Wow, the last month has been a whirlwind.  Can't believe I haven't gotten pictures uploaded since graduation!!

A lot has happened in last 30 days.  School is out, Ben graduated and my mom is here for the summer.

We are trying to find out summer groove!  Joseph is attending some summer school for last half of June and first 10 days of August.  He goes M-Thurs from 8:30-11:30, so that is becoming my work time.  (I have cut my hours almost in half, because I never seem to get as much done during the summer).  Jacob is all over the place with sports camps, work, school workouts, basketball tournaments and friends!  He is continuing with driving hours and officially has 30 out of 50 hours.  He is scheduled to get his driving permit towards end of September.  This is one momma that will be glad when this kid can drive by himself.

Ben's graduation!!  We had a great weekend.  We had a party Friday night with one of his friends.  Both of my parents were here, as well as brother and sister and my brother's two kids.  (The Ohio clan couldn't make it, minus one niece that tried but the stand by flights just did not line up!!  It was weird to have the grandsons outnumber the granddaughters, a first!!)  We rented an airbnb for 3 nights and was nice to all be together.  Lots of pictures, with the exception of just after graduation.  

My dad with the grandkids

My mom with her grandsons!

I love this picture, still stairsteps, just in a different order now!    (Still predicting that Joseph will be the tallest, which would make it youngest to oldest being tallest to shortest)

And the graduate!!!!

My mom and I made the trek back from Ohio.  I landed in Cleveland on a Saturday at 5pm and we immedately hit the road.  We pulled into our place that Monday at 1pm.  Less than 48 hours.  We boogied.  Had no issues and just drove and drove.  The dog Bingo did well.  They are both settled into the RV and loving it!  It is parked at the end of a dead end street, so very little traffic and very quiet!  She has made it her own and the space is just perfect.  She has gotten a little part time job too!  We have taken one overnigth trip to watch Jacob play basketball.  I am hoping to get out more, but the price of gas might prevent as many road trips as I had hoped!  

Would not be an outing with dad without pictures and pictures with guns.  These two have been out several times shooting gophers and sure do enjoy it.  

 A couple of weeks ago I bought an RV.  It is a 26 ft bumper pull with a slide!  It will be just big enough for my mom and her dog, who will be out here this summer!  Excited to have them on our turf for a couple of months.  (We might keep the RV long term or sell it after the summer, we shall see).  I will fly out to Ohio in a few days and then drive back west with her and the dog.  I have not taken a road trip with the boys since 2016, so excited to be hitting the road.  Wish we had a little more time to explore, but we have to get back for big stuff......

Bens' graduation!  I am so ready for that kid to be done with school and start discovering his passions!  He will more than likely just work for now.  Possibly a trade school sometime in the next year or two, but mostly just putting his head down, working and saving money.  I think he will try to work construction.  Up here, you can pretty much call the shots with any place of employment.  So many businesses looking for help!  One of the boys told me the other day that they know a 14 year old that is making $20 an hour working at DQ!  That is just wrong!!!!

Jacob started his job today.  He will be working at a hardware store/lumber yard.  A job perfect for him.  With his sports, etc, I think they will be able to work with him and hopefully it will be a great job throughout high school!

We are plodding along!

Shortly after we started going to the new gym, Jacob met a guy that played D 1 football at our university and same position that Jacob currently plays.  Jacob come home that day and told me he met Jesse and Jesse said he would be willing to put Jacob through some workouts.  Jacob was so pumped that he had met someone that had done exactly what Jacob would like to do.  They have hit it off and Jesse is a great guy!  They don't get together as often as Jacob would like, but probably 2-3 times a week.

I got this picture recently.  Jesse is on the right.  I forgot to ask Jacob how much he was squatting but looks like it is around 175!  That is a strong kid.  They recently started doing some spring football footwork, etc and he said several of the coaches commented on how much better he is moving.  Between all the weights and the pick up basketball he plays at the gym, he is in great shape.

Joseph is killing it at the gym too!  He is getting stronger and faster and starting to play basketball with the old guys some days!  I think he would like to get into more weightlifting but I really would like for him to wait another year or two.

