Cheeseballs

When I wished Jeremy a Happy National Cheeseball Day on April 17, he texted me this picture.

He's a cheeseball.

 

Speaking of cheeseballs: in years past, Nichole has contributed short stories and artwork to UVU's Warp & Weave journal. 

Jeremy and Nichole toyed with the idea of submitting pieces to Warp & Weave together and they did so this year. Jeremy submitted a short story and Nichole submitted a piece of art that went along with his story. They were both accepted so when we went to the event for them to get their copies of the journal, we found out that the picture was placed right after the story. Good job, editors. 

We celebrated Blah Blah Blah Day while we were there.

Speaking of cheeseballs, earlier in the day, Nichole sculpted a cheeseball in the shape of a bat because April 17 is also Bat Appreciation Day. It's become tradition.

She also created this art piece for Bat Appreciation Day and International Haiku Poetry Day, also on the same day. 

I love my girl and her talents. I also love my husband and his talents. I'm also happy to support them. I spent time with Jeremy's short story, helping him edit it (there was a word limit). I also gave them a ride and went to the event with them since I knew how to get there.

World Chipmunk Day

March 22 was World Chipmunk Day. While we were watching Seeking Persephone the night before, Nichole was working on this drawing of a chipmunk based off a photo she took of a chipmunk in Washington a few years ago. 

I posted about it on Instagram/Facebook the day after because I didn't get around to it on National Goof Off Day, also March 22.

I also encouraged everyone to drink plenty of water on March 22, World Water Day.

Nichole is talented.

He Came Back... Again!

I'm thankful for my husband's incredible talent with balloon sculpting. I miss him when he is on trips but I love to see what he is building and I'm very thankful when he comes home.

Jeremy got back this last weekend from the fair convention he does every year (this year it was in Montana). He was able to use those lights he and Jet were playing with the night of the Star Party and it added a fun element. It's hard to see from the pictures but he used different light up objects in different parts of the balloon display. It's fun to see him experimenting. The globe on the pedestal also rotated. Cool.

More Balloon Building

We sent Jeremy off to another fair over Labor Day Weekend, this one was in Twin Falls, Idaho. I love my husband and miss him when he is gone but love to see where his creative talents take him.

This time he built bugs... again. Bugs have been a popular theme lately. I love it. 

Last Week of School- Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday

Last week of school continued.

I got to help put vinyl on T-shirts Lucky's grade wore for their dance festival. My sister, who has a LOT of experience with that sort of thing, helped me figure it out because I don't have as much experience. They danced to the song, "Thunder." Some of the shirts were black with white lettering that said, "Lightning," with a white lightning bolt and some were white with black lettering that said, "Thunder," with a black rain cloud.

Lucky's class also had a talent show that day. He played harmonica for his classmates and teacher.

Tuesday, May 21, was International Tea Day and Strawberries and Cream Day. I made scones with a recipe from The Fiction Kitchen Trio Cookbook. I did not make clotted cream to go with it. No, thanks.

The biscuits I made were based on the Funfetti Shortbread Bites we made January of 2021, but without the sprinkles.

 

Wednesday, April 22, was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's birthday. Nichole and I chatted about Sherlock Holmes then she, Jet, and I went to our own Lost World that evening. O.K. So it was Bridal Veil Falls which is not lost at all, but Utah's Adventure Family had mentioned it on Instagram and made we want to go so we got a little evening walk in after taking boys to activities that evening.

And cuteness. Jeremy brought home a watermelon that Jet was so excited about, he got a plastic knife out of the drawer and tried slicing it. You better believe he got the first piece when Jeremy finally cut it up.

 

Thursday, May 23, I got out for another walk in the morning. I've been wanting to get out for walks more.

That evening, Nichole and I went to a Relief Society activity together. I love getting to do things with my girl.

She Got Published... Again

Nichole got published again. When she was in high school, she got a short story accepted to UVU's Warp & Weave journal one time and a piece of art accepted another time.

In college, she decided to submit pieces again and this time she had both a short story and a piece of art accepted in the same journal issue. I went with her to get a copy of it and to watch presentations and readings... and for refreshments. Tee Hee. 

Ah, bonding time with my girl.

Supporting a Friend

Remember this kid? International award winning pianist, Derek Banks. Not such a kid anymore. I first started talking about him on my blog back in 2014 when he was a young man and playing the piano in front of the balloon Starry Night. I last mentioned going to see him play in 2019 while he was getting ready for an International Competition in Japan. Guess what. He got third place in that competition. Woohoo.

Now he's studying music at the Manhattan School of Music but was home for the Summer and put on a concert recently. I went to show support and represent our family as Jeremy had a show that night and wasn't able to go. He would have if he could.

Derek is doing amazing things and it is so nice to be able to see where his talent (and hard work) is taking him. Keep up the good work.

Cuteness and Accomplishments

I do "Baby Cuteness" posts often on this blog. It's time to share some cuteness and accomplishments from the other children.

In no particular order:

Jr. Jr. got silver medal in the Read-a-thon for his class at school (It was Olympics themed). He came home and was so happy to show me his medal and to say how happy he was for the student who got the gold medal because that boy put a lot of work into reading so much during the event and he deserved it (Jr. Jr. put a lot of minutes in himself).

Jr. was a student of the month for November at the junior high. His English teacher praised him for helping out so much in class (helping other students, straightening desks and chairs up without being asked) besides doing so much more than the required work.

The youth in our ward put on a talent show. They wanted to show both performing arts and visual arts. Nichole brought some of her drawings. She made a coloring page for people to have. 

She also juggled and she and Jr. put on a puppet show with her crocheted puppets. Those two together put on some entertaining puppet shows.

 

The Young Women collected recipes then asked the girls to make one of their dishes to share when they got copies of all the recipes that were collected. Nichole sculpted a cheeseball. Well, she started with one cheeseball that turned into three fairies. She expressed that cream cheese is a lot easier to sculpt than clay.

When we were in quarantine, Lucky missed out on some projects at school so he colored a hinged skeleton at home and hung it on a door. It looked really good.

 

Jr. wanted to support a friend in the school play so he went to watch it and had such a great time. His friend played the Grinch in "Seussical Jr."

I mentioned that Nichole is taking a digital photography class this semester. One of the things she needed to do was get pictures of water splashing/flying through the air, that sort of thing. I was her helper. At one point I tried to throw the water straight up but I ended up throwing it more back than straight up. Oops. I guess that is more "cuteness" on my part but hey, Nichole was taking the pictures.

Earth Day Contest

For Earth Day, the junior high offered a contest for Earth Day related artwork or essays, etc.
Nichole and Jr. both submitted photos/artwork online and both earned prizes- T-shirts, water bottles, candy, pencils, mini globes, and tote bags. The prizes were dropped off on the doorstep so they could maintain social distancing.

Here's what they got prizes for:

Jr. photo of a pine grosbeak. 

Nichole photos of snowy egret and belted kingfisher and dragonfly.

Nichole drawing of American pipit.

 Way to go, kids. Keep up the good work with your talents.