2021 Blue Jeans Week 24

How is your summer going?  With the 4th of July fast approaching, it seems like it is flying by!  We had a good week.  Staying cool inside and everyone working hard.  Take a look at our week...

Our Sunday services were online this week as it was a large regional meeting.  Mr J and Miss E got out the Harry Potter Lego castle to put together while listening.

These two are working on a beautiful duet!  Love hearing them play!

Made a new treat, these are nanaimo bars which are from Canada.  They are a no-bake treat which we had never heard of before but I saw on a few blogs recently, so we decided to give them a try.  I got the recipe off of Cake by Courtney.  They were yummy!

Our game this week was Qwirkle which is one of Miss E's favorites, so we play it more when she is home.

Miss E and Mr J went up to my sister's to visit for a few days this weekend, and she sent me this picture of them playing croquet with my BIL.  They had a lot of fun!

We had a weekend long date with no kids home so we went to see a movie in the theater which we have not done in over a year.  Really enjoyed In the Heights!  

This is my mom (the brunette) with her 2 sisters, 2 brothers and her mom--My DeeDee.  My Grum (my mom's dad) passed away several years ago, and if you know my mom, you know she is a quilter.  So my mom took my grandpa's shirts and cut them all up and made 6 quilts from those shirts one for each of her siblings, her mom, and herself.  She took them out and gave them to all her family this last week.  So awesome to see!  Such a labor of love.  They didn't know she was doing it!  So much love!

 Hope you have a wonderful week!  Thanks for visiting!  Hope you and yours are safe, healthy, and happy!

2021 Blue Jeans Week 23

We had a good week.  The weekend was the best.  We were able to do some things we haven't done in over a year, and tt felt like things are really getting back to normal, and we loved it!  All is well here!  Take a look at our week...

Our Sunday evening game this week was Azul.  Love that game.  There are 3 different Azul games, and we have played this one (the original) and the stained glass one.  Hopefully someday we can play the third one.  We love both of the ones we have played.

Miss E's bread she made this week.  It was a white sandwich bread from Mel's Kitchen Cafe and so yummy!  Toast with butter and strawberry freezer jam is my favorite, and this bread was perfect for that!

Picture from cute Miss O and her boyfriend.  They were volunteers at a marathon this past week.  So awesome!

Some awesome train tracks being made at our house this week.  Love this!  Mr J enjoying a day off and staying cool inside!

Our awesome Saturday in the city included attending the temple--missed Mr J he had to work!

Went to a park for lunch and toured their gorgeous rose gardens!  So beautiful!

Then we went to an art museum which we had not been to in over a year.  Loved it!!!

As a special exhibit they had one of Monet's Water Lilies in a special room and then had the lights set to reflect the different times of day from dawn to dusk.  It was amazing to see the painting change with the lights going from soft to full. This was early evening light

And this was full day light.  So different!  It was a cool thing to see!

Thanks for visiting!  Hope you had a great week!  Stay safe and healthy and happy!

2021 Blue Jeans Week 22

Hope you all had a good Memorial Day weekend.  Summer is officially here! I love starting the summer with the Memorial Day holiday and remember those who have given so much for our freedoms!  So grateful for the men and women who currently are serving to keep us safe and so grateful for their families that sacrifice their loved ones to keep me and my loved ones safe.  Thank you!!!  God bless you!  We had a good week.  It was a nice cooler week to ease into summer.  We have had a wonderful spring with cool weather, and this week our normal hot and humid summer weather has hit, but we are grateful we had such a nice spring!  Hello summer!  Bring it on!  Take a look at our week..

My porch on Memorial Day.  Love flying my flag and remembering.

We played an early morning game of pickle ball on Memorial day and then enjoyed a BBQ later in the day with my parents. So nice to be able to gather again with them!

Went on a walk on some trails we don't normally go on and saw this pretty painted fence along the trail.

This stud got his 2nd COVID vaccine shot this week!  Yeah!  So grateful that now our whole family is vaccinated and ready to enjoy the summer!

Miss E got this sticker from her work.  Something that definitely needs to be documented!  

This weekend Mr J had to work, but Ben, Miss E and I enjoyed a long 14 mile bike ride in the cooler weather.  Love going on bike rides with my family!

We rode out bikes to a cute little resort and back.  They had this fun swing with cute pillows.  Miss E and I love cute pillows :)

Date night this week.  Ben and I went and did some canoeing and kayaking at a little pond near our house.  It was a beautiful evening and a fun date night.  Sure love this guy!

Thanks for visiting!  Hope you all had a great week!  Hope you are staying safe and healthy and well! 

2021 Blue Jeans Week 21

What a week!  State track and we were able to go to the temple and serve which we haven't been able to do in over a year!  It was a good week.  Take a look....

Sunday game night--we played Quixx which is a fun dice game of Miss E's and enjoyed a yummy cake Mr J made.

Mr J and his vanilla chocolate chip cake that he made us for our Sunday treat.  Yummy!

One of our beautiful sunsets this week!

Happy 16th birthday to this boy of mine!  So grateful for him!!!  He did not want a cake like his sisters, but instead requested apple crisp for his birthday "cake" and it was yummy! 

One of my dear friends got a scooter and invited me over to get a ride.  So fun!!!  

This is the Kansas City Temple, and it has been closed because of COVID for over a year.  It finally opened, and we were able to go up as a family to serve there for the first time in over a year!  So happy to get to go again!!  I love to see the temple!

Hello state track meet!  Normally there are 3 times as many people here, but they divided it up over 3 days with different groups and so a lot less than normally would be there.  Enjoying the sunshine and the running on this beautiful day as we cheer on Mr J and his team!

