Category Archives: Anniversary

Fifty One Years

A few words from Susannah Spurgeon on this day, Greg and my 51st Wedding Anniversary.

I can see two pilgrims treading this highway of life together, hand in hand—heart linked to heart. True, they have had rivers to ford, and mountains to cross, and fierce enemies to fight, and many dangers to go through; but their Guide was watchful, their Deliverer unfailing, and of them it might truly be said, “In all their suffering he also suffered, and he personally rescued them. In his love and mercy he redeemed them. He lifted them up and carried them through all the years.”

Mostly, they went on their way singing…

Susannah Spurgeon

Update: Thank you, everyone for all your kind wishes. I appreciated reading each comment and your thoughts!

Twenty Four Years!

Today is Josh and Laura’s 24th wedding anniversary . Their wedding was on a Saturday. I’ve gathered the photos I have available to remember the events around the wedding.

Friends and family flew in or drove up to witness this grand event. On Friday evening we had the rehearsal dinner at our home in Kenmore.

All hands on deck to prepare all the spaces for the rehearsal dinner! We had some great help for the preparations of the meal.

If I remember correctly, Uncle Nick grilled the flank steak, Babushka made the rice with raisins, Beth Dickinson made Caesar salad. I think we enjoyed our mom’s (Babushka’s) Roolyet for dessert.

My Pop giving Josh and Laura a blessing and praying for our meal with parents and grandparents beside the soon to be married couple.

Cousins, aunts, uncles and close friends filled all the spaces created in our yard.

Me and my sisters with our dear Pop photo bombing!

The wedding party started gathering on Saturday morning at the church.

The church was full for the afternoon wedding.

Our son Dan walking me down the aisle.

Laura and her dad.

Husband and Wife!

Our extended family. Laura’s family were there in full force, too, but I don’t have those photos to share.

Laura’s parents.

Josh and Laura with their siblings, Dan, Scott (Laura’s brother), and Katie.

The Bayles’ side of the family.

Dan and Shavonne gave wedding toasts.

Father of the Bride dance.

Mother of the groom dance.

And off they go to their honeymoon.

Our friends were gracious to offer a meal for all my family and friends later that evening at their beautiful home on Puget Sound.

What a blessing that was!

Dave and Beth let us use their amazing Hood Canal home for an adventure with family, too.

My niece Michelle and Ryan were married 2 weeks before Josh and Laura and while they were at our home Ryan’s wedding ring fell through the cracks in the porch. He had to crawl under to retrieve it.

We filled the days that our family remained with us with meals and fun.

The newlyweds in their very first quirky apartment!

And now 24 years later we were able to have a small celebration while Josh and Laura were here on our side of the mountains.

We used some exploding confetti candles for each of their cakes. If you look closely you can see the confetti that flew out of the candles!

Chocolate cake for Josh and Lemon for Laura.

Happy Anniversary, Josh and Laura. God has blessed the two of you together and individually. We love how you compliment each other and support one another. Thank you so much for the love you share with all of us, too. May God give you many more years of faithfulness to Him and each other! We love you, we love you, we love you!

Ten Years Today

These two are celebrating their 10th Anniversary today. They had an overnight away last night and today in Idaho.

From their wedding, ten years ago…

Granny, Baba and Gramps are in charge of Addy and JJ while their parents are away.

On Thursday there was time on our acreage to see what they could discover. Gramps taught them how to whistle using a blade of grass. There was some sprinkler fun and hammering stakes in the ground. Lunch was an interesting combination of eggs, turkey sandwiches, a pancake, applesauce, sour cream and real maple syrup.

On Wednesday when I asked what treats Baba should have for their visit, JJ suggested popsicles. He said Ice cream can be eaten inside but popsicles are for outside.

Granny was in charge of Taekwondo and Baba was in charge of Irish Dance and then we all met up at one of the Mexican restaurants for dinner before Granny took Addy and JJ to their house for the night. There will be a slumber party in Addy’s room. As JJ put it at dinner, Granny is younger looking than me and she is in fact 13 years younger than me so the overnight gig was hers to enjoy!

I’m heading to the mountain this morning with a Sugar free Mocha with double shots to reward that young granny for taking the night shift!

A view from the mountain driveway. That barn is leaning more and more. We are all wondering when it will collapse.

Happy Friday everyone.

Many Hands Make Light Work

…along with a lot of planning and organization.

I agreed to take on an event at our church for the sending off  and 10 years of service of our dear Youth Pastor’s family. They are heading to a new ministry in Georgia. The event was a three hour drop in event and I wanted it to be as simple as could be with finger food and no heating necessary but also have some elevation in taste and presentation.

