Fresh Air After Sickness

Fresh air is a wonderful thing after you've been sick. When I was starting to feel better, I went out for a walk one morning. It was such a nice morning that I got away with wearing a sweatshirt and not a heavy coat. Later I was surprised to find out it was snowing. I told you March didn't come in like a lion but we've had a few snowstorms.

As I walked near the lake I was pleased to find I was being serenaded by red-winged blackbirds. It was so pleasant. 

At one point I thought about turning around instead of making a loop. I'm glad I didn't. If I had, I wouldn't have seen the great blue heron and green-winged teals and other birds that were a little farther on.

Another neat thing was the group of Canada geese flying around that flew so close to me I could hear their wings flap right over my head. I LOVE BIRDS!

The last bird I saw before getting back in the van was a bald eagle that was flying around. I love it.

Another day, Jet and I went out for a walk (or walks because we went for walks in two different spots).

There's a good reason to bring a camera and binoculars when I go out for walks. At a duck pond, besides the park ducks, we saw a female hooded merganser.

We ended up at Utah Lake State Park to look at gulls and a bald eagle.

There was a gull in my way where I was driving so I slowed down and stopped to give it time to move. As soon as I stopped, a bunch of other gulls flew down right in front of me. I had to start moving just so they would move. It gave me a chuckle.

It was gorgeous and so nice to get some fresh air with my walking buddy.

March Did Not Come In Like a Lion

March did not come in like a lion... besides me being sick. Jet and I were sick together. We have had a few snow storms since the beginning of March, though.

March 4 was National Sons Day. Apparently Sons Day shows up twice in a year, March and September. I had some bonding time with the boys. They got to play video games.

We also ate fish sticks for National Tartar Sauce Day.

Snow Goose Festival

We made the trip down to the Delta Snow Goose Festival again this year. We're slowly starting to do things with other people again as in our whole family drove down together in the van but when we were out of the van we were around other birders from Utah County Birders.

Jet slept through most of it. He woke up in time to say goodbye to another birding buddy who is less than a year younger than he is and goes out birding soooooo much with his mom and grandma. I wouldn't mind getting out more with Jet again.

 

We drove home by way of driving around West Mountain. It was pleasant until some of the kids had had enough of the trip and started fighting. I made them get out and do jumping jacks to get out some of that excess energy that they were using for fighting. I'll have to remember that for next time. We did see a beautiful ferruginous hawk, some bald eagles, and plenty of other birds.

 

It felt so good to take up this tradition again of going to the snow goose festival around Jeremy's birthday. We didn't bring a big chocolate cake to share this year but when we got home, we did have Jeremy's birthday dinner and I did make him a chocolate cake. 

 

Then he opened his cards and his birthday present and saw the book he knew he was getting then saw the bookmark (Utah State Parks Pass) he didn't know he was getting. He was very happy about that extra surprise. He's happy to let me use it, too, since we're both planning on doing more birding this year.

I think Jeremy was pleased with how we celebrated his birthday this year.

Being Sick Makes Catchup Stink

Being sick stinks. 

I was doing so well blogging in January. Then February wasn't so bad, either. Then I got sick. Blaaaaaah. Stinks. So now I've got to do all that catching up again. Whine. Whine. Whine. Complain complain complain. Sigh.

Well, now that I have that out of the way, let me tell you about some of the ways we've been celebrating. 

February 21 was the Anniversary of the Legend of Zelda. Nichole drew a Zelda comic (If you give that girl a medium...).

People may or may not have played video games.

I already blogged about 2-22-22.

 

February 23 was National Rationalization Day. I didn't take any pictures. Ha.

February 24 was National Chili Day and National Tortilla Chip Day.

That's it for this installment of catching up after sickness. Blaah.

I Can Do What I Want. It's My Day Off

I've mentioned before that I am burned out. I've tried to take days off, I've tried to take afternoons or evenings off, I've tried to take some time to myself. Just to be clear, time to myself is not catching up on the dishes while Jet's asleep. Time off has not worked so well lately. Either I take Jet with me and he has different ideas of what it means to "stay by Mommy," or my time spent "relaxing" in my room is interrupted every 10 minutes by people wanting something, or I schedule my time and someone gets sick. 