Benjamin is coasting right now.  So ready to be done!  Still no clue on future plans, but I am sure they are coming!  A while ago he gave me a list of movies that he thought I should watch.  I started four different ones and just really struggled getting through them (I am very particular in what I watch).   So recently Benjamin came to me and told me he had another movie for me.  I was very skeptical but decided to watch it.  He told me it was now one of his favorite movies and that I was gonna be shocked.  I started the movie and within about 3 minutes I found him in his room and said "seriously, you watched all of this...".  I was floored.  He just grinned and said 'yep'.  This is yet one more indicator that my boy is growing up.  (The first indicator was when he took me to an art gallery and we walked around for 30 minutes as he commented on everything).  The movie he raved about.....LaLa Land!!!  I love it!   Another indicator recently of him 'maturing' was we went out to eat and he ordered a Brussel Sprout salad.  I have never cooked brussel sprouts but he ate every bite of his salad!

 It is spring time, which means we never know what the weather will do.  Tomorrow is suppose to be sunny and 75 and then the next day snowing and high of 40!

This kid loves to get behind the wheel.  All in all doing pretty good, but have had a few close calls, which means learning lessons!  He is almost at 25% of his driving hours. His test is already scheduled for Sept 29 to get his actual license.  Nothing happening yet on his job front.  Sure hope something surfaces soon!  He is spending up to 3-4 hours a day at the gym.  He has created these crazy workouts that he puts his friends through and then he will get into some pick up basketball games for an hour or two.  Sure beats being in front of screen.

This has become my favorite part of the gym!  The sauna!  I will always finish my gym time with 15-25 minutes in the sauna.  Joseph is enjoying the gym too.  He is figuring out all of the equipment and getting pretty good at his ball handling skills.

I recently was flipping through a book on my bookshelf and found a piece of paper in it.  On the paper I had written down some numbers from a few years ago, when we had considered moving.  I was trying to figure out what we would sell our house for, minus commissions and what we owed plus what we would spend on a new place and what a new mortgage would look like.  I had projected selling our place for 215k!  I remember those days and our house is now almost double that.  Still a huge, crazy housing market here.  According to Zillow our place appreciated 28K in February.  I anticipate things cooling off in other parts of the country, but not here.  Our community is in crisis mode, trying to revamp city budgets, figure out infrastructure, etc.  We are just booming!

We are down to 8 weeks left of school and about 6.5 until graduation!  Ben is still holding his cards pretty close to his chest as to his plans after graduation.  I guess I will be just as surprised as everyone else when he announces his plans!

 Happy Birthday Jacob!!!  15 years!  Hard to believe!

He will take his written driving test tomorrow, so hopefully be legal to drive with an adult for the next 6 months.   He is also heading to a local hardware/lumber store to apply for a job!  A big day tomorrow!!

 A year ago today....Feb 18, 2021.  I spent my first night in the hospital as a parent with Jacob and his broken femur.  Seems so long ago!!!

Joseph and I recently took a 3 hour drive to one of Jacob's basketball games.  This was our view.

On the way back, we stopped at a 'middle of nowhere' bar and grill for a burger and this was my view.

JR and I recently ate at Benjamin's restaurant.  I snapped this quick blurry photo.  Always fun to watch him work!

We have temporarily switched gyms.  Joseph really wanted to be able to work out and his age makes it hard.  We found a gym that will allow him to work out and they have a basketball court.  Fun to watch these two compete against each other.

There is one more week of basketball for Jacob!  Not sure if he will participate in track this spring.  March will be busy.  Jacob will finish out the ski season, turn 15, get a job and his learner's permit!  Yikes.  March is all about Jacob!!  After all of that, we will be on the downhill stretch with Benjamin and his last 8 weeks of high school.  Hard to believe!

Work rolls along with me.  Has been a little quieter for JR due to low snowfalls.  Although it has been a milder winter, ready for warm weather.

 Winter rolls on.  It has been a very weird winter for weather.  Huge swings from really cold, to lots of snow and then warm weather and lots of snow melting!

Jacob has hit the ski slopes 6 times already.  I asked him if he had hit the jump yet that he broke his femur on and he said no.  It is much bigger this year and he figured he would wait until after basketball season is over, so he doesn't risk anything.  Smart move J!!!

The last four games the freshman have struggled on the basketball court.  Losing a few games but just one or two points.  They started the season with 10 players.  One almost immediately got sidelined due to a surgery, making it 9.  A freshman who had moved away but came back then made it 10.  Two are now out due to failing grades and one broke their foot last week, so they are down to 7 players.  Means a lot more playing time for everyone, but also really stretches them on the court with not as much rest time.