This is the beautiful family we were celebrating.

Volunteers were enlisted for three shifts of service. My first 5 shift volunteers from 1pm until 4pm did all the peeling, chopping, mixing, slicing, stuffing, frosting, arranging and clean-up for West Coast Chicken Sliders, Veggie platters, and elevated brownie bites. Once the sliders were stuffed they were stacked in stainless pans between waxed paper and stored in the refrigerators for the event. Before the volunteers arrived I staged the serving tables with tiered servers and some sparkly accents and candles. My second shift of volunteers had the task of keeping the buffet tables stocked with the goodies we prepared. Husband, Greg, was in charge of the water and coffee. We had a third shift of two families who were in charge of the final clean-up, putting away tables and chairs and taking out the trash. The first two shifts of volunteers kept the kitchen clean-up to a minimum washing prep items as we went along. What a fabulous crew.

We will miss this dear family but send them off with prayers for their continued growth in their love for the LORD Jesus Christ and the Great Commission to go out into the world and make disciples.

I’m battling with Plantar Fasciitis for the first time ever . With lots of prayers on my behalf, I was able to make it through the event with little or no pain. As is the case with this condition after coming home and sitting for a while and then standing up again my feet ceased to function well. I’m trying some remedies to ease the problem along with good supportive shoes. I woke up on Wednesday with very little pain and am thankful. Hopefully icing, massaging, and doing a few exercises before I get out of bed will help the condition and make it cease.

Hope all is well in your corner of the world.

Christmas Time is Here

This is our first Christmas ornament. We received it at a wedding shower fifty years ago.

It’s 7am here in northeast Washington state and it is still dark outside. We are still in Twilight and soon the day will dawn.

The angels, Santa, and Mrs. Claus ended up in our Christmas stash from Greg’s folks. The ones below are also from them.

These ornaments are from some recent travels.

These two add so much joy to our merry and bright Christmas days!

‘I Love Baba’

These are old, too, but not handed down. They were purchased from a thrift store.

All the ornaments and all the bits and bobs did not make it out this year and that is fine.

We completed our Christmas letter on Friday and made copies. For whatever reason this was a harder task this year. I’m writing this post on Saturday morning and hopefully I did get all the cards addressed and ready to go to the post office today.

UPDATE: Our cards were all addressed and stuffed and sealed on Saturday. On Sunday on the way home from our church service we stopped at the post office and sent all the cards down the slot! Hooray!

Hope all is merry and bright in your corner.

Idaho Getaway

On the way to our Coeur d’Alene overnight we stopped at a new to us restaurant in Spokane Valley for breakfast. It is an hour and a half drive for us from home to the valley so we were ready for some food. The Crimson Door was a unique spot and the staff and food were both good. Before we got back on the freeway for the 10 minute trip to Coeur d’Alene, we stopped at the Union Gospel Mission thrift store. We were happy to find 3 books by one of our favorite Pastors.

We enjoy traveling the short distance to our neighboring state for getaways or just a day of shopping. A few of the things we like are lower sales tax, lower gasoline prices, not having to pay for shopping bags and a nice variety of places to eat.

When we arrived at our lodging in Coeur d’Alene we were surprised to see a card and these roses left for us by the staff. Our travel agent had let the management know why we were traveling unbeknownst to us.

We shopped at a variety of stores for some gifts including Costco where gasoline was only $2.69 per gallon! One of our stops was at a second hand vintage and antique store where we found some Hardy Boys books for our Grands. Addy and Auntie Lolo had made out a list of the book #’s that were missing in their collection over Thanksgiving weekend.

We drove a little north of CDA for our anniversary dinner at Parallel 47 in Hayden.

We felt that Filet Mignon was appropriate for celebrating 50 years of marriage.

Full and Satisfied we made our way back to our lodging. After putting on some layers of clothing and gloves we walked the short distance to the CDA resort to walk the boardwalk of Christmas lights that they annually light up for Christmas and for their Christmas lights cruises on the lake.

The fire breathing dragon is always a treat for the kids and a little startling for adults, too.

We walked through the resort where we enjoyed a quartet of women singing Christmas classics all dressed up in clothes from years gone by. That was a treat. I recorded them but didn’t get a still photo of them. For whatever reason I’m unable to share my videos on my blog. Sigh.

On Friday morning we had breakfast in Hayden with all the locals. We made a stop at Pilgrim Market for some goodies and then headed back to Colville via one more shopping stop at Cabela’s.

Auntie Lolo put this up on facebook and we received many good wishes from friends near and far. Thank you, dear Lolo!

