Just some more summer stuff!!

We celebrated this kids 13th birthday on Sunday!!!  Our third teen ager in the house!  Pretty low key birthday, went out to breakfast and had gifts and cake/ice cream

It was also my mom's birthday the following day, so we did a few things that weekend.  We went to a local drive in movie.  This was started just after COVID by a teen ager looking for ways to make money.  This was the beautfiul sunset as we waited for the movie to start after dark.

The movie was my all time favorite ever!!! The Man From Snowy River....I had never seen it on the big screen!

This kid got creative one day with his pringles!

 Random summer photos!!

A recent hike!

Jacob's football team had some 7 on 7 skills.  He mainly played safety on defense, but was ready if he was needed for QB.

Bree got to experience a paddle board....too bad she only stayed on long enough for me to take a picture!

Jacob has caught some big carp....they are bottom feeders so not good to eat.

Did not even know that pup cups were a thing from DQ, but Bingo (my mom's dog) has introduced Bree to them!!

My mom and I recently went to see Tarzan at a local theatre.  She was blow away by the production...it was really good!  We had dinner beforehand!!

Some more football action!

Things have recently shifted in a huge way for me!  I am no longer doing my work from home stuff.  The company has decided to move their production to California (this decision still baffles me and everyone that worked in house...).  I am thrilled to be done!  I had wanted a shift but the pay, flexibility and ease of work was hard to give up.  However, I am not exploring financial coaching.   God is opening up some amazing doors with this opportunity.  I will share more as things fall into place!!

 Mid July!  Time marches on!  I came across some more graduation pictures.

When Ben went with the school on the senior trip, we filled his car with balloons for a surprise when he came back.  Last time I checked there still were balloons in his car!!!!

My mom, brother, sister and I.

This was Ben's buddy, Kaden, who he had a joint grad party with.

This was everyone that came for graduation!  Sure was fun.  This was taken on the balcony at the community center where we had the party.  A great location!

I am also way late posting, but we recently celebrated Ben's 18th!!!  He is now a legal adult!  He is still holding tight with the restaurant job.  He did help during a 5 day stint at a fireworks stand over the 4th.  A friend told me he killed it as a sales person!  I really think that is a gift/talent he has and needs to explore it further.

 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!