We are down to the last semester of Ben's high school career.  Still no definite plans, but when asked, his answer is probably the work force.  He really would love to do some international traveling, but with everything so up in the air, I told him he is better off hunkering down and working and saving money.  One of his restaurant jobs is starting to see quite a bit of upheaval with management and control plays.  It has been a great learning lesson for him to see how a well run establishment looks versus one without strong leadership/communication.  Will be interesting to see how things unfold as higher up corporate people are getting involved.  I have told him to take the high road and keep his nose clean.  

My Turo cars are really picking up.  Sure wish we had had some cash laying around to buy a car and get in on the rental car activity.  As the cars have been listed, it is interesting to see how you make slight changes in prices/accessories and all of a sudden the cars are rented out for weeks.  Our airport in 2021 saw almost 2 million passengers!!!  Considering we only have just over a million in the whole state, that is a lot of travelers.  They had to scramble at Christmas time and find/create over 500 parking spaces in outlying fields.  Just nuts around here!!

I have a friend heading out of town for several months and I am going to keep an eye on her place.  Thinking I will take some of my projects to her place so I can leave them out and pop in and out to work on them. A quiet place to retreat will be nice.  Also looking at a weekend away later in February with a friend, staying in state.  Then late April traveling eastward and meeting a few other friends for a ladies retreat.  

JR is looking at several trips this spring and summer.  We of course will party with Ben's graduation early June!  Jacob will have several football camps this summer, as well as working and Joseph, really need to get him plugged in to something!!!

 Just some pictures!

Found this of Bree, back in August 2015!  She was so little!

Few basketball pictures!  They still have a winning record and really are fun to watch.

I love the next two pictures....

I am so glad Benjamin is starting to see the value in pictures and not always hiding from the camera!  The last two were pictures taken when he had gone to work with JR one day.

 I just checked out for a bit.  Probably more like not a lot of motivation, for some reason.

The second weekend of December Benjamin and I made a surprise trip out to Ohio for a long weekend.  It was a huge success and we pulled off the epic surprise.  We caught an Uber from the airport so literally surprised everyone.  I was able to see the whole Ohio clan, minus one niece who was in Arizona taking finals!  Finally got to experience the annual Ohio Christmas party, made a quick road trip to Michigan to see another niece and her kids and Ben was excited to hit Top Golf.

Some December pictures!

 

Two December basketball pictures of Joseph.

After Christmas Eve service the boys and I walked through a local spot with fun lights.

One night we made gingerbread houses.  The kid on the right was one of Jacob's friends.

We have had a very quiet month.  Even during the break, we all slept in and just hung out.  I attempted a few times to get something going, but between Ben's work and Jacob's basketball commitments, hard to nail down time to get away.

The rest of the winter is looking pretty quiet too.  Jacob has basketball most days and the days there is not basketball, he is hitting the ski slopes.  Benjamin is still working 4-5 shifts a week.  Joseph and I just chill at home and JR is just shoveling snow.  Won't be long before things pick up for Benjamin with senior stuff.  Preparations are already underway for the graduation party!!  The countdown is on!

 A bunch of randomness!

*Benjamin and Jacob have discovered the warmth and durability of Carhartt and I love it!

*There was a career day recently at the high school.  Jacob found a local hardware/lumber store that hires at 15 and seems to be very flexible working around sports, etc.  He has decided that is where he will get a job in March.

*At career day, Benjamin talked with a few businesses.  Three things he mentioned, was being a lineman, welder or connecting with a local flight/fire place.  I guess they will train you to be airplane mechanic but then they also offer fire services and train you to fly their planes to put out forest fires!  Those all sound like amazing opportunities.  Just love that he is thinking about it and exploring!

*Somehow, overnight, Joseph has just about passed me up in height.  Wow!

*I have put up the puzzle table, as I do every Christmas, and amazing how happy it makes me!

*I continue to go through all blog posts, reformatting to one day print all of it.  I sometimes feel like my boys have had a boring life, but not so.  As they have gotten older, we might not 'do' as much because of sports, etc, but we were very active as they were growing up.  So many of the posts bring a smile to my face and many, many memories.  I never intended my blog to become a written history, but that is exactly what it is.  Will be fun to put a timeline together of big events, trips, happenings!

*I used the chemotherapy cream on my face and have yet to have a reaction.  Very unusual, so not sure if I will redo the treatment or go back to just the one cream that I used a year and half ago.

*With Benjamin taking Welding 3, it has allowed him to sign up as a dual enrollment student in the local community collage.  He is earning a few credits!

*I think winter has finally hit and here to stay!

*Jacob has started basketball and high school is pretty intense.  He has practice every Saturday at 12 noon, so there goes a lot of his ski season!  Looks like he will be able to get in 10-15 days on the slopes.