So thankful to God for bringing you two together, for knowing what an amazing team you would make, for the example you are to your kids, and for the love you share! We love you, we love you, we love you! Congratulations on 50 years!

 

Thank you to everyone who already left comments and best wishes on my 50th Wedding Anniversary post.

This post is up on Monday and we are in the midst of more travels heading to Canada for our Annual Mennonite Girls Can Cook Christmas dinner. We traveled to the west side of the state on Sunday after church. I’ll be missing in action for awhile but hope to get some visits in here and there.

Fifty Years and Counting…

Today Dear and I are celebrating the day we got married fifty years ago. We were married on a Friday evening in Southern California. Our 50th anniversary lands on a Friday, too.

Sharing lots of photos from our years together.

Greg and I on stage in England. We are on the right in this photo.

We met at a church parking lot where Greg was singing in a contemporary Christian Band that my best friend auditioned for. I went to the concerts she was singing in with the group and that is how Greg and I met. Later the group needed an alto so I auditioned and joined the group, too. We fell in love while traveling with this group.

Dating, Engagement party and early marriage collage.

Lousy photo from one of my bridal showers with my mom and Greg’s mom.img560

The rehearsal for our wedding ceremony. Our officiant Andrew Semenchuk turned 99 this week!

December – When December’s snows fall fast, marry and your love will last.

Our wedding day…

img568I love this photo of my dear maternal grandmother and me. She was a gem.

img567My maternal grandmother, my mom and me.

img566Our sweet and oldest niece was at our wedding. Her mom and dad were our matron of honor and best man.

My sisters on our wedding day. Kathy, kneeling on the left, also got married in 1974.

img578My paternal grandparents came to the wedding, too. This was not a given and we were pleased that they came.

img576This is Dear’s paternal grandmother and she was not able to travel to the wedding but she visited us in our first apartment.

img570Here we are heading off to our honeymoon.

Our first apartment in West L.A. We were in it for less than a year. The great thing about this apartment was that it was 2 buildings down from a grocery store and easy to get last minute items we needed for a meal.

Our first home with a mortgage in Huntington Beach across the street from my sister Vera and Nick, 1975. Greg tiled the entry.

Early in our marriage with Greg’s side of the family before we had children.

My first pregnancy and our first son, Joshua.

Almost 2 years to the day after Josh was born, our second son, Daniel, was born.

Our boys were born while we lived in our second home in Huntington Beach.

Three generations of Bayles Boys!

1985 in Arizona on a bicycling trip. I was pregnant with Katie.

Our sweet surprise, Katie, was born in 1985.

On our move from California to Washington state we stopped in Yuba City to drop off Greg’s mom Verna who would join us later in our home in Bothell. Aunt Carol supervised our three on the horse.

Our first camping trip after we moved to Washington State with our friends who were a big part of the motivation for our move. Rainier in the background.

The University of Washington years. We were able to get tickets to the Rose Bowl Championship game in 1992.

Josh and Laura’s wedding in 2001

Edinburgh 2006

2008

From 2007-to early 2010 Greg and I walked the shore of Emma Wood State Beach every Saturday morning when we were living in Camarillo.

My birthday in 2009 at Tam O’Shanter in Los Angeles.

My 60th birthday in 2011.

Katie’s wedding in 2012.

England 2013

England in 2014 for our 40th Anniversary

Dan and Jamie 2015

First granddaughter

First Grandson

We’ve walked together as man and wife for 50 years. We lived in Los Angeles in 1974-75, Huntington Beach 1975-1984, and Ventura 1984-1988 in California. We moved to Washington State in 1988 and lived in Bothell 1988-1997, Kirkland 1997-1998, Kenmore 1998-2018 and now Colville since 2018. We lived temporarily in Camarillo, California from 2006-2010 while still owning our home in Kenmore.

I was a file clerk when we got married and then a school teacher until Josh was born. Greg was a painting contractor with his dad when we got married. When our sons were young Greg got a job with an aggregate company which prompted our move to Ventura where he ran heavy equipment in a quarry. Katie was born in Ventura and Greg was encouraged to finish his education and he decided to take some science courses to see if Pharmacy would be a good fit for him.

We moved to Washington State so he could finish his schooling at the University of Washington and then apply to Pharmacy school. While Greg was in school in Seattle I started a cleaning business for homes during the day and a dental and medical office at night. He finished his courses in 1992 but went on to a year of residency at Overlake Hospital in Bellevue before moving into the Biotec industry dispensing medical information on therapies or treatments that the companies he worked for discovered. One of the big names you might be familiar with is Enbrel. After his residency was over I retired from the cleaning business.

