Author Archives: Ellen

Mom & Pop…

Tim and Letty picked me up at the airport and we headed straight to the hospital to visit my mom. Everyone said she looked so much better today than yesterday. We still aren’t sure when she’ll be released and if my mom and dad will attend the wedding. For Mother’s day I put together an album of photos from Katie and Andrew’s wedding for her and my dad. After we left the hospital our kids stopped by for a visit, too. For the record…my mother is hilarious on morphine. My dad is quite happy with his new bearded look. It was great to see both of them.

Friday night we attended the Rehearsal dinner at my brother’s house for Levi and Kristin. A beautiful evening with wonderful middle eastern food. I’ll be sharing more photos soon.

Oops I was so busy taking photos at the rehearsal dinner that I forgot to put sunblock on and now my cheeks are screaming at me.  I should know better…

Good night everyone. Have a great Saturday…

Equal Time…

…for the Groom.  All photographs were taken by Jeremy Leffel our wedding photographer.

Waiting to see Katie for the first time in her wedding gown…

The first look…I think he was pleased.

Now we are getting ready to see the next groom in our family, Levi.

What an emotional day Thursday was around here. We got an early morning call that my dad had called 9-1-1 and that my mom was rushed to the hospital. They are keeping her for observation and are trying to determine if she had a heart attack. Most of my family is and will be in Southern California soon for our nephew’s wedding on Saturday. My mom is real sad that she’ll have to miss her grandson’s wedding. She is in a lot of pain and doesn’t walk well these days because of the pain. We’ll hear today more on what’s going on. I’m at Seatac airport as I’m typing this getting ready to board my flight for Ontario Airport in Southern California. Hope things are quiet where you are…

Quack, Quack…

…waddle, waddle. Mama and her 8 ducklings came to visit.

I’ll be seeing my mama and pops and 6 of their ducklings this weekend. There will probably be a lot of quacking going on. Some of us are at the waddling stage, too. But back to mama duck and her ducklings…

They decided they wanted to eat the bird seed that falls from the bird feeder while I was mowing close by. I left them in peace and mowed another section of the yard until they were done. We think this is the mama duck that visits us every year. This is the first year she’s waddled about our yard with ducklings. We think her eggs got eaten last year.

Things are busy around here as we get ready for a couple of events. Tomorrow we have a dinner here for our end of session celebration with our small group. Then bright and early dark and early on Friday Dear is dropping me off at the airport. I’m flying to Southern California for our nephews wedding in a barn. Makes me think about one of my father’s favorite things to say when we’d leave a door open “Were you born in a barn?” Now Levi and Kristin can say they were married in a barn. Maybe they should have their first babe in a barn. (I digress again) Dear will be joining me later in SoCal. We’re excited that Josh and Laura and Katie will be joining us, too. It’s been a couple months since we’ve seen Katie and we’re looking forward to spending some time with her.

What’s new in your neck of the woods?

Sitting Pretty…

All the photos I’m sharing today were taken by Jeremy Leffel, the photographer that we chose for Katie and Andrew’s wedding. We’d choose him again…

Many more wedding photos are in my stash to share. We are getting ready to head to Southern California for my nephew’s wedding. I’m looking forward to seeing my folks and many of our family this weekend. Not only do we have the wedding to celebrate but another nephew and niece graduated from college with honors!

This Time Around…

…we decided on more coverage.

After our deck gazebo demise we’ve been considering new options for our deck and how to get protection from the afternoon sun. Here’s what we came up with…

Joshua came over to help his father and I got to lend a hand here and there. This wouldn’t have been as easy without Joshua’s help. Thank you Josh!

We are on the same wave length as the Space Needle make over for the 50th anniversary of the World’s Fair with Galaxy Gold…

We’re calling our color terracotta and that’s the color of our new deck stain.

Here are some interesting facts about the Space Needle…

When the Space Needle was built in 1962 it was the tallest building west of the Mississippi River.

The Space Needle had the second revolving restaurant in the world. The first one was in the Ala Moana shopping mall in Hawaii (now closed). There are now hundreds of turntables throughout the world.

One of the best sellers during the fair was a Needle-shaped gold charm with a light in it, selling for about $75 in 1962. Another was a 9-inch high chrome lighter in the shape of the Needle.

The center of gravity for the Space Needle is 5 feet above the ground.

The original nickname of the Space Needle was “The Space Cage.” The original name of the restaurant was “Eye of the Needle.”

We had so much fun in the sun over the weekend and we are still promised a good stretch. It was timely to get the deck structures up. Have a great week everyone!

Look Ma…no Jacket!

We had our first evening Sounders Soccer game that I did not have to have several layers of warmth on my body this past Saturday! The sun was shining, the crowd was rowdy, but our team went down in defeat. The only downer on a very wonderful day!