*Joseph's basketball season is mainly practices, with a few games versus other schools.

*JR has been adding to the fort and actually headed out there this evening for the night.  So glad he has a place that is his and best we can tell, no one has discovered it yet.

*My Turo rentals are looking to be pretty quiet this winter.  He has three cars and right now only 1 reservation.  I think all of the rental companies have finally met the demand and relocated hundreds of cars here.  It is nuts the amount of people traveling here!  The airport just recently added more parking lots and there are still days that the lots are full.

 Hunting season is over!  I think we had 4 or 5 deer hanging in the garage.  We have finally surpassed the chest freezer and decided to buy a small up right freezer too!!  JR has been experimenting with recipes for meat sticks, jerky and sausage.  I think we have finally found a few family favorites, hoping that boy will be more likely to eat the game (nobody seems to care for the way I cook it...)  Jacob has totally embraced hunting and spent the last weekend out with a friend, all day looking for animals!  Few pictures from some of their jaunts.

Joseph has gotten into baking.  He made an old family recipe pound cake.  I must admit, it looked perfect!!!!  

He has made the same batch of chocolate chip cookies about 5 times and finally got it right today!  He has learned the importance of reading the recipe and learning how to accurately measure.  When he gets bored, he just grabs my recipe binder and finds something to make!! Love it!

 It was a very low key Thanksgiving weekend.

On Thursday, JR, Jacob, Joseph and I went to a local hot springs, new to us.  

It was a nice time.  The boys and JR wrestled.  JR was still able to take Jacob, but that won't happen much longer (JR has the weight advantage).  One of the pools was 60 degrees, so the boys decided to see who could stay in longer.  Joseph won by staying 15:44!!

Benjamin really wanted to stay at home and cook.  However, when we got back, he admitted he was too lazy to have everything ready at the same time.  So, it was a casual food day, eating homemade mac-n-cheese at 2pm, pecan pie at 3:30 and steak at 5:30.  I love how non traditional we seem to be these days!!

A fairly quiet week, actually the next two weeks are pretty quiet.  Just basketball for the younger two!

 Thanksgiving 2021!!

Thankful for the 'adult' conversations Benjamin and I have started having!

Thankful for long time friends that I have stay connected with over the years!

Thankful for my clean scent candles that smell amazing!

Thankful for another year of steady work!

Thankful for early morning gym workouts with Jacob!

Thankful for continued good health all the way around!

Thankful for new supplements I have found and really enjoy!

Thankful for the rare moments when I shut my mouth and end up having a great conversation with one of the boys, instead of one filled with my critical thoughts!

Thankful for my budget envelopes that help to keep me on track!

Thankful for a warm football season!

Thankful for a new treat I have found, sweet and spicy rice cakes!  Yum!

Thankful for lots of opportunities in the news and world around us to talk with the boys about beliefs, politics, doing the right thing, taking responsibility, etc!

Thankful for the online school platform that helps me easily follow their school progress!

Thankful for amazing auto mechanics that keep 'our fleet' running!

Thankful for the moments of laughter/banter between the boys!

Thankful for Bree (dog) who keeps me company during the school days!  

Thankful for margin in my days, both working hours and spending money!

Thankful for my pinochle group, 15 years of playing and still going!

Thankful for our warm house that often feels way too small but is 100% ours.

And the best for last, thankful for an amazing God that continues to show up, despite my inconsistencies, One who is in control when everything else feels out of control, One who cares enough for me to number the hairs on my head, One whose grace and mercy extends far beyond what I can comprehend, One who left the glory of Heaven to come live on this earth, One who knew no sin and become sin.  And He would have done it if I were the only one!  

Just some SENIOR photos!!!!

 

The only picture I have of him in his saute jacket for work.

 Yesterday we received some snow!!  It will warm back up a little bit, but not much.  Guessing winter has arrived!

On Monday Jacob had his football award ceremony.  The coaches gave out 6 specific awards and Jacob got "Dedication to Improve".  He got a nice plaque with his name on it!  So fun for him.  Basketball tryouts have not begun yet but pretty sure that Jacob will be on the team.  The coach alluded to him that he wanted to have Jacob on the rooster.  I asked Jacob about his playing time and his answer surprised me.  He said he really didn't care if he played much or not.  He was doing this to stay in shape and just to be a part of a team.  He knows there are a handful of players with more experience, so he falls probably somewhere just outside of the top 5 starters.  He is by far the social, gotta get involved kid!

