Volcanoes and Chocolate

May 17 was National Idaho Day. We had a baked potato bar.

May 18 was Mount St. Helens Day. I took the leftover baked potatoes and made them into mashed potatoes for mashed potato volcanoes. 

Jet had a lot of fun helping put together our volcanoes with dino nuggets and green foliage (broccoli trees and green pepper bushes) and "those poor people" raisins. I put mine on the mountain. He put his in the crater. We had fun with the gravy lava, too. 

I also told Jet to say, "This means something," referencing Close Encounters of the Third Kind. 

 

May 19 was the Anniversary of the Rubik's Cube. Lucky got points to spend in his classroom store. He saved them up to get a bunch of things at the end of the school year, including rubber duckies and a Rubik's Cube. 

May 20 was Eliza Doolittle Day. I ate too much chocolate. The kids didn't eat a much. The song says, "Lots of chocolate for me to eat." Me, not us. 

Nichole drew chocolate for the holiday.

Jeremy was very impressed with how she was able to do the foil.

 

Everybody did have some chocolate later on in the day. Jr. was asleep but Jet didn't want him to be left out so he kept putting round pieces of wrapped chocolate on his ear but they rolled off so finally a wrapped chocolate coin was put on his head and stayed there for a while. I don't know if Jet did it or someone else, but the next day, Jet made sure Jr. got that piece of candy to eat. 

St. Patrick's Day 2026

You know we like to get creative with our celebrating.

When planning St. Patrick's Day dinner, I asked my husband for suggestions. Thinking about cabbages, potatoes, he said what sounded good was stuffed cabbage. Mmmm.

At the time, I was listening to an audiobook set in Ireland, and they kept mentioning brown bread. So I figured brown bread would be good and a side of onion roasted potatoes.

As I was looking for a recipe for brown bread, I found one for German Brown Bread, and the creativity light bulb came on. 

So for St. Patrick's Day, we had Hungarian Stuffed Cabbage, German Brown Bread (recipe from The Food Nanny Rescues Dinner Again), Irish roasted potatoes (onion roasted potatoes but with seasonings you would use in Ireland), and Utah lime green jello with whipped topping (because it's green. We did skip the carrot shaving this time).

For dessert we had Shamrock Shakes (adapted from Jordan Page's A Season of Family Meal Plans, volume 1).

Yeah. Creativity is fun when it comes to celebrating. 

 

Rise and Shine, Campers

I texted my son on February 2. "Rise and shine, camper. It's Groundhog Day!"

Then, "Bundle up (in your new coat) 'cause it's cold out there this morning."

Then, "It's cold out there every morning. What is this- Miami Beach?"

Then, "Not hardly." 

I gave him enough time to respond between each of my texts but he didn't so I had to do all the (paraphrased) quotes by myself. 

It's okay. 

For dinner, we had imitation groundhog burgers (black bean burgers) and potato wedges (instead of tater tots, even though it was Tater Tot Day). Mmmm. 

Shelf Cooking

Here's a little shelf cooking I did on August 19, National Potato Day.

I didn't have any fresh potatoes so I pulled out some potato gems to make mashed potato volcanoes with gravy lava, broccoli trees, "those poor people" raisins, and some dino nuggets because dinos and volcanoes just work.

And don't tell me people and dinosaurs wouldn't exist at the same time because I'm a Jurassic Park fan, remember?

I picked a zucchini from our garden that morning and sauteed it for the side because I wanted it but couldn't figure out how it would fit into my volcano scene. 

I asked friends on Instagram and Facebook if anyone had any ideas for next time to let me know. I got several responses from people on Facebook from a Zucchini Dune Sandworm to gravestones for lava covered dinos. I love it when people help me figure out how to celebrate. 

So You Want to Know Even More About August, Huh?

August 19 was International Bow Day. Jet and I did some coloring on a Minnie's Bow-Toons coloring page. We may have watched a little bit of the cartoon later (I can't remember).

Ah, bonding time.

It was also National Potato Day. Continuing with using A Season of Family Meal Plans by Jordan Page, I learned how to make "baked" potatoes in the Instant Pot. I like doing it that way. Along with the potatoes we had Sheet Pan Bell Pepper Chicken but I cooked it on the stove instead of in the oven. I can do that. I'm a shelf cooker.

It was also Mr. Snuffleupagus' Birthday. Our kids don't know who Mr. Snuffleupagus is. They didn't grow up with Sesame Street. Jeremy and I had to explain to them who he is.

