sharp teeth to eat things? What do you eat?

Little Dragon (quietly): I eat Daddy.

Phoenix: What? What do you eat?

Little Dragon: I eat Dad and Uncle Todd.

Other Things in November

One of the Young Men activities in November was a cooking contest. The Young Men brought their goods and they were judged. Both our boys won third place in their categories. Jr. made cookies (from The Food Nanny) and won third place in the cookies category and Jr. Jr. made braided rolls and got third place in the Miscellaneous category. Way to go, boys.

Jeremy had two fair conventions in November. For the first one he built a carnivorous man-eating plant.

For the second, he built a Chinese Dragon which he donated to the Orem Library afterward.

Jeremy and the librarians named it Jian.

At the end of October/beginning of November, Jeremy and our friend, Debbie, built big balloon sculptures for the Light of the Nations event (Luz de las Naciones). The set design was done by Doug Ellis of Doug Ellis Design & Studio. The following are his pictures. Check out his website. He has done some pretty amazing things.

And Then Things Got Crazy

After Jeremy and I had such a nice relaxing anniversary celebration, our family then had a crazy busy week.

August 13 was Alfred Hitchcock's Birthday. It was also my nephew's birthday, my brother's anniversary, and a good friend's anniversary. Hence the bow earrings.

There were back to school nights and first days of schools.

When taking Jr. Jr. to back to school night, it was fun to see Nichole's ceiling tile was still up right outside the library.

Lucky's teacher has a Harry Potter themed room this year so he got to run through the "wall" at Platform 9 3/4 to get into his classroom to meet his teacher.

I asked what the boys wanted for first day of school breakfast. "Apple Pancakes" from The Fablehaven Cookbook. Are we surprised? No.

Jr. Jr. had two first days of school pictures because he had two first days. 7th grade day and everyone's first day.

We also went to a Utah County Birders potluck that week. The kids had fun running around and one of the birder's little boy joined in the fun.

We celebrated National Fajita Day on August 18.

We had a neighborhood end of Summer party for our ward that week as well. It rained pretty hard and was windy while we were there.

Crazy busy. I tell you.

Lunar New Year 2023

The Lunar New Year was on January 22 this year. Year of the Rabbit.

The night before, the mall had fireworks which the kids listened to.

Jr. Jr., Jr., Nichole, and I made a trip to Salt Lake City the evening of the New Year while Jeremy made Chinese food for us. We then ate that yummy food for the next few days. 

We went for an event at the Conference Center. It was cold and snowy while we were in Salt Lake City and we walked a lot because I didn't want to pay for parking on a Sunday and I didn't realize how many free spots were closer to our destination. It's been a while since I've been up to Salt Lake City.

Jr. Jr. did get his first ride on TRAX, though.

On a trip to the Orem Library another day, Jet and I saw the dragon the librarians made for the Lunar New Year. Some of the scales had been decorated by children at the library.

Jeremy got to build some balloon sculptures.

We have yet to eat fortune cookies because I keep forgetting to get them out of the pantry. But here are a couple fortunes Jeremy got.

Halloween While Sick... Again

Then I got sick... again. I didn't feel up to doing anything except be sick for a couple days. Then I did just what was absolutely necessary the next couple days. Missed the Halloween parade at the elementary school again. Managed to get kids to and from school. Some of the kids took pictures of each other because I wasn't up to it.

When Jeremy came home from work, he took the elementary schoolers out trick or treating because Jet and I didn't feel up to going and the older kids decided not to go.

We didn't get a picture of Jeremy but he was dressed up as Waldo again.

Jet and I were sick people for Halloween. Although a different day, Jet decided to wear this Jedi robe to pick up kids from school. He looked good.

Nichole was a dragon tamer and her dragon, Ernest, was a pirate but he wasn't wearing his eyepatch by the time we got the picture.

Jr. was a magician and actually showed friends magic tricks at school.

Jr. Jr. was an alchemist. Remember when I got together for ladies' night and made some Halloween decorations- potions and elixirs? Jr. Jr. had plenty to say about what I made at the time. He took it farther and came up with his own concoctions which he put in a box to carry around- his box of alchemy supplies.

He was very creative with what he collected around the house and put together. He even got a contribution from "Dr. McCoy," (remember Halloween 2020?), a skeleton arm that had previously fallen off. And the creepy doll's head made an appearance in his box as well.

Lucky was the Eleventh Doctor because he wasn't able to do that costume last year, even though his teacher last year had a Doctor Who themed classroom. He was able to show his former teacher on Hallowen this year.

That's how Halloween went this year.

Unlike last year, I didn't get the chance to go one last time to Bridal Veil Falls to say goodbye until May. I didn't get a chance to do several things I wanted to do because of sickness. Oh well. That's life.

We did finally get the Fall colors down here in the valley, though. I love Fall colors.

Primary Activity

Our ward had a Primary activity where we were encouraged to make chalk drawings in certain parking stalls at the church parking lot. Then later people could go around looking at the different chalk drawings that families did.

My kids had a lot of fun working together on a theme. 

Jet joined in for a bit then had more fun running around. 

The chalk drawing turned out great. 

Lucky added a few of his own drawings to fit the theme.

Jr. Jr. worked mostly on eggs in a nest.

I am very impressed with my kids and their artistic creativity.

And creativity in general.