I homeschooled Katie for a couple years and when she went back to public school in 7th grade, I substitute taught for a few years.  Greg continued in the Biotec realm until he retired in 2019. We are happily retired in the country in the small town of Colville with Dan, Jamie and our Grandchildren close by. Our ‘Coast’ kids have the freedom to visit us several times a year and we like to visit them, too.

Here we are in Kenmore, Scotland with Josh and Laura giving a nod to Kenmore, Washington where we lived for 20 years.

This post is just scratching the surface of our 50 years of marriage and all the experiences and opportunities that God opened up to us. We were both Born Again Christians when we married and have been in the Sanctification process these past 50 years. Our life with Christ has progressed with some mountain tops and valleys but has always gone forward bit by bit as we choose obedience instead of our self-centered bents. Some of those bents are easier to identify than others. We’ve been members of Bible teaching churches all our years. Evangelical Free church in Huntington Beach, Bible Fellowship Church in Ventura, Sunrise Christian Fellowship in Seattle and Edmonds, Evangelical Free Church Conejo Valley,  Northshore Baptist Church in Kirkland, and now First Baptist Church Colville. We attend and we serve.

This post doesn’t cover any of the friends that God has surrounded us with who have sharpened us like iron sharpens iron. Friends who have helped us grow in the Lord. Friends that were by our side for so many life experiences. Friends that God graciously put in our lives. That will have to be another post.

As my dear old Pop would say we are so thankful to God for all He “did to us” these fifty years! Thank you God for what you did to us” was my pop’s prayer. Thank you, LORD God Almighty for bringing us together in our marriage covenant. You have given us peace and joy through the hard times and good times. You continue to lay your hand upon us and lead us beside still waters.

We already had a wonderful anniversary celebration in Walla Walla with our family of ten but that doesn’t stop us from continuing our celebration today. We are having a small overnight getaway in Idaho to celebrate our actual day. The photo above is our celebration meal at Parallel 47, a restaurant in Hayden, Idaho. The food was so satisfying. After dinner we walked the Christmas lights boardwalk at the Coeur d’Alene Resort.

We trust God for the future of our marriage and thank Him for his lovingkindness and mercy in our individual lives and as husband and wife.

Thank you, Dear Readers, for making it to the end of this long post.

Sunday in Walla Walla

On Sunday the 30th of June we had breakfast and lunch at the airbnb. Dan and Jamie provided these 2 meals for us all. For breakfast, Dan used Jamie’s sourdough bread to make French Toast to order and an egg on the side if we wanted.

After breakfast we had a glorious time at the pool as Greg baptized Dan. Greg gave a great background on what baptism is and Dan explained to all of us why he was taking this step of obedience.

After Dan’s baptism there was lots of splashing and fun in the pool before and after lunch!

For lunch we had a Charcuterie spread that was over the top.

More pool time after lunch.

Such delight!

For dinner on Sunday night we tried a Mexican Restaurant and it was okay. Some of us thought we should have gone back to the Greek restaurant. We were fed and we came back to our airbnb. Baba and Gramps offered to watch a movie with Addy and JJ while the married siblings went into downtown Walla Walla for some fun. We watched Greyfriar’s Bobby and it was a little slow for the Grands but we persevered to the end just as everyone came back home and it was time for bed for the littles.

Some photos from downtown Walla Walla…

Bright’s was a fun candy, ice cream, novelty store that they found and that we would all enjoy on Monday after our lunch downtown.

So thankful to God for these souls!

Dan and Jamie had just celebrated their 9th Anniversary on the 27th of June!

It was a good and glorious day from beginning to end!

Thanking God for his lovingkindness to all of us!

Along the Way…

Our little family of 10 planned a special getaway to Walla Walla for Saturday the 29th of June until Tuesday the 2nd of July. Greg and I left a day early to make a stop at Palouse Falls and spend the night in Richland, Washington.

We found our way to the parking lot at the viewpoint to see the falls.

 

From Palouse Falls we headed a little west to the town of Richland which is part of the Tri-Cities for a night at a Marriott property. We had enough points to have our night for free. When we checked in the friendly employee upgraded us to a suite with a view of the water (The Columbia River) for which we were grateful. We dropped off our luggage and ventured to the restaurant we chose for our dinner. We were back to our room for an early night and woke up on Saturday to a lovely sunrise.

We would have several hours to wile away on this day until we met up with Katie and Andrew for a wine tasting at Seven Hills Winery at 1:30. The Walla Walla area and the Columbia Valley area in this part of our state is renowned for wine production. Our check in time for our Airbnb wasn’t until 4pm.

Cheers!

There is much more to share. Thank you for stopping by.