National Cooler Day

May 22 I was too busy getting ready for a trip to celebrate well so I told people this is what you get. I didn't even have time to cut up the watermelon. Nichole did. Happy National Cooler Day.

Jeremy did suggest while he was still at work that one of the kids take a frozen Costco lasagna and cook it in the oven. Oh yeah. That was a good idea. So they did. Happy Don't Fry Day.

The kids did help in some ways with getting ready for the trip. Besides taking care of food because I wasn't up to it, and gathering things, some of them also helped clean out the van so we could travel more comfortably the next day. Happy National Road Trip Day. 

Cosmo!

Since Lucky didn't have school during Spring Break, he was able to help Jeremy build a giant Cosmo Cougar balloon for BYU Grad Bash again this year. Way to go, guys. Jeremy took Lucky out for ice cream afterward.

A couple days later, Lucky and I went back with Jeremy to set Cosmo up for the celebration. I helped last year and wanted to do it again this year. This is how Jeremy put it:

Lucky, the short one, built the legs, Jeremy, the big one, built the torso, and Kristin, the cute one, did repairs.

Yay! I'm a helper. I love that Lucky is learning the "family business."

 

When we got home, we had more ice cream, in the forms of... root beer floats and/or on top of apple pie.

Pizza with the Works Except Anchovies Day 2025

I am thankful for pizza. I'm also thankful for excuses to make pizza.

November 12 was Pizza with the Works Except Anchovies Day.

I had a big helper who volunteered to help and he did a great job. I'm thankful for him. 

 

The day before, November 11, was Veteran's Day. 

I spent some time thinking about family members who served in the military in the past. I am thankful for them.

The day after, November 13, was World Kindness Day. We tried to be kind that day. I am thankful for kindness.

Sad Days

A tragedy happened on September 10. A guest speaker at UVU, Charlie Kirk, was killed. It was shocking. Jr. was on campus but we were able to get him back to our house to stay for a few days since campus (and his apartment complex) closed down. Jr. Jr.'s school is right next to UVU so they kept the students there an extra hour before sending them home. There was definitely some processing we all needed to do. 

The sad event made me reflect on 9/11, and what I experienced in 2001.

It also made me reflect on what President Nelson had been saying around his birthday. We need to be peacemakers. We need to remember that we are children of God and that others are as well and should be treated that way.

President Nelson was such a good example of a disciple of Jesus Christ. He practiced what he preached. He sadly passed away the end of September but at 101 years old, it didn't come as a complete surprise. He lived a long and remarkable life and I am grateful I had the opportunity to learn so much from him.

 

On a happier note because life has to continue even when you're processing a tragedy, September 11 was Make Your Bed Day. Jet helped me make Pigs in a Blanket. I appreciate the helper he is.

 

 

Catching Up February 2025 part 2 (more like 3 because my Valentine post fit in with the catching up)

February 17 was President's Day. Jet helped me with the flag picture that day.

It was also National Cabbage Day. I made egg rolls one of the days around that holiday.

 

February 18 was Pluto Day. I watched one of the many episodes of Psych where Gus said, "You heard about Pluto?" The subtitles had it wrong, though.

 

February 19 was Chocolate Mint Day. I had another Peppermint Patty.

February 20 was National Muffin Day. For dinner we had... muffins again. We made all eggless muffins again. Cornbread muffins, blueberry muffins, and raisin bran muffins.

 

February 21 was the Anniversary of The Legend of Zelda. The kids requested Deku Scrub Cheeseball, which I made. Because Nichole is the one who usually sculpts the cheeseballs nowadays, some of the boys were surprised to learn that I was the one who made the original Deku Scrub Cheeseball way back in 2017. Jet helped put the bay leaves on top.

Jet and I haven't had a chance to do as much baking together as we used to. When we do get the chance it's so nice. I've missed it.

He helped me grind wheat one day, which was nice. My big helper. 

Jet also enjoyed making tracks in the snow (when we had snow. We've finally made it to Spring but I'm still blogging about Winter).

Speaking of snow, a few of us made the trek to the Snow Goose Festival in Delta this year. It was so foggy at first that we couldn't even look for the geese in the fields and when we got to the reservoir, we couldn't see anything there, either.

We entertained ourselves while we waited for the fog to lift.

Finally the fog lifted and just like last year, we found out that the geese had landed on the other side of the reservoir. Except that this year they were so far out, we couldn't get a good look or good pictures.

We did get to see a few fly in from time to time but we've had more exciting years. Oh well.

 

The day after the Snow Goose Festival was National Banana Bread Day, February 23, so we had some banana bread Pop Tarts.

It was also National Rationalization Day so Jeremy made something he'd been wanting to make for a long time- bangers and mash. 

That night was a multi-stake fireside with Camille N. Johnson, the Relief Society General President in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. A couple friends and I walked to the building where it was being held. I did not get a good picture. There's a better picture of us when we had banana splits back in January.

Bad picture aside, the fireside was really good. I appreciated the things Sister Johnson shared with us. One of the things she shared was that every morning she has her own personal devotional with President Nelson, prophet and president of the Church. She will put on a talk that he has given in the past and will listen to that while she's getting ready. After that, so many sisters in our stake, including me, took that same challenge and started listening to President Nelson every day. It was talked about when we gathered together for the Worldwide Relief Society Devotional and Testimony Meeting a few weeks later. I went with my ministering sisters.

 

February 24 was Tortilla Chip Day so we had tortillas and dip of course.

 

Jeremy's birthday was in February. Jet wanted to put the candles on the cake so he decided how many of each color and placed them. What a sweetie.

Raking Leaves Fun

See what a difference a week can make?

 

Since the leaves of this tree decided to dump themselves all at once, Jet and I decided to rake leaves. I got everything ready to go. Gardening gloves for Jet and for me, bags to put the leaves in. I was prepared. We got the rake, brought it to the front and got ready to put on our gloves.

Now tell me... what is wrong with this picture?

That's right. They are both left gloves. That wasn't going to work. I couldn't find any more small gardening gloves, so I dug out some Winter gloves and Jet was happy with that. We weren't going to be doing anything too tough and halfway through he took off his gloves anyway, which was fine.

We did have some fun with the leaves for a while until eventually, Jet was ready to go in for some hot chocolate. We did mostly fill a couple bags (they are big bags and I filled a couple more later) and I'd say we earned that hot chocolate.

I appreciate my big helper and that bonding time.