What They Missed- August 6

Friday, August 6-

This was not really a "I need a do over day" but I did take it kind of easy. I was feeling a little under the weather. That and the heavy smoke in the air outside made it unpleasant. 

 

See our beautiful mountains?

Me neither. 

We didn't get much done that day.

It was National Water Balloon Day so the boys watched a show with a water balloon fight in it. It was Wiggle Your Toes Day. We did do that. It was Fresh Breath Day so we ate some mints. It was Lucille Ball's Birthday so the boys ate some "yum yum balls" (Whoppers). Jr. Jr. thought he would be funny when he put "yum yum balls" on my shopping list before the trip. He was surprised and thrilled when I actually brought a box of Whoppers home for them to eat on Lucy's birthday. I did manage to make root beer floats for Jr. Jr. and Lucky to celebrate Root Beer Float Day.

Jeremy and the older two continued to work hard.

 

They had fun, too.

Cheeeeeese

 

More cheeeeeese

Winter Solstice Among Other Things

December 21 was the Winter Solstice, the first day of Winter. When Jr. was going to make pancakes the day before, the smoke detector went off (not from his cooking, from bacon grease and water in the skillet). I told the kids to open windows but to make sure to close them before sundown since the next day was the solstice (it's been tradition this year on the solstices and equinoxes). We ate fluffernutter sandwiches again.

 

The 21st was also Short Girl Appreciation Day. I got a picture with my teenagers who were not standing on their toes nor was I slouching. Throughout the day, Jr. gave me hugs and told me that he appreciated me (not just because I was short, but because I do so much).

Also on the calendar for that day was Yule. Jr. wanted to listen to music. I told him he could only listen to music if it was with a Yule log fire like The Piano Guys or Josh Groban. Jr. found a YouTube video of Link standing by a fire. He put it on the TV then put Breath of the Wild music on the computer. Bwah ha ha ha. Clever boy.

 

The kids took turns doing online crossword puzzles for National Crossword Puzzle Day also on the 21st.

 

For Family Home Evening lesson, we read the nativity story in Luke 2 as we drove to West Mountain. As we drove along we saw sheep. We were like the wise men traveling to see the Christmas star. That day Jupiter and Saturn were the closest to each other in alignment with Earth that they have been in 800 years. Nice and bright... and around Christmas time. That's why it is known as the Christmas star. We drove to the other side of West Mountain with just the hill behind us with no house lights and farmland across the lake at the place we stopped so not a lot of lights there either. There were some other people with vehicles in the same area but it was a big area so no one was too close to each other. 

It was fun to see the planets. Looking closely with the camera, we could sort of see Saturn's rings and some of the moons of those planets. Jet loved seeing the sky with the half moon and stars.

 #LightTheWorld suggested getting as many family members together for a virtual hangout that day. I didn't suggest doing a video call like we did for Thanksgiving but while we were out looking at the Christmas star, my sisters, Mom, and I were all texting about it. Both of my sisters were also out looking at the planets and unfortunately my mom had rain. It was still fun to chat together and see pictures of my sister's view.

Everybody say, "Christmas Star!"

Since I finished reading A Christmas Carol on Saturday, we watched The Muppet Christmas Carol when we got home from seeing the Christmas star since December 21 is National Humbug Day. Every time Scrooge was going to say, "Humbug," in the movie, Nichole would say, "Happy National," before he said it then would say, "Day," after he said it. Heh Heh Heh.

 

It was also National Flashlight Day. We definitely used flashlights while we were out at the lake in the dark.

Two Birds with One Stone

"Kristin the Human. What's your favorite color?" I waited all day for someone to call so I could answer the phone that way. December 18 is Answer the Phone Like Buddy the Elf Day. At the end of the day, I finally got my wish when Jeremy called so we could all do family prayer together. His response when I asked? "Green like a Christmas tree." Woohoo. While he was gone the kids and I watched the movie Elf and ate spaghetti... with spaghetti sauce... and maple syrup on it. That's what Buddy gives his dad's wife for breakfast in the movie. I told the kids they all had to have sauce on the spaghetti since we were doing it because of the movie. They all did even if for some it was very little. My pickiest eater kept coming back for more helpings (including the sauce).

Every year I'm determined to read A Christmas Carol to my kids. I've never read the whole book to them even though I try practically every year. This year, though, I am doing it- a little bit every day. We're almost finished. Tonight I sat down with the kids in front of The Piano Guy's Yule Log and when we were ready we muted the music and I read to them. #LightTheWorld says, "Make time for children like Jesus did. Read a beloved children's story to a child."

