Group Hug!

I am thankful for spontaneous silliness and group hugs.

Group hugs have been happening more frequently in our home and I am thankful for that. Sometimes it's a small group hug and sometimes we may have up to five or six people all huddled together. 

I obviously don't get a picture every time and that's okay.

I LOVE MY FAMILY!

My Spot by the Lake

I have a spot I like by the lake. I like several spots by the lake but I'm thinking of one in particular. There is a bench right next to the parking area so when I'm not going to go for a walk, I can sit there to read my scriptures, write in my journal, take pictures.

I see plenty of birds there. I often see great blue herons flying along the water. There's a spot they like to land and hang out. I love it. I've seen egrets flying by, pelicans out in the water or flying along, grebes, ducks. There are also trees and reeds to see plenty of sparrows, robins, Western kingbirds, blackbirds, swallows, all sorts of birds.

It is a very pleasant area whether I'm walking or not. 

One day I went for a walk in the morning then in the afternoon Jet and I went for a walk there. We saw plenty of birds. I pointed some out to him. When we got back to the van, he kept talking about the blue robins we saw. I finally figured out he was talking about the great blue herons we saw. Tee Hee. When I mentioned that, he told me they were great blue robins. I love that little boy. I love his silliness, too. 

I Won! I Won! I Won!

If Jeremy can do it, I can do it. 

I've written before about Jeremy winning swag from The Odd and Offbeat Podcast (see my blog post from August 17, 2020) and calling out, "I won! I won! I won!"

Recently, I could be heard doing the same thing. "I won! I won! I won!" after winning swag from Sarah M. Eden celebrating the release of her book, Fleur-de-Lis. Stickers and bookmarks!

I'm silly, too.

My Children, the Hams

The day (well, evening really) the kids and I went hiking Big Springs was Silly Sayings Day, October 13.

Now you see us.

 

Now you don't.

 

You do realize already that all my children are hams, right? Jet learned that early on. Doing things to make us get a kick out of them. He was doing that before he was even a year old. Yep, he fits in nicely with this family. 

Anyway, the kids must have an influence on me somehow. While we were out hiking, at one point Jr. picked up Jet quickly and his shoe went flying off. I saw it and immediately said, "Oh no. His foot..." Now I'm not sure if I completely finished that sentence out loud but everyone interpreted it the same way so for the rest of the trip, we were jokingly saying, "Oh no. His foot fell off." They also thought it was funny when I pointed out that it was Silly Sayings Day.

More silliness:

This picture. Lucky "fell" on the ground and Jr. went skipping down the trail. I caught this picture at just the right point because even though he was skipping, it totally looks like he was about to stomp on his brother. He didn't.

 

Another saying I said several times during our hiking trip: "Short people rule." Jet, by virtue of being a toddler, is short. I, by virtue of genetics, am short. Jr. is not. So when Jet insisted on holding Jr.'s hand while hiking, Jr. had to bend his knees a lot. 

Then while going under some branches, Jr. practically had to limbo his way under. Heh Heh. Others did not have to go so low.

 

As soon as we reached the meadow, the boys immediately started playing Hide and Seek. At one point, Jr. Jr. was looking on the complete opposite side as Jr. and Lucky were hiding. Nichole and I both knew this so while Jr. Jr. couldn't find his brothers, Nichole called out, "Marco," to which we heard in unison the called response, "Polo," from Jr. and Lucky so Jr. Jr. knew he was looking in the wrong area. It took him enough time to find them once he was on the right side but that was so great that it worked so well. Nicely done, Nichole. 

Now this one isn't silly but Lucky spotted a ladybug and was able to get a picture of it. Way to go, Lucky.

First Weekend of School

Since we survived the first week of school, the kids and I celebrated by driving Nebo Loop.

We stopped to hike to Grotto Falls. It's been a while (since August 2016) and it was on our Summer wishlist. We are still doing some activities on our list now that school has started but it's still technically Summer.

Jr. Jr. and Lucky demonstrated how to get the mud off your shoes.

We had a picnic at Devil's Kitchen and were silly.

Lucky got silly being "scared" of a wasp. 

Jr. Jr. was silly when the sun came out from behind the clouds.

"No. No. Push it away."

 

Nichole and I picked a time to get a picture of the two of us when the sun came out, too.

Nichole: It's too bright.

Mom: Must keep eyes open.

It was a great trip driving Nebo Loop.

It was World Honey Bee Day on August 21. I made Maple and Brown Sugar Pork Tenderloin from Six Sister's Stuff but with a roast instead. I wanted something that could be in the slow cooker while we were gone on our outing. It had honey in it.

I've decided I don't make pretty food. I make edible food. It's not nicely presented. Oh well. I'm not trying to win any awards. I'm just trying to feed my family.

 

That day was also Brazilian Blowout Day. We thought about making Brazilian Limeade but there were no recipes we really wanted to do so Jr. ended up making his mint lemonade.

Pi Day 2021

March 14 was Pi Day. We had impossible cheeseburger pie for lunch with potato chips since March 14 was also National Potato Chip Day. I made another apple pie in our Pi plate, of course. We've been having a lot of apple pie lately.

March 14 was Learn About Butterflies Day. I had Jeremy check out several books about butterflies so I could get a picture with the kids reading those books. It didn't happen. However, March 14 was also Write Down Your Story Day. A few family members worked on their books. I didn't write things down but I did tell my family some family history stories that day. 

March 14 was also Children's Craft Day. Nichole worked on some stuff. You know how she is.

That evening, since Jeremy has had a hankering for curry, we made Indian food. We haven't had any in so long, it was so nice. Yumm. Yumm. Yumm. I don't think it fit in with any of the holidays but I really wanted to make it for him. I didn't get a picture but the smile on his face when he tasted it made me happy.

At the end of the day, I asked Jr. to help clean up.

Me: Will you put the rest of the rice in a gallon sized Ziplock bag, please?

Jr.: OK.

How I love that kid.

I Won! I Won! I Won!

He did it again. Jeremy won more swag from The Odd and Offbeat Podcast.

This time he won a gastropod fossil, a Yeti cooler sticker, and more "The Odd and Offbeat Podcast" stickers.

Jeremy was very happy.

Family Pictures

Since Jeremy and the boys (besides Jet) got haircuts, we wanted to take family pictures since it has been a while since we had a nice family picture. And grandparents would like updated pictures of the kids for their walls.
We had fun.

We started with family pictures. Everyone cooperated except Jet. He would look as Jeremy set up the camera and the timer but as soon as Jeremy came to join the family, he would turn to look at him. It was funny. I appreciate how well all the other kids did, though, and it's hard to expect a baby to look at the camera when there was no one by it to entertain him. It's too bad Jeremy couldn't find the remote to the camera. Then we could have timed it for when Jet was looking in the right direction.

After our family picture, we let the kids go in to play games while we had one child (plus baby) out at a time for individual pictures. It was fun to do nice and silly pictures. Again all the kids did a good job.

I think we parents did a good job as well.

This is us.