Lazy Mom's Day 2024

September 6 was Lazy Mom's Day. I was able to sort of celebrate this. It was also Read a Book Day, which I was also able to sort of celebrate.

Jet and I went for our walk on a popular birding trail but I didn't have my binoculars or camera so I practiced birding by ear. Marsh wrens, Caspian terns, Sandhill cranes, and plenty of others. I love hearing birds. As we were walking we ran into a couple birders visiting from Holland. That was fun to chat about birding places around here with people from out of country. It was still a relaxing walk.

I actually sat down to watch a movie that day.

Snuggles!

Snuggles?

It was also the birthday of someone close to me so I wore my bow earrings while I was running errands.

Timing was right while I was out so I stopped by Jeremy's work to surprise him when he finished. He was pleasantly surprised. 

It was also Read a Book Day. Tee Hee.

That evening, I took a little more time to be lazy and went out to Hill Park to watch the sunset.

So I sort of celebrated Lazy Mom's Day.

Surprises of Cleaning

You never know what you're going to find while cleaning. This is what I found while changing the bedding on Jet's bed.

I don't even know what to say.

Happy Anniversary... Months Later

We weren't able to do something extra special on or near our anniversary this year (though having our traditional anniversary dinner with our children is always special) so one day in August, Jeremy surprised me with our anniversary celebration. He took care of all the arrangements with the kids and did a good job making it a surprise. I had no idea.

He gently woke me up early that morning, had my clothes picked out for me to wear (it was a date, so of course he had my Jurassic Park shirt ready). He made me an omelette. I love his omelettes. 

Then he drove us up Nebo Loop to one of our favorite birding spots up there.

We enjoyed a relaxing time there and I got my target life bird- red crossbill. There were four or five of those. Yippee! 

We also had some nice closeups of other birds and critters.

There was a red breasted nuthatch that kept landing on branches right above our heads. Right above us. That was wonderful.

After we had a few hours of birding in that spot, we went up to Devil's Kitchen to picnic and enjoy the view. Jeremy surprised me again with our picnic food. Winco salads (it's our traditional date food, like my Jurassic Park shirt is my date shirt) and sodas in plastic goblets like we used for our anniversary picnic last year.

After Devil's Kitchen we headed to the Orem Library to do some writing/blogging. Sweet Jeremy, kept nodding off (he got up really early to make me that omelette) so we finally headed out to eat at Cafe Rio. Yumm.

Then we went home to take a nap because we were both exhausted. 

We woke up later and gathered the children to go out for a late night meteor shower. They didn't take a nap so were all tired while we were out there.

That was a great way to end a wonderful anniversary celebration. Thank you, Jeremy, for the sweet memories and for being the best husband I could ask for.

An Unexpected Surprise

Wow.  The Hanging Gardens of Babylon are looking kind of sad.  Still impressive, but tonight is the night to bid them adieu.  It's time to move on.

Jeremy told me Thursday that the Temple of Artemis would look very different on Friday.  We went up today and yes, it looks very different.  It's amazing what happens when you put pieces together.  Wow.

Our reasoning for going up today- Jeremy called and said he was running out of a certain type of balloon and asked if we could bring some more of it.  He called again before we headed up to tell us that friends of ours who live in Idaho were in town and were coming to see the Wonders.  Woohoo.
These are lifelong friends, the kind that are practically family.  So we got to see them when we got to the museum.

And... we got to run around with them through the dinosaur part of the museum, not just the balloon part.  The kids had so much fun together.

It was such a nice surprise to find out they were around and our schedules did match up to get together.  Love those friends.

A Spoiled Surprise?

You know those times when you accidentally come across a present meant for you and you feel bad because you really weren't looking around for presents and you feel like you spoiled the surprise?
On St. Patrick's Day, I went out for a drive with Lucky.  I brought Jeremy's cell phone with me and I heard it ding.  I stopped somewhere to look at the phone in case someone had something work-related they needed to talk to Jeremy about.  I noticed there was a text and read that it said Jeremy's package had been delivered.  The text said what was in the package- the dvd for Pirates of Penzance.
Oh, no.  I wanted that movie.  Jeremy must have ordered it as a present for me, maybe for Mother's Day or our anniversary or my birthday.  Oh, no.  I like surprises and Jeremy likes surprising me, but I felt so bad for ruining this one.
What was I going to do?  Should I not even mention the text?  Should I tell him about everything?  I felt so bad.
When I got home, still feeling bad I went into my room to put things away and saw this bag sitting on the bed.

Jeremy had turned a snowman into a leprechaun for me and wrote a note saying, "Mommy, it's your lucky day!"  Well, I knew what was in the bag.  Pirates of Penzance!

Yay!  I hadn't ruined the surprise.
I handed Jeremy his phone and told him he had a message.  When he looked at his phone, he asked if I had read the text.  Yes, but I was so relieved I could tell him the whole story of being worried I had ruined the surprise but it turned out I hadn't after all.  He was glad that he had been excited enough that he couldn't wait to give the movie to me so he made it a St. Patrick's Day present.
So... Phew.  It turned out great and we were both happy with how it turned out.
The End.

Balloon, Bows, and a Surprise

Jeremy has had a very busy time with work lately. For one of his shows we got to work together to build this large balloon present.

 Wait, is someone in there?

Haha, come on out Jr.!

You too Nichole?

And then Jr. Jr.? 

"Wait," he says, "is there another one in there?"

 Nope, that's it for now.

But here are three of our greatest gifts, all wrapped up!

Mother's Day 2012

Bet you'll never guess what Jeremy and his parents got me for Mother's Day/My Birthday.

My guesses:
When I stumbled past it at 3 o'clock in the morning in the dark to get Jr. Jr. a drink of milk, I didn't look very closely at it.  Jeremy had told me it was there but I like surprises.  So by the basic shape and not looking directly at it I guessed a giant clock... in the shape of a giant birdhouse?  I did mention this was 3 o'clock in the morning.
In the morning when I came around the corner and saw the basic shape, I thought ironing board?  C'mon, it's got the stand.
Then of course when my brain finished processing the rest of the shape, I knew exactly what it was.
Even before I unwrapped it.  And don't you love Jeremy's wrapping job?

Here's me with the rest of my Mother's Day haul from Nichole at school to what the Relief Society and ward gave me to the sweet things my kids made for me during Primary and Sacrament Meeting.                     

 

Including the little pot Nichole brought home from school.  It looks like they grew some grass from seeds and made paper flowers on popsicle sticks with nice things they can do for their moms during this next week.

I hope everyone else had a good Mother's Day regardless of whether you're a mom or not.