Happy Anniversary... Months Later

We weren't able to do something extra special on or near our anniversary this year (though having our traditional anniversary dinner with our children is always special) so one day in August, Jeremy surprised me with our anniversary celebration. He took care of all the arrangements with the kids and did a good job making it a surprise. I had no idea.

He gently woke me up early that morning, had my clothes picked out for me to wear (it was a date, so of course he had my Jurassic Park shirt ready). He made me an omelette. I love his omelettes. 

Then he drove us up Nebo Loop to one of our favorite birding spots up there.

We enjoyed a relaxing time there and I got my target life bird- red crossbill. There were four or five of those. Yippee! 

We also had some nice closeups of other birds and critters.

There was a red breasted nuthatch that kept landing on branches right above our heads. Right above us. That was wonderful.

After we had a few hours of birding in that spot, we went up to Devil's Kitchen to picnic and enjoy the view. Jeremy surprised me again with our picnic food. Winco salads (it's our traditional date food, like my Jurassic Park shirt is my date shirt) and sodas in plastic goblets like we used for our anniversary picnic last year.

After Devil's Kitchen we headed to the Orem Library to do some writing/blogging. Sweet Jeremy, kept nodding off (he got up really early to make me that omelette) so we finally headed out to eat at Cafe Rio. Yumm.

Then we went home to take a nap because we were both exhausted. 

We woke up later and gathered the children to go out for a late night meteor shower. They didn't take a nap so were all tired while we were out there.

That was a great way to end a wonderful anniversary celebration. Thank you, Jeremy, for the sweet memories and for being the best husband I could ask for.

A Week of Celebrating

Monday, August 8, was Sneak Some Zucchini Onto Your Neighbor's Porch Night. We didn't but look what we harvested later.

 

Tuesday, August 9, was Book Lover's Day. There was a lot of book reading in our home. Go figure.

Wednesday, August 10, was National S'mores Day. Jr. Jr. had a special chocolate bar he wanted to use on his s'more so he did. The rest of us had milk chocolate or dark chocolate.

Thursday, August 11, was Sons and Daughters Day. I took my sons and daughter to the UCB potluck. Jeremy joined us a bit later but it was again nice to be around our friends, the birders.

The kids have had enough experience now with a number of these people, they aren't all strangers. I love it. Plus there was another toddler birder running around the kids had fun playing with.

 

Friday, August 12, was Middle Child's Day. Once again Jr. Jr. picked what we'd have for dinner besides julienne fries which I was going to make anyway because it was Julienne Fries Day. He was okay with that.

We also wanted to see the meteor shower like we saw last year. It was cloudy and there was a really bright moon and it was late so some of us stayed home and some of us went anyway. We only saw a few shooting stars because of the clouds and moon. A couple kids fell asleep on the drive and slept through it but they didn't miss much. Jeremy and I did have a little bonding time with our exact middle child and that was so nice.

This is the three of us... in shadow form. Notice if you can my bunny ears, thanks to my husband, not my middle child... this time.

The next morning, my sister heard a big boom that shook her house. It was decided later that it was a meteor entering Earth's atmosphere and causing a sonic boom.

 

For our at home potluck on Sunday, August 14, I fried up that zucchini from our garden.

Before, After, and After After

 

And this is the rest of what we ate:

Lucky wanted to learn how to make chicken Caesar salad wraps so I taught him for this. He did a good job, he just needed some help with rolling them up.

Nichole made a cheeseball that looked like a lizard on a rock because August 14 was World Lizard Day.

Middle of the Night Meteors

Everybody say, "Middle of the night meteors."

Every year toward the beginning/middle of August it is a good time to see meteor showers. We looked up which days and times were best this year and went on a night near those times that fit into our schedule. We went down to Payson and drove up the canyon just a little ways to a big parking area where we could get out to watch the stars. 

Jr. and Lucky both fell asleep on the way. Jet surprisingly stayed awake and Jr. Jr. stayed awake to watch the lightning as we were driving up. It was far enough away and we didn't hear any thunder and there was no rain and only a few clouds.

The first thing we noticed when we stepped out of the van was the sound of crickets. They were so loud. I couldn't believe how loud they were. I guess when you're out in nature completely surrounded by them as compared to however many you get outside your house in the city... We could also hear katydids clicking in the trees which Jr. Jr. commented sounded like marbles clacking together. Good description but that's Jr. Jr. for you.

Jeremy, Jr. Jr., and I started looking at the sky and it wasn't long before we started seeing shooting stars. It was great. Jet was so patient and we finally got him out. He was a little less patient after that. He didn't want to look at stars. He wanted to get down and run around which is not a good idea in the dark. So he had some troubles. 

We eventually got Jr. and Lucky up and they both saw some shooting stars. There were plenty to see. As does happen sometimes when people are tired (I mentioned this was the middle of the night, right? Two o'clock in the morning), some of the kids only lasted so long. Jr. Jr. had a blast. He loves nature. Jeremy and I divided our time between watching the sky and dealing with things.

I'm so glad we went out. One more family adventure (except without Nichole- she was at girl's camp and got home later that day.)

By the time we got home, I was the only one still awake. Jeremy and the boys planned ahead so the boys had sleeping bags on the floor of the living room waiting for them.

I keep thinking Jet hasn't been able to have certain experiences that the other kids have had (though he's too young to remember experiences right now). He's never been to Arches (which used to be an annual trip). He didn't go with us to Yellowstone or Zion National Park or Dinosaur National Monument when Jr. had his National Parks Pass and we didn't get to do any of those things with Jr. Jr.'s pass. There's enough of a gap in age between Lucky and Jet that we did so many things with Lucky as a baby on up until Jet was born. There were a lot of years in there to have family adventures when there wasn't a global pandemic. Then I realized Jet's still a baby and already he's experienced things the others have experienced such as going to Thanksgiving Point (a few times now), Antelope Island, Cascade Springs, doing Summer reading programs, playing and hiking at Big Springs. He's also gone on some new adventures with the family that we never experienced before he was born (even if at this point he won't remember them)- going to see fireflies, driving up Mirror Lake Scenic Byway, going to look at a comet. And we will have more adventures and eventually he'll get some of those other experiences (I still want to go back to Yellowstone someday. He hasn't visited Oregon or Washington yet and seen the ocean). So even with being cautious about traveling and being around other people, Jet and the rest of the family are not lacking for experiences. And c'mon, none of the rest of the kids has traveled the full length of the Provo River Parkway, but Jet has.

There are different seasons in our lives when there are different opportunities available to us. It's okay if life isn't always the same. We can enjoy what opportunities we do have in each season that we are in and be grateful for those experiences whatever they may be.

Meatier Meteors

June 29 was National Waffle Iron Day. The kids made waffles for us before we went out to celebrate National Camera Day, also on the 29th. We took the camera out to the lake in the same spot we went to see the Christmas Star. This time however we looked for shooting stars since the next day was Meteor Watch Day or Meteor Day and we wouldn't be able to go out on the night of the 30th. We didn't see any shooting stars but it was good bonding time and it was nice to look at the stars where there wasn't as much extra light as in the middle of the city.

The next night, June 30, we had individual pizzas for dinner. People could choose their own toppings. Some of the pieces ended up "meatier" than others. Get it? Get it? That was Jr.'s suggestion.

I sure do love creativity... and nice family time.