August 20 was National Lemonade Day (it used to be in May). We made a pitcher of lemonade to go with our Tex-Mex Bowls (using leftover fajita filling) and spanish rice. I made Cilantro Lime Ranch Dressing from A Season of Family Meal Plans, volume 3. The recipe in there is simpler than the recipe I've used in the past to make cilantro lime dressing. I liked it better after it had been refrigerated for at least a day. Mmmm.

Jet was my little kitchen helper again. He decided to help spin lettuce this time. He didn't bother waiting for me to cut it up first. That's fine. I'm so glad he likes to help me make food. I hope it continues.

August 22 was Be an Angel Day. Dinner was angel hair pasta (of course) with leftovers. Jet was an angel and ate better than any of the other kids when it came to dinner. He got first choice of cupcakes for dessert.

After dinner, Nichole and I went to a Relief Society activity, a sourdough class. It was cool to again see a demonstration but it reminded me that I am not in the season of my life to make sourdough. It is a long complicated process. I did enjoy the samples and socializing, though. I do like to eat sourdough. I just can't commit to it right now.

August 23 was National Cuban Sandwich Day. I tried out some new techniques with cooking (I am constantly learning) and made Cuban Sandwiches (even if they weren't authentic).

August 24 was National Waffle Day. We made a whole bunch of waffles with the intent to freeze some of them for easy breakfasts. Ha. They didn't last long enough to be frozen. 

That day, Nichole, Jeremy, and I went on a UCB field trip to Jordanelle Reservoir- Rock Cliff area. That felt good.

Jeremy also decided to try out a new look that day. Look closely.

August 26 was National Toilet Paper Day. I used some to wipe up tears while I was crying.

August 27 was Banana Lovers Day. After our Cajun Green Beans & Pork Bites and roasted potatoes (both from that same cookbook listed above), we had Frozen Banana Bites (also from that same cookbook). 

August 28 was National Bow Tie Day. We had bowtie pasta along with macaroni with our dinner. We also had Chicken Caesar Salad Wraps, apples, and carrots.

Let's Get To This Catching Up

February 4 was Homemade Soup Day. I wasn't going to do Butternut Squash Soup even though it was in "A Season of Family Meal Plans" by Jordan Page because it was Fast Sunday and sometimes I don't do so well with my energy making dinner on Fast Sunday. But I asked Jeremy and he said he was interested in trying a new taste (we've had a lot of new tastes with these books and we're only on volume 1) so I made the Viral, No Knead Rustic Bread in advance and made the soup that day. It was worth it. Jeremy really liked it.

 

We had some rolls in the freezer that I was able to get out for the next night's dinner, Smoky BBQ Beef Sandwiches. We used pork.

Here's what I've been doing as far as shelf cooking. First, pork roast is cheaper than beef roast so I sub pork for beef. Second, I usually only need about half a roast for these recipes so I use what I need for the current recipe (which often is used for more recipes in the same week) and look at another recipe in the future that would use the other half. I cook it up according the future recipe and freeze it until it's needed. Handy.

 

Another thing I'm doing with shelf cooking with these books, whatever I want. Combine recipes from one meal with recipes from another meal.

I made Sour Cream & Bacon Skillet Chicken but instead of the Classic Creamy Mashed Potatoes that is paired with it in the book, I made Crispy Mashed Potatoes again like Week 1 except with a different type of potatoes this time. I can do what I want.

Then of course there are the tried and true recipes I use. February 7 was Fettuccine Alfredo Day. I made spaghetti alfredo (#shelfcooking) because we didn't have fettuccine. I used the Guiltless Alfredo Sauce recipe from ourbestbites.com and it was so good. We've been using this recipe for years and it's our favorite alfredo recipe. Better than the jarred stuff Jeremy says.

 

February 7 was also Ballet Day. Nichole made this cute picture to celebrate.

 

We used more pork for more sandwiches, this time with hamburger buns I made, with sides of Adirondack Beans and Jojo Potatoes. Yumm.

OK. That's enough catching up for this post.

I Don't Wanna

I don't want to blog. I do but I don't. Sigh.

So here's a picture of Jr. Jr.

Can you tell it's him?

Oh, I guess I can also say that August 18 was National Fajita Day.

