Walking Walking Walking

I like going out for walks. Sometimes just for walks, sometimes walking and birding. I've gotten out a few times lately. I really do live in a beautiful place. Here's me on a few of my recent walks... and the scenery.

May 18 was Mt. Saint Helens Day. I went out birding and walking that day. I didn't see any volcanoes but I did have a nice view of a non-volcanic mountain.

And the river. Sigh. So pretty.

 

That evening, Jeremy, Nichole, and I got out for some relaxing birding.

One beautiful thing about living where we live is that every direction you look (North, South, East, West), in the distance there are hills and mountains. I love it.

National Relaxation Day 2022

August 15 was National Relaxation Day. I just took the day and did nothing. Just relaxed.

Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha. If only.

Actually the day started at midnight when Jet would not go to sleep and he only wanted Jr. so Jr. took care of him late into the night while I slept because I couldn't stay awake. Apparently he and Jr. both finally fell asleep in the living room, Jr. on the couch, Jet on the floor. Jet eventually ended up back in our room because he decided at 4 something in the morning that he was done with the living room. He did fall asleep again (not surprising based on how late he was up). I didn't know how much I was going to be able to help Jeremy at 5 when he got up to get ready for work. A little bit later, though, he asked me if Nichole was planning to go to her "Senior Sunrise" activity that was on the calendar. I realized my phone didn't ding at me because we had reset things recently on my phone so the notifications weren't on. I'm so glad Jeremy said something because I wasn't looking at my calendar. I got Nichole up so she could quickly get ready and we got her there just a few minutes late. There were still kids arriving after I dropped her off.

I went home and did help Jeremy finish getting ready. Then a little while after he left, I went to get Nichole. 

We got the boys up then we actually did relax while watching a movie. Everyone was still tired after the movie. Some of them fell asleep. I was going to go back to sleep myself then I realized I had to contact the high school about something important. So I left a voicemail then got to work on other things that needed to be done. Never got that extra sleep. Just kept working on things.

I threw some food together for us to eat before I took all the kids to the high school open house to meet the two oldest's teachers. That wore Jet out. He discovered the dance room where there was a big open space and music playing and just went in there and danced and danced and danced. Then when we got to the orchestra room, he had a blast twirling around with his brothers in that big open space. He fell asleep on the short drive home.

The kids played video games while Jr. made dinner. And since Jet had such a late nap, he kept me up most of that night. 

So relaxing?

Relaxing Family Time

My parents visited and went to church with us. They picked a good week to come. Since Nichole just got back from Girl's Camp the day before, she along with some of the other girls were asked to speak in Sacrament Meeting and they sang a song as well.

Then Sunday School was really good and my parents were able to be there with Jet and me.

Then of course it's relaxing to spend time with my parents. August 15 was National Relaxation Day. 

Jr. Jr.: You know what's relaxing? Breath of the Wild.

The kids wanted to play but they only got to watch Jeremy play after my parents left that afternoon. Bwah ha ha ha.

 

I wanted to get a three generations of women picture since I never get those pictures.

 

Jr. Jr. wanted to get in on the action. Can you spot him?

What She Missed- August 9

Monday, August 9-

Jeremy, Nichole, and Jr. got home around 1:45 in the morning. Later on that morning (at a reasonable hour), Lucky came out and saw Jeremy on the couch. "Daddy!" He gave him a big hug. So precious.

Nichole was home for less than 12 hours (and part of that was other places in the neighborhood packing coolers and trailers) before they whisked her away to Girl's Camp which started the next day. I thought we'd have her for the day but she is a Youth Camp Leader this year, even though it's her first year getting to go to Girl's Camp, so we found out last minute she had to go up and stay overnight for preparations. Sigh. Poor girl only got so much sleep and we had to do laundry after her trip and all the collecting and packing things since she'd been gone for about a week.

Good thing I was starting to feel better because I was running around helping out and continuing on even after Nichole was gone. 

I did some dishes and Jet decided to be a big helper.

I did rest a bit and told everyone dinner was whatever they could find in the fridge but I found some bacon in the fridge that needed to be used so I ended up making carbonara which a few of us ate. The kids also found some trip food and things we didn't ended up eating while Jeremy and the oldest were gone (being sick throws everything out the window), so we snacked as well. And I ended up talking to a friend on the phone for a lot longer than I originally intended which was also relaxing.

