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!

 

2023 Blue Jeans Week 19

Ok, Graduation week here!  May 7-13.  We had 10 people staying at our house for Mr J's graduation.  Ben's parents were here and all our kids and spouses.  It was awesome!  They were all here for a week, and we had a wonderful time!  Take a look at our graduation week for Mr J....

First off, the week started with seminary graduation.  Mr J and his friend did 4 years of early morning seminary and graduated on Sunday.  This is the early morning class that I teach.  It is not an easy thing for a high schooler to get to class every school day at 6 a.m. for Bible and religious studies, but these two did it all 4 years and are amazing!

Ben and I are very proud of them both!

Some more cake prep before the family gets here.  This is the cake Mrs OC requested.  It is a banoffee cake--banana cake layers, salted caramel, nutella frosting and nutella whipped cream and toasted hazelnuts.  It was pretty amazing!

Cake all done.  I didn't do much on it because I was putting it into the freezer to keep until we had it when everyone was here.

And Look who is here!  Ben's parents have not been here since 2018.  We have gone to see them, and we have meet them for vacations in different places, but they have not been to our home since then.  They were supposed to come in 2020 for Miss E's graduation, but we all know what happened then.  So fun to finally have them here! Ben enjoys playing some games with his parents.

Happy Birthday to Miss OC!!!  Her birthday was a week ago, but we wanted to make her a cake and celebrate when she was home.

Happy Graduation Mr J!  Our whole family was there to support him!

Makes my momma heart so happy to see my kids home and together!

Mr J and Ben's parents.

Mr J and my parents.  So awesome both his grandparents could be there to support him!

Mr J and his Uncle.

The whole gang!

The graduate!  Valedictorian and a few other medals.  So proud of his hard work!

Very proud Mom and Dad!  As school board Pres I got to give out all the diplomas and got to give him his.  Awesome!  I have officially given all 4 of my kids their diplomas.  I love that!

Some graduation and early birthday presents.  Chipotle is his favorite, so they wrapped it in foil like a huge burrito ;)

An avocado squish mallow

And a tortilla blanket! 

For all my kids' graduation gifts, my sister and brother-in-law have given them these cool color knives.  Mr J was excited to finally get his very own set!

Thanks for catching up with us!  

 

2023 Blue Jeans Week 18

School is over.  Summer is in full swing, and I am so behind.  Catching up today.  This was our week after we got back from Mrs A's law school graduation, and we were knee deep in end of the year senior activites--April 30th to May 6.  Take a look...

Flew home on Saturday.  Sunday evening game was Silver and Gold which is one of our favorites.

Senior awards night was this week and Mr J's LAST ever band concert.  He accompanied the jazz band on the piano for one number.

He had a saxophone solo for another jazz band number.

He was the highest ranking band senior, and so he got to pick a solo piece to perform with the concert band.  He was amazing!

His band teacher was so nice and presented him with flowers after the performance.  Yes, there were tears!

My early morning seminary class.  Every school day at 6 am these kids come to my house and head to our basement to learn about the Old Testament and New Testament.  Amazing kids!  Today was our last class for this school year!

Doing some cake prep this week.  Mrs OC and Miss E will have birthdays soon and will be home, so I asked them what kind of cake they wanted.  Miss E requested a ricotta strawberry basil cake.  Getting it made and into the freezer to eat later when they are here.

Something definitely to remember this week was the King of England's coronation!

Ok, lots to catch up on.  Thanks for being here!  Hope all is well with you and yours!