Let's be clear about something else. I love my family. I love spending time with them. I love each individual child and their personalities. I love my husband so much. Life, however, sometimes burns you out. That's what happened to me. I needed a BIG break. I hadn't gotten one. Then I did. My husband made sure that I got a whole day off to myself. At first I thought of taking Jet with me but Jeremy told me to take a day completely to myself. That meant actually getting out of the house and doing what I wanted to do.

I had some plans then as I was getting ready that morning, I remembered, "what about watching the sunrise?" I haven't done that in a while. I always love watching the light shine more and more on the hills across the lake then come across to this side.

So I hurried to finish getting ready then headed out. As I started driving, I realized I didn't have to go directly to where I planned to watch the sunrise. "I can do what I want. It's my day off." And that became the theme of the day. I didn't have to stick to some schedule. I could change my mind. "I can do what I want. It's my day off."

So I headed out to Provo Canyon, drove past mostly frozen Bridal Veil Falls, and kept changing my mind about turning around or not. As I turned onto South Fork Road, I remembered there are some really pretty views of the mountains up that road so as I continued driving up the road, I could see the sun illuminating the mountain in my side mirror. Ahhhh.

I stopped at South Fork Park to watch the light creeping down the hills just like the hills across the lake. I got out in the cold to watch better and to take pictures and it was worth it. So gorgeous. I love nature! It was already rejuvenating me. 

;.,.u ....ujk 

(This is what happens when I try to blog while dozing off and a baby and dinosaurs are sitting on my lap. Those dinosaurs- always trying to jump on the keyboard)

I watched some ravens flying around and listened to a flicker. I picked a spot near the stream, though, so I mostly heard water.

After a while of standing there, my toes were getting pretty cold. I even had the thought to go back home and get an extra layer of socks on. The best bet, though, was to go back to the van and let my toes warm up a bit. I started walking toward the van then thought I should take one more picture of the light on the hills so I turned around around to go back to my spot and there in the stream were a pair of American dippers. Eeeee. I would have missed them if I hadn't decided to take another picture. Yay for my love of trying to capture even a little bit on camera what I experience out in nature. I'm not a photographer so my pictures aren't great but they help with the memories.

So I spent longer in the cold watching the dippers (also worth it) before getting my last picture of the hills then going back to the van where I did some scripture study. I used to bring my scriptures when I'd watch sunrises. It was a good combination of reading God's word and seeing God's creations so I made sure to bring my scriptures this time.

I said goodby to the hills and dippers and everything else and drove back down the canyon while listening to "The Score" on the radio. Then I headed up to Farmington Bay where I spent hours and hours and hours walking and driving around enjoying nature. 

 

I ate my lunch while watching a harrier fly around and thought, "I don't have to take pictures, I can just watch it." Though I did try to take some pictures. I can't help myself. There were so many harriers.

Going with the theme of the day, "I can do what I want. It's my day off," when eating breakfast that morning, I decided not to save any for anyone else. I packed the rest in a thermos and ate it for lunch. Yumm.

I spent so much time in nature that day, walking and driving, getting sunburned (just a little). After Farmington Bay, I headed up to Antelope Island and found a little spot to just sit and relax for a while. It was nice not having to do anything, not thinking about all the things I had to do at home. I did some people watching. I hadn't done that in a while. It's usually bird watching. It really felt good, though, to just do nothing, just rest. I also did some hiking which was nice.

I also visited my sister and we chatted for a while. That was nice. I love family. I love my sisters. I love my brothers. I love my parents. Ahhh.

I got home and as I was putting trip stuff away, one of my children came in to ask for things. Jeremy was right there in the room. Seriously? I just got home. I let my child know it was still my day off so he stopped. Heh heh heh. Jeremy took care of things right up until midnight and I finished the day by celebrating the holiday on February 19, National Chocolate Mint Day, with a peppermint patty.

Earlier in the day, Jeremy gave the kids Kellogg's cereal to celebrate the anniversary of when William Kellogg founded the breakfast cereal company.