2021 Blue Jeans Week 6

Burr!  It is COLD outside!  We haven't seen above freezing temps this whole week and won't see it until maybe Friday of this week.  Wind chills of -27 and the low today is supposed to be -14!!!  That is without the wind chill!  Burr!  School cancelled today and tomorrow.  Rolling blackouts because everyone is using so much electricity to stay warm.  Just crazy!  We are grateful we have a wood burning stove to help our heaters keep up because it is just way too cold!  Wherever you are, I hope you are safe and warm!  Take a look at our week!

The week started out cold, and it just got even colder!  Record breaking cold!  Colder than I ever remember it getting.  Wind chills in the negatives and not seeing temps above freezing for almost 2 weeks!  Got some snow early this week and Mr J shoveled the front walk. It is covered again in inches of snow and with more still coming.  Hello February winter!

Our Annual family Valentine's day box.  It was not as spectacular as it usually is.  Not as many people to help decorate it now.

Fun thing this week was we finally got to attend Mr J's band Christmas concert.  It was postponed from December because half the band was in COVID quarantine or had COVID, so it was fun to attend the concert this week and hear the band--limited numbers allowed in, socially distanced seating and masks required.  Christmas music never goes out of style and we had more winter weather now to accompany the Christmas music than we had in December!  Mr J had an awesome solo in one of the jazz band numbers.  It was awesome!

Documenting some more family history.  This old fashioned refrigerator sits in our entryway.  It was Ben's great-grandma's.  The top opens and that is where they would put the big chunks of ice to keep the food cool that they put in the main part of the refrigerator.  This was in Ben's parents home and when they decided to sell their home and go on a mission several years ago they asked if any of the kids wanted anything, and Ben and I requested this.  It is a beautiful piece of furniture but also of family history.

It would not be Valentine's at our house without making heart shaped frosted sugar cookies.  We got out the icing bags and decorating tips and did some pretty fancy ones this year.  These are so good!  It is my favorite recipe of my mom's and it just wouldn't be Valentine's without them!

A cold date night!  We went to a concert Saturday night--socially distanced and masked and very few people there because it was so COLD!  But it was a fun concert. It was an impersonating singer that did all sorts of voices and songs.  Nice to be out and together despite the cold!  It was our Valentine's date!  Sure love this guy! 

Stay warm and safe and healthy!  Have a great week!

 

2021 Blue Jeans Week 5

Winter has definitely arrived here.  We usually get our coldest weather in February, and it has definitely come!  Burr!  It is cold outside!  We had a good week.  Nothing too exciting.  We are all thankfully healthy and well.  In person school and work continues.  We are grateful for the opportunities we have and the community in which we live.  I realized I didn't post the family wedding pictures, so those will be up next.  Better late than never, take a look at our week....

I have been a Becky Higgins fan for over 10 years.  I have done her physical Project Life book also for over 10 years, but in 2020 I decided to try out her project life app and print my book through that.  Got a nice hardback one for Ben and I and then a paperback one for the kids.  Also did a wedding album for Mr A and Mrs A and it turned out great!  I think I am converted.  No more buying physical albums, page protectors, kits and ordering photo prints, just doing it all on my phone, and my 2020 albums are done!  Love it!

 I called my 95 year old DeeDee (my grandma) this week.  So glad we can do video calls so we can see each other.  Love seeing her!  Hopefully sometime this summer we will be able to see her in person and give her a huge hug!!!  She is amazing.  Still lives at home by herself and bakes cookies almost every day or knits or crochets something.  She got her first vaccine shot a few weeks ago and should get her second this week.  So happy for her!!!

Doing some family history documenting here, this necklace was my DeeDee's.  She wore it all the time when I was growing up.  I remember sitting on her lap and playing with it. I thought it was so cool as a kid.  It is a gold whale's tail.  My uncle went to Hawaii and got it for her when I was just little.  It was the one piece of jewelry that I remember her wearing and associate with her.  About 10 or so years ago when I was at her house, she asked if I wanted any of her jewelry, and I quickly knew exactly what I wanted.  I wanted her whale tail necklace. She very graciously gave it to me.  It means a lot to me and is my DeeDee necklace.   

My graduation desk pictures.  This desk holds each of my girls' graduation pictures and the picture of my 3 girls from Mrs A's wedding that I LOVE!  Will post those pictures in a different post today.  It took me a while to get Miss E's graduation picture printed and out, but I love this.  Just a few more years and we will add Mr J's to this desk, but thankfully that is still a few more years away!!!

Hello February!  Getting our Valentine's pillow cases out and on the pillows today!

