Jeffrey T. Jones and John Mouritsen

Well, Father's Day came and went, and I was pretty much on bed rest the week before and after, so I didn't get to say anything about Jeff, or my Dad.

Here some of my favorite things about Jeff that you may or may not know:

1. Jeff can make the best BBQ chicken I've ever had, except for my Dad's, which is where Jeff got the recipe and some tips in the first place. Jeff has made this for other family members at their houses, and I have to say, it's never been quite as delicious as at our own house, which we attribute to different grill temps, so if you want to try it, you'll have to come here. (this is the same Jeff who claimed he could cook for 6 years of marriage before ever producing results... I'm convinced that he is really a better cook than me and he just doesn't want that to get out!)

2. Jeff is walking MapQuest. Actually even better, when MapQuest give me wrong directions, Jeff can still get me on track. What on earth would I do without a husband like that??? I would be one LOST girl.

3. Jeff has a beautiful voice. and he knows it. He loves to sing loud, which the Choir Director LOVES!!! It used to be hard sitting next to him at church because I couldn't even hear myself singing and I would always nudge him to pipe it down (so now we know where certain offspring of ours got their LOUD vocals from), but now I just smile.

4. Do you know anyone who puts on a kid movie for the kids and then proceeds to watch that kids movie??? Unless it's family movie night, I'm outta there! Folding clothes, doing dishes, or whatever task calls me at the moment and I'm glad I don't have any interruptions, but Jeff is really a kid at heart and he calls this his "quality time" with the kids...:)


OK, I know it's way after Father's Day, but I'm grateful for my Dad and how giving he is. Recently he drove for 3 1/2 hours in the middle of the night, flew home in the morning, and went to work that next day, so I could get home when I was sick. I love my Dad and I am grateful for all that he is and what he stands for. AND he is the funniest, smartest, most fun, best character pancake maker, best silly story reading Papa ever. We love Dad.

SUMMERTIME!

I am writing my list of summer to-dos! When we're in the thick of it, and World War III is breaking out in our living room, and I'm fresh out of ideas, I can remember all the fun things I have been waiting all school year to do!

1. Go to the Bluebell ice cream factory
2. Go to the beach
3. Go swimming a million times!
4. Make homemade ice-cream (notice I've already mentioned ice cream twice and we're only on #4)
5. Have a summer party with our cute sun pinata in the garage
6. Have neighbors over for BBQ one evening
7. Go to the Woodlands Children's Museum again
   
8. Go to the Kid's movies at the mall every Wed.
9. Go to the library
10. Go to a play for kids at the woodlands
11. Buy fireworks (for Tyler)
12. Get the hose attachment out for the backyard!
13. Make homemade popsicles
14. Make snow cones (we already do this weekly)
15. Invite friends over from old school and old ward that we don't see very often
16. Meet Dadda for lunch
17. Go to water park in Woodlands with cousins
18. Get sand for the sand box
19. Plant some more flowers
    
20. Relax and have fun!
    

Summer is for swimming!

Brooklyn is on swim team this year for the first time. At first I felt sorry for her, because she's the very youngest one on her team because of her birthday, she missed the younger team by a few weeks... So, she was obviously a little inexperienced compared to some of the girls who were almost 2 years older than her. And the first few meets she would have to hold onto the rope during the race to catch her breath.

WELL, things have changed. I don't know when it happened, if something inside her snapped, and she remembered that she likes to win, or if she just needed that extra practice, but she has been doing so great. We are SO proud of her! In fact, today she won her race for freestyle! She was so fast, I couldn't believe it was her. She is definitely built like a swimmer, so that helps, but you have to have the power and strength too, which she has been building up. We're just thrilled to see her improving. She went from doing the length in just over a minute to 36 seconds. WOW!!! Go Otters!!!

Goldi-Rocks!

The theme for the recital from Brooklyn's dance school this year was Bedtime Stories...

So how do you JAZZ that up? You don't do Goldilocks... you do Goldi-Rocks! This was her very first recital and it was in a beautiful high school auditorium. Brooklyn did awesome and wasn't even intimidated by the stage and crowd.
It was the first time I've put full blown make-up on her, so I think she really enjoyed that. I think her favorite part was having her good friend Grace be in the same jazz class. Her other "first" tonight was receiving her first rose. Jeff gave her a rose after the recital, which is customary. She was so proud of it, and was worried about it all night until we put it in a vase.
After the performance we went out to celebrate at Culvers. The kids (and me, I'm not gonna lie) love their frozen custard, so it was an all around fun night had by all. Now we just have to get some sleep for the swim meet tomorrow!

Annual Blueberry Picking Trip

This is my favorite summer kick-off activity!

We have done this for the past 5 years and we are addicted!!! We go to Moorhead's Blueberry Farm in Conroe and pick blueberries for $1.50 a pound! If you have bought blueberries recently, you know this is a major steal of a deal. You get the whole family involved in a fun, bonding, exercising, free snack activity and you get dirt cheap organic blueberries out of it! It's crazy that they let us have that much fun! (When I say free snack, it's because you get to eat as many you want, which for me is about 1/4 of what I pick and for the kids probably 1/2 of what they pick.)

I love the whole trip. Getting up early, putting on totally grungy clothes and not caring, driving into the country and seeing the horses and cows, and just plain working hard. This time we wisely went with some friends from our ward. This kept our kids busy when they weren't picking. They were making potions in their buckets, and just playing in the dirt. Didn't that used to be really fun?? Back before there were so many versions of video games to keep our kids inside and stationary? It just feels good to accomplish something, like working hard for 2 hours with sweat running down your face because you know you want your blueberry supply to at least last until Thanksgiving.

So, we had lots of fun! Brooklyn even chose to miss one of her swim meets for this, because she loves it so much. We topped it off by coming home and having blueberry pancakes for brunch, then by having cheesecake with blueberries today. YUM!