Road Trip!

Road Trip!

May 30-June1, Jr. Jr., Jet, and I made a quick weekend trip with my sister and her family to California because...

MY LITTLE (younger) BROTHER GOT MARRIED!!!!!!

It was such a quick trip, traveling from Utah on Friday, wedding stuff on Saturday, traveling back to Utah on Sunday. The only day we didn't spend any time in Utah was May 31 which is National Utah Day. Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha!

We met my parents and two of my brothers who traveled from Oregon and we all stayed in a house together for the weekend. 

Jr. Jr. and Jet both got to visit Nevada for the first time since we drove through there and stopped for lunch. 

We brought Jet's pteranodon wings for the trip and he loved wearing them both in the van and flapping around at the house we stayed in.

I got to meet my brother's fiance/wife for the first time and see that my brother is so in love. I am so happy for them. 

 

Saturday was a wonderful day. Jet was so well behaved in the waiting room at the temple with Jr. Jr. and his cousins while I went to the sealing. Jr. Jr. told me Jet didn't say anything while I was gone and when I got back he was quiet and whispered requests. I wonder if he could feel the Spirit there. It was beautiful. Outside for pictures, he also did well. No running off, he followed instructions from the wedding photographer. I am so proud of him.

I'm also proud of my brother for making such a good choice.

It was nice spending time with my brothers. Paco got to meet Jet for the first time. Jet has seen "Paco videos" at home but they hadn't met yet.

The reception was so nice, too. Jet again didn't run off but stayed by me. They had pizza so Jet got several slices as well as other foods.  

There was dancing. There was juggling. Of course there was juggling. It's our family. I love that I have a new sister-in-law who juggles with her juggling husband.

Some of my cousins came from Utah and Wyoming for the reception. That was great. 

It was a beautiful day. And getting married on National Smile Day is a pretty awesome thing. 

  

On Sunday, I said goodbye to Jr. Jr. because he traveled back to Oregon with my parents and my brother. It was his turn for the grandparents trip like Nichole and Jr. both did in previous years. He had a great time and my parents loved the time with him. 

Since we were traveling with my sister and her family, I had nieces and nephews part of the time in my van and my sister actually sat with me the last leg of the trip on Friday. It's a great time for chatting when you're traveling all day.

On the way back to Utah, we stopped briefly to get pictures with Donner Lake (after making all the jokes about not stopping while going over Donner Pass... just in case).  

Once again we stopped in Nevada for lunch. 

 

When Jet and I got home, Jeremy surprised me with an omelette bar. I got to choose the insides I wanted and he made me an omelette. My sweet husband. I love omelettes... and I love my husband.

It was a quick but very nice trip and I'm so glad we went to support my brother and sister-in-law and had quality family time.

Bonding Time

Nichole and I went on a Utah County Birders field trip on Saturday, March 26. It was supposed to be warm that day so of course where we met up with the other birders we got strong canyon winds. Brrr. 

Once we were through the canyon and for the rest of the trip, there was no problem. I ended the trip in short sleeves. Nice.

Something fun about the drive- We passed the Manti Temple on the way. Nichole commented, "That's a cool big building up ahead." I commented back, "I think that's the temple. If we're coming up on Manti then that's the temple. I'm pretty sure the Manti temple has a different look than the ones in our area." Then Nichole commented, "I don't see Angel Moroni on top," so of course I second guessed myself. "Maybe it's not the temple but it is a cool building." It's been quite a few years since I've been to that area. As we got closer and closer there were clues that it was indeed the Manti Temple. One of the biggest was that as we were passing, Nichole was able to read on it, "Holiness to the Lord: The House of the Lord." Yep, definitely the temple. 

We talked a little bit about how I thought Manti was one of the older temples in Utah. I looked it up later. Yep. It along with St. George and Logan were dedicated before the Salt Lake Temple even though construction on the Salt Lake Temple began before the others. It took 40 years to build it, though. Wow. There you go- a little bit of Utah/Church history for you.

 

Now about birding-

We stopped by Palisades State Park. Plenty of birds to see there. 

Then we stopped at Ninemile Reservoir where there were so many more birds. A couple people even saw a peregrine falcon. I didn't see it. Man, that was my nemesis bird. I'd seen plenty of peregrine falcons. I even have pictures of me with one.

This was in 2018.

There's a closer picture on my blog post for December 1, 2018. I'd never seen one in the wild even though I'd gone out looking for them enough times. Sigh. One nice thing, though, is we went across the road from where we parked and were able to see some chukars. I haven't seen chukars in a while, either. This is definitely becoming a better birding year for us than the last couple.

click to see Nichole's picture of a chukar larger

 

We traveled through Gunnison, actually along a road that we used to travel for our WAFLS (short-eared owl) survey we used to do. We stopped by Redmond Lake and there were sooooo many pelicans. I love pelicans. There were lots on the lake, lots in the sky. It was great.