 

 

August 19 was National Potato Day. I wanted to get a video of Jet saying, "Happy National Potato Day." I told him, "Say, 'Happy National Potato Day,'" then started recording. He obliged and said, "Say Happy National Potato Day." So cute. 

Later he was singing, "Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday, National Potato Day. Happy Birthday to you." I LOVE MY FAMILY!

Practice What You Preach

The beginning of August Nichole and Jr. went off to FSY (For the Strength of Youth conference) at BYU. Jeremy went to a county fair in Downey, Idaho, then when he came back he was doing balloons at the Utah County Fair (which meant he could sleep at home both nights of that fair. Yay!).

We were also studying Job that week for scripture study so we got to put into practice what we taught the boys. Continue to turn to the Lord in trials and you'll be better off in the end and recognize blessings in the midst of trials.

We started off strong. Monday, Jeremy was at work, Nichole and Jr. were getting ready for FSY, and Lucky said, "I feel sick," then threw up. Sigh. I'm sure it was from the heat. I mentioned it has been a hot Summer. Someone was going to let the younger boys play at their house while I took the older kids to FSY so I had to cancel that. I was able to find someone to come over and be an older person here while Jr. Jr. took care of Jet and Lucky rested (Lucky helped, too, because it didn't take long for him to feel better since he wasn't actually sick, just a bit dehydrated probably). That was really appreciated since it took longer than I thought to check them in and get them to their housing, say goodbye, etc.

And I forgot to take a picture of Nichole before I left but I got a picture of Jr.

The first night, Jet was calling out, "Goodnight," to his siblings, even the ones who weren't there. That little guy is so cute.

While Jeremy and the older kids were gone, we did some work and play, work and play. Jr. Jr. wrote down things to work on (dishes, cleaning our rooms, etc.) and some fun things to do (video games, eating treats, etc.), made them into strips, and picked them out of a bag. Work and play.

We also celebrated some holidays. 

Wednesday, August 3, was Grab Some Nuts Day. We opened our container of mixed nuts. Yumm. Jeremy said he ate peanuts that day while he was in Idaho.

It was also National Watermelon Day. I didn't eat watermelon but I watched the Studio C sketch, "Cool Guy Can't Eat Fruit Casually." That's what it's called on YouTube.

 

One of the days that week, a friend stopped by to say Hi then she came back a few minutes later and brought us pizza. What a sweetheart. 

Jeremy got to see his friend, Dan, again. They were at the fair convention together back in November and he was at the juggling BBQ in June. Dan was manning a photo booth at the fair in Idaho.

Jeremy also built a large sasquatch scene out of balloons. He managed to get a bald eagle and mountain bluebird in there. Love those birds.

 

Friday, August 5, was Work Like a Dog Day. I thought that meant we'd get a lot done at home. Nope. Here's where we got to look at our blessings again amidst trials. Jeremy was headed down to Spanish Fork when the car engine light went on and the car made sputtering sounds. He was only a few minutes from home so I took Jet away from eating his breakfast (luckily we had snacks in the van), woke Jr. Jr. up, and packed the boys in the van to go pick Jeremy up and get him to the fair on time. Then we came back to get the car to the mechanic who couldn't look at it until Monday. At least it didn't happen in Idaho.

Fast forward a few hours and I was taking one child to the ER while the other two went to a football game and a parade with friends. I cannot thank them enough for taking the boys last minute and entertaining them for 5 hours.

Recognizing blessings again, it wasn't as bad as it could be and only needed a few stitches and he was such a trooper at the hospital. He was totally fine. After the initial hurt, he was running around like normal and in a good mood (including in the waiting room of the ER. Sigh). He got to play with cars and one of the people there drew a track for him on paper for him to race the cars on. She later drew a dinosaur for him when she found out he likes dinosaurs.

My wonderful husband was so patient about getting picked up an hour late from the fair because we picked up the boys first before going to get him.

 

Saturday morning, August 6, I picked up Nichole and Jr. from FSY and made sure to get a picture of Nichole. They both had a good time. Jr. said it was like a spiritual UVU Prep.

I was able to take Jeremy down to his fair and pick him up no problem. We even wiggled our toes in the van on the way to celebrate Wiggle Your Toes Day (the kids wiggled their toes later).

That night we celebrated National Root Beer Float Day as things calmed down a bit after the long week.

We really did have the opportunity to look on the bright side of things that week. There were definite challenges but blessings as well.

By the way, the car is fine, and Jet is healing nicely.