Walk with a Friend

I'd been meaning to get out with my friend for a walk to introduce her to the Provo River Delta and we finally got together on September 19. 

I wore my Jurassic Park shirt because the elementary school was doing "kindergarten color days" and encouraged people to wear the color for the day so the kindergartners could see them wearing the color they were learning about. This day was Black/White.

I wore my pirate necklace because it was International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Yes, our family talked like pirates, too. I even had Jet saying, "Arrrgh," before heading into school.

If you use your imagination, you can imagine we're on a pirate ship for the pictures we took on the viewing tower at the Delta. 

I wore my bow earrings because it was Hermione Granger's Birthday and Slimey the Worm's Birthday. The earrings and necklace did not relate this time.

As it was Butterscotch Pudding Day, I made butterscotch pudding. 

Book Lovers Love Books

August 9 was National Rice Pudding Day. Nobody in the family cares for rice pudding so I made rice and pudding to go with dinner.

It was also Book Lovers Day so let me tell you about a reading challenge I took on in August.

In preparation for her book, So True a Love, that was coming out on September 3, Joanna Barker hosted a read-along for her book, A Heart Worth Stealing, which is the book that takes place before the new one. The read-along was simple, a chapter a day. I enjoyed it and there were definitely times I was excited to find out what would happen the next day/chapter.

Once school started, I did a lot of my reading in the van waiting to drop off or pick up kids.

I am looking forward to reading So True a Love, but I can't be in too much of a hurry because I also have several books to read for the Adult Reading Challenge at the Orem Library, including the Orem Reads book for October, Fahrenheit 451. I enjoyed reading Frankenstein with other readers for Orem Reads last year. 

Lemon Tart by Josi S. Kilpack came in at the library while I was reading the other two books. It's one that counts for the library reading challenge.

During this read-along, Joanna Barker also had some games and things online. One of them was to "describe a book badly." I described Esther Hatch's book, There Goes the Groom, this way (since I had recently finished it):

"A couple spends their engagement delivering packages."

I tagged both Joanna Barker and Esther Hatch on Instagram. Esther Hatch got a kick out of it and reached out to me about how the main character in her first book was "Lord Telford." Of course that immediately became my next book to read.

 

Then I shared this experience on Instagram and both those authors thought it was cute:

Too cute not to share.

My four year old couldn't find a little tiger eraser he was playing with. I told him, "I'm sorry. I don't know where it is."

He told me, "I dropped it in Mommy's bag."

Oh. I started pulling out items from my bag- shopping list, etc.

I pulled out The Roses of Feldstone by Esther Hatch because she told me one of the main characters has my surname so of course I have to read it. By the way, her most recent novel, A Proper Facade, released recently.

As you do with four year olds, I held up the book and asked, "Is this your tiger?"

"No," he replied.

"What is it?"

"It's a book."

Next I held up A Heart Worth Stealing by Joanna Barker whose next novel, So True a Love (sequel to this one), comes out September 3.

Again I asked, "Is this your tiger?" to which he replied, "No. That's Mommy's chapter."

I am participating in a read-along of that book with Joanna Barker this month, a chapter a day. My son hears daily, "I need to read my chapter," or "I read/finished my chapter," always referring to that book.

I think it's adorable that he picked up on that and associated the book with my "chapter."

In case you're wondering, we did find that tiger eraser at the bottom of my bag.

August was a good reading month.

Talk Like a Pirate Day 2022

September 19 was Slimey the Worm's Birthday (from Sesame Street, Oscar the Grouch's pet). I celebrated by listening to the song, "I Love Trash."

 

But more excitingly (no offense, Slimey), September 19 was International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Hurray!

I did talk like a pirate and met the boys at the bus, dressed up and with balloon swords for a battle. 

I made sure to wear my "Black Pearl" necklace and skeleton earrings.

 

The kids found gold doubloons and ate the chocolate inside.

Jr. Jr. didn't want anyone stealing his treasure.

 

Oh, and earlier in the day, Jeremy forgot his electric balloon pump for a big build so Jet and I delivered it to him. He apologized for taking up our time, but I told him it was okay since it was Talk Like a Pirate Day. He plundered our time.

 

We had a pirate dinner centered around the letters "R" and "C." Arrrr and Sea

We had Roast pork on Rolls, fried Rice- Cantonese style, Carrots and Celery with Ranch, Red apples, a drink with vitamin C, and butterscotch pudding which we called Custard. September 19 is also Butterscotch Pudding Day and one of my children really likes butterscotch pudding.

