Tea Party

 

May 21 was International Tea Day. I got excited to try out recipes from Whisk Me Away by Michelle Wright. 

We had Cucumber Sandwiches, Spinach Artichoke Dip on homemade English muffins (the muffins recipe was not in the book but the dip was), The Perfect Tea Cookie, and strawberries and cream (also not in the book but it was Strawberries and Cream Day). We each got to choose what kind of herbal tea to drink and of course I had to use my "just one more chapter" mug.

Not only does this book have delicious recipes but there are bits of trivia about different time periods as well as games and quotes from Proper Romance novels. 

Reading Challenges

If you know me, you know I love reading challenges. You should see our whole family in the Summertime with our local library reading programs.

This photo represents three reading challenges. In March, I finished a read-along with author Anneka R. Walker reading a book a month of her Matchmaking Mamas series. The fourth book, The Rules of Matrimony, comes out today, May 6. These books are sweet clean romances, and I love the humor in them. Having read the first two books before this read-along, I was looking forward to certain scenes I knew would make me laugh again.

The mug in my picture says, "Just one more chapter..." This is very appropriate for this series. I had a hard time stopping in order to stretch each book out for a month. The mug I earned from the Winter Reading Program with Provo City Library.

The last challenge that goes with this picture is the Adult Reading Challenge with Orem Public Library where I had to pick one of two categories to use The Gentleman's Confession since it fit both.

I'm sure when Summer Reading comes along again, I'll use that as an excuse to read and reread more of Anneka R. Walker's books. 

It turned out I didn't have to wait until May to read the last book in the Matchmaking Mamas series.

I won an advanced copy of The Rules of Matrimony from the read-along. I was so excited to read it in April.

It wasn't intentional but I happened to be wearing a shirt that matched the cover in this picture. Fun!

When the book arrived in the mail, Jet was very happy to help me open it. He's so cute.

Anneka R. Walker posted a quote from the book on Instagram and I just so happened to have read the scene with that quote early in the morning... because I was reading the book in the middle of the night. I mentioned it on Instagram saying:

How could you do this to me, authorannekawalker?

I woke in the middle of the night and thought I'll just read a little bit more of this book I started yesterday. The next thing I knew it was time to get up for the day. Now I have to teach my children there are consequences for my actions because I am so so tired.

And I want to do it again.

 

This was her response:

 

 

Remember the mug? "Just one more chapter..."

I knew it would be like that for The Rules of Matrimony because it was the same for the rest of the Matchmaking Mamas series. It was true. It didn't take me long to read the whole book because it was so hard to put down.

There was something I realized about myself, though. That attitude of "just one more chapter..." is great for reading sweet clean fiction books but I should really be feeling it when I sit down to read my scriptures. It's a personal goal I want to do better with and if I'm being honest, when I am doing those things that bring me closer to my Savior, I can enjoy other wholesome things in my life (like books with "humor and heart") even more. 

Our Vacation, Thy Creations, and Our Relations- Part 11

July 10 was Don't Step on a Bee Day and National Kitten Day. Creativity took over.

Jeremy's sister came to visit that day. It was nice to catch up with her.

Jet uncovered some slugs in grandparents' backyard. They weren't banana slugs but one was a leopard slug.

 

July 11 was Blueberry Muffin Day.

Road Trip!

When we went to Mount Rainier we saw where the Nisqually River came from the glacier. We wanted to see where the Nisqually River emptied into the Puget Sound so... Nichole, Jeremy, and I headed to Nisqually Wildlife Refuge. We love Nisqually Wildlife Refuge anyway. It's one of the places we always try to visit when we're in Washington.

 

Some highlights of this trip:

Bald eagle hanging out in what people told us was its usual spot, where we could walk right up to it... or right under it.

From its spot, we could look out and see seals sunning themselves on a sandbank. They were so fun to see. Adults and youngsters.

We also saw seals swimming in the water. There was a mama and baby swimming together that were so cute. Baby kept climbing on mama's back.

There were so many great blue herons out that day, both adults and juveniles. So many.

We went all the way to the end of the boardwalk, about a mile. 

From there we looked back at Mount Rainier which we had visited just two days before. So we went from where the Nisqually River started one day to where it ended another day. 78 miles.

As we were walking back through the forested area of the refuge, we stopped at a pond to see if we could find a frog. We found a frog then another then another. There were so many. I loved it.

We found out while we were there that this year was the 50th anniversary of the refuge so we just had to get a souvenir mug as it is one of our favorite places to visit in Washington.

I'll share more of our wonderful vacation later.

Beginning November

Woohoo. We've reached November in our quest to catch up on my blog. 

You know what November is, don't you? National Novel Writing Month! How appropriate that November 1 is National Author's Day. Nichole had a goal to finish the first draft of her novel before November. She reached that goal and celebrated with hot chocolate in the composition mug. 

My goal for NaNoWriMo is to read her first draft and give her feedback.

November 1 was also National Cinnamon Day. I had apple cinnamon oatmeal.

Nichole needed to go out to get pictures to make up for her digital photography class she missed during quarantine so she and I went out to Bicentennial Park on November 2 to get some pictures. It was a lovely evening. We heard a belted kingfisher soon after we got to the park and later saw it flying around. That's a bird I expect to find at that park. Love it. We also saw a turtle swimming around and plenty of little birds, chickadees and finches and such.

We had some good lighting that evening for pictures and it was a pleasant outing.

November 3 was Sandwich Day. We didn't have peanut butter or tuna fish sandwiches (remember Lilo & Stitch?). Instead, Jet and Lucky both helped me make french bread rolls from Mel's Kitchen Cafe to try out ham sliders from The Food Nanny. Mmmmmm.

November 3 was also Stress Awareness Day and yes, I am aware that I have a lot of stress in my life. But November is also a month of gratitude and gratitude can be a great stress reliever. Last year I wrote about #GiveThanks and "No-Stress November" tips from the Orem Library. I think it's a good idea to look back at the post I put up on November 27, 2020 for ideas on how to get through the stress.

Since we're talking about gratitude, I'll mention something I'm grateful for. I'm grateful I have hair. Not everyone does.

November 4 was National Candy Day. The kids finished off the candy corn left over from Candy Corn Day.

November 4 was also Men Make Dinner Day. Jr. made pizza for us.

Looking at my blog post from last year, the men made a similar dinner that day.

November 5 was Guy Fawkes Day. Alexa and I explained a little bit about who Guy Fawkes was to some of the children.

November 5 was also Doughnut Day. As I've been doing lately with any doughnut or donut (depending on how you spell it) related holiday or celebration, I made cinnamon sugar doughnut muffins from Mel's Kitchen Cafe again. I'll tell you, they are much faster and easier to make than real doughnuts and so tasty.

So there you go. The first week of November... mostly. November 6 deserves its own blog post so look for that soon.