Farewell Summer Reading

At the end of July, we finished up our Summer Reading Programs at Orem Public Library and Provo City Library. So the beginning of August, Nichole, Jr., Lucky, Jet, and I went to the closing event for Orem's held at Scera Park. Jr. Jr. didn't feel like going and Jeremy was gone at another fair, this time in Wyoming and this time without a hurt back.

Lucky, Jet, and I got to ride on the Orem Express train that drove around the park. We got there early enough to miss the long line waiting for it.

We played some games then spent a lot of time on the playground. Lucky was a big helper with Jet.

After we finally left, we made a quick stop at the Orem Library then went home and had ice cream.

Summer reading fun!

Dragging Our Whole Family Birding... Again

This is from an adventure we had back in April but I'm posting about it now.

 

We didn't make it to the Greater Sage Grouse lek this year because of weather (check out our adventure on my April 9 blog post) but Nichole took a break in the middle of finals to get up really early in the morning (like 2 or 3am) with the rest of us to go an undisclosed location (can't tell you where it is) to a Sharp-tailed Grouse lek. So cool. Jeremy and Nichole had been there before but the rest of us hadn't. These grouse are smaller than the sage grouse but they were big enough to get a good look at them (when it got lighter). Like with the sage grouse, we heard them before we saw them. Then when we saw them it was neat to see the similarities and the differences in their displays.

They make such cools sounds, different from the sage grouse. Some similarities in sound but mostly different.

After the lek, we went to another spot but didn't find our target bird in that area. Oh well. We did see plenty of other birds. We can't complain because we did see the Sharp-tailed Grouse earlier. We also saw a skunk while we were driving around.

We headed to the Golden Spike National Historic Site where we got to see where trains from the East and the West met to finish laying down tracks from both directions. We visited way back when Jr. was in 4th grade and had his 4th grade National Parks Pass. This time, Lucky was able to get his parks pass there and did the Junior Ranger program there to get another badge. Fun. Jet was cute and wanted to be like his brother so the ranger gave him a badge, too. Awww. Isn't Jr. the greatest? (I did not write that last sentence but when I looked at my blog I didn't realize that. I was trying to figure out what Jr. had to do with Lucky and Jet getting badges. Ha Ha Ha. This is what happens when I step away from the computer while I'm in the middle of writing a blog post. Ha Ha Ha. I love my family).

We got to go see the trains they keep there and learned a lot. Jr. Jr. asked a lot of questions which I thought was awesome.

We had a good adventure that day.

Halloween Costumes 2016

Yay, Fall.  And with Fall comes Halloween.  And Halloween parties.  Hooray!
Jeremy was hired to do balloons at a Halloween party a week ago Saturday and the lady that hired him invited his family to come, too.  Perks!
So the kids and I went to this Halloween party and had a lot of fun.  And the kids were able to try out their Halloween costumes for the first time this year since I literally finished them that morning.

Nichole is Hermione Granger from Harry Potter.  She wasn't able to wear her Gryffindor patch since they sent us the wrong one in the mail and we're still waiting for them to send us the right one.  But I was able to make her a robe to wear and she had a wand from a past Harry Potter party.
Jr. wanted to be a dementor, so we took his over-sized hoodie and safety pinned leftover robe scraps to the sleeves and bottom of it.
Jr. Jr. decided to be a pumpkin patch and when Lucky heard that he let us know he wanted to be a pumpkin patch, too.  We made fabric pumpkins and safety pinned them to green clothes for the boys.  In keeping with the Harry Potter theme, the kids discussed it and thought the boys could be Hagrid's pumpkin patch.
The kids had a blast at the party.  There was a bouncy slide and a train ride.

Each of the kids that rode the train got their own train whistle.

Jr. Jr. LOVED the train and rode it over and over and over as many times as he could.
At one point, they let all the kids go trick or treating.  Lots of candy the kids enjoyed.

They also had hot dogs and potluck food.  Nichole and I enjoyed that.

It was fun and we felt so welcomed at the party.  It was also a good trial run for the costumes.  Now I can make some adjustments in time for Halloween.