For family home evening treat, we had cinnamon sugar doughnut muffins which has become our new tradition instead of actual donuts.

Screen Free Week 2022

It has been quite a few years since we did Screen Free Week. The computer is needed so much for work and school that we just don't think about it much. However since I am constantly asked, "Can I play video games?" I thought it would be a good idea to have a week where I am not asked that question on a daily basis. Ha Ha. Ok. So I thought we could have some fun doing things other than watching movies or TV shows and playing video games. The computer was to be used for schoolwork and work work (Jeremy working on his novel was acceptable) and to check email for work and school (obviously).

I found out that Screen Free Week was May 2-8 this year so we did some brainstorming of things to do, did some preparation beforehand (I scheduled blog posts so no days were missed even without me getting on the blog), and then the first several days I didn't feel up to doing anything because the Sunday before, I had an attack of what we assumed were kidney stones. Sigh. So I drank a lot of water and read Jeremy's book a lot for a few days. I did not watch any movies as a distraction because it was Screen Free Week. Yay, me. 

Anyway, so besides not doing too well at the beginning of the week, here's what we did do during Screen Free Week this year.

 

Monday, May 2, was World Tuna Day. Since I wasn't up to making food, Lucky made sandwiches. Tuna and marshmallow cream sandwiches. Yes, you read that right. Tuna and marshmallow cream sandwiches. Sigh. Yes, I ate mine. Got to set a good example to the picky eater who won't eat pizza because he's decided he doesn't like cheese. But apparently he will eat tuna and marshmallow cream sandwiches. Sigh.

Tuesday, May 3, was National Chocolate Custard Day so of course I made chocolate pudding. And what goes with pudding or custard? Fish sticks of course. Then I threw together a couple sides of rice pilaf from The Food Nanny Rescues Dinner and honey glazed carrots from Instant Cooking with Six Sisters' Stuff. I was up to making simple food that night.

Jr. missed my food because he had a Dinner in White event with the French department at the school. He missed out on going to the French restaurant a couple years ago so we put on a special French dinner for him at home. This year they had this event because they still couldn't do the restaurant. He enjoyed it and the food (even though they didn't have escargot). He also got to bring home a souvenir Eiffel Tower keychain. He was so happy about that.

Wednesday, May the 4th, was Star Wars Day of course. Jeremy and Nichole went out to find a rare bird (for Utah) that day and got sunburned because they had to hike out to where it had been seen. It was another Bird Day holiday as well.

If you look really carefully and make the picture bigger you can see the tricolored heron flying. It has white under its wings.

Lucky got a Star Wars poster for being in the reading hall of fame at school. He also checked out a Star Wars book. Jet had us playing a Darth Vader Simon game.

I mentioned to Jeremy earlier that day that we had a package of Curry Chicken mix that needed to be made soon so while he and Nichole were out, I managed to throw together some Indian food with what we had on hand. I was so proud of myself. 

Jet helped me grind wheat to make roti (flat bread). 

We had that chicken curry, alloo gobi (potatoes and cauliflower), some chickpea something (I can't find chana masala powder at stores so I used garam masala instead), and basmati rice. Jeremy was so pleased when he got home... both with the smell when he walked in the door and with the taste when he sat down to eat it.

Thursday, May the 5th, Jet and I went out to Bridal Veil Falls. I wanted to go Sunday on May 1 when it first opened back up (I've been waiting patiently for six months), at least to stop at the overlook, but there was no way that was going to happen. I was in bad shape. This way Jet and I stopped at the overlook then went down and walked to the falls. I felt up to it that day. 

We also drove up to Squaw Peak Overlook to have a look because it is open now, too. Although, admittedly it looks even better in the Fall.

That evening we wanted to do a Jr. Jr. choice activity since he was missing a school activity and we told him months ago that we'd do something special that evening for him instead of the school activity. He chose a picnic and scooter riding at Hill Park.

Jet really wanted to get in on that scooter riding so while Lucky was playing frisbee with his oldest siblings, Jet borrowed his scooter and loved having me take him around the park.

And of course Nichole usually has a little watercolor kit in her purse so she can just pull it out whenever and color flowers at the park.