Like the Summer Reading Program, we're now doing a Winter Reading Challenge with the Provo Library, since the kids will have two weeks without homework during Christmas vacation to read. One of the activities is to "read a book by the fireplace." Ta-da. Two birds with one stone.

After the Fire

I mentioned before that there was a fire that went up into Provo Canyon and burned a lot of area in there. It lasted for a few days.

It started above the cemetery in Orem and went up over the ridge into the canyon. Fire crews worked really hard and protected a lot of homes. The fire didn't go down as far as any of the parks in the canyon and didn't go up the canyon as far as Bridal Veil Falls (or Nunn's Park rather as it stayed on that side of the road). 

A couple weeks after the fire was over, Jet and I went for a drive into the canyon to see how things looked.

These pictures were taken from Mt Timpanogos Park.

I drove up Squaw Peak Road to get a look across the canyon.

Mt Timpanogos Park is the green area with buildings at the bottom of this picture.

 

As I was taking pictures, I did get distracted by a rough-legged hawk and some dark-eyed juncos but I still got pictures of the burnt area.

Here is a panorama to get another idea of the damage it did in the canyon.

I also got pictures of the other side of the hill closer to where it started. Even if it wasn't as big an area as in the canyon, a good amount was still burned. 

There are a couple more pictures of this side from a distance on my blog post about "Walking the Provo River Parkway."

Halloween Fun

Trunk or Treat and ward party! We even made chili this year to contribute to the chili cookoff (and there was enough left over for dinner another night). I don't have indoor pictures to show from the ward party.

The kids' costumes: Jr. Jr. was a pirate. Lucky was a pumpkin. Jr. was a Ten Man from The Mysterious Benedict Society book series. Nichole was Kate Weatherall from The Mysterious Benedict Society book series.
How do you like my costume?

I fooled several people thinking I had a baby in there. Nope. It was candy to hand out.

Beautiful weather for being outside. Several of us wore short sleeves.
And the next morning? Snow on the ground.

Then it stayed pretty cold through Halloween (depending on the time of day. There was no more snow, though).
Halloween day, I went to watch Jr. Jr. and Lucky walk in the school's Halloween parade. Then I got to watch Lucky's kindergarten presentation, sharing what they've been learning. He was so happy to have me there and to give me a hug afterward. I love supporting my kids like that. And I'm so glad he loves school.

After school, we met up with friends to do trick or treating at the mall.

Then the kids and I went home to have some dinner and did some trick or treating in our neighborhood.

We stopped off at a neighbor's fire to warm up and roast some marshmallows. Then we collected Jeremy who by then was home from work and went to visit and trick or treat at my sister's.

On a side note, after the ward party, Lucky was proud to show me what he did to his face and hands (and armpits) with a stamp. I let him know (nicely) it was not the best choice since we had church the next morning (the Primary program). Thankfully it washed off.

Vernal Holly Days

The day after Thanksgiving we celebrated in Vernal.  Jeremy was working at Vernal Holly Days so our whole family made the trip.  It is often very cold while Jeremy is there, but this time the weather was warm- the warmest Jeremy's ever experienced for Vernal Holly Days he told me.
We still dressed warmly in case it got cold.  That meant that when we went indoors to the bounce houses, I got to hold a lot of gear besides shoes- hats, scarves, gloves, etc.

There were a lot of activities at the event. 

 
Plenty during the day and plenty after the sun went down.

They had their parade of lights.  One float was from Dinosaur National Monument which we went to in August.

We also got to watch fire dancers.

And ride on a camel.

And close the balloon line for Jeremy.  Jr. Jr. loved getting to wear the "line closed" vest.

There was definite silliness going on

including dancing

and shadow puppets lip syncing to the holiday music that was playing.

 
On the way home, Jeremy and I switched off driving a couple times.  By the time we got to Heber, Jeremy had been driving but I was still not capable of driving at all so Jeremy stopped at Walmart to wake himself up by walking around and getting something to help him stay awake the last leg of the journey.
The kids and I slept in the van.  When Jeremy got back to the van, he showed me what else he bought- a couple movies that were still on Black Friday sale.  $4 each.  And he didn't have to deal with crowds.  Ha Ha.  That's how we do things.

We made it home really late and really tired.

Luckily the next day was Saturday so we were able to sleep in.  Phew.
It was a long day.