2019 Blue Jeans Week 43

Fun week.  Miss E and I went on an awesome college visit and got to spend time with family and see my two college girls!  Ben and Mr J fended for themselves at home, but rocked the regional cross country race, so next week both Miss E and Mr J are headed to state!!  Take a look at our week...

Happy birthday to this amazing guy!  Sure love him!!!

On the plane.  First time for Miss E to fly, and she loved it!

Lunch with Miss O!  So fun to see her!

My girls--all together again--with the pretty fall colors!

Miss E loving campus! 

We got to see and stay with my 93 year old grandma who is so amazing and had homemade cookies, caramel popcorn, and crocheted hot pads waiting for us.  Sure love her!  I want to be just like her when I grow up!

Eating sushi with my girls!

Exploring Provo with Miss E and Miss A--Provo City Temple 

Having lots of fun in Provo!

And a trip to BYU is not complete without getting BYU creamery ice cream.  Oh, the best!

Got to stay with my amazing in-laws!  They are the best!  Sure love them but we were missing Ben and Mr J! 

Mr J was busy back home qualifying with his team and the girls team for state cross country!  State here we come next week!  Woohoo!

Thanks for visiting!  Hope you had a great week!

Blue Jeans Week 42

An amazing week this week.  My dad turned 70, and all my siblings came out for it, and it has been 14 years since we have all been together at my parents' home!  It was awesome to all be together.  We just all live different places and getting us all in the same place at the same time has been pretty hard, so we sure enjoyed the few days we had to be together!  Take a look at our week...

Contemplating my dirty laundry this week...with 2 of my 4 kids out of the house, I do a lot less laundry, and who would ever think that doing LESS laundry could make you sad?  Life is full of different stages, and despite the challenges, we need to enjoy the stages we are in.  I am grateful for the stage I am in where I still have my wonderful husband's and two kids' laundry to do, but I am also grateful that my oldest 2 kids are able to be learning and growing and doing their own laundry in the stages they are in.

League cross country race for the week!  These two did awesome!  Regional and then hopefully state coming up in the next few weeks!

Picture from my college girls who had homecoming this week and went to an awesome concert during the celebrations!

And this amazing man is my Dad, and I did not get a very good picture, but at least I got one (because pictures are not his favorite things).  He turned 70 this week!  Happy Birthday Dad!  I made him his favorite banana cream pie.

My mom, brother-in-law, two nephews and I enjoyed a bike ride this week while my kids were in school as they came to celebrate my dad's birthday.

And this cute guy's birthday is coming up, and for his birthday I took him to see the Broadway touring musical of Dear Evan Hansen.  Wow!  It was powerful! I admit I cried multiple times.

The whole gang is together!  My two sisters and my brother.  Sure love them and so fun to all be together (first time in 14 years to all be together at my parents' home) for a few days for my dad's birthday!

Thanks for visiting!  Hope you have a great week!

2019 Blue Jeans Week 41

We had a great week with a long weekend which was nice.  We got away with our bikes to Bentonville, Arkansas which has tons of really nice bike trails.  We really enjoyed it.  Great cross country race this week.  Take a look at our week...

Miss E making some yummy "Daddy muffins."  They are a recipe Ben made for me when we were dating, and is a recipe that he made for the kids a lot when they were little, so they have hence earned the name of "Daddy Muffins."  I think the original recipe calls them a French breakfast puff?

Cross country race for the week.  It was a beautiful day, and these two posted their best times for the season and both got 12th in their varsity races.  Woohoo!  A great day for cross country!

We headed to Bentonville, AR for a long weekend.  Little did we know they had received over 7 inches of rain last week and 1 1/2 inches of rain the night before we got there.  This bike trail we tried to go on around a lake was completely covered.  Thankfully they had lots of other bike trails away from water that we enjoyed during our time there.

Tried a yummy Thai place for dinner.  Miss E liked it a lot more than Mr J :)

Heading off to hit the bike trails one morning from our hotel.  It was cold in the morning, but was a beautiful, sunny day, and we really enjoyed it!

We found some pretty spots to take some senior pictures of Miss E, but we ended up doing it during the middle of the day, so Mr J helped out with our lighting adjustments :)  Our awesome umbrella holder!

And then he was just being silly.  He enjoyed texting these pictures to entertain his other sisters at college who we missed a lot!  We all had some good laughs, especially Miss E when she saw it afterward.

Fun family time!

They have an amazing art museum Crystal Bridges in Bentonville, and they have miles and miles of nature trails with art along the way.  We really enjoyed our time there, and the weather was perfect!

Thanks for visiting! Hope you had a great week!

2019 Blue Jeans Week 40

Happy first week of October!  Fall weather has finally arrived here, and I love it!  Got my pumpkins out and loving the cooler temps.  This week we had homecoming which is always a lot of fun.  Miss E was a candidate, and she really enjoyed the week. No cross country this week.  The meet was cancelled because of rain.  Darn, but we have two next week to make up for it.  Take a look...

Mr J helping me cook dinner.  He was making cilantro lime rice for our Cafe Rio pork.  Yum!

Fall homecoming candidates being presented to the student body this week.  A great group of kids!

Chocolate chip cookies are our thing, and I made them for the cross country team dinner this week.  I insist on using butter and real vanilla when I make them because I feel like it makes a difference.  Unfortunately real vanilla has been outrageously expensive lately, so I looked into how to make my own.  After 6 months "cooking" (basically just sitting on a shelf and me shaking the bottle once a week) my homemade real vanilla is done, and I was able to use it to make these yummy cookies this week.  Yum!  Excited to have real vanilla to use that is so cheap, and I made it myself!

Homecoming parade.  Mr J in there with the cross country team.

And Miss E and her escort in the parade.  Always so much fun!

So proud of this girl!  She is amazing  

Friday night lights, the ceremony before the football game.

One of her best friends who she has known since kindergarten won, and she was so happy for her.  They both looked beautiful!

Thanks for visiting!  Hope you have a great week!