Velociraptor Awareness Day 2026

I made sure this year that Jet's velociraptor was involved in a lot of what went on April 18, Velociraptor Awareness Day. I haven't always been as diligent as some years.

 

In no particular order, the velociraptor helped with:

 

Food prep (although I don't know why I don't have a picture of it with our dinner)

 

Dishes

 

Encouraging us to eat our cheeseball that we didn't eat the day before (we were busy that night)

 

Taking care of a sick little boy

 

Video games

 

Recording voice for a school project

 

Recycling 

 

Thank you, velociraptor. We are aware of how helpful you are and are grateful you helped us get ready for a visit from Grandma and Grandpa.

Velociraptor Awareness Day

April 18 was Velociraptor Awareness Day. Jr. Jr. and Lucky made me "aware" of where to find Jet's velociraptor toy. Then she spent the day with us.

 

All showered and ready to go.

Helping with chores.

Let's make bread.

Reading books.

Let's pick up kids from school.

After school snack of animal crackers for National Animal Crackers Day (also April 18).

Dinner guest.

Wow, that day was exhausting.

Catch of the Day

 Sweet sleeping baby with a velociraptor in his hand

Birding Weekend

So much catching up to do. Wish me luck.

 

Before Jeremy and I went on our "date" on Saturday the 17th, the kids and I went along a portion of the Provo River Trail to look for birds. 

I think the highlight was the rooster who was hanging out by the bank of the river overseeing the ducks swimming around. That and the cows that were mooing. They got Jet mooing, too.

Sunday, we all went for a drive to look at birds. We went to several spots. The highlight: the domestic geese with their cute little fuzzy goslings. So adorable. The kids all wanted to take pictures with the camera (except Jet). Their favorites:

Nichole

Jr. Jr.

 Lucky

 

Jr. told me to pick my favorite of his pictures. I love this one.

 

While we were in the van, we snacked on Animal Crackers. Why? Because April 18 was National Animal Crackers Day, of course. It was also Velociraptor Awareness Day so while the kids were watching the goslings, I was watching a cormorant swimming around. I've often thought cormorants look like dinosaurs. 

Here's a picture from 2016 since I can't find a picture on my blog. Dinosaur, right?

 

That evening the kids made dinner. Nichole made jalapeno pasta. Jr. made baguettes for everyone. Jr. Jr. made chocolate covered bananas. Lucky provided broccoli and blueberries (but not together).

Monday, Jet and I went for a walk in the same area along the Provo River Trail again. This time we had fun listening to the little goats bleat. Jet was baaing back at them. That was the highlight for me. I enjoyed hanging out with my little guy on Hanging Out Day, April 19.

So that was our birding weekend.

There's so much more to catch up on but you know... May is about trying to survive the last month of school and other activities so bear with me.

Catching Up- April

Lots happened in April, too.  Including Spring Break where we were so busy with things around here, we didn't go on any big trips.

We did celebrate April Fool's Day on April 1. I am amazed that no matter how many times I do the jello instead of Kool-aid trick, I still have kids that fall for it. This year, I put the jello in a pitcher so when the boys tried to pour it out, it wouldn't come. I did mugs for Jeremy and me. It's a nice trick because they still get a treat out of it.

In April, Lucky got to go to a friend's birthday party. I love that the friend's older sister (still younger than my oldest) volunteered to run things for the party. What a great sister. So the kids played games, did some face or hand painting, had treats (made by the mom), and enjoyed present opening. Jeremy and I stayed, just in case we were needed for crowd control, but we really just chatted with the mom most of the time since she's our friend. Lucky had a blast.

April 2 was National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day. Guess what we ate.

April 3 was Fish Fingers and Custard Day. Guess what we ate.

We went to visit our friends in Kaysville during Spring Break and took them cookies to say thanks for their kindness to us last Summer.

My ministering sister brought me daffodils to brighten my day.

Jr. and Jeremy went to see the sage grouse displaying. Nichole and I missed it this year.

We watched General Conference at home and had nachos, of course.  Jr. was able to watch his first Priesthood Session with Jeremy. They enjoyed their time like Nichole and I enjoy our time when we watch the Women's Session.

On Sunday, we had friends over to watch Conference with us.

After Spring Break, plenty more happened.

Our upstairs neighbor texted us to say, "There's a turkey in the backyard." Yep, a wild turkey hanging out in the backyard. We get some interesting birds here.

Jeremy did a couple sculptures for the 15th anniversary of the Tulip Festival and got a commemorative pin. It's the year for commemorative pins.  He also got commemorative pins for Orem's Centennial.

One sculpture was in April. The other was in May, so stay tuned for that.

April 18 was National Velociraptor Awareness Day.  We took that opportunity to start Nichole on the Jurassic Park movies. Tee Hee.

Jeremy received VIP tickets to FanX in Salt Lake City. We got pins there, too. Lucky went with us the first day and dressed up.  Just Jeremy and I went the second day and dressed up.
Lucky did pretty well that first day. We figured he is just the right age.  He stayed with us and didn't run off. He did well in the one panel I cared about going to- Warwick Davis. Since we had VIP tickets, we got a nice close seat.  Lucky and I talked about different movies Warwick Davis had been in and he enjoyed it.  I always liked Warwick Davis before but through his panel I came to like him even more.  He's a great guy, funny, nice, and he didn't say anything that made me cringe or need to cover my son's (or my) ears.

After a while, when we couldn't find activities that Lucky wanted to do, we decided to reward him for being so well behaved. So he and I picked Nichole up from the bus after school and we all went to a park so Lucky could play on the playground and Nichole and I could chat.

The second day, Jeremy made a balloon costume of a cyberman to wear. I went easy and borrowed a Harry Potter robe and scarf from Nichole. We made sure to get pictures with the Tardis. At the end of the day, we ran into friends and got pictures with Jeremy and ZZ.

I was done by the end of those two days. I enjoyed it but I was done.

April 21 was Easter. Church was wonderful and dinner was nice.

For FHE the day after, we had an Easter egg hunt with our upstairs neighbors.

April 26 was National Pretzel Day. We had pretzels dipped in cheese sauce.

We got out and did our short-eared owl survey again in April. We didn't see any short-eared owls but Jeremy and I did see some burrowing owls.

Nichole got free tickets to an orchestra concert so she and I took a mother-daughter evening and enjoyed the music together.

Jeremy was asked to teach at a balloon jam in Salt Lake.  His subject- how to break a world record.

So there was plenty we did in April and now I'm done blogging about it.  On to May.