Blue Jeans Momma

Monday, February 4, 2019

2019 Blue Jeans Week 5

Baby, it's been cold outside! Winter is in full force here! It has been a cold week, but thankfully not as cold as some other places. Anytime you see single digits and negative numbers in relation to the temperature, it is too cold for me! Got some pictures from Miss A this week, celebrated our state, Geography Bee, cookies and checking off the 'to-do' list rounded out our week. Take a look...

Miss A serves with these cute girls in the woman's organization in her church congregation at college. An amazing group of ladies!

Miss A and her awesome roommate show off their entry in her apartment's snowman building contest. Pretty awesome snow octopus!

Happy Kansas Day! We always celebrate our state's birthday with a sunflower cake. Miss E was at a ball game, so Mr J and Ben got to show it off.

On the super cold days, we kept the fire going 24/7. This is how I enjoyed those super cold evenings--in fuzzy socks in front of the fireplace with a book!

Getting our passports renewed for a trip we have coming up this year. Always so many things "to-do" when you have a big trip coming up!

Mr J took 3rd place in his school's geography Bee. The young lady in the middle won it, and she did awesome! Mr J's goals were not to get last, and he really didn't want to win either, so he was happy with the result :)

Miss E decided to make some fancy macaroons. They were yummy!!!

Thanks for visiting! Hope you are staying warm!

Saturday, February 2, 2019

My 2018 Reading List

Per tradition, I always have the goal to read as many books as I will have candles on my birthday cake for that year. Some years I go over, some years I have not met the goal, and some years I barely make it. This past year was a good reading year. I went past my goal which I don't think I have done in a while. I also have the goal that 5 of those books should be non-fiction. So here is my list, not in any order besides the order I read them in.

1. Letter from Father Christmas by JRR Tolkein
2. The Secret of the India Orchid by Nancy Campbell Allen
3. Radio Girls by Sarah Jane Stratford
4. The Alice Network by Kate Quinn
5. The Wright Brothers by David McCullough***Non-fiction
6. I am Half Sick of Shadows by Alan Bradley--a Flavia deLuce mystery
7. Edenbrook by Julianne Donaldson
8. Miss Whitaker Opens her Heart by Jennifer Moore
9. A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
10. Speaking from Among the Bones by Alan Bradley--a Flavia deLuce mystery
11. The Dead in their Vaulted Arches by Alan Bradley--a Flavia deLuce mystery
12. Miss Wilton's Waltz by Josi Kilpack
13. Lieutenant Terry's Christmas Fudge by Gerald Lund***Non-fiction
14. A River in Darkness by Masaji Ishikawa***Non-fiction
15. The Chase by Clive Cussler
16. All that Makes Life Bright by Josi Kilpack
17. The Lady of the Lakes by Josi Kilpack
18. The Vicar's Daughter by Josi Kilpack
19. The Striker by Clive Cussler
20. The Wrecker by Clive Cussler
21. Zemindar by Valerie Fitzgerald
22. A School for Unusual Girls by Kathleen Baldwin
23. Fire Fly Lane by Kristin Hannah
24. A Long Time Gone by Karen White
25. The Scourge by Jennifer A Nielsen
26. The Assassin by Clive Cussler
27. The Gangster by Clive Cussler
28. Exile for Dreamers by Kathleen Baldwin
29. For Love or Honor by Sarah M Eden
30. Refuge for Masterminds by Kathleen Baldwin
31. The Continuous Atonement by Brad Wilcox***Non-fiction
32. Seeking Persephone by Sarah M Eden
33. A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
34. The Kiss of a Stranger by Sarah M Eden
35. Courting Miss Lancaster by Sarah M Eden
36. Promises and Primroses by Josi Kilpack
37. Friends and Foes by Sarah M Eden
38. As Chimney Sweepers come to Dust by Alan Bradley--A Flavia deLuce mystery
39. 84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff***Non-fiction
40. Loving Lieutenant Lancaster by Sarah M Eden
41. The Chilbury Ladies Choir by Jennifer Ryan
42. Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew'd by Alan Bradley
43. Drop of Gold by Sarah M Eden
44. The Book of Mormon***Non-fiction
45. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford

Looking back I LOVED the book A Man Called Ove. I laughed and laughed when I read that. I enjoy Alan Bradley's Flavia De Luce mystery series and Clive Cussler's Isaac Bell series. I really like proper romances and regency romances--books by Sarah M Eden, Josi Kilpack, Nancy Campbell, Julianne Donaldson and Jennifer Moore. I enjoy WWII historical fiction. 2018 was a great year of reading and looking forward to what 2019 brings!

Happy reading!!!!

Tuesday, January 29, 2019

2019 Blue Jeans Week 4

Busy week, even though we only had school for 4 days. Having a long weekend is always a bonus, but it sure was busy! Homecoming was this week. Scholar's bowl, basketball, power lifting meet, meetings and life in general. Lots going on. Take a look at our week. . .

Sundays are our family days. We spend a lot of time together and enjoy playing games. Today we played the card game Bold which Mr J got for Christmas.

No school today, so I took the kids to lunch at a new place that has savory and sweet crepes. They were Divine! Mr J honestly did enjoy his, despite the picture :) Teenage boys are not always the best at being in pictures....:)P

Tried out a new recipe this week--chocolate marshmallow cookies. They were good, but a lot of work.

New Beginnings program at church Wednesday night and Miss E was the pianist. She did a great job.

