Our Anniversary

Saturday of Screen Free Week, Jeremy and I celebrated our anniversary. This year marked the point where I've been married to my husband longer than I have not. I love being married to him.

On May 9, National Babysitter's Day, we started out early- Jeremy made us omelettes beforehand- and started our drive to go birding up Nebo Loop. As we were driving up, having a really heartfelt conversation and crying a lot (this guy is my favorite), we found out the road was closed past a certain point. 

O.K. Plan B. We turned around, drove all the way back down, and headed to Powell Lake in Lehi, listening to music and singing along as we went.

We weren't sure we'd have time to go to Powell Lake that day so this change worked out. It was great- plenty of birds to see. I loved seeing the pelicans in the water and Forster's Terns flying around. 

Lots of birds.

We made a quick stop at Costco after that- we needed Hawaiian sweet rolls for our anniversary dinner with the kids.

Then since our original picnic spot was not available (up Nebo Loop), we went out to Provo Canyon and picnicked at Vivian Park and watched swallows fly around (and a kestrel chase them at one point).

More heartfelt talking and crying as we drove. We ended up at the Heber Fields and saw lots more birds.

It was a long day already so when we got home we took a nap then got up to finish making dinner. We were smart and made some things the day before and Jeremy cut up my pineapple before we left that morning.

We had our traditional anniversary dinner with the kids and Jeremy had his yearly one piece of pineapple.

Jet was very interested in getting pictures of Jeremy's reaction to eating the pineapple.

I've told people before and I'll continue to say it: My husband hates pineapple. He hates the taste and smell of it. Yet every year for our anniversary dinner, he cuts up a pineapple for me because I love pineapple. That is true love.  

Have I mentioned I love my husband? I'm happy to spend forever with him.

A Room of One's Own Day 2025

January 25 was A Room of One's Own Day.

 

It was also Opposite Day so one of my children was trying to get away with things by saying the opposite. Silly child.

When I could (that evening), I celebrated A Room of One's Own Day relaxing in my bedroom. I read The Hobbit. I took a nap. I read some more of The Hobbit. You know. The usual.  

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.

National Relaxation Day 2022

August 15 was National Relaxation Day. I just took the day and did nothing. Just relaxed.

Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha. If only.

Actually the day started at midnight when Jet would not go to sleep and he only wanted Jr. so Jr. took care of him late into the night while I slept because I couldn't stay awake. Apparently he and Jr. both finally fell asleep in the living room, Jr. on the couch, Jet on the floor. Jet eventually ended up back in our room because he decided at 4 something in the morning that he was done with the living room. He did fall asleep again (not surprising based on how late he was up). I didn't know how much I was going to be able to help Jeremy at 5 when he got up to get ready for work. A little bit later, though, he asked me if Nichole was planning to go to her "Senior Sunrise" activity that was on the calendar. I realized my phone didn't ding at me because we had reset things recently on my phone so the notifications weren't on. I'm so glad Jeremy said something because I wasn't looking at my calendar. I got Nichole up so she could quickly get ready and we got her there just a few minutes late. There were still kids arriving after I dropped her off.

I went home and did help Jeremy finish getting ready. Then a little while after he left, I went to get Nichole. 

We got the boys up then we actually did relax while watching a movie. Everyone was still tired after the movie. Some of them fell asleep. I was going to go back to sleep myself then I realized I had to contact the high school about something important. So I left a voicemail then got to work on other things that needed to be done. Never got that extra sleep. Just kept working on things.

I threw some food together for us to eat before I took all the kids to the high school open house to meet the two oldest's teachers. That wore Jet out. He discovered the dance room where there was a big open space and music playing and just went in there and danced and danced and danced. Then when we got to the orchestra room, he had a blast twirling around with his brothers in that big open space. He fell asleep on the short drive home.

The kids played video games while Jr. made dinner. And since Jet had such a late nap, he kept me up most of that night. 

So relaxing?

Christmas is Over

And just like that, Christmas is over. Well, not the real reason for the season. We all need to continue following Jesus Christ and trying to be more like Him, serving others, showing love. But the present unwrapping (and last minute wrapping) is over. 

It was interesting. After staying up so late Christmas Eve (I was exhausted with a sick child for a few days leading up to Christmas and ended up with a headache and taking a nap that evening while Jeremy and Jr. finished making dinner so we ate late, did our little Christmas Eve program, let the kids open their PJs from Grandma and Grandpa, and got pictures of them wearing their PJs before sending them to bed so Jeremy and I could finish wrapping presents, etc., while Jr. tried to get Jet to sleep), I finally got Jet to sleep so Jr. could go to bed himself and then went to sleep myself. Christmas morning another child woke up sick. When it was time to go to the living room for presents and to Zoom with Jeremy's parents, Jet didn't want to get up. I picked him up and made it as far as the door before he pulled me back to my bed and made me lie down. 

Eventually I convinced him to come out to the living room for presents but he protested again when I wouldn't let him take a toy with him from our room. I assured him there would be something else but he was upset until I brought him all the way out and set him down where he could see the dinosaurs that Santa had brought him. There were a bunch. He was very happy after that and went around saying, "Dinosaur. Rarr. Rarr."

This was the first year in a long time I didn't make handmade gifts for the kids (not even bookmarks). Nobody complained, though. Lucky made handmade gifts for us, though- a cute card, two ornaments with his picture on them, and a cute snowman ornament made out of an electric tea light with light up nose and earmuffs. Soooooo cute. 

Poor Lucky, though. We paused from time to time throughout the day because he had to go be sick in the bathroom.

We still had nice Zoom meetings with Jeremy's parents that morning and my parents and two of my brothers later in the afternoon. 

Jeremy and I were still so exhausted and ended up taking naps that afternoon. Then I couldn't believe how much more I slept that evening and even that night. I'm so grateful for my family looking out for each other because I went to rest just a little and it turned into a whole lot. I woke up well rested this morning but still ended up taking a nap this afternoon. I guess dealing with all the... everything... leading up to Christmas took a lot out of me. Preparations, sickness in the home, life. We'll have to see how this next week goes.

There's also the possibility that changes in the weather could have affected me, tired-wise. That sometimes happens to both Jeremy and me. We didn't have a white Christmas, but it was white when Nichole and I went to Sacrament Meeting while Jeremy watched from home with the boys. That option is a blessing since we've had so much sickness this school year. Blech.

Anyway, so obviously since I slept so much on Christmas, I didn't blog that day but I've blogged every other day this month so that's not too bad.

So I hope you had a Happy Christmas and are enjoying National Candy Cane Day on December 26.

Keeping finding reasons to celebrate.