Mr J running the 2 mile race at state.  He got his best time for the whole season!  It was great to see him run!  His 4x800 was hoping to medal, but they didn't quite make it, but it was a great end to an awesome season!  Now hello summer!

Thanks for visiting and catching up with us!  Hope you stay healthy, happy and safe!

2021 Blue Jeans week 20

I am behind.  Last week when I tried to post this blogger was not working, and then I just didn't get back to it.  So two weeks to catch up on today.  This week was the last week of school.  Mr J had his end of the year band concert and regional track.  It was a good week.  Take a look...

Sunday game night--we played the Monopoly Deal card game.  Fun!

This is a lime ice cream pie.  It is my 95 year old Grandma's recipe.  She has been making it every since I can remember.  We always had one or two of these for Sunday dinners at her house or holidays or anytime family was around.  She seemed to always have one in the freezer for anyone that wanted it, and we all wanted it!  It is so yummy!  Lots of good memoires are associated with this lime ice cream pie!  So good!

Mr J playing a solo in his jazz band in the end of the year band concert!  He did awesome!

Hello last day of school!  It was a cold and rainy one, but WE MADE IT!  A whole year of in person school, and this kid never had to quarantine!  Quite an accomplishment!  What a crazy year, but we made it through!!!!

The day after the last day of school we had our regional track meet where the top 4 qualify for state.  Mr J qualified for state in the 2 mile and his 4x800 relay qualified also!  Woohoo!  State here we come!

Love all the visitors to our bird feeder!  The orioles are back!  They and the hummingbirds are my favorites along with the cardinals!  I have lots of favorites!

One goal this girl has this summer is to make a different kind of bread each week.  We are loving that!  This week she made the 24 hour no-kneed bread.  So yummy!

Thanks for visiting and catching up with us!  Stay safe and healthy and happy!

2021 Blue Jeans Week 19

We had a good week.  So grateful for all the amazing women in our lives who do so much for us--Mothers, grandmothers, aunts, sisters, friends.  They definitely need to be honored and remembered!  Miss E started her summer job.  Mr J earned some serious awards at the band banquet and was able to get his first COVIC vaccine shot.  YEAH!  So happy about that!  It was a good week, take a look....

Happy Mother's day!  Today really is to honor all the amazing women in our world who do so much!  I am so grateful to be the mom of these two and the ones who are missing.  Sure love them all!  So grateful to be their mom!

This amazing girl started her summer job today!  She is working in the lab at the hospital.  

Date night this week.  We were going to play frisbee golf, but it started raining, so we went on a walk and talked in the rain.  By the time we were done, it had stopped raining, so we were still able to play frisbee golf.  Sure love this guy and our weekly dates!

Impressive haul Mr J got at his end of the year band banquet!  Way to go!  He works very hard on his music, and he has an amazing band teacher too!

Yeah!  Look who got his first COVID shot!  So grateful 12-15 year olds were allowed to start getting it this week! What a huge blessing!

Happy Mother's day to me!  Miss O sent me Crumbl cookies as a mother's day gift.  She knows me well!  They were sooooo good!

Miss E wanted to make my DeeDee's (my grandma, her great grandma) caramel popcorn recipe.  My DeeDee is 95, still lives at home and still makes cookies, caramel popcorn and all kinds of other yummy things for my kids at college.  We made her recipe today, and it was so good!  Thank you DeeDee for your amazing recipes and the love you put into them!

Thanks for visiting!  Hope you all had a great week! Stay safe and healthy!

2021 Blue Jeans Week 18

We had a wonderful week.  It is so nice to have Miss E home for the summer.  She had this week off to enjoy before she starts her summer job.  It was her birthday and we did some fun things for that.  Had my last COVID vaccine clinic that I helped with which has been a wonderful thing.  Take a look at our week....

Our Sunday evening game was Ticket to Ride at Miss E's request.  Love that game.  Haven't played it in a while.

Monday evening we had a picnic, roasted hot dogs, had smores and enjoyed paddle boards at a small lake near our house.  Lots of fun!

This is a truly great group of people!  Together we have volunteered over 2100 hours to help get people in our community vaccinated.  I made so many new friends!  We all loved working together over the last 4 months to do something to help end this crazy we have been in over a year.  Love these good people!

Miss E decided she wanted to make bread this week, and it was soooo good!  Recipe from Mel's Kitchen Cafe (of course) here

National Day of Prayer was this week, and Ben's work asked if he would be willing to say a few words and offer a prayer on that day.  Miss E and I joined them.  It was very touching.  He did a great job!

Date night this week---we went plant and flower shopping to get our outside planters done.  Excited!

Miss E's birthday cake.  She requested a chocolate banana peanut butter cake, and it was so good!  Those stripes are the buttercream--chocolate and peanut butter.  Yummy!  Recipe from Cake by Courtney here

A Very Happy Birthday to this amazing girl!  So happy to have her home!  She has had quite the year with COVID ending her senior year early and a so not normal first year of college, but she survived and did amazing!  Looking forward to having her home for the summer!

Miss E requested a family fun day for her birthday.  We took our bikes to the city and did a 16 mile bike ride on a beautiful trail.  Then we had a picnic lunch and did some birthday shopping for Miss E.  It was a great day!

For Miss E's birthday dinner, she found an Indian restaurant that she wanted to go to.  This was a first for us, and it did not disappoint!  So yummy!  Looking forward to going back soon!

Thanks for visiting!  Hope you had a great week and Mother's Day weekend!  Stay safe and well!