Category Archives: Addyson May

1st of Spring Favorites

The first of my early Spring favorites is our granddaughter Addy who turned 2 years old on the first day of Spring. We enjoyed a meal out this week with her and the people who love her most in Colville and Kettle Falls. Her birthday bash is on Sunday after the one’s who love her most and live on the other side of the Cascades fly in to celebrate.

Extra space that I’m enjoying with our new counter depth refrigerator is another favorite this week.

On Wednesday after working outside for several hours with Dear, breaking up ice, I came inside to wash some dishes . I heard Dear doing something on the deck and then he came inside and said, “would you like to join me on the terrace for drinks?”. He had brought a couple lawn chairs and side table out of winter hibernation and set them on the deck. It was so nice and refreshing to be in the fresh air enjoying our view. You can see the snow covered landscape in the reflection off the slider.

When we drove into Spokane last Friday we stopped at Sonnenberg’s Market and Deli, “the oldest meat market in town, since 1891”. We picked up some deli items, some house made sausages and one porterhouse steak. Dear and I cooked and split that steak on the first day of Spring and oh my goodness it was the best hunk of meat we’ve enjoyed in a long time. We used a new to us cooking method for it, too, which we’ll continue using when we are only making one steak for the two of us to enjoy. I lightly oiled the steak, seasoned it with Lawry’s Seasoning Salt and Pepper then put it in the oven at 220 degrees  with a meat thermometer probe in it until the meat reached 120 degrees. Took it out of the oven and out of the pan onto a plate and let it rest for 10 minutes. After the 10 minutes I put a little oil in the pan and heated it to smoking and seared the steak on each side and then we enjoyed it. Delicious, melt in your mouth meat!

Even though it hasn’t happened yet another favorite is the fact that we will be driving to the Spokane airport this evening to pick up 3 of our kids flying in for the weekend. It’s been a while since we’ve been able to see them face to face and we are looking forward to lots of time with them this weekend. We have two birthday parties and a baby shower this weekend. One party for a 60 year old and one party for our 2 year old granddaughter and a baby shower for our grandson who will arrive in April.

I am thankful to God for His kindness and generosity to us because of what Jesus Christ sacrificed for us.  I’ve already pulled out my Easter décor anticipating my favorite holiday of the year.

The son of a friend of ours made a drawing about Easter and she shared it on Facebook. It had a cross on a hill and these words written on the bottom of the drawing, “Jesus died on the cross to save us from our sins. 😦 It was a sad three days without him.” then on the bottom right corner of this drawing it says, flip the page. On the other side of the paper he drew the stone rolled away from the tomb and wrote these words,  “It’s the greatest day in history… Death has been beaten and Jesus rose from the grave.”

Out of the mouth of babes! Love this little one sharing the Good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ!

Linking up with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story for Friday’s Fave Five.

Spring is Coming!

Spring here in Colville starts out as the season of mud from all the snow melting. Hopefully rain showers won’t compound the season of mud.

This is an exciting week with the start of Spring coinciding with our granddaughter’s 2nd birthday. Our little BBB (Baby Boy Bayles) is growing as he should and mommy is healthy. We never take this for granted and we are thankful.

We have a new fun game at our house that Dear and Addy enjoyed while we watched her one evening last week. It’s a mini kind of handball using small bouncy balls in the hall. It caused such joy and belly laughs!

On Saturday evening we enjoyed a meal with Addy and her parents of Corned Beef and Cabbage with Lemon Meringue Pie for dessert. More handball in the hall and the traditional things Addy enjoys when she visits Baba and Gramps were on the agenda, too. We are taking in and enjoying these days with young grandchildren.

We are looking forward to this week and next weekend in particular as all our kids will be here for 2 birthday celebrations and a baby shower for our soon to arrive grandson. Trips to the airport and nonstop fun are on the schedule. I’ll have to get my visiting to your blogs early in the week before all my attention is taken up with the face to face interactions I’ve been missing with our “Coast Kids”.

Joining Angie at Letting Go of the Bay Leaf for Mosaic Monday.

