2023 Blue Jeans Week 25

Hope all the father's out there had a great Father's Day.  We are so grateful for the fathers, grandfathers, uncles and amazing men in our lives!  Ben is the best!  It was a fun week.  We all got away to different places and had fun.  Take a look...

Mr and Mrs A made this pretty amazing Father's Day Card! 

Our Amazing Ben and who joined us for Father's Day.  Love having them here!

Mr J's awesome gift to Ben.  Hamilton figurines :)

My cake this month was for Father's Day.  It is a German chocolate bundt cake.  Ben likes German chocolate, and this did not disappoint!

Date night this week was our town's weekly summer band concert on the square.  A fun summer tradition that we like to go to at least once a summer.  It is a good date night!

We took off Friday for a little weekend getaway to Northwest Arkansas.  It has a lot of bike trails.  We enjoyed some bike rides around a beautiful lake.

We had this whole crew with us which was so fun!

They also had a temple open house in Bentonville, AR that we enjoyed going through. Such a beautiful building!  Right after they build them, they open them to the public to tour for free before they close it just for church use. 

Enjoying some outdoor art.

We needed a treat one night, so the three of us went out for a shake and ice cream cone.  Yum!

While we were exploring in Arkansas for the weekend, these three were exploring some national parks.  They went to Bryce National Park.

And they also went to the Grand Canyon. So cool!  They camped and hike around both places.  So fun they are together!  Fun weekend all around.

Thanks for visiting!  Hope you are safe, happy, and healthy wherever you are!  Have a great week!

 

2023 Blue Jeans Week 24

Super great summer week here. I took a day and went up to the city to see the C's.  Love that they are so close!!!!  Take a look at our week...

Sunday we had extra time for our game, so we did Catan.  It is a classic that I love to play.

Went up to the city to spend some time with the C's.  Took them to get super yummy BBQ!  So excited they are so close!

Mr J went for a walk and picked me some wildflowers this week.  Love it!

The C's brought out my grandmother's table for me.  Got it all set up.  Many memories growing up sitting around this table and eating my DeeDee's amazing food and cookies.  So much love!  I am blessed that I was able to get it when she passed.  

Our hydrangea looks gorgeous right now!

Date night this week was playing some of our two person games on the side porch.  It was a beautiful evening and fun to be together.

Saturday was all things sourdough...making sourdough pizza for dinner, making sour dough bread and feeding my sour dough starter.

Made sour dough sandwich bread, and it is so good!  Using the cookbook from Lo's Kitchen here

And look who came down this weekend for Father's day?  So fun the C's are so close!  Mr J enjoys not being the only child now.  We enjoyed sourdough pizza, played some games, and watched a movie Saturday night.  So fun!

Thanks for visiting!  Hope you are safe, healthy and well wherever you are.  Have a great week!

2023 Blue Jeans Week 23

Started out the week not feeling very good and ended the week with Mrs OC and Mr JC moving to the city a few hours from us!  So exciting!  Take a look at our week...

Had a horrible sore throat, ended up going to the doctor and got lots of stuff to help me feel better quickly.  Haven't been sick in a long time.  Grateful all this stuff made me feel better soon!

Some of our pretty flowers on our front porch. I love the geraniums!

We had a wet, rainy day, so Mr J and I took a walk with the umbrella in the rain.  

We have been babysitting Mrs OC's car until they move out here, and Mr J got to drive it this week.  He liked it!

We moved in Mrs OC and Mr JC to the city a few hours from us.  We are SO excited to have them closer!  They will be attending medical school and grad school.

We spent the night with my sister this weekend.  Fun to see her.

There was an awesome British car show in the city that we walked through.

Went together to see the new Spiderman movie. After all the moving and unpacking we needed a break, and it was a good one!  So excited to have these two closer!

Thanks for visiting!  Hope you had a great week!  

 

2023 Blue Jeans Week 22

OK, I am finally caught up!!!!We had a wedding Memorial Day weekend and it was beautiful!  Summer has offically started.  Mr J is working full time.  Track is officially over.  We need to soak up all the summer fun!  Take a look...

One of my best friend's daughters got married over Memorial Day weekend at a beautiful ranch in the middle of nowhere.  It was gorgeous!  This is who I made the wedding cake for.  

Mr J had his last piano lesson this week.  He decided to be done with them end of May and not do them over the summer.  He has been taking from the same amazing teacher since he was in kindergarten.  