Ben ordered some new pickle ball rackets with some birthday money he had not used (his birthday is in Oct) and we tried them out this weekend before it got super cold.  Friday night for our date night, we went to our church and played indoor pickle ball in the gym-just the two of us, and then Saturday he wanted to try them outside on the regular pickle ball court.  They worked pretty well, but we sure didn't last too long outside as it was COLD and windy, but he got his fix so that is good!

Picture from Miss O this week.  These are her freshman roommates, and she got together with them this weekend and had blast.  Such awesome girls!  

Thanks for visiting!  More wedding pictures come soon!  Stay safe and healthy and be kind!

2021 Blue Jeans Week 1

Wow!  Welcome to 2021!  I think we were all hoping it would go better than it has.  What a crazy first few days of the year!  Praying for a peaceful transition of power!  This should never be an issue in this country.  It is just so disheartening and sad what happened!  Prayers we can agree to disagree and move on.  We are better than this.  We are grateful we had 2 of our college girls home for one more week.  They start back this week.  Prayers for an uneventful, safe and happy semester for them! Mr J is back to school here and so far so good.  Ben got his 2nd COVID vaccine shot and I am so grateful!  That has been a huge blessing and relief to me as he sees COVID patients almost daily.  He had a sore arm and a slight headache and didn't sleep well the night after he got his 2nd shot, but the next day he was feeling totally fine and worked all day.  Grateful for that!  What a week!  So much going on, but still lots to be grateful for!  Take a look at our week....

Happy New Year!  Hoping for good things from 2021!!

Got a winter storm--ice and then snow and took a fun walk along the trails in this winter wonderland!

These two college girls are enjoying having time to read fiction books for fun over their break!

Per tradition, we made our personal goals first Monday night of the new year.  Lots of good plans for everyone!

Enjoyed family game time playing new games we all got for Christmas.  Missing our Mr and Mrs A!

Had to document the sad event at our nation's Capitol.  So sad.  So wrong.  Prayers for healing and a peaceful transition of power later this month.  We need more love, not hate and division, and we can love each other even if we don't agree on anything!  Agree to disagree--we can do that and still be kind. 

Miss O still working on her awesome, huge denim blanket.  It seriously will cover a queen sized bed easily.  So cute!  She is getting ready to sew the binding and finish the edges today.  Hoping it will fit into a suitcase!!!  She really wants to take it back with her!

She got it all done, and these 3 enjoyed using it to keep warm and cozy as they watched silly you tube videos.  Sometimes it is nice just to laugh!  and especially nice just to be together!

For Christmas I got some fancy cake making tools.  One of my goals this year is to make a fancy cake once a month.  This was my January cake.  It is a chocolate peppermint cake from Cake by Courtney, and it was so yummy!  It was definitely not perfect----not sure how they make the sides totally smooth???  but I will practice lots this year and hopefully get better!

This was the inside.  The girls helped me and they piped the layers in the middle.  So cool!  It was our good-bye celebration cake before we took the girls back to the airport to head back to school end of the week. Sure going to miss them, but hoping they have a great and healthy semester!!!  Grateful they can attend school in person!

Hope you are all healthy and well and safe!  Spread kindness and love wherever you are, and have a great week!

2020 Blue Jeans Week 51

What an exciting week!  We had a wedding!!!  It was perfect!  We only wish more people could have been there--we were limited to 16 at the ceremony, but it was wonderful and could not have gone any better! Will do another post with professional pictures.  Wish you a very Merry Christmas!!!  Take a look at our week...

Making our traditional gingerbread cookies for a Christmas activity tonight.  

Turned out yummy!

On the plane flying out for the wedding.  First time on a plane for Mr J!

Wedding prep!  Sisters getting her ready for her big day!

On the way to the wedding!

Right after they were married!  Lots of smiles! Let us introduce Mr and Mrs A!

Getting lots of pictures done, just snapped this real quick.  These are all my kids now!  I have a new son!  So excited to add him to the family!  Welcome Mr A!! 

Display table at the wedding luncheon

Awesome room where we had the very small wedding luncheon.  There were about 20 there.

An exciting day for us!  Sure love this guy and so happy to have him with me as we go through this thing called life!

Thanks for visiting!  Will post some wedding pictures soon.  Wishing you a Merry Christmas!!!!

 

2020 Blue Jeans Week 50

We have had a good week.  Enjoying the Christmas season and doing some fun things at home.  Everyone is healthy and prayers we all stay that way!  Hope all is well at your homes too!  Take a look at our week...

At school in band class they were going through old instruments and they found a soprano sax.  Mr J plays the tenor sax, and his teacher was excited to find this and wants him to start learning how to play it.  I had never heard of a soprano sax, so it will be cool to hear how it sounds.

Doing some house cleaning and rearranging to get ready to have everyone here for Christmas.  Moving things around....but they found a temporary home in the entry while we figured out where to put them.