Birthday Week Favorites

My Birthday celebration started early with a Mexican meal on Tuesday that Dan, Jamie, Addy, Linda, Scott and Rhonda were a part of. It was a good time and Jamie brought a special dessert for each of us in little canning jars, blueberry cobbler. Linda is our DIL Jamie’s mother and Scott is Jamie’s Uncle and Rhonda is Scott’s wife and we are all huge fans of Addy.

On my actual birthday morning our dear daughter-in-law brought Addy by with a bouquet of flowers for me. This was such a sweet surprise and I’m so thankful Jamie took a photo of her at the front door before I opened the door with my robe on and wet hair! Addy wasn’t sure about me with wet hair and my glasses off but warmed up when she realized that scary figure was in fact her Baba!

Besides my morning cup of coffee, on my birthday Dear made me his famous Swedish Pancakes with side eggs in between his work obligations. Perks of working from home.

Phone calls and text messages from kids and family and Facebook good wishes were fun to receive and read through the day.

After Dear’s work was done we went into town to run errands and decided to try Chateau Vin, a new spot to us, for early dinner which is not new to us. It was good and we would take any wine enthusiasts there when they visit. We I have a goal of trying every eatery in our area. We’ve tried most already. It’s not a hard goal since our community and the others around us are small. Many of the establishments are closed on Sunday and Monday. Some are closed on Monday and Tuesday. Only a handful are open every day. The only national chains in our town are McDonald’s, Subway, Taco Bell, and KFC. Local chains are Zip’s, Taco Time, and Westside Pizza.

I’m retired and how to use my daily awake hours are mostly up to my discretion. I’m settling in to really enjoy my morning time reading the Bible and some devotionals and books before I continue on with the busyness of the day. In the recent past I lapsed horribly in this good endeavor. Currently I’m on a 5 day a week plan on reading the Bible through in a year. I read my Spurgeon yearly devotional which I’m happy to reread each year. I’ve added Piper’s Taste and See for the first part of the year. Then my two current books, not devotionals, that I try to read a chapter from each morning are Begg’s, Pathway to Freedom, and MacArthur’s, The Gospel According to Jesus. Dear already read these books so we can discuss what we read. I’ve gained from this discipline in my life for sure and it’s not just a discipline but it is worship and it is good even if I don’t “feel” something at the moment. The Holy Spirit uses what gets into my brain and heart and brings it back to me at interesting times, like 2 a.m. in the morning. The key for me is that I don’t turn on my computer until I’m done with this morning time.

My morning view.

Joining Susanne at Living to Tell the Story for Friday’s Fave Five.

Dear and I are driving south to Spokane today to have a birthday dinner at Churchhill’s Steakhouse. I won’t be around to visit until tomorrow since driving into Spokane is a several hour event for us. Ninety minutes to get there and then we have to shop at some of our favorites that we don’t have in Colville, dinner, and then ninety minutes to get home.

Enjoy your Friday!

Entering the Season Five…

Looking back at the last 7 days and thanking God for all He is doing and allowing in our lives with Friday’s Fave Five. Here are my five.

1. Dear and I really enjoyed watching the eagles soaring and sitting in the trees right in our own backyard. This happened on Saturday.

2. The Right Hand of Fellowship: Many churchgoers are familiar with the term “the right hand of fellowship”. What was the purpose or significance of this act? By giving the right hands of fellowship, believers were agreeing to serve God together. On Sunday we became members of First Baptist Church of Colville. The photo above is of our new church.

3. Lana G! Looking back at her blog and stealing reviving some of my memories with her photos, collages and prayers. Lana used photos from our sister trip to Victoria on Vancouver Island back in 2011 for this collage. Lana is not blogging anymore. Insert sad face. 😦

4. Time spent with Miss Addy. Oh how I love to see what new things she is learning. Last night she showered me with hugs and kisses. Soon she will be 2 and we will be celebrating. On Tuesday she informed her mommy that she would be seeing Baba and Gramps in 2 days and even went to the calendar to count out the 2 days so mommy and daddy invited us over for dinner for Thursday. (Thanks Addy!) We chase each other and play “throw all the stuffed animals in the crib” and rock our babies. No new photos. When I pulled out my cellphone to try to catch a photo of her she let me know that I should put that phone in my pocket. Pocket…pocket…pointing…

5. Entering the season of Lent and preparation for the greatest celebration of the year, Easter. I shared this video yesterday and am reposting it here, too. Our sister in law Kelly, has spent hours developing these videos/art course of a visual walk through the season of Lent. I’ve already learned new things just by watching the first video which is available for free. I’ve signed up for the whole course, too, and am looking forward to completing it and being enriched by it this Easter season.

