Other October Holidays

October 24 was National Food Day. We ate leftovers. It was also World Kangaroo Day. Jet and I hopped like kangaroos.

October 25 was Greasy Food Day. It was also World Pasta Day. We ate kind of greasy pasta.

October 26 was Mother-in-Law Day. I wished several people Happy Mother-in-Law Day including my mother-in-law. I love her. It was also National Pumpkin Day. I know several people who carved pumpkins that day.

October 27 was National Black Cat Day. I often see black cats running around our neighborhood. Murphy's Law says on Black Cat Day, I wouldn't see one. At the end of the day, Jeremy reminded me that the neighbors had a glow in the dark black cat skeleton decoration. That worked for celebrating.

October 28 was the Anniversary of when the Statue of Liberty was dedicated and it was also Matt Smith's birthday so I really wanted to watch The Angels Take Manhattan (which has both the Statue of Liberty and Matt Smith) while working on a Halloween costume but that's an episode of Doctor Who we don't have. So I watched Daleks in Manhattan which also has the Statue of Liberty in it. For dinner we had fish sticks and vanilla pudding in honor of Matt Smith's Doctor. We didn't have enough fish sticks so I pulled some curry chicken from the freezer and cooked up some rice. #shelfcooking

It was also National Chocolate Day so Lucky made woo-woo for us. 

 

Fall Break 2025

When Jeremy is on trips (quite a few this year), he misses a lot (including us and we miss him, too). One thing we've made sure to do as a family, though, is when Jeremy is traveling, he calls in the morning and night for family prayer over the phone. Sometimes he joins in for family scripture study as well. It's important to keep that gospel foundation strong for our family even when we're separated.

 

Since Jeremy was gone so long on this last trip to South Carolina, he also missed Fall Break.

 

Slumber Party!

When our older children were little we had a tradition of having a slumber party the night before Fall Break or Spring Break. We'd watch movies or play video games then all sleep out in the living room together. Over time, we had less people sleep in the living room after our "party" and eventually the tradition kind of fizzled out.

After many years we brought it back this Fall Break with watching a movie and playing MarioKart while eating muffins. Only a few opted to sleep out in the living room but we did have good bonding time while we were up.

October 15 was National Mushroom Day so I wore my pajamas that have mushrooms on them and Jr. Jr. commented: That's why Jet didn't want me to have mush room on the couch. 

P.S. For dinner earlier we made shawarma for Shawarma Day.

 

The next day, we had leftovers for dinner for World Food Day on October 16.

We got some snuggles in before Nichole and I went to a Relief Society activity to paint pumpkins. 

Normally I'm hands on involved in the activities (remember the sourdough?) but this time I was content to just sit and socialize. I also was able to praise Nichole's pumpkin painting. 

 

I got Kiki's Delivery Service vibes from it and not necessarily the movie. Isn't it so cute?

 

Fall Break Fun!

I hiked up Big Springs area with the kiddos. We'd been wanting to for a while and finally got the chance. We even had sun that day. 

A couple times, Jet and I took pictures of each other. This is how they turned out. 

Jr. Jr. pointed out to me how in Jet's picture the first time, Jr. Jr. was standing by me. In the other picture that I took, Jr. Jr. was standing by Jet. Ha Ha. Clever noticing. 

When we got home we had pasta to celebrate... National Pasta Day.

The mountains were gorgeous at sunset.

I love nature and I love living here and I especially love my children. 

 

The two oldest and I had some bonding time watching a movie one evening. While we watched, Jet watched Kiki's Delivery Service in a different room. I think he heard our conversation about Nichole's pumpkin.

 

Jet requested going to the library during Fall Break so on October 20, he and I went together. He was so well behaved. He followed directions. He stayed with me. We did a children's activity in the children's wing with pumpkin emotions. He got to play in the children's area and when it was time to move on to gather books on my list, he didn't put up a stink about it. He was quiet in the quiet areas, even when we had to get a book from the quietest area in the library. He was very good at whispering. We watched construction on the new courtyard/greenhouse area. He helped me check out our books and did a good job. I am so proud of him.

He did not yell, "Tractor!" in the middle of the library. Once we got out to the van, he was able to. "Tractor! Burninating the countryside..." For those that get the reference, he yells, "Trogdor!" but thinks it's "Tractor!" If you listen to Strong Bad from Homestar Runner, it does kind of sound like "Tractor."

Since October 20 was International Sloth Day, Jet requested a book about koalas. Why not?

I love bonding time with my children. And I love how this Fall Break went.

Kangaroos and Greasy Foods

October 24 was National Kangaroo Day. I hopped like a kangaroo in the morning when I went to wake the boys. Jet and I watched The Rescuers Down Under that night.