All day in the sunshine. A 5K in the morning. Putting up deck structures in the afternoon. Dinner downtown before the game. We were all yawning during the 2nd half of the game! Absorbing vitamin D is hard work!

Going to the Dentist today so hopefully I can say “Look ma, no cavities, too!”

Can’t leave without showing you how thoughtful my kids are…

A basket full of treats that were personalized about things that bring me joy from Josh and Laura.

Flowers on my doorstep from Katie and Andrew all the way from North Carolina.

Daniel sent me a gift certificate for a local salon and I’ll be booking a massage real soon.

Dear pampered me all day beginning with home made eggs Benedict that were delicious!

Blessed to the brim and I don’t take it for granted…

Have a great week y’all.

Free Them 5K!

We joined our son’s team Axia Home Loans Lynnwood to walk against human trafficking. World Concern in Seattle sponsored the event.

This is part of our Northshore Baptist group. Notice the sun glasses? We are in a wonderful stretch of sunny days here in the Seattle area. We were all a little befuddled from all the sunshine we were in on Saturday!

This event has really grown from year to year and our daughter in law was busy helping coordinate it all week long. Thankfully there were lots of volunteers to help things run more smoothly. Human trafficking is a troubling worldwide problem and events like these raise awareness and money to help fight it!

Our sunny day activities continued on after our morning walk and I’ll share more later. Today I’m linking this post with Mary at Little Red House for Mosaic Monday.

O Word of God Incarnate ~ Hymn

O Word of God Incarnate

O Word of God incarnate, O wisdom from on high,
O truth unchanged, unchanging, O light of our dark sky:
We praise You for the radiance that from the hallowed page,
A lantern to our footsteps, shines on from age to age.

The Church from You, our Savior, received the gift divine,
And still that light is lifted o’er all the earth to shine.
It is the sacred vessel where gems of truth are stored;
It is the Heav’n drawn picture of Christ, the living Word.

The Scripture is a banner before God’s host unfurled;
It is a shining beacon above the darkling world.
It is the chart and compass that over life’s surging tide,
Mid mists and rocks and quicksands, to You, O Christ, will guide.

O make your Church, dear Savior, a lamp of purest gold,
To bear before the nations Your true light as of old.
O teach your wandering pilgrims by this their path to trace,
Till, clouds and darkness ended, they see You face to face.

Words: William W. How, 1867.

Moms at the Wedding!

For my special Mother’s Day edition for this weekend I’m posting photos that Jeremy Leffel took at Katie and Andrew’s wedding that include mothers. Have we mentioned how much we appreciate Jeremy and his photography?

My Mom

Andrew’s Mother and his sister.

Andrew’s dad and step mom.

My side of our extended family.

This is Dear’s side of the family.

Young moms, older moms, mothers in law, step moms, grandmothers, sisters, sisters in law, nieces, cousins, friends… moms. All important people in our lives.

We are getting a stretch of good weather here in the Pacific Northwest so I’m sure people will be out and about and getting caught up on their gardening. We are participating in a Free Them 5K against human trafficking on Saturday morning. Later in the day we will enjoy a meal with Josh and Laura and from there head to the Sounders soccer game. Hope you enjoy your weekend!

Let’s Dish ~ Mother’s Day…

I was able to use my latest purchases that I showed you a few weeks ago to create a table scape.

I ended up using and changing out 3 different chargers. The bright green, bright purple and pale purple.

My mother is an old world mother. One who sacrifices everything for her husband and children. She has never driven a car to this day and she is 89. She was a stay at home mom her whole married life. Her love was expressed by sharing her faith in God, providing good meals, sewing clothing for her daughters, and putting herself last when it came to needing something new. My mom bore 9 children. Her first daughter died at 2 years old in Iran. Eight of us are all still alive and well in Southern California, Texas, and Washington. Here’s my mom at Katie and Andrew’s wedding in March.

This photo was taken by Jeremy Leffel, I love it! That’s my dear dad behind her making sure she kept steady since she is using a walker these days. It would be nice to serve my mom a meal at this table but traveling is getting very hard for her. She’ll be celebrating at my niece’s home with some of my sister’s families.

I used flowering rosemary and another ground cover in the vases.

I am really enjoying this color combination. I’m still on the lookout for a few more pieces.

I talked to my mom on the phone today and told her I didn’t buy a card, yet. I’m going to have to do something special when I see her the weekend after Mother’s Day weekend.

Happy Mother’s Day to all mothers who visit here…

I’m linking up with Kathleen at Cuisine Kathleen for Let’s Dish Mother’s Day edition and with Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for Tablescape Thursday.