2012 Blue Jeans Week 35

Monday holidays always mess me up.  I am always thinking, "so is tomorrow a Sunday or Tuesday?"  Where am I and what do I need to do?  But it is always so nice to have a holiday.  Our weekend was really fun.  We played more on Saturday, so we could really labor on Labor Day--like doing our Saturday jobs and painting our new windows inside.  So here is some pictures from our week.

We are so extremely blessed to live near my parents.  They came over for Sunday dinner, and after Mr J likes to read with Grandpa.  

Three years ago we replaced half of our windows, and this week we replaced the other half, so all our windows are new--yeah!  Cross that house project off the list and move onto the next.  They are vinyl outside and wood inside, so now we get to paint--another item to add onto the never-ending house 'to-do' list.  Anyone else have a list like that???

Okay, I did finally get up to see Ben's seminary class this week.   I am so not a morning person (at least not a  happy one) and waking up early is not my thing, but I did it today and got a picture of the awesome kids and my amazing husband who occupy our basement every weekday morning for New Testament study.  Way to go Ben and kids!

Today was Miss A's first ever high school cross country meet.  She is a freshman, and her coach felt she was good enough to run in the varsity girls race.  Gulp!  My freshman baby running with juniors and seniors, I was a little worried, but she did awesome!!!!  There were about 90 girls running, and freshman Miss A got 10th!!!  Way to go!  She was amazing!  It was so hot that day, and her cute teammate has a glass of water ready for her as she runs by on the 4K race.  Go Miss A!  It is going to be a great season!

If you know us very well at all, you know we are huge BYU fans.  Ben and I both graduated from there.  Both sets of our parents graduated from there also.  We sadly don't live anywhere near the campus and miss the games, but we always check the schedules to see if our team is playing anywhere near us.  This year the BYU women's volleyball team was playing in a tournament a few hours from our house this weekend, and we decided to go.  It was so fun!  We were able to see them play 2 different teams, and they won the whole tournament.  After the last game they had a big team huddle, and we saw the coach look over at us and then the players and then when they broke their huddle the whole team came over to us (there were not many people there, and we were sitting court side) and they gave us hugs and high fives and thanked us so much for coming.  The kids were super excited!!!  They got autographs and pictures.

This is Jennifer Hamson who is 6'7" and is an amazing player for BYU.  She is also on their basketball team.  The girls were super excited to meet her.

Mr J was excited to have her sign his shirt :)

Thanks for visiting and have a great week!

** A special note to my Japanese friend Marie, yes, my browser translates your blog so I can read it.  I am happy you are going to church!  I love you and your family!

Catch up--Blue Jeans Week 29

2nd week of vacation, and apologies to our dear friends in Utah that we weren't able to see--with all Ben's family (7 siblings) and all my family and activities we just didn't have the time to see everyone we wanted to.  I hate not being able to see friends, but you can only do so much in the time you have, so forgive us friends, just come see us! :) 

At Ben's parents one of the favorite activities was racing balls down the stream. 

One of Mr J's highlights was riding on the Frontrunner train and seeing a freight train or "real train" as he told me "Mom, that is my first time seeing a real train outside a car!"

"And they are really loud!"  he yelled at me as it went right by and he covered his ears. 

Loved riding on the train with his cousins!

The Frontrunner was really run!  It is a commuter train, and we were able to go "on the top story" as the kids told everyone after. 

Did some hiking in the beautiful mountains!

So fun to go hiking with Grandpa and cousins!  We don't get that opportunity often in the flat lands!

So loved being with Ben's parents--they are amazing!  We love and miss you so much Grandpa and Grandma!  Come see us soon!

We made it a priority to get to our Alma-mater--haven't been there in years.  Ben was super excited to see the football stadium, he just really wished we could come back in a few more weeks to see a game--that would be fun.  We told Miss A when she gets there to school (in 5 years!) that we would come see a game with her.  Love BYU football--can't wait until they start!  Rise and Shout!

The "Y" on the mountain.  We were planning on hiking up to it, but it was too hot--we were wimps, so we went to the Art Museum and got ice cream at the creamery instead :)

The kids at Bridalveil falls.

Got to spend some time with my younger sister and her family.  They had to dig up some of their yard for an addition, and this sand is their soil!  I couldn't believe it.  They made a ready made sandbox by just digging up their yard!  That was mind boggling to us from the clay soil capital of the world!  Miss E had fun being buried in the sand by her cousins.

Miss E got to play some pool with her great-Grandpa!

Loved spending time with my grandparents--my kids great-grandparents.  I am so blessed they are healthy and happy and still around for my kids to treasure for a while!  What a blessing to see them!!

Relaxing at the pool--a vacation is supposed to be about relaxing, right?  Sometimes I wonder. . . :)  Mr J was perfecting he "cannonball dive" as he calls it.  "Mom!" he calls, "take a picture of my cannonball dive!"  Got it--that is my job :) 

Stay tuned, more to come. . .