2018 Blue Jeans Week 25

Loving summer!  Had a great Father's day--our kids are blessed with the best dad ever!  Mr J and I made some freezer jam--one of my favorite things ever!  Enjoyed some girlfriend time and just had a good week overall.  Take a look at our week...

Father's Day--these kids are truly blessed with the Best Dad EVER!  Sure love this guy and so glad he is mine!

Strawberry freezer jam is seriously one of my favorite things ever.  Mr J and I made some batches of strawberry freezer jam and then he wanted to try a mixed berry (raspberry, blueberry, blackberry) kind.  Yes, there is a lot of sugar in those recipes, but man, you can't beat a piece of toast with butter and jam on it. Pure comfort food in my book!  I was raised on strawberry freezer jam and I can't live without it!

Got to go to lunch with some great fiends this week!  Sure love all these ladies!!!

And after a long days work for these ladies, they enjoy relaxing and reading on the front porch.

Thursday nights in the summer they always have a free community band concert and ice cream social in our small town.  We try to go at least once in the summer.  This Thursday the weather was so nice--actually cool--so we went to town to hear the band concert, and it was a lot of fun!

And after a very long week of hard work, these two have fun on the trampoline Friday night.  So ready for a weekend!

Thanks for visiting!  Hope you have a great week!

2018 Blue Jeans Week 24

Loving summer!  Girls are all working full-time jobs Monday through Friday and Mr J is mowing lots of yards, so the days are pretty quiet here with everyone gone, but we enjoy our evenings home together!  Take a look at our week. . . 

Mr J was asked to play a special musical number for another church this past week.  He did a great job!

Ben, Miss O, and Miss A working on Father's Day cards.  We need to get them in the mail!

Miss O decided she needed something different with her hair, so this is her "before" shot

This is her after--about 8-10 inches off, layers, and some subtle coloring.  So pretty!

She loves it!  It is so cute!  She is excited for college now!  Just a few more months!

We watched some friend's kids this week, and Mr J had fun with them jumping on the trampoline with the sprinkler on.  It just wouldn't be summer with out doing that at least once!

A quiet evening with Ben showing Mr J and Miss E something interesting on his phone :)

And these girls are working super hard this summer cleaning out and fixing up an old school that a friend of ours bought.  They either come home covered in dirt or paint, so today they were paint covered!  Definitely earning their money this summer!

Mr J and Ben relaxing and playing Mastermind one evening.

Hope you have a great week!  Come back soon!  Thanks for visiting!

2018 Blue Jeans Week 23

Loving summer!  It is nice to catch up on some things!  My girls are very busy working full time M-F and Mr J is mowing laws this summer.  My house is pretty quiet during the day, but we sure enjoy our evenings with the whole family home.  It was a good week this week with Mr J heading to scout camp and Miss E had a church youth conference.  Take a look at our week. . .

Miss E and her 'tribe' from youth conference.  A great group of girls that had a lot of fun together!

Mr J's summer job consists of lots of this activity!

Mr J and his troop ready to head off to boy scout camp.  They had a lot of fun!

Miss E and Miss O have a summer job working for a friend who bought this old school and is fixing it up.  Lots of work!  It is something different for them, but they are enjoying it.  This is the old gym.  They took us out there to see what they were up to and working on this week.

A taste of summer--shaved ice!  Perfect on a hot day!

Over a month ago I lost one of the side diamonds in my wedding ring, so I took it in to get it fixed, and it took over a month to get it back.  I was without my ring (which I never, ever take off) for over a month.  I was SOOOO happy to get it back this week!  While it was gone I would freak out every time I felt it gone and think, "AH!  Where is my ring???  I lost it!!" and then I would have to remind myself it was getting fixed.....so happy it is back!  

Miss A and I went to visit the family of her old roommate, and this is her cute little brother that we enjoyed visiting with.  

Thanks for visiting!  Hope you have a great week!