Miss E loves ballet and when she saw (2 years ago) that the Russian National Ballet was going to do Swan Lake in the City, she begged and begged for tickets to go. Ben also loves Ballet and served a 2 year mission for our church The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when he was 19 in Moscow, Russia. He was able to see several Russian ballets while he was there, so these two headed off to the city right after school one day this week and got home really late, but they said it was amazing!!! So glad they got to go!

A new thing for Miss E this year is being on the power lifting team. She is in a weight lifting class at school, and her teacher convinced her to participate on the team. We have never done anything like this before. She competed in 3 events at the meet--bench, clings, and squats. She got 5th place overall for her weight class. It was intense! I was proud of her for trying something new. She really, really enjoyed it. It is a short season with just a few more meets and then state, so we will see how it goes for her. Always cool to try something new!

And after the power lifting meet, she drove (2 hours) home and she got ready for the homecoming dance! Busy day! She looks beautiful and had a fun time!

Thanks for visiting! Hope you are well and have a great week!

Monday, January 21, 2019

2019 Blue Jeans Week 3

It has been cold outside here this past week! Winter is so here!!! Got to the city with a friend, cookies, Grandpa time, cold outside work, and a happy pizza. It has been a good week, take a look. .

Miss E is involved in her school FBLA club, and they had their regional competition this past week. She did awesome, and made it to state in all 4 of her events! Woohoo! A great group of kids!

Our snow sculptures are more well defined after things have melted a little. Love how they look in front of our house. People slow down to look at them as they pass. Especially the school bus!

Got up to the city this week with my dear friend. We served in the temple for our church The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints which was wonderful and then we went to lunch at this amazing new chicken place--Raising Canes. So yummy! I can't wait to go back and take my family!

Making chocolate chip cookies is almost second nature to me. We take them to everything, and everyone knows and loves our chocolate chip cookies. I must admit they are really good. I have eaten my fair share or more over the years. They are my signature dish :)

Enjoyed having my dad over for dinner this week as my Mom was out of town. He is such a good teacher and took the time to teach Mr J some things after dinner.

These two crazy boys were outside in the negative wind chill moving firewood. They tired to use the lawn mower to help them move it, but it wouldn't start. Burr! It was cold!

Mr J and Miss E were in charge of dinner one night this weekend, and they made some amazing homemade pizza. Mr J put this on his before he got it all done and texted it to his sisters at college, 'It's pizza, and he's happy to see ya"

Hope you had a great week! Thanks for visiting!

Monday, January 14, 2019

2019 Blue Jeans Week 2

Winter finally hit us! We got snow, and lots of it which is really fun for us because we don't normally get much snow. The kids had a lot of fun playing in it. It was perfect packing snow. Got our new year's goals done and had a home basketball game which was nice. Take a look at our week....

Playing one of the games we got for Christmas--Tripoley. It was a game Ben played at his grandparent's home growing up, and then Ben's parents introduced our kids to it when we were there for Thanksgiving. We got it for Christmas and have enjoyed playing it a lot.

Per tradition, the first Monday night of the new year we make our goals for that year. We focus on 4 areas--physical, mental, spiritual and temporal. There is no limit on how many or how few goals you can make in each area. We have been doing this for years and years. We hang these up on our closet doors so we can see them daily to be reminded what we wanted to do.

Home basketball game this week. Love watching this year play!

And we woke up to this Saturday morning! Hello snow! We haven't had this much in forever! At the end of the day, I think we ended up with 6 inches!!!

Perfect packing snow, and the kids made an Egyptian Sphinx and pyramid. Pretty awesome!

Miss E on the sphinx

Mr J and the pyramid

Thanks for visiting! Hope you have a great week!

Monday, January 7, 2019

2019 Blue Jeans Week 1

Happy New Year! Welcome 2019! Welcome to another year of blogging and recording my family's memories. I love this blog because it keeps me on track to record the activities of our daily lives. Thanks to those who have been along for the whole journey and welcome to those just joining us. Life is good! 2019 is going to be great! Take a look at our first week of 2019....

Happy New Year's! We have our sparkling cider and had a fun night full of games, a movie and good food! Great to all be together to start the new year right!

Miss O had some friends over to play some games over the break. It was fun to have her friends back over as they have all been off to school.

And basketball games started back up this week after the holiday break. Miss E had an awesome game! Scored 6 points and they won the game. Blurry picture, but I love watching her play!

Enjoyed BBQ dinner out this weekend, but missing our oldest two. School starts early for them, so they left end of this week. Glad I still have these guys!

Cleaned the church this weekend. We take our turn to do that about every 3 months. Miss E does a good job of washing the windows :)

Thanks for visiting! Hope 2019 is great for you!

Wednesday, January 2, 2019

2018 Blue Jeans Week 52

Goodbye 2018, it has been a good year, but sadly our computer died right after Christmas and I haven't been able to get some of my pictures off of it yet...lesson to remember for 2019---back up pictures more often! So I just have a few from last week. Miss A had a birthday, but don't have pictures of that. Don't have many from Christmas Eve which is always a big deal, and not too many from Christmas, but hopefully I can get those back! We loved having everyone home for Christmas!!! It has been a wonderful two weeks with all my kids home, and I have loved every minute. Hope you had a blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year! Here is to a great 2019!

Christmas Eve is always full of music at our house. Mr J accompanies a sister missionary on her violin for Silent Night. Lots of music, food, singing and a Nativity reenactment fill our Christmas Eve.