Went to a live performance--all socially distanced and masked and lots of other safety protocol in place, but it was so fun to see and listen to this Christmas concert!  

Getting ready for a hot chocolate night with Lucky Charms marshmallows.  Thought that was a fun idea for hot chocolate!  It was pretty yummy!

Ben reading a Christmas story to us one night this week.  I will forever and always love picture books, but especially Christmas picture books!

My girls had a fun evening together this week as they have a short break before finals begin.  It was fun to see them together!

They went looking at some cool Christmas lights!  Excited to see them all soon!

Thanks for visiting!  Hope you all stay safe and healthy this holiday season!  What a crazy year, for sure!  But we sure still have a lot to be thankful for!  Have a good one!

 

2020 Blue Jeans Week 49

It was a good week.  In some ways it seems like December is just flying by.  I think I feel that way because with the wedding coming up and trying to get ready for that and Christmas.  All good things, but lots to do!  We are healthy and safe and prayers that continues so we can all go to the wedding which will only be 16 people allowed, but still so important!  Take a look at our week....

Finished up our Thankful tree for this year.  So much to be thankful for!

As a service project, our church was recording people singing or playing songs, reading stories or poems to be complied into a video to be sent to a local nursing home since they will not be allowing groups to come in and sing and entertain as in the past.  I thought it was a good idea, and I read The Night Before Christmas story.  Love that poem!

Kicking off December with a Lego advent calendar for Mr J.  He was excited!  Being the only one home has its advantages.  

Went exploring around a lake on some hiking trails we had not been to before.  It was a beautiful day to be out and explore!

Screen shot from an impromptu family call this week.  Fun to see everyone.  Miss O had just done some impressive baking and wanted to show us her turtle shaped bread she made.  Fun stuff!  Amazing what technology can do to bring you all together when you are all over the place!

Instead of plates of Christmas cookies or a homemade cheese ball for neighbor gifts, we decided to do Christmas countdown candles.  Ben's dad makes them and has done that tradition since Ben was a little kid.  So we made a bunch (and now really appreciate all Ben's dad does, because they are not easy and ours don't look anywhere near as nice as his) and got them out to our friends and neighbors this week. A fun tradition to share that I hope people enjoy this year!

Another tradition we do each year is cut out paper snowflakes.  It isn't a big deal, but we all enjoy it and finding different patterns to try.  We always hang them up in our big kitchen window after.  These are our snowflake creations this year.

Thanks for visiting.  Hope you are all staying safe and healthy!  Have a great week!

2020 Blue Jeans Week 48

We have so very much to be thankful for!  As I heard recently "counting our blessings in far better than recounting our problems" from Russel M Nelson.  So true!  Thanksgiving this year was very different, but it was still nice and we enjoyed it.  I am thankful all my kids were able to celebrate in a safe place where they felt welcomed!  I am thankful we are all healthy and well at this time.  I am thankful we have a job, a home, cars, food, and never go without!  So much to be thankful for!  Take a look at our week....

Sunday we had church online which is different, but it was a special large area meeting, so it was done virtually.  Church at home today.  So grateful that we are able to worship again!

Enjoyed a fun hike one day this week.  Sure love hiking on the trails near our house.  We are so grateful for them and the ability we have to quickly get out into nature.

Piano recital this week.  Mr J did a great job on his solo.  So proud of him!  We are grateful for music!

Mr J also did a duet with his friends.  They did Scott Joplin's The Entertainer and did an awesome job!  So grateful for the beautiful church we were able to have the recital in, masks on and socially distanced, hand sanitizer and temperature checks, but so glad we could have it!

Thanksgiving prep, this kid tried his hand at a homemade apple pie, and it was soooo good!  

Happy Thanksgiving to us!  Just us 3, but it was still super yummy food and a great day with lots to be thankful for! 

Miss A and Mr A were at his family's for Thanksgiving and had a great time!

My other two girls went to Ben's sister's for Thanksgiving since they could not come home.  So grateful for her and making them feel so welcomed!!!

Day after Thanksgiving is always Christmas decorating day at our house.  We got up our crazy big 12 foot tree and get the house all decorated.  It is an all day project!

Saturday we did the outside lights and then worked on neighbor gifts.  We normally do some homemade food, but didn't feel that was appropriate this year, so we decided to make Christmas countdown candles which have been a tradition in Ben's family since he was a kid.  His dad makes them every year for all the family, so we decided to share that tradition this year.  Ben is melting crayon and using that to write on the candle.  We are thankful for family traditions and that we get to share them this year.  

Hope you all had a safe and Happy Thanksgiving!  So much to be thankful for!  Stay safe and healthy and well!