2018 Blue Jeans Week 22

Finally catching up!  And our last few days of vacation were this week and then we got back to "normal" life--whatever that means.  "Re-entry"--what I call returning to life after vacation-- is always sort of rough, but we sure enjoyed out time together as a family.  Take a look at our last week. . .

Spent a fun day in Gatlinburg, Tennessee! And Yes, we did see two black bears during our time in the park!  Pretty impressive!

Enjoyed some amazing Southern food at Paula Deen's restaurant in Pigeon Forge, TN.  So good!!!

Spent a fun down down by the River Bottoms in the park.

Hiked up to an old school house which was a short mile hike round trip, but as we were leaving the school house it started pouring rain!  We were so soaked by the time we got back to the car!  The longest half mile ever! 

And one last look at the beautiful Smokies before we head home....

Got home and Miss O had her seminary graduation.  Seminary is an early morning (6 a.m.) scripture study class that our church has for all high schoolers.  Miss O has gone all 4 years--every day she has school she has 6 a.m. seminary!  Way to go Miss O!!!  We are proud of you!

In the summer my kids enjoy cooking and doing creative things in the kitchen.  First summer kitchen project was decorating cupcakes.  Miss E got some cool new piping tips--Russian piping tips--and enjoyed trying them out.  Looks pretty impressive to me!

Thanks for catching up on us!  Hope you are well and have a great week!

2018 Blue Jeans Week 21

Continuing our vacation at Great Smoky Mountains National Park....

Hiked to Grotto Falls today....so pretty!

The Smoky Mountains

We hiked about 8 miles on the Appalachian trail.  Miss E thought the Maine destination looked good :)  

Clingman's Dome which is the highest point in the park.  You can drive up there and then take a steep half mile hike to this lookout.  It was pretty impressive!

Hiking along the Appalachian trail was so beautiful, but it was also a pretty tough hike!

We hiked along the Appalachian trail to Charlie's Bunion which was the beautiful rock cliff.  You could see forever!  So beautiful.  It was a full 8 miles out and back which was the longest hike we have ever done so far as a family.  We have done a lot of shorter ones, but this was our longest. We were all very sore and tired, but proud of ourselves!

And this boy had a birthday while we were there!  Happy 13th birthday Mr J!

There is a ski resort in the area that has an alpine slide and Mountain roller coaster which we enjoyed one day.  

More pictures coming.....getting caught up....thanks for visiting!

2018 Blue Jeans Week 20

So I am totally playing catch-up again....we had graduation and then school got out for the other kids, and then we left on vacation, so I am just getting caught up here on the blog...This week was the last few days of school for Mr J and Miss E, and then we headed on vacation to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  Pretty awesome.  Take a look. . .

We so LOVED having Ben's Mom and Dad here for graduation!  Ben and his wonderful Mom.  So awesome to have her here on Mother's day!  She is an amazing Mom!!!

A picture of my flowers right now.  All the iris are in bloom and so pretty.  It was nice to have these out for the graduation party!

Miss E and I celebrating her being done with school!  She will be my lone high school-er next year!

Got in one final Girls' Lunch Out before school got out for the summer.  We take a break for the summer, but start up in August as soon as school starts. Sure love these amazing friends of mine!

Last band concert was this week for middle school.  Mr J had a solo in the jazz band.  He did awesome!

And then school got out and we packed up the car and headed on vacation!!!!  We planned it early to accommodate every one's summer work schedules.  All 3 girls are working full-time this summer, so this was the best time to go.  We have always wanted to visit the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  We love National Parks, and this one did not disappoint!

Our first full day there we went on this beautiful hike to the Laurel Falls waterfall.  So pretty!  It is so green there and so many TALL trees!

This is the cabin we rented for the week we were there.  The picture really doesn't to it justice, but the driveway was SCARY STEEP!  The cabin was wonderful, though!  We sure loved the remote and quiet location, but still just a short drive to town.

Thanks for visiting!  More vacation pictures coming!