I’m linking up with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story for Friday’s Fave Five.

Later this morning we might drive to the Chewelah Golf Course to do some snowshoeing. We found out this week they are offering the golf course for snowshoeing and cross country skiing for free. We think the snow is beginning to melt so we want to get there before that happens. I’ll take my camera and hopefully share some photos of what we see. What are your plans?

Weekend Roundup “I”

Starts with “I.”  A Favorite.  Inside.

Starts with “I” ~ Icicles

“I”

A Favorite:

Island. Balboa Island in Newport Beach with family. My sister Vera, me, nephew Dave, niece Kristin, son Josh and DIL Laura.

Inside: Flash from the past.

Inside the Irma Restaurant Grill in Cody, Wyoming.

Parting Inside shot of Addy in motion with oversized slippers on.

It’s always fun to have Addy inside our home.

Linking up with Tom at The Backroads Traveller for Weekend Roundup!

Friday afternoon I got the sweet chance to listen to our grandson’s heartbeat. He is due in April. Addy was in the examination room along with her daddy and of course mommy. Addy has learned to hold up two fingers to show that she is turning two years old in March. She will be two years older then her little brother. A decision on the name for our grandson is proving to be difficult. We are not worried since we didn’t choose Daniel’s name until he was born. We have a forecast of bitter cold nights until Tuesday. Time will tell if I slip on my snowshoes for a little exercise in our back acres this weekend. What’s up in your corner this weekend?

Cinderella

Our little Cinderella saw two of my aprons in the pantry and wanted me to put them on her. Then she found an old pot holder, 44+ years old,  and decided it was a cleaning rag. She wanted me to wet it and after a scrub here and there I had to lift her up to the sink to wet it again. Kept her busy for a while.

Oh how I love my little helper! And it’s great that you can’t see the mess on all my counters since I was focusing on her, below the counter line. 🙂

Mosaic Monday ~ Snowshoeing

We bought snowshoes at Costco last week and I’ve been walking around our property getting used to them. When you have snowy winters it’s hard to get regular walking routines in. At least that’s the excuse I’m going to use. Ice is also a danger and at my age a fall on ice isn’t recommended. We live in the country and there are no malls to walk in. I’m encouraged with my first three tries in the snowshoes.

Here’s hoping I can use this new form of winter exercise work off all those hibernating calories.

So far, Dear has to help me get them on. Getting them off is easier.

We had a full day yesterday and then in the evening someone was in the kitchen with me…

As ominous as this figure seems to be, she’s just my dear granddaughter, Addy.

Baba’s vest and Gramps’ hat.

Later she switched outfits and became Cinderella. Those photos will come later.

So thankful for the time we had together with Dan, Jamie and Addy on Saturday evening. They came for dinner. Also so thankful for my Dear who patiently puts my snowshoes on for me and tightens them just right.

Linking up with Angie for Mosaic Monday.

Weekend Roundup “H”

It’s time for The Weekend Roundup hosted by Tom The Backroads Traveller.

1. Starts with “H.”
2. A Favorite.
3. Half.

Starts with “H”.

Home: The view of our home from the rear of our property. We got some snowshoes and I tried them out on Thursday taking some photos looking back at our home. You can see the garage on the left with our home on the right. A door and window of the laundry room, slider in our family room and double windows in our master bedroom suite. Home is where the heart is and all the happy memories we can make and enjoy.

A Favorite.

My helper hanging a heart.

Half.

Half of a Hare’s head sticking up out of the snow.

And a parting shot…

Hummingbird.

We are having some snow flurries here with an inch or more of accumulation on top of our previous snow cover. We are looking forward to a quiet weekend. What’s happening in your corner?