Friday, May 6, was International No Diet Day. Jeremy brought home a couple pizzas and onion rings for us and I let the kids have soda pop because it was also Beverage Day. It was also No Homework Day but Nichole and Jr. both had some to catch up on. And this actually happened:

I was working with the onion rings and all of a sudden I felt something on my shoulder. Jet had climbed up on a chair, picked a piece of pizza off the table, and turned around and put it on my shoulder face down. What? Why even? What? Yeah, we all had a laugh about that.

Jet and I went out to a few parks earlier in the day.

The duck pond at Nielsen's Grove was gone- empty. All the ducks and ducklings were just hanging out on the grass under the trees.

Provo Canyon is getting green again. Even the burnt parts are looking green. Compare these pictures taken from Mt Timpanogos Park and from Squaw Peak Road to pictures I posted on November 16, 2020.

Saturday, May 7, was Babysitter's Day. We left Jet with the kids again and Jeremy and I celebrated our anniversary by going out birding and to have a picnic. It was also Fitness Day and Play Outside Day so those fit in with our birding.

The theme of the day ended up being the same as when I took my day off (I blogged about it on March 7, 2022). We can do what we want. It's our anniversary date. We stopped at a certain place near Goshen and thought, we'll just be out of the van for a few minutes. Well, that few minutes lasted a bit longer so yeah, I got a sunburn to match Nichole's. But it was a worthwhile time. Jeremy spotted an uncommon bird (I saw it, too, but didn't get a good look at it). It was a Northern Waterthrush. He was so excited about it, he texted a birding friend of ours. This is not the first time we've met up with friends while out celebrating our anniversary. Our friend came down and looked for it for a while. We couldn't find it again so Jeremy and I started heading out. Before we even left the road we were on our friend called and let us know she'd found the bird. So we turned around and got to see it again. It took a while but I finally got a good look at it, Jeremy got a really bad picture of it, and our friend got better pictures of it and sent them to us so these are Suzi's pictures:

We also took the opportunity for birding selfies and a lifer dance picture. The Northern Waterthrush was a lifer for me. We went out a couple years ago looking for one at another spot. Jeremy saw it then but I didn't so I was happy to see it this time.

For our picnic, we stopped at a park and used our new picnic basket. We've loved the one our friend gave us for our wedding and it's been around and used for many years but over the last couple years it's had a little more trouble so it was time to make a change. We did still use the cloth napkins that came with the original picnic basket.

We toasted our marriage with sparkling grape juice in plastic wine glasses and had what we considered good picnic foods. We made sandwiches before we left on homemade buns. We had potato salad. We had Tim's Cascade Potato Chips. We had grapes because we thought it would be funny to feed each other grapes on our picnic (I will spare you those pictures) or throw them at each other. We laughed quite a bit. For dessert we had pudding cups. It was fun.

We did some more birding then headed home. 

When we got home, there was a model of a T. rex skeleton on a card table when we walked in the door, holding a note that said, "Happy anniversary. Hope you had a roartastic time!" That was sweet.

I love my time with my husband. I love going on picnics for our anniversary. I also love the tradition we have of our "anniversary dinner" we have with our kids. This year we had a candlelit dinner with lanterns Lucky made Jeremy and me at a boys activity. We still had all the traditional foods. Gourmet sauce chicken and rice, fresh pineapple, steamed veggies, Hawaiian sweet rolls, and blue raspberry lemonade.

May 7 was also National Tourism Day so while we were out I had fun taking pictures of a tumbleweed in a church parking lot. That's what someone would do if they were visiting Utah and weren't used to tumbleweeds, right?

Sunday, May 8, was Mother's Day. It was okay. Some of the children gave me cards, some did service for me, none of the kids made me dinner even though it was on the menu plan. I had a bowl of cereal and figured that would be it then Jeremy made me a yummy sandwich. Thank you, Jeremy. And thank you, kids, for what you did do for me.

Since May 8 is also No Sock Day, I wore sandals to church.

So... Monday through Sunday, Screen Free Week.

Other things unrelated to holidays we did during the week:

Spontaneous dancing

Took more pictures of snails because... you know... snails. I got a kick out of how some were actually climbing up and down vines. Not using the wall at all.  Impressive.

Jr. Jr. learned how to ride a bike

I had to include this picture in here because the timing was just right and Lucky just happened to be looking at the camera when he rode into the picture on his scooter.

And... I don't even know.

Screen Free Week 2022.