The sandhill cranes were very vocal there as well. And there was a long-billed curlew flying around. That was fun to see.

These three are Nichole's pictures (give credit where credit is due)

At one point we were driving along a dirt road when someone in the group called over the walkie talkies that there was a raptor on a fence post near a pond. There was some discussion of what it could be. Someone got out a scope to see that it was... a peregrine falcon. Whoopee! Lifer dance!

It was way out there so Nichole and I couldn't see it so well in our binoculars and cameras but it was definitely recognizable in the scope. I was sooooo happy about that and it doesn't matter that I missed the one earlier in the day. Nemesis bird- acquired.

 Nichole's picture again.

 

We finished the trip at Yuba State Park. There wasn't as much to see there. Everyone headed home on their own after that.

It was a nice long day out and such nice bonding time with my daughter sharing this similar interest of birding.

 

And since March 26 was National Spinach Day, I made Jeremy's request for dinner, spinach quiche. Yumm. We also had rice pilaf from The Food Nanny Rescues Dinner and French bread rolls from Mel's Kitchen Cafe and pears with cottage cheese.

 

I have to share one more fun thing. While we were out, we stopped at a gas station for a bathroom break. Nichole noticed a Fast Break candy bar. She reminded me of a random experience we had one time in a store. We were waiting in the checkout line and a lady came up looking for a candy bar and she mentioned to us that the best candy bar is a Reese's Fast Break. I'd never heard of it before. Nichole obviously remembered what it was called because when we were at the gas station, she saw one and reminded me about it. So we got one to share. Yes, definitely yummy. I would eat one again. I'll have to remember that for the next birding field trip pit stop.

General Conference Weekend

General Conference Weekend started with a... SLUMBER PARTY!!! Because it also was the beginning of Spring Break! So Friday for after school snack we had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches because April 2 was National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day. Later we ate nachos while watching the new Croods movie. 

For our slumber party, the kids fought. Eventually Nichole and Jr. went to sleep in their own beds. In the morning, we had family prayer together then Nichole went back to bed and Jr. stayed out to sleep in the living room.

A slumber party was also appropriate because Saturday, April 3, was World Party Day and International Pillow Fight Day. The boys rationalized video games because Wii Party fits in with World Party. Sigh.

It was also Handmade Day which was great because Nichole finished decorating her General Conference Journal which she used to take notes during the first two sessions (and the other sessions on Sunday).

During Conference, Sister Joy D. Jones talked about teaching and nurturing children. And guess what. April 3 is Love Our Children Day. I sure love ours.

Jet was so cute when watching us sustain our leaders. He wanted to be involved with that, too.

 

And as we've celebrated many times, April 3 is Fish Fingers and Custard Day. Yes, I made fish sticks and vanilla pudding for us to eat.

Jr. went solo watching the Priesthood session of Conference. He had to eat popcorn all by himself. Jeremy was on his way home so he listened to the session in the car but got to watch the last talk with Jr. when he got home. They both got "chuckles" then.

Sunday, April 4, was Easter. Lots of Conference talks about the Resurrection. Wonderful. 20 new temples announced including one in Burley, Idaho (personal connection) and one in Eugene, Oregon (personal connection). Wow.

Before Conference and between sessions, Jet and I went for a couple drives. Lucky went with us the first time. We drove in the canyon to see if Bridal Veil Falls was still frozen. Not so much.

 

Conference Bingo (actually called Conference Squares) was fun for the kids again this year. The Primary Presidency dropped off activity pages and smarties that the boys were able to use for their Bingo sheets (and get creative with). Jr. used M&Ms.

Since the Smarties were gone by Saturday afternoon, both Jr. Jr. and Lucky requested jelly beans to be used on Sunday (they both had the same idea at the same time- Lucky mentioned it to me while we were on our drive, Jr. Jr. mentioned it to Jeremy while we were gone). Nichole was taking her own notes so she ate M&Ms while she was at it. Jet was given a Bingo sheet and Cheerios. I would put the Cheerios on his sheet and he would take them off and eat them. I was thinking he might copy his brothers as they were putting jelly beans on their sheets but he wasn't interested in that.

 

We got to video call with my parents and a couple of my brothers for Easter and that was so nice. The younger boys enjoyed showing off (sometimes loudly which wasn't so nice). I love family so it was good to have that "face to face" time.