 

We did Family Home Evening without Nichole. Jeremy gave us a lesson about cleaning sin out of our life like cleaning trip stuff out of the van so we helped clean trip stuff out of the van (nice object lesson, Jeremy). Then we played video games (Lucky's idea) and had root beer floats with red vine straws (Jr. Jr.'s idea).

Labor Day 2020

We got the kids up early again to go on a birding trip for Labor Day on September 7. We wanted to drive up Mirror Lake Scenic Byway. This is a place Jeremy and I have both gone on birding field trips in the past. Unfortunately with things as they currently are, birding field trips are not possible in the same way. We're encouraged to go out on our own to work on this year's challenge without meeting in big groups.

We stopped by Bridal Veil Falls on the way through the canyon because that early in the morning, there weren't many people there. Very easy to keep a turkey vulture's wing-length away from people. 

Speaking of turkey vultures, we stopped in Heber at the historic Wasatch Stake Tabernacle. It seems every time we drive through Heber, this building has turkey vultures sitting on it, sometimes spreading their wings. Wouldn't it be fun to juggle with the turkey vultures on the building in the background? So I did.

They look so small but they're really such big birds. Jeremy discovered that not only were they on the building but there were a bunch in the trees nearby.

There was also a hot air balloon flying in the sky nearby. Those are always neat to see.

We had fun taking pictures. That's when we realized this was going to be a somewhat relaxed trip and not a "we need to get to this certain point by this time" trip.

We had certain places we wanted to stop to look for specific birds but whatever and wherever else we stopped would be good, too. That's how Jeremy saw a black-throated gray warbler when we stopped at a random picnic area with a little pond. I saw it as it flew but didn't get a good look at it like Jeremy did. Poor Nichole missed it altogether.

She did get to see the Clark's Nutcrackers and Canada Jays, though, which were two of the birds we specifically made the trip for.

There were plenty of other things to see besides birds.

Chipmunks and squirrels.

Everyone got to see a pika (except Jet but he's young enough we don't count him with "everyone" when we see something).

  Of course there was beautiful scenery with mountains and lakes everywhere.

 And juggling at an elevation of over 10,000 feet? That's cool.

I really enjoyed this trip with my family.

We did hit Labor Day traffic on the way home- lots of stop and go traffic from Heber to Deer Creek Reservoir. And driving past Bridal Veil Falls again? I'm sure glad we stopped that morning.

We were all exhausted by the end of the day but it was worth it.

What They Missed- August 15

Saturday, August 15-
I got a decent amount of dishes washed.
We went out for a drive. I originally planned to recycle glass but I forgot to put it in the van so we drove around for a while. At one point I stopped at a trailhead for the Murdock Canal Trail and asked if the boys wanted to get out and walk or just head home. Lucky wanted to walk and Jr. Jr. wanted to just go home. I suggested a compromise. What if we headed toward home then go on just a short walk at a place closer to home. They agreed.
We stopped at the elementary school and walked to where the boys would be lining up before school. It was sunny.

When we got home, the boys put away the dishes. They asked to use the phone.
Jr. Jr.: We're just taking pictures of my beautiful tower creations.
Lucky made some, too.

 
I mixed potato, green beans, and beef together to give Jet kind of a shepherd's pie. He was not a fan.

This is the same picture from the day before but it's worth repeating since he made the same face when I tried to feed him that food.

It was National Relaxation Day and at one point, Lucky said to me, "Playing games is relaxing for me."

We fed the birds and refilled a feeder we hadn't before.

When heading back, there was a trail of ants on the sidewalk. Lucky and Jr. Jr. were having fun hopping over them.

Lucky: Mom, how are you going to get over the ants? Because you're a mom and moms don't jump very good.

So I told Jr. Jr. to get pictures of me jumping over the ants.

I also decided to take a picture myself.

Later, after Lucky was done buttering a bagel-
Lucky: Can you put away the butter for me, please?
Mom: Yes. I appreciate your good manners.
Lucky: I learned it from you, Mom.
Mom: Aww. I'm glad you learned something good from me.

Lucky helped with dishes, Jet, and getting Jr. Jr.'s blanket.

That night Jeremy and I texted.
Jeremy: I miss you.
Kristin:

Does that help?