Benjamin plods along.  He still pulling 4-6 shifts a week between the two jobs.  He recently went with his welding class/school to see two different college campuses, an hour/hour and half away. Not sure that he is interested in either one of them, but gave him the exposure. He did say one of the schools was $13k a year for in state students.

Joseph is doing 6th grade basketball.  It is mostly just practices and drills, but they are hoping to get in an official game or two.

I saw the dermatologist today for the yearly skin check.  He decided he wanted me to go through another round of the, for lack of better word, the topical chemotherapy cream.  I did it a few years ago and at that time it was a 21 day regimen, twice a day.  This time around, the lotion is paired with another lotion and its only 4 days long.  This new doctor, unlike the last doctor, was more than willing to answer my questions and be very straight forward with me.  (He said I don't have anything super concerning but he wants to head of some potential issues that look like they could be brewing.)  He said it will not be pleasant and I probably would not like him going forward.  He had recently used it too.  I will start it on Monday, finish Thurs and hopefully be totally clear by the following Thursday.  I just plan on hunkering down, it will probably look pretty bad.  He is having me do my ears and neck too, which last time was just my face.

Not much else going on.  Waiting to get Benjamin's work schedule for Thanksgiving week, to see if we can plan a day/overnight outing!

 I have become so intentional about pictures and selfies.  As I have been going through all the old blog posts, I am missing from so many pictures and as the boys have gotten older, I don't have as many pictures of them.  Ben and I recently got together with his friend Kaden and Kaden's mom.  They want to do a joint graduation party.  As Kaden's mom was talking about putting up pictures, etc, she pulled out the picture board she did for her daughter who graduated a few years ago, as well as Kaden's football picture board.  I think Benjamin was amazed at how many photos they had.  I kind of looked at him and said, we don't have a lot of pictures because you never wanted me to take any.  He agreed!  One of the many things I use to talk about but you can never go back and redo.  So, making a point for more pictures.....even with eyes closed!

This picture just warmed my heart.  Seems like there is so much fighting and disagreeing in our house.  One day I heard these two smack talking, laughing and cutting up and I just loved it.  They were playing each other in Madden Football on Benjamin's computer.  They had a good time and if I recall, Jacob won!

We are starting to have conversations about when Benjamin moves out.  I have told the boys that they better not get their hopes up.  They are thinking he will move out the day after graduation, but I am not so sure.  I know he would love to, but given that rent is close to 1000 for a one bedroom, not sure what will happen.  Plans are in the works though!

I walked into Benjamin's room the other day and saw this on his desk.  It brought such a smile to my face!  It is hard to read his handwriting, but he was running some numbers on real estate.  He has shown interest in wanting to buy a place to live and then rent out the rooms to pay for the mortgage.  I love the way he thinks!   We had a great discussion about fixed rate mortgages and ARMs.  He was asking about leveraging to buy things...unfortunately this comes from some tik tok people, so we talked about red flags of leverage and doing zero down!  We talked about how he should set a goal, something like putting money away and buying something when he is 20/21.  Sure hope he will see the value of patience and not move to quickly after graduation and end up house poor!  Fortunately the market is crazy enough that he would not be approved for a while.

Speaking of the market, average home price is now $700K!!!  Just crazy.  Over the summer there are a few streets in town that have become places for people to park campers because they have no other place to live.  There are probably about 3-4 dozen of them.  These are people that have jobs, just can't afford housing.  I was in the area the other day and drove through after dark.  Broke my heart to see a car pull up, loaded down with stuff and you could see an interior light on and they were trying to situate themselves to sleep for the night.  Not sure what will happen when the temperatures drop below freezing every day and winter sets in.  Our city commissioners have done a very poor job over the years to address our growth and now affordable housing!

Our weekly dinner group recently had a costume party.  I don't often do it, but I actually dressed up.  

(This was actually something I bought last year for a70s birthday party but was sick and couldn't go, so finally got to wear it a year later!  What you can't see are my really cool, comfortable suede boots)  This dinner group normally has an ugly Christmas sweater contest but due to schedules, we moved it to Halloween this year.  We have a traveling trophy for the winner.  I won this year!!!  Check out my trophy for the next year!

Either you get this movie reference or not!  The gal that started the contest is a huge A Christmas Story fan.  This is a small replica of a lamp in this movie.  (She actually has the life size lamp that she loves to put in her front window during the holidays.  I haven't found the best place for it to live year round, but thinking I will put in our bedroom window, that faces the street!  It is just a little wobbly, so hope it survives a year at our house!!!