Cheeseballs

When I wished Jeremy a Happy National Cheeseball Day on April 17, he texted me this picture.

He's a cheeseball.

 

Speaking of cheeseballs: in years past, Nichole has contributed short stories and artwork to UVU's Warp & Weave journal. 

Jeremy and Nichole toyed with the idea of submitting pieces to Warp & Weave together and they did so this year. Jeremy submitted a short story and Nichole submitted a piece of art that went along with his story. They were both accepted so when we went to the event for them to get their copies of the journal, we found out that the picture was placed right after the story. Good job, editors. 

We celebrated Blah Blah Blah Day while we were there.

Speaking of cheeseballs, earlier in the day, Nichole sculpted a cheeseball in the shape of a bat because April 17 is also Bat Appreciation Day. It's become tradition.

She also created this art piece for Bat Appreciation Day and International Haiku Poetry Day, also on the same day. 

I love my girl and her talents. I also love my husband and his talents. I'm also happy to support them. I spent time with Jeremy's short story, helping him edit it (there was a word limit). I also gave them a ride and went to the event with them since I knew how to get there.

Why Did I Take This Picture?

You know how sometimes you're looking through pictures and you're like, "Why did I take this picture?" Sometimes you remember. Sometimes you don't.

While preparing to blog, I was transferring pictures from my phone and I got a glimpse of one of me with Christmas lights in the background. 

I looked at the date. It was January 22. That was a Thursday. I know the kids had school that day. How would I have gotten a morning walk picture that day at City Center Park? 

Then I remembered. That night, as part of the Orem Library Adult Reading Challenge, I went to an event- Favorites of 2025 Book Club Night. A big group of us sat around sharing our favorite reads from 2025. It was nice. I got some ideas of books that I wouldn't think to pick myself. I got a sticker for my junk journal. I got some refreshments. 

On the way out, I took a picture of me with lights near the entrance to the library. Ah ha. Because not only are the lights on at the park in the morning and at night, they are outside the library as well.

Mystery solved.

By the way, January 22 was also Polka Dot Day and National Hot Sauce Day so I went around wishing people Happy Polka Dot Day and I made pasta and encouraged family members to eat pasta with rotisserie chicken and hot sauce.

I Love Reading Challenges

You know I love reading challenges. I participated in the 2025 Adult Reading Challenge with Orem Library and got a notebook and pen. I love what they both say. The notebook says, "Just one more chapter." You know I love that. The pen says, "My weekend is all booked." So fun.

Nichole and I both signed up for the Winter Reading Program at Provo Library. That one runs December and January. I was thrilled when I picked up my main prize from reading enough minutes. It's a tote that says, "The book was better." Ha Ha Ha Ha. I love things that have sayings related to books and reading.

Nichole and I took some bonding time one day to finish up the activities for the Winter Reading Program. We went on a scavenger hunt, we wrote poems, we texted each other, we colored bookmarks at the library. Then we picked up the prizes that still needed to be picked up (hot cocoa mix, candy, chips, etc.). 

On Peculiar People Day, January 10, Nichole and I had more bonding time. We went to the kickoff event for the 2026 Adult Reading Challenge at Orem Library. This year's challenge centers around The Hobbit. We got to be with other book lovers for "second breakfast," while listening to Lord of the Rings music. We got to learn about this year's challenge. We got a copy of The Hobbit to keep. We made junk journals to keep track of things during the challenge this year. We got pins that say, "Make reading a hobbit." We got to interpret some Elvish. It was nice.

As soon as we got home, I told people everyone was welcome to read The Hobbit. Jet immediately asked me to start reading it to him. So cute.

I keep the book and junk journal in my reading tote now so I can take it all with me while waiting for kids after school or after play practice.

I love reading challenges.

 
P.S. One of the book categories for the challenge is a book published in 2025. This is me going for a walk while listening to the audiobook of The Rules of Matrimony by Anneka R. Walker. I loved reading it last year and heard that the audiobook had good narrators so I listened and laughed out loud and loved it just like I love the physical book. Narrators really can make a difference for me wanting to listen to audiobooks.

I'd say Anneka R. Walker is one of my favorite authors. I can happily reread her books and get excited about reading those I haven't read before.

 

Flat Stanley's Journal

This is the journal Lucky turned in to school after Flat Stanley visited us for Spring Break.

Monday

Stanley and my family were playing with a frisbee and Stanley caught the frisbee! my brother didn't want to play with the frisbee. My baby brother caught the frisbee!

 

Tuesday

Stanley and my family colored hard boiled eggs. we actually didn't use paint we used crayons. The eggs were hot so we used crayons because the wax would melt off onto the egg.

 

Wednesday

 

Stanley and my family went to a lek my brothers and I got to play on devices. On the way to the lek my dad wasn't paying attention to what speed he was going so he got pulled over by police. Also on the way back home we stopped at a park to play with a frisbee. When we got home we had an Easter egg hunt Stanley was inside my bag counting my eggs. Here are the some of the places I found my eggs. (in a tree.) (in some logs.) (by the bird feeder.) And also everyone got a chocolate bunny.

 

Thursday

Stanley and I went to the dentist. the dentist saw that my brother only had one wiggly tooth and no cavities. I had two wiggly teeth and zero cavities. Stanley had no wiggly teeth and no cavities. When we were finished the toys we picked out was an alien with a parachute and a lipstick eraser. My brother got the alien I got the lipstick eraser.

 

Friday

Stanley and my family looked at murals on the way to the Provo River to throw rocks into it one of the murals was a tiger.

Love One Another

After church today, Jr. Jr. showed us a picture he colored in his class in Primary.  I've never seen him color so well before.  It was a color by numbers picture and he did a good job putting the colors where they go.

He showed his picture to several people including the mom of friends the kids were going to visit while I was at choir.  He wanted to show the dad, too, so Jr. Jr. and I were trying to figure out how he could show the picture to him when I dropped the kids off, but not keep the picture there where it could get lost.  We were discussing this while trying to get the kids buckled in the van to go home after church.  Jeremy pointed out that the dad of the family was nearby so Jr. Jr. could show him the picture right then.  So Jr. Jr. jumped out of the van and ran over to show him the picture.  He was so proud of his picture and that dad complimented him on it and told him, "You should put that in your journal."
What a great idea.  After he came back to the van I told him that I could put it in a scrapbook... or I could take a picture of it and put it on my blog.  That's like a journal.
So here is that picture that Jr. Jr. did such a good job with and with such a great message. 

And this is family history.  Thanks Dad Friend, for suggesting we document something so special to Jr. Jr.

KAT's Kreation- Journal

I've got a journal (and a blog), Nichole's got a journal, Jeremy's got a personal/family history blog, Jr. Jr. would just chew on a journal if he had one, but Jr. was missing out.
So guess what we did. We made him a journal.

Looking at other journals and most books, they are stitched on the inside, so that's what we did. I folded over a bunch of 8 1/2 x 11 inch computer/printer paper, used a safety pin to make a bunch of holes through the fold, then did backstitching with heavy thread all the way down.

I made sure the ends of the thread were on the outside and we covered the spine with duct tape. Everyone loves duct tape.

Nichole added a little cover art and Ta-Da, we had Jr.'s first journal.

And it didn't even take very much time. Hurray!