Some of my beautiful lilies that are blooming right now.

This week we put the hammocks out on the side porch and have enjoyed them and reading out there this week. 

Mr J made some homemade "authentic" Lofthouse style cookies.  Yummy!

And just loving my morning walks around the lake even with it getting a little warmer and sweater!

Thanks for catching up with us!  Appreciate your being here!  Hope all is well with you and yours!  Have a great week!

 

2023 Blue Jeans Week 21

Ok, May 21-27 was a crazy busy week!  Mr J is working full time at a bank this summer but still had daily track practice because of state track at the end of this week.  He had his 18th birthday!  And last state track meet and the last track meet that Ben and I will ever have to go to!  Crazy!  Our last, lasts!  Take a look...

Mr J has played duets with his friend for years.  Today they were asked to play at a special private recital, and it was the last time they will ever play together.  

Sunday game of Chronology with a puzzle in the middle.  That is how we do it.

Had lunch with a dear friend this week.  Love her!

I made a wedding cake!  It is a very non-traditional wedding cake--it is a Boston Cream Pie cake--but that is what the bride and groom wanted.  Excited to go to the wedding and see it there!

Ben and the puzzle we were working on this week.

I had a dear friend who had a very significant house fire.  I went over to her house to help her inventory what was lost.  Wow, that was hard.  It was also just a difficult environment to be in physically with the burned house, even though it had burned over a month ago. It was just surreal.  As we were leaving a huge thunderstorm come up and we got soaked going to our cars.  Driving home I went through the worst thunderstorm with torrential rain and hail.  It was scary!  

Happy Birthday to this amazing kid!  He is now officially an adult!  He did not want cake.  He wanted Lofthouse sugar cookies :)

His present from Grandpa, his favorite cereal :) He loves cereal!

The state track meet qualifiers at their state send off. A great group of kids!

Mr J and a man that has gone above and beyond to help and coach Mr J in his running out of the kindness of his heart.  He has ran and coached running his whole life and is now retired and just loves to keep helping kids.  He has been a blessing in Mr J's life!

Ben and I at our last track meet EVER!  We have gone to a lot of track meets over the years with 4 kids running junior high and high school track.  This is our 4th time at the state track meet. Once with Miss E and 3 times with Mr J.  A bittersweet moment for sure!

Mr J's 2 miles race ready to start!  His last track race ever!

All done!  So proud of this kid!  He was tired and done!  What an amazing season he has had!  

Thanks for catching up with us!!

 

2023 Blue Jeans Week 20

May 14-20th we enjoyed having the family here for the first part of the week.  I cannot believe we celebrated Mother's day with all my girls, me, my mom and Ben's mom, and I did not get a picture.  That is sad.  But we sure had fun!  So grateful for the amazing mothers in my life!  Take a look at this week...

Monday Ben took off and we headed to a resort area near us and had a picnic lunch of roasted hot dogs (it was raining) and s'mores.  My favorite!  Our amazing hot dog cookers!

Playing Chronology at the resort.

Mr J and Miss E playing some pool while Grandma and Grandpa watch. 

We had a fun time at the resort together!

Happy Birthday (Late) to the amazing Miss E!  We needed to celebrate and have cake when she was home! She requested a ricotta cake with strawberry basil filling.  It was yummy!

And then we had one more birthday to celebrate a little early.  Mr A!  His birthday is in a few weeks, and as we were eating a different cake on a different day (yes, we had lots of cake while everyone was here) we stuck a candle in his last bite and sang to him a few weeks early since we can't be there in person.  Sure love him!

Mr JC is an amazing tennis player and our dear friend in town loves to play tennis.  They had a match which was so fun to watch!  Mr JC won, and they had a great handshake at the end.  

The one picture I of got from Mother's day?  My flowers.  Always love flowers!  These yellow ones were so pretty!

Loving my morning walks by the lake!  So pretty!

A very wet, cold regional track meet was this week, and this amazing kid had a spectacular finish and sprinted at the end of a very long 2 mile race to be regional champion!!!  He is headed to state track next week!  He has made it to the state track meet for the 2 mile for 3 of his 3 years of high school track (can't be 4 because no track his freshmen year because of COVID) What a great way to end his senior year!  My mom joined us in blankets and umbrellas to cheer him on! 

Thanks for catching up with us!