Why Did I Take This Picture?

You know how sometimes you're looking through pictures and you're like, "Why did I take this picture?" Sometimes you remember. Sometimes you don't.

While preparing to blog, I was transferring pictures from my phone and I got a glimpse of one of me with Christmas lights in the background. 

I looked at the date. It was January 22. That was a Thursday. I know the kids had school that day. How would I have gotten a morning walk picture that day at City Center Park? 

Then I remembered. That night, as part of the Orem Library Adult Reading Challenge, I went to an event- Favorites of 2025 Book Club Night. A big group of us sat around sharing our favorite reads from 2025. It was nice. I got some ideas of books that I wouldn't think to pick myself. I got a sticker for my junk journal. I got some refreshments. 

On the way out, I took a picture of me with lights near the entrance to the library. Ah ha. Because not only are the lights on at the park in the morning and at night, they are outside the library as well.

Mystery solved.

By the way, January 22 was also Polka Dot Day and National Hot Sauce Day so I went around wishing people Happy Polka Dot Day and I made pasta and encouraged family members to eat pasta with rotisserie chicken and hot sauce.

What We Did at Yellowstone- Day 2

Day 1 of our Yellowstone trip was mostly searching for wildlife.  Day 2 was more on the geologic side.  Of course we wanted to see Old Faithful.  You can't go to Yellowstone and not see Old Faithful.

We saw plenty of other geysers and hot springs as well.  Again there was so much to see.  Some areas were too crowded so we saw some things as we drove by, but we went on a few scenic drives and were rewarded by what we saw.

We did stop at Mammoth Hot Springs to walk around a few of the hot springs as our first stop in the morning.  So cool... or hot.

We saw swallows nesting in the mineral deposits.  We saw a killdeer walking around the lower areas of water.  I'm guessing it was probably cooled off enough by then.

It was so neat.

We stopped by the National Park Ranger Museum.

The couple there who were explaining things to us were so friendly and informative.  They even gave the kids stickers.

And this is what happens when your brother-in-law hands you his camera and says to take pictures with it:

At the end of the day on our way out there was major traffic backed up because there were bison all over the road and on the sides of the road.  Luckily we were stuck next to some bubbling mud pots which we were able to watch while waiting for the bison.

Driving in Yellowstone is also so scenic.  I mentioned before that there are so many different types of places around.  We did drive around flat areas with meandering rivers.

We drove through canyons with rapids and waterfalls.

We drove by rivers and ponds and lakes.

We stopped at one place called Fishing Bridge which is clearly marked "Closed to Fishing."

While there we watched a beaver swim by with a big branch in its mouth.  They do exist.  This one was smaller than those we saw in the Pacific Northwest last year.  I blogged about those on July 10, 2016.

Looking back at some of our pictures, there were also river otters swimming around.  They were farther away so the pictures aren't that great, but we could definitely tell there were otters.
We were driving through mountains as it was getting darker and we did see a black bear.  Unfortunately it was too dark for the pictures to turn out but it was definitely a black bear.  That was fun.

It was a good second day at Yellowstone.

Goodbye, Children

"Jesus honored the Sabbath and so can you."  We taught our last time to our current Primary class this morning.  We love those kids.  They are each so awesome in their individual ways.  We talked about Jesus being the greatest gift we've ever been given and He is a gift for all of us.  We gave each child their own gift of a sticker of Jesus and one of the ornaments we got from our friends who were raising money for gifts (and other supplies) for refugee children.

We found out, by the way, that our friends passed their goal of $300 and raised $500 and when they went to buy the gifts, Santa came out to thank them and gave each of the little boys in their family their favorite candy bar.  Way to LIGHTtheWORLD, friends.

Nichole and I also had our last choir practice before Christmas.  We brought brownies to the choir members.

While we were at choir a friend let us bring the little boys over to stay with them while Nichole and I were practicing.  Jeremy and Jr. went home teaching then Jeremy needed to take a nap when they got home.  Thank you, friends.  You LIGHTtheWORLD with your kindness.

Thank a Vacuum Day

February 4 was Thank a Mailman Day.  We usually draw pictures or write letters to our friendly neighborhood postal worker.  This year we didn't get them done in time.  Sorry, friendly neighborhood postal worker.  We still like you.
But, Jeremy made a poster and I stuck little candy bars on it and Jr. Jr. and I delivered it to the post office.

The note says, "You guys are first class forever.  Happy Thank a Mailman Day."

Jr. Jr. was so patient waiting in line and holding the poster until we got to the counter then I lifted him up and he put it on the counter.  I told the man at the counter and then Jr. Jr. repeated me, "This is for you guys for working so hard."  And "Thank you."  The man at the counter was so friendly and appreciative.  He told Jr. Jr. thank you and that they would really enjoy those later.  Then he gave Jr. Jr. a sticker on his hand.  That was so nice.

Since February 4 was also Create a Vacuum Day, for a special activity in the evening, we sucked an egg into a glass bottle.  I'd been wanting to try that for a long time and we finally had the opportunity.  We lit some newspaper on fire with a match and stuck them in the bottle then put a peeled hard boiled egg on the opening and let the vacuum that was created by the fire burning the oxygen suck the egg in.  It was fun.  The kids enjoyed it.

 Someday we'll do it where the egg stays intact as it is sucked into the bottle.