It was also National Food Day. For dinner, I was going to do Chicken Tikka Masala and Garlic Parmesan Broccoli from A Season of Family Meal Plans, volume 4. Rice would be good to go with those. I thought I could easily do another Indian food to go along so I made chana. Then I realized we had plain yogurt left from the tikka masala marinade, and I had a cucumber left over from when I made cucumber sandwiches, plus other ingredients to make a yogurt sauce to combat the heat of the food. I didn't have time to make a flatbread, though.

That Garlic Parmesan Broccoli was so good and I was able to make it from frozen broccoli. Thank you, Jordan Page and The Page Company. Yummy meal.

 

October 25 was... are you ready for this?... Pablo Picasso's Birthday, World Pasta Day, Greasy Food Day, and National Breadstick Day. We celebrated with abstract art made from Spooky Spaghetti & Meatballs (from the same cookbook) and Focaccia Breadsticks (from Shelf Cooking 101). It was also Frankenstein Friday so anything spooky counts for that.

Orem Reads: Fahrenheit 451

I enjoyed Orem Reads so much last year when we read Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. I enjoyed the kickoff, the Chat & Snacks, the finale. 

This year I looked forward to participating again. This year's book? Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. I had never read it before this program. It's not one I would have just picked up on my own. I'm glad I was able to read it for Orem Reads. It was interesting and definitely made me think.

The kickoff had a presentation by Shannon Hale. Before it started, they were playing music that had to do with fire or books. "Ring of Fire" by Johnny Cash. "Girl on Fire" by Alicia Keys. "Paperback Writer" by The Beatles. I got a kick out of that. I also enjoyed what Shannon Hale had to say about book banning.

This year they had something new during Orem Reads. A murder mystery date night. Stephanie Blanchard wrote a murder mystery for the library to use for this event. It was a potluck so Jeremy and I brought rolls and got to enjoy some yummy food while trying to figure out whodunnit. It was my first murder mystery dinner and I enjoyed it.

Before we left, we made sure to feed the boys. What they ate? Dino nuggets because October 16 was National Fossil Day. Teehee. It was also World Food Day so that fit with both chicken nuggets and potluck.

The next day I went to the only Chat & Snack I was able to go to for Fahrenheit 451 because of other commitments. It was another good discussion with mostly librarians and a few others. Since it was a lunchtime Chat & Snack, I brought cucumber sandwiches... and Peppermint Patties because I know Amy Sorenson (in charge of programming) likes them.

Speaking of Amy, she once again did a great job with this program, along with the other librarians who helped. Have I mentioned I love the librarians at Orem Library?

The day I went to the Chat & Snack, October 17, was also National Pasta Day. Nichole made cheeseburger pasta and sent me a picture, then she and I met at the Bean Museum for a UCB meeting about Boreal Owls. Jeremy watched most of it online when he got home from work. 

Nichole drew these while we were there. "If you give Nichole a medium." This medium was... "Inktober"... sort of.

The Orem Reads Finale was a Titles & Treats Gala. It was like trick or treating but with books. Tables were set up with librarians to give recommendations of books. We were also given a little treat bag to get candy at each table. So not just trick or treating with books but with candy, too.

I loved chatting with the librarians (some of it wasn't even book related). Costumes were welcomed so I dressed up as a birder with camera, binoculars, hat, and field guide. 

I also made sure to get a picture with Amy and her fun "book fairy" costume.

Besides the book recommendation tables, there was also a book craft and Fall treats. 

Mmmm, hot chocolate.

I am again grateful I got to participate in Orem Reads this year. I let the kids know this is my October thing and I appreciate them helping with their little brother so I can go to these events.

Once again it was a great program from kickoff to finale and I'm grateful for my participation in it.

Baby Tuna

May 2 was Baby Day and World Tuna Day. So we made pasta salad using tuna, baby shells, shredded baby carrots, a baby pickle (because that was all that was left in our big jar) and a bit of pickle juice, and baby Miracle Whip.

Yumm.

 

Shawarma Day

October 15 was Shawarma Day.

Mmm, lovely easy chicken shawarma from a recipe from themediterraneandish.com along with tzatziki sauce and arugula (from the grocery store) and 3-ingredient Mediterranean salad. I tried to make homemade pita bread to put them in from a recipe from melskitchencafe.com but they didn't puff up so we adapted. It was all yummy, though. And I was only a week late in making shawarma so we celebrated Shawarma Day Observed.

In the meantime we celebrated World Food Day on October 16 by having an at-home potluck.

We had stroganoff on National Pasta Day, October 17.

October 21 was International Day of the Nacho. We had nachos.

Be an Angel Day 2022

August 22 is Be an Angel Day. Jr. and I went to a music store to get more rosin for his cello. One of the employees was an angel and got us each a cold water bottle because it was a hot day.

We had our traditional alfredo sauce on angel hair pasta.

It was also Pecan Torte Day. We didn't have that but we had Butter Pecan Crunch ice cream.

Be an Angel Day 2021

August 22 was Be an Angel Day. We had our traditional angel hair pasta with alfredo sauce.

Nichole decided to draw a "rebel" for Be an Angel Day.

I tried to be an angel that day.