Movie Night!

June 12 was National Movie Night. I was so busy that day. There was pizza dough in the fridge so I told the kids to make pizza and to put fresh basil on it. I got basil from our garden that morning for that reason.

I also told the kids to decide on a movie to watch for Movie Night. They picked Matilda so we watched that while eating pizza and I completely forgot about us having popcorn during the movie. Nobody else mentioned it. Jr. did make some cookies, though. 

Matilda was also a good choice because June 12 was Magic Day. 

 

Another day, I used fresh basil again in a pasta dish.

 

Celebrating My Birthday

My birthday was in May. A few days before, I got together with some friends who have birthdays in May and June and we had lunch together. That was a nice relaxing afternoon.

Stephanie had these pictures taken with her camera. 

 

On my actual birthday, I was going to take a nap but ended up finishing The Duke's Bargain by Megan Walker. 

I did an online book club with her for Lakeshire Park and Miss Newbury's List where she shared things about her writing of those books and I got to meet her and get a hug from her when she came to Utah in April. 

In May, I was part of a different online book club for The Duke's Bargain. Megan shared a few posts on there about her writing of this book. I love that the two main characters in this book were the antagonists in the first two books. I also love that the main characters from the first books made appearances. It was fun to see the growth of the "villains."

I got to participate in an online live event to finish out the month's book club and got to learn even more from Megan. 

 

Back to talking about my birthday- Jeremy made lots of pizza for me (and the family). I LOVE pizza!

 

We had cake and ice cream. Jeremy put the candles in the shape of a heart. He's so cute.

I opened my birthday present, which was a tea kettle! I wanted one. Since there's been so much herbal tea drinking with all the Seeking Persephone movie watching and Proper Romance book reading, this was perfect. 

 

P.S. Jeremy was so pleased with how this picture turned out- there was still a tiny amount of flame on the candles. Have I mentioned my husband is cute?

 

P.P.S. Jeremy texted me the day before our Southern Utah trip saying he wanted to give me my birthday present early because it would be helpful getting ready for our trip. He had previously told me he debated about giving me my Mother's Day present early because it might be useful while we were out celebrating our anniversary. I like to take selfies when Jeremy and I are out birding together. Ultimately he gave it to me on Mother's Day and you know I've definitely used it since. So he told me he decided to give me my birthday present early and had Nichole bring it to me unwrapped when I got home.

"Dad told me to give you this." As I was opening the box for the portable vacuum cleaner (to help clean out the van), she told me this, "Dad also told me to tell you he'd never give you a vacuum as a birthday present. You'll have a different one on [your birthday]." 

Ha Ha Ha Ha. He really is cute.  

Air Fryer French Bread Pizza

I've learned some things from Six Sisters' Stuff over the years. Because of them, I am not scared of using my Instant Pot. Instant Pot Honey Garlic Chicken with rice is one of my go to recipes when I'm in a hurry.

I don't have a lot of experience with my air fryer but thanks to Six Sisters' Stuff again, I got to try out another new recipe. Air Fryer French Bread Pizza.

Simple and I like the result. Great crunch. And pizza's my favorite food anyway. I look forward to trying other types of pizza besides pepperoni now that I know this is a thing. 

Seeking Persephone with Stephanie

Nichole and I introduced our friend, Stephanie, to the movie, Seeking Persephone, in February. We watched the movie and drank herbal tea.

In March for our Girls Gather (Girls' Night) activity, we had a green foods potluck (because St. Patrick's Day was earlier that week) and introduced Seeking Persephone to even more friends.

I brought alfredo pizza with artichoke hearts and bell peppers and spinach and Nichole made cucumber sandwiches (from the cookbook, Whisk Me Away). There were some other green foods and we laughed because nobody brought a salad which is the obvious choice for green. At our February Galentines potluck, so many people brought salads. They were good, of course. I like a variety of salads. 

Now I'm craving alfredo pizza. Thanks a lot, blogging. I'm too busy to make alfredo pizza right now.

A Couple More March Holidays

Beware the Ides of March which we celebrated on March 15 with Caesar Salad.

On March 16, however, we celebrated Artichoke Hearts Day with alfredo pizza. Mmmmm. Sooo good. 

Valentine Days

Sadly, we don't have access to some of our pictures from around Valentine's Day so this post is missing some pictures. Oh well. Here it finally is:

 

O.K. Finally getting to it. Valentine's 2026.

I already told you that Jeremy made chocolate covered strawberries for me. Chuckle. He made them early enough that they got eaten up before Valentine's Day even came. 

The week of Valentine's Day, there was a kindergarten Valentine dance at the elementary school, just like when Lucky was in kindergarten and Jet was a baby. 

Jet and I dressed up and went and danced and had refreshments and danced some more and were excited when Daddy came to join us. He had a fair convention that day but made it back for the end of the dance. 

I think Jet has similar moves to Lucky at that age.

 

The day before Valentine's Day was when the elementary schoolers had their Valentine parties and Valentine exchanges. Lucky's class invited them to decorate boxes to hold their Valentines. Since Lucky is preparing for the school play, Alice in Wonderland Jr., many things are Wonderland themed right now. Lucky brought a Mad Hatter's hat as his Valentine box. I supplied the materials (empty oatmeal box, fabric, another cardboard box, cardstock) and Jeremy helped Lucky make it into a hat. 

