Catching Up August 2025 part I'm not even going to number them this time

August 6 was Wiggle Your Toes Day. I wiggled my toes. Luckily that is an easy one to celebrate because August was crazy and like July, we skipped a lot of things we normally celebrate.

Jeremy and I took a walk around the local farmer's market and saw how crowded it was.

We're still cute. 

Afterward we went home and had root beer floats for Root Beer Float Day.

August 8 was Sneak Some Zucchini Onto Your Neighbors' Porch Night. I really wanted to celebrate this with zucchini from our garden. The timing didn't work out. Bummer. One was close but it didn't work out.

What I did do that night was go to a Girls Gather activity. Spa Night.

Nichole, Stephanie, and I got together for a relaxing evening. We soaked our feet. We did some meditation. We ate snacks. We played games. We talked and talked.

Oh, I love Stephanie. She is such a good friend and good example. She taught me the following: How do you thrive through trials? Embrace a spa. S=Scriptures P=Prayers A=Affirmations. 

I needed that night and I'm grateful for taking the opportunity to breathe and relax.

 

Like Nichole and Jr. did in July, Lucky took swim lessons in August.

August 10 was Lazy Day. I wasn't that lazy but I did have a moment of resting that day. Jr. came and joined me in my room showing me on his phone what Lucky was doing in VR Golf. I got to watch with Jr. as Lucky made an impossible shot, bouncing off the railing of some stairs down into the area it was supposed to be, maybe even into the hole. I don't remember exactly. It was awesome, though.

Another day we played VR Golf for Family Home Evening. It was my first time ever doing VR. Obviously other family members have done it. Kind of crazy the first time. Lots of "Whoah."

 

August 11 was Play in the Sand Day. I chose not to because of the algal bloom in the lake. I did look at the sand, though, and got a nice morning picture in my spot that I like. 

 

August 13 was Alfred Hitchcock's Birthday. We watched two Alfred Hitchcock movies that day. I slept through one of them.

So You Want to Know About August, Huh?

Let's see. August. Well, I learned from Sarah M. Eden (one of my favorite authors) a little bit about Lammas Day which was on August 1. It's a celebration of harvest so it's common to bake bread on that day. So that's what I did. I baked wheat bread that day.

August 4 was American Family Day. We played together. For a couple days before that, we played the game my brother made up that we played with my brothers in Oregon.

 

\August 5 was Work Like a Dog Day. Jr. and I did yard work.

Later that evening, I took three of the kids with me to the Provo Library to an interactive movie event: The Princess Bride. They had instructions for us on paper for things to do at certain parts of the movie (yelling, "Stop! Stop!" during the kissing scenes, and rhyming with Fezzik) as well as items to do them with (balloons for swords, pieces of chocolate for the miracle pill, bubble wrap to pop in the Fire Swamp). It wasn't just interactive with the movie but with people around us, too. We had little bottles of water that we traded with a neighbor several times during the iocane powder scene until we finally took a drink. It was a lot of fun.

August 6 was Night Out Day. While I left the kids with root beer and ice cream to celebrate Root Beer Float Day, Jeremy and I took a drive up to Kyhv Peak Overlook to watch the sunset and eat Winco salads (it's our date food). I'd never been up there for sunset before. Jr. Jr. and I went up there for sunrise last year before October General Conference. It was nice to be up there with Jeremy for the sunset.

That day was also Wiggle Your Toes Day. I may or may not have played "This Little Piggy" with Jet but I didn't get any pictures if I did. I know I wiggled my toes, though. 

 

August 8 was Sneak Some Zucchini Onto Your Neighbor's Porch Night. Nobody celebrated at our house. Sigh.

That evening, Jeremy, Nichole, Lucky, and I went to the annual Utah County Birders potluck. We spent time beforehand looking for birds but barely saw any. Oh well. Still pretty scenery near Timpanogos Cave National Monument. 

Practice What You Preach

The beginning of August Nichole and Jr. went off to FSY (For the Strength of Youth conference) at BYU. Jeremy went to a county fair in Downey, Idaho, then when he came back he was doing balloons at the Utah County Fair (which meant he could sleep at home both nights of that fair. Yay!).

We were also studying Job that week for scripture study so we got to put into practice what we taught the boys. Continue to turn to the Lord in trials and you'll be better off in the end and recognize blessings in the midst of trials.

We started off strong. Monday, Jeremy was at work, Nichole and Jr. were getting ready for FSY, and Lucky said, "I feel sick," then threw up. Sigh. I'm sure it was from the heat. I mentioned it has been a hot Summer. Someone was going to let the younger boys play at their house while I took the older kids to FSY so I had to cancel that. I was able to find someone to come over and be an older person here while Jr. Jr. took care of Jet and Lucky rested (Lucky helped, too, because it didn't take long for him to feel better since he wasn't actually sick, just a bit dehydrated probably). That was really appreciated since it took longer than I thought to check them in and get them to their housing, say goodbye, etc.

And I forgot to take a picture of Nichole before I left but I got a picture of Jr.

