2019 Blue Jeans Week 22

Lots and lots and lots of pictures from this past week.  With Memorial Day we took off to a fun place for a few days, then the kids were home a few days, Mr J got his learner's permit, and then the kids were off on a pioneer trek adventure for a few days, and Ben and I had a quiet house with NO kids for almost 3 days!  So lots of pictures ahead!  It was a good week. take a look...

We have had so much rain, and our forecast for Memorial Day weekend was more of the same, so I said, we are getting out of here!  We left Sunday after church and went to Bentonville, Arkansas which was a first for us.  It is the birthplace of Wal-mart and has a beautiful town square, lots of bike trails, and an amazing art museum called Crystal Bridges.  We have been wanting to go for years, and just never got here, so we were really glad we made it for the long weekend.

So many pretty trails to explore.

Lots of cool outdoor art at the museum Crystal Bridges.

I loved the art of Chihuly that they had there.  Lots of nature paths around the museum which were fun to explore.

We went through the Wal-mart museum they had on the cute town square and then ate ice cream at the Walmart Cafe and ice cream shop.  Yummy and cheap ice cream!

Outside the Walmart museum--the first and original "Wal-mart"

Our banana girl in her cute hat :)

Exploring the nature trails in Bentonville

It was lots of fun and so pretty.  The perfect weekend get away.  We decided we want to go back in the fall and take our bikes.  Lots of cool bike trails!

We got home and this cute guy got his learner's permit to start driving!  My last child can now drive!!!

Miss E has had some downtime because her summer job at the pool hasn't started yet because there was flooding all around the pool, so she made some awesome sidewalk art one day.  

And Thursday at 5 a.m. this group of kids headed off for an amazing experience to go on a pioneer trek with the other youth from our church in the greater KC area.

There were about 200 kids that went and they walked, and walked and walked and pushed and pulled a handcart while walking.  They camped and walked through rivers and had a really great experience appreciating their roots and ancestors that gave us so much and did this before for them.  Miss E in the pink shirt and sunglasses.

Miss E on the "woman's pull" where they had just the women push their carts up a steep and muddy hill to remember those brave women who crossed the plains by themselves with their families and gave so much.  It was not an easy thing for the men to just watch, but an amazing experience for all!

And they ended up having to cross this flooded road where the water went up to Mr J's waist--it got about 2 feet deeper than this picture the farther they went.  They were not planning on doing this and didn't realize until they got there that the road was so flooded because of all the rain we have had.  It was a very authentic pioneer experience!

Mr J with his group walking, and walking.  I think they walked 7 miles one day, 1.5 miles the 2nd day and 5 miles the third day.

What a great group of kids!  So proud of them!

And what did we do with no kids for 3 days?  Well, one night we went to our town's band concert.  They have been doing a weekly outdoor band concert in our town for 148 years. It was a beautiful evening to enjoy the music.

And then this guy was trying to fix something at work, and a big battery fell on his head....so he called me to take him to the doctor's and get 4 staples in his head.  Was NOT planning on doing that while the kids were gone.  Thankfully it is going to be Ok.  He insists he is fine and it doesn't hurt at all, but a week with staples in your head has got to be fun, right?  But we did go out to eat the evening after this happened, and he did go play pickle ball after that, so he insists he is fine and it doesn't hurt....grateful he is ok and it was able to get taken care of quickly!

And our last day with no kids we went exploring to a water falls we had heard about but never seen out in the country.  It normally doesn't have this much water, but with all the rain and flooding, it was extra pretty to see. 

And update on Miss A...she was in Ireland this week!  Loved it!  She thought England was green, but she said Ireland was over the top green.  She is at a National Park in Ireland here hiking up a mountain.  And Miss O is working this summer and taking summer classes at BYU, so we haven't seen her yet, but she will come home end of the summer before fall starts, and we will be so excited to see her then!!!

That was a lot to go through, so thanks if you made it all the way through!  It was a busy but great week!  Hope yours was good too!