 

This year, like last year on actual Valentine's Day, Jeremy and Nichole were at Life, The Universe, and Everything symposium. 

Let me stop right here and share something funny that happened during prep for LTUE. Jeremy printed off a list of classes/panels so he and Nichole could see what they both wanted to take and what they had that overlapped.

 

Mom: Nichole, Dad wants you to look through Life, the Universe, and Everything to see what things you want to do. 

Jet: Nichole, Dad wants you to look through the telescope at the university holes.

 

Thank you. Back to Valentine celebrations.

While Jeremy and Nichole were at LTUE, Jr. wanted an excuse to eat ice cream so he rationalized this.

It was Single Awareness Day. Single people eat ice cream when they don't have a date. Yes! Great excuse. And my husband wasn't with me for Valentine's Day so I should eat ice cream, too.

Reminder that I fully support the Daddy-Daughter date at LTUE (my husband did make me chocolate covered strawberries. I love chocolate covered strawberries).

We also had heart-shaped pizza for dinner or broken heart pizza as it is cut.  

I did get a nice hug from Jeremy that night. He didn't completely forget me. Heh Heh Heh.

 

The next day, I made a fancy dinner to celebrate since Jeremy and Nichole were home that day.

A great way to celebrate love with food is by using recipes from Whisk Me Away by Michelle Wright. We had some fun during and after dinner based on the Regency Era. 

For dinner, we had Green Bean Almondine with Rice Pilaf (both from the cookbook). We also had ham but I didn't use the honey glaze from the book. We rounded it out with modern day rolls and ice water to drink.

After the kids set the table in our normal use what dishes are in the cupboard (or dish drainer), mismatched or not, manner, I showed them a picture from the book of how a proper dinner table should be set. Ha Ha.

While we ate, I read to them what the book said about Regency dinner party etiquette, which made some of them do the exact opposite because that's what kids do.

After dinner a few of us decided to play a Regency game from the book. "Forfeit."

We used Lucky's "hat" to hold the forfeits and we had a blast playing together. We had the youngest of us and the oldest of us playing so it was a good game for all ages.

I love family time. And I love that we can have the whole family be involved in a holiday that doesn't have to be just for significant others. 

I do enjoy time with just my husband but we do get to do special things together other times, not just Valentine's Day and anniversaries (and did I mention that my husband made chocolate covered strawberries for me?). 

I would never try to go out for Valentine's Day to a restaurant or something like that anyway. Too crowded. We did stop by the grocery store to get some milk after I picked Jeremy and Nichole up from LTUE on Valentine's Day, though.  

I hope my children know they can always celebrate with us. There are so many reasons to celebrate. 

 

Update: We have access to our pictures again. I put some on another blog post on April 11, 2026. 

Lunar New Year Celebration at the Library

Monday, February 9, was National Pizza Day.

Since I had plans to take family members to the Lunar New Year Celebration at the Orem Library, we had to do quick pizza celebrating.

I managed to get pizzas put together but they needed to be put in the oven. I didn't have time since I was going to pick up Nichole from campus and pick up Lucky from rehearsal before quickly eating and getting to the library.

I figured Nichole would be able to put the pizzas in the oven so this is the conversation I had with Jr. Jr. and Jet.

 

Mom: Nichole will be in charge of putting the pizzas in the oven when I get back.

Jr. Jr.: Got it. Jet will be in charge of putting the pizzas in the oven.

Jet: No. I'll be in charge of taste testing the pizzas.

 

Have I mentioned how much I love my family?

 

I got everybody home, we ate, then Jr. Jr., Jet, and I went to the library for the celebration. 

Jet and I made a Chinese lantern. We trotted like horses because it is going to be the year of the Horse. We did a scavenger hunt and earned fortune cookies. 

Jet took a break to play with things in the main area of the children's section. 

Jr. Jr. took that time to juggle. I love that he likes to continually learn new tricks.

We went back to watch the Lion dancing in the auditorium. 

 Then Jet played some more and we went home.

 Nice night. And we ate pizza.

Pizza Face

January 8 was Elvis's birthday. We put on Lilo & Stitch (animated movie).

 

January 9 was my niece's birthday. I mentioned it to the kids. 

Jet wanted to help make pizza with me.

He must have remembered what I said about his cousin's birthday because he insisted on making a face with onions on the pizza then said, "He's excited because it's his birthday tomorrow."

When it was time to cut the pizza, I had to be very careful not to cut the face so we got a little creative with how the pizza was cut. Jet was very good at instructing me where to make the cuts. I love him so much. 

Pizza with the Works Except Anchovies Day 2025

I am thankful for pizza. I'm also thankful for excuses to make pizza.

November 12 was Pizza with the Works Except Anchovies Day.

I had a big helper who volunteered to help and he did a great job. I'm thankful for him. 

 

The day before, November 11, was Veteran's Day. 

I spent some time thinking about family members who served in the military in the past. I am thankful for them.

The day after, November 13, was World Kindness Day. We tried to be kind that day. I am thankful for kindness.