Rainy Adventures

Remember that rainy Saturday I mentioned when we planted our plants. The night before was also a rainy night... and a windy day. Garbage and recycling cans up and down the street kept getting blown over.

Jr. Jr. went on an overnight campout that he thought was so fun because it was miserable in the rain. All the Young Men were miserable together. 

Lucky went to a friend's "Summer Kickoff Party" that night where they were going to play outside games and watch an outdoor movie. When we went to pick up another friend to give him a ride, we used an umbrella. Yeah. The host decided to move the party indoors. 

 

Hey. As long as they had fun, right? 

End of School Year Things

So much happened the end of the school year. Let me try to share some of it. This is not necessarily in order.

 

Field trips! 

Jet went bowling. Lucky went roller skating. The whole school went to watch Paddington at a movie theater. 

When I asked Jet what he liked about bowling, he told me, "I liked knocking down a lot of pins."

 

Reading Hall of Fame! 

Jet and Lucky both did enough reading for the Hall of Fame this year that they got certificates, posters, bookmarks, and a new book each.

Lucky got a special framed certificate and another book for doing the Hall of Fame all the years of elementary school.

 

Student Council Party!

Lucky was the secretary of the Student Council this year and they had a party at the end of the year. When I went to drop him and a friend off for the party, they started heading toward the door then all of a sudden ran the other direction and into the parking lot. A few other kids did the same. I realized, it was because they were helping carry food and things in for the party. No hesitation, these kids immediately went to help. I appreciate seeing this from these students. They are a good example to others (no wonder they were accepted into student council this year). 

Lucky brought home a service award "for outstanding leadership, character, and service."

 

Two of the aides in Jet's class retired this year so we went to a little retirement party held for them at the school and Jet made them cards.

Jr. Jr. also got a bunch of certificates for surviving junior high. He and I went to a celebration. Then we practiced some juggling afterward.

You saw the train he made, right? See my blog post from May 14, 2026. Jr. Jr. brought home a candy dispenser he made, too. 

 

I got to go to an assembly at the elementary school where Lucky was presented with a Hope of America Award. It was awarded to Lucky "who has demonstrated during this school year capacity for leadership, ethical and moral character and outstanding academic accomplishment."

I was talking with a mom of one of Lucky's friends who also got the award about how it was fun to see how several of these students were good friends. It's nice to know that they are good influences on each other. Keep up the good work, kids.

 

I went to the elementary school dance festival to watch Lucky and Jet dance. They both did great. Jet's first and Lucky's last.

What a cool kid.

Woohoo! We survived another school year. 

Galentines

Party time!

Nichole and I went to a Galentines celebration with friends. We had a potluck dinner and did some getting to know you activities.

Our friend, Stephanie, shared some things with us to remind us that our best Valentine, the one who loves us most, is the Savior.

After those activities, a few of us stayed to watch a movie. 

It was another great night with friends. 

 

P.S. That morning I got out for probably my last walk at the park before the lights are turned off.

Star Party!

I am thankful for the Star Party some of us went to one night because of my son's Earth and Space Science class.

Members of the community brought telescopes so we could see different galaxies and stars, Saturn with its rings and one of its moons, and our moon when it finally made an appearance.

There were hot chocolate and donuts.

My sons had friends to talk to.

I got bad pictures with my phone because I was not going to use my flash at an event that requires darkness.

I did get decent (enough) pictures of the moon with our good camera.

 

When we got home that night, Jeremy and Jet were trying out some lights that would "dance" to music. Jeremy needed them for yet another balloon build out of state. He didn't need them to dance to music for the build but that was one of the modes of the lights. Jet sure enjoyed it.

 

Spring Break 2025

Spring Break for the kids was from March 31-April 4 plus the weekends before and after.

Spring Break was, as often happens in Utah, a break from Spring. See our snow?

April 1 was April Fool's Day. I told everyone dinner was Fend For Yourselves but I did make "Kool-aid." It was actually Kool-aid. My family never knows from year to year if it's going to be Kool-aid or Jello. I made sure to use air quotes every time I mentioned it that day, though, so it added to "trick."

 

April 2 was National Walking Day. I made sure to get out for a walk by the lake that morning.

I walked around a playground later chasing after Jet. Lucky helped.

It was also Peanut Butter and Jelly Day. Yes, I did go around singing, "Peanut Butter Jelly Time." We had some peanut butter and jelly pretzel snacks. They're like the peanut butter pretzels but with a coating on the outside. Yumm.

 

April 3 was Fish Fingers and Custard Day, World Party Day, and National Burrito Day. Woohoo!

April 4 was Walk Around Things Day. I walked around the store to get groceries and walked around the van to get the groceries.

 

April 5 and 6 were General Conference days. So good.

Jr. Jr. decided to make scones for everybody Saturday morning so with a little help from Dad, he did. He is a sweetie. They both are.

We had our traditional nachos, of course, and General Conference snuggles! April 5 was Love Our Children Day after all.

Saturday night we had our traditional Saturday evening session brownies. We had to start from the middle of course. Don't you love how traditions get started? This has been a tradition for more than 10 years. I blogged about the first time we did it on October 5, 2014.

General Conference wasn't all about food and snuggles. I tried to go in to it with very specific questions and listened for specific answers and I did. It was very personal some of the things the Lord let me know through the Spirit while listening to these speakers. I am so grateful.

 

Lucky got more service in during Spring Break. He twisted free balloon animals for people at the park. 

He came with me one day to tie quilts for Humanitarian Aid.

He was fine. He just likes to make silly faces when I take his picture.

 

Lucky also made a bouquet of balloon flowers for a sister I minister to for her birthday. There was enough that she was able to separate the flowers for her family members. They enjoyed that.

 

There we go. Spring Break 2025.

It's My Sausage Pizza Party, Girl

October 11 was National Sausage Pizza Day. Jet was a big helper putting cheese on our French bread sausage pizza.

I wished Nichole a Happy International Day of the Girl Child which was also that day.

It was also It's My Party Day so I was singing that song again.

Summertime Means...

Summertime means more Summer Reading, of course. One of the things we like to do is Provo Story Trails. Different Provo parks have signs set up that tell a story based on a fairy tale of folktale. It's fun to see the similarities between stories we're familiar with and how they are told in other countries and cultures.

Things have been busy so Lucky, Jet, and I went to one story trail and I went to two more on my own. Luckily there's a new one every week through the end of July so we'll have more opportunities. They are left up for two weeks before being taken down.

The Story of the Five Heads at Lions Park, Maui's Fish or The Creation of New Zealand at Riverside Park, Catherine and Her Destiny at Kiwanis Park.

 

It's harder getting the start and end pictures when I go by myself. Tee Hee.

Summertime also means fairs and that sometimes means dropping off and picking up Jeremy so he can do balloon animals. Jet and I are big helpers when it comes to supporting Jeremy in this way.

Summertime also means Summer parties. Lucky's school teacher invited all her former students for a little get together at the park next to the school. Lucky had fun connecting with friends, eating treats, and getting to see his teacher again since she won't be his teacher next school year.

When Jet and I went to pick him up, we stayed for a while ourselves and joined in the fun.