The first night, Jet was calling out, "Goodnight," to his siblings, even the ones who weren't there. That little guy is so cute.

While Jeremy and the older kids were gone, we did some work and play, work and play. Jr. Jr. wrote down things to work on (dishes, cleaning our rooms, etc.) and some fun things to do (video games, eating treats, etc.), made them into strips, and picked them out of a bag. Work and play.

We also celebrated some holidays. 

Wednesday, August 3, was Grab Some Nuts Day. We opened our container of mixed nuts. Yumm. Jeremy said he ate peanuts that day while he was in Idaho.

It was also National Watermelon Day. I didn't eat watermelon but I watched the Studio C sketch, "Cool Guy Can't Eat Fruit Casually." That's what it's called on YouTube.

 

One of the days that week, a friend stopped by to say Hi then she came back a few minutes later and brought us pizza. What a sweetheart. 

Jeremy got to see his friend, Dan, again. They were at the fair convention together back in November and he was at the juggling BBQ in June. Dan was manning a photo booth at the fair in Idaho.

Jeremy also built a large sasquatch scene out of balloons. He managed to get a bald eagle and mountain bluebird in there. Love those birds.

 

Friday, August 5, was Work Like a Dog Day. I thought that meant we'd get a lot done at home. Nope. Here's where we got to look at our blessings again amidst trials. Jeremy was headed down to Spanish Fork when the car engine light went on and the car made sputtering sounds. He was only a few minutes from home so I took Jet away from eating his breakfast (luckily we had snacks in the van), woke Jr. Jr. up, and packed the boys in the van to go pick Jeremy up and get him to the fair on time. Then we came back to get the car to the mechanic who couldn't look at it until Monday. At least it didn't happen in Idaho.

Fast forward a few hours and I was taking one child to the ER while the other two went to a football game and a parade with friends. I cannot thank them enough for taking the boys last minute and entertaining them for 5 hours.

Recognizing blessings again, it wasn't as bad as it could be and only needed a few stitches and he was such a trooper at the hospital. He was totally fine. After the initial hurt, he was running around like normal and in a good mood (including in the waiting room of the ER. Sigh). He got to play with cars and one of the people there drew a track for him on paper for him to race the cars on. She later drew a dinosaur for him when she found out he likes dinosaurs.

My wonderful husband was so patient about getting picked up an hour late from the fair because we picked up the boys first before going to get him.

 

Saturday morning, August 6, I picked up Nichole and Jr. from FSY and made sure to get a picture of Nichole. They both had a good time. Jr. said it was like a spiritual UVU Prep.

I was able to take Jeremy down to his fair and pick him up no problem. We even wiggled our toes in the van on the way to celebrate Wiggle Your Toes Day (the kids wiggled their toes later).

That night we celebrated National Root Beer Float Day as things calmed down a bit after the long week.

We really did have the opportunity to look on the bright side of things that week. There were definite challenges but blessings as well.

By the way, the car is fine, and Jet is healing nicely.

2-2-22

Happy Groundhog Day. Phil saw his shadow so this is what we got:

 

We also got tater tots along with our traditional imitation groundhog burgers because February 2 is also Tater Tot Day.

 

I wanted to make sure not to miss the fun date of 2-2-22. Since I have a wiggly 2 year old, I wanted him to hold a sign just like Jr. Jr. did on 12-12-12. This is what I got:

 

We didn't miss it, though.

Happy 2-2-22, everyone.

It was also World Wetlands Day. We didn't go out to any wetlands but the world was definitely wet.

10-10-2020

 I still have to catch up on some of the things we've been doing lately but in the meantime

 "Happy 

10-10-2020

Yay and waa

Covid 19"

Jr. Jr. was a wiggly 2 year old on 12-12-12. He was a wiggly 4 year old on 12-13-14. Lucky is now the wiggly 6 year old on 10-10-2020.

What We Did to Celebrate on our Trip

We did some celebrating on our Montana/Yellowstone trip.
July 31 was Harry Potter's Birthday.  The kids made Harry Potter jokes several times during the day.  I don't have any pictures of that.
I do have a picture from Wiggle Your Toes Day, August 6.

We were so busy, we didn't do as much with some of those holidays that fell during our trip.
It was a really good trip, though.

What We Also Did at the Library

Another day we went to the library, they were having a presentation with someone from the Clark Planetarium talking about the upcoming total solar eclipse.  It was very interesting and it was neat to see how many of the kids there were quite knowledgeable already about astronomy.  Awesome kids.

I took this picture before the program started and showed it to Jeremy.  He said that's pretty typical of our kids or it's a good representation or something like that.  Nichole and Jr. reading, Lucky wiggling, and Jr. Jr. staring off into space.  Yep.  Those are our kids.  They did pay attention during the presentation, however.  Great job, kids.

 It was good library time.

12-13-14

Musn't forget that December 13 is Cocoa Day.  The kids were happy to have hot chocolate with dinner.

And Jr. Jr. went from being a wiggly 2 year old on 12-12-12 to a wiggly 4 year old on 12-13-14.