Ward Christmas Party

I know I'm dooming myself by saying this, but I don't want to ever be in charge of a ward Christmas party in this ward.  I don't think I could do it.
Two years ago, the ward did a Polar Express Party.

Every family in the ward was given a ticket which we brought and different families were put in different dining cars or rooms in the church building to eat dinner.

As we ate, the conductor (guess who) came around and punched our tickets.

Then we all disembarked and gathered together in the train depot (overflow between the chapel and the cultural hall, a.k.a. gym).
At a signal from the conductor, the curtains were opened and we entered "The North Pole" where it was snowing.  That's right.  It was snowing.  It was soap bubbles or something.

There was a giant Christmas tree built by Jeremy of course and Santa's village was painted all around.

Santa himself came to share with us a message of Christmas.  He took ornaments from a Christmas tree and shared how they represented Christ and the message of His birth.

There were narrations and musical numbers to go along with what he shared and it was awesome.
Wow.

This year was "A Night in Bethlehem."  The Young Men, the Young Women, the Relief Society, and the Primary were each in charge of setting up a food tent.  Thanks to our wonderful Primary President, we had so many supplies to use to decorate our Primary tent.  Also, thanks to the two other Primary leaders who helped decorate the tent, and to the toddlers and preschool age boys who helped set up the tent by grabbing the fourth leg of it since we only had three adults there at the time.  They were great.  We were asked to make a sign showing what was being served in Hebrew.  Jeremy helped me make the sign.  Thanks, Jeremy.

We were encouraged to dress up if we wanted, so I raided the Primary closet for costumes to put on my kids so I wouldn't have to dig through things at home.

When we got to "Bethlehem" we were given a sack of "money" to pay our taxes and buy food and exchange for a wooden ornament we could take home for our families.  We gave money to the tax collector and went over to get a family picture which was printed by the end of the night.
We got our ornament and went over to each of the food tents to get our food.
There were cookies for dessert, which was appropriate since the activity was on December 4 which is National Cookie Day.

Jeremy built palm trees for decoration and balloon sheep.  There was a ward member making pottery in one corner of the gym.  That was cool.  We have a really talented ward- and so many different talents.

As we were eating, Mary and Joseph (friends of ours who moved out of the ward a while ago, but come back often for ward activities- we love them) showed up and started going around asking people where they could find shelter for the one night.  They went to the inn but were turned away.
Finally someone directed them to the stable (pavilion with cushions and a manger/cradle) in the middle of the room.  Joseph helped Mary lie down and pulled out a baby.  Yes, a real live baby.  She must have been bundled up as they were walking around and they brought her out for her scene.  She's only a couple months old so she's small enough to be used as the baby Jesus.
Then we saw shepherds tending their sheep and the curtain on the stage opened to show an angel.
When people were not walking around interacting with ward members, the gestures and movements were done to music.  The angel is a dancer and dance instructor so it was beautiful to watch her movements as she brought the message of great joy to the shepherds and directed them to the city of David- all without words.
Then the shepherds walked around spreading the news and ended up in the stable with Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus.
Then the wise men were on the stage along with King Herod (played by Jeremy) and Herod looked conniving.  The wise men showed up among the ward members and eventually reached Mary and Joseph.  Now of course we know that the wise men weren't actually there when Jesus was born and came later after they had left Bethehem, but for the purposes of the nativity, they joined the group in the stable.
Then we all sang "Silent Night" and had a closing prayer.
Wow.

And that's why I don't want to be in charge of a ward Christmas party.

More Bonding Time

Jr. Jr. is really enjoying his bonding time with Mommy lately.  Today we managed to build an unending train track.  It's always great when we can get all the pieces to make one big track without having to worry about backing the train up or running into barriers at the end of the track.

Changing the subject- One thing I wish I had taken a picture of today was of the leaves falling off the trees.  We had enough of a wind today that leaves were just showering us as we went to pick up the kids from school and on the way home.  It was gorgeous but I didn't have the camera with me.  I did get to explain to the kids this is why the season is called "Fall."

Joy Is...

Playing tag with toy trains and tracks.