2018 Blue Jeans Week 27

Love the 4th of July!  I love my country, love to fly my flag, and love to honor and remember the brave young men and women who have given all so I can be free.  So grateful to those who have served and currently serve to keep us free, and so grateful to their families.  They give a huge sacrifice also!  We had the opportunity to go to a Major League Baseball game to see the KC Royals play.  Two of my girls were selected to sing in a youth choir at the game to sing The National Anthem.  That was pretty awesome to see them!  Enjoyed a BBQ on the fourth with friends and then enjoyed going to the temple as a family on Saturday.  Take a look at our week. ..

Miss O and Miss E singing The National Anthem at the Royals game Monday night.  They were part of a 20 member youth choir picked to sing.  They did awesome!

John Bytheway was throwing the opening pitch at the game, and the girls love him!  He is a religious motivational speaker.  They got to meet him and get a picture as they were getting ready to go in to sing before the game.

The choir getting all lined up and ready to sing.

What is more American than baseball?  And what is a baseball game without cotton candy??  Hello summer!

Our family at the Royals game.  It was fun!  We had good seats right above home base and out of the sun!

4th of July fun involved a water balloon fight at our house-- Mr J attaching Ben

Mowing lawns has been a big part of Mr J's summer.  He ran over a wire and had to spent quite a bit of time getting it off the mower one day this week.  Fun stuff!

Saturday we had the opportunity to head to the city and be together in the KC Temple to do baptisms as a family.  So fun to all go in together!  Sure love these people!

Thanks for visiting!  Hope you have a good week!

Friday thoughts--Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July!!!

Have fun celebrating!

Be careful with those fireworks!

but enjoy them and your family!

And be sure and thank the Lord for those that gave you the freedom and reason to celebrate today!

Friday thoughts

 My random Friday thoughts. . .

My weekly bathroom mirror inspirational quote.  So true, although I have no problem with ease, luxury, or constant thrills :) Okay, maybe I do.  They might get a little boring.  Maybe. . . :)  Maybe if I had the chance to try them out I could tell you for sure. . . ha, ha, ha.

Got my 4th of July theme going on the fireplace mantel in the family room.  Love it.  Got most of these off eighteen25  Love their subway art which can be found under their "Printables" button on the top menu on the site.

Have a great weekend!

Evidence

Evidence of a lot of fun had by all. . .

Sleeping outside in the tent. . .

fireworks. . .

and evidence of more fireworks. . .

and everyone loves those roman candles. . .

and sparklers. . .

evidence of a great time!

Hope your 4th was great too!  See you Monday!

2012 Blue Jeans Week 27

We were still on our mini-vacation this week in Branson, so photos for the week wrap it up there and then home for the 4th.  

Our friends have a 15 passenger van, and Sunday Ben and I took all the kids (9 total) to church in our friends' van.  (our friends had to be to church early for meetings) I made Ben drive :)  After driving around in the huge van my kids were convinced we needed to buy one, but I wasn't :)

Silver Dollar City and Mr J's favorite ride--the swings--he went on it several times.

Silver Dollar City was fun!

Went to eat at Lambert's the home of the famous throwed rolls, and my those rolls are good!  These kids had fun.

And these kids had even more fun, I swear between the two of them they caught and downed about a dozen rolls :)

Home and getting ready for the 4th and our BBQ.  We made these cool layered patriotic drinks that I saw on my favorite food blog Mel's Kitchen Cafe.  It is so awesome when things actually work like they are supposed to.  Everyone at the BBQ was very impressed with our drinks.  Thanks Mel!

Have I mentioned before that I love Mel's Kitchen Cafe?  We made her patriotic brownie kebabs for our BBQ dessert.  They were a big hit and very easy--I like things like that--yummy and easy.  Miss O was my big helper.

Miss O and Miss E have been into making friendship bracelets lately.  We have to think of things to do inside since it is way too hot to be outside.  I remember making lots of friendship bracelets in my day--a classic.

Thanks for visiting and have a great week as we pray for rain and cooler temperatures here this week.

Blue Jeans Week 25

We had a great 4th of July weekend.  Didn't do too much, kept it low key, watched fireworks from our back yard, went swimming, BBQ, Ben slept with the kids in a tent in the backyard, and enjoyed being together as a family.  Hope you all had a good one!

Sunday:  Our kids really like paying games--board games, card games, etc.  This afternoon they played PayDay with Ben.

Monday:  For part of our 4th of July dinner Miss E made patriotic strawberries dipped in white chocolate with blue sprinkles.  They were yummy!  She saw them in Family Fun.  Ben was her helper :)

Tuesday:  I love to fly our flag.  So grateful for our country, freedom, and the men and women that work so hard to keep it that way!  God bless them and their families!

Wednesday:  Nana taught Mr J a duet that they can do together.  Having a sucker in his mouth must have helped him play better :)

Thursday:  Like I have said before, we love the library and are there lots in the summer.  For each pound of books the kids read they get to donate a penny to the library for new books.  Mr J adds his 10 pennies for reading 10 lbs this week.  He is up to 100 lbs for the summer so far--super reader!

Friday:  Classic summer shot, I am watching the kids in the pool--love summer time!

Saturday:  Got up to a city and a Toys-R-Us to get these Poptropica toys.  My brother is a web designer for the kids' online game (he does the people and scenery), and they just came out with some toys from it.  My brother designed these toys.  The kids were so excited to get their Uncle's toys!  If your kids aren't Poptropica fans, they should be, it is a safe, fun online kids game, and so much fun!  All of my kids ages 6-13 play it.  Check it out  http://www.poptropica.com/

Hope you all have a great week!  I am getting caught up on my paper Project Life this week.  Catching up on my journal cards and putting photos in.  Love it!

  

What can you do for a nickel?

With movies near $10 a person, amusement parks $30, can you do anything for a nickel? We found out you can. How about ride an old-fashioned carousel?

A nickel a ride, can't beat that! Here kids, I am feeling generous, take a dollar and knock yourselves out!
Giddy-up horsie!

A pretty fancy carousel for a nickel.

What about a quarter??

How about a train ride?

We like those in our family. Over the 4th of July weekend we headed about an hour south to a small town that has a really fun park with the $.05 carousel, $.25 train rides, and $1 miniature golf. Cheap fun, very American, and we had plenty of cash left over for ice cream. Can't beat it!

The Calm before the explosion

My house is nice and quiet, calm, serene, peaceful, and a whole bunch more of those similar adjectives because Ben has all 4 kiddos with him. Bless him. But the situation is quickly going to change because he took them to the firework stand!! Ahh! My kids go crazy when those open, and the situation is doubly bad for us because fireworks can only be sold outside the town limits and there is a stand set up along the road we go into town on every day. About 2 weeks before the 4th they start asking, "When is the firework stand going to open??" After it finally opens my kids beg and beg and beg to stop every time we drive by which is several times a day as we go into town for whatever. I have learned from years past to say "Your dad will take you, so you will have to ask him." This saves me. So when I hear all the begging as I cart kids around I reply, "Your dad is taking you. Talk to him." So tonight they pounced on him as soon as he got home from work. Poor guy didn't even have a chance. I repeat, bless him. I am a very lucky woman. So, they are there now. This is the calm before the explosion. I will let you know how we survive. Hope you have a good 4th too!