Category Archives: Family

Soccer or Futbol Quotes

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It’s no secret that we have soccer/futbol fans in our family and I’m one of them. We are excited for World Cup 2026 here in the USA/Mexico/Canada.

This is a collection of Soccer Commentators comments during games in the past in honor of World Cup 2026. The photos are from games through the years from our travels and at home.  Some are from World Cup 1994 which was the last time and first time World Cup was hosted by the USA. This post is very random and jumps around near and far and wherever soccer/futbol has taken us.

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“He’s already written his name in lights here”

“That was a chance to put the game to bed”
“That goal keeper is a mere spectator” “It’s one way traffic at the moment”
“He is a new name among the old soldiers”
“The giants can be knocked out by the minnows!!”
“Suarez, next time you get hungry take a bite of a Big Mac”
Quote of the match: “His ears look quite normal.” :0)
“The North Koreans are a toughish nut to crack”
“The ball got smuggled away”
“Over the bar with a goal gaping at her”
“Columbia just had a sniff of something”
“Solo could have brought a portable TV and watched her favorite Film”
“Like a hot knife through butter!” I love Arlo White!
“A slender advantage”
“The cruelty of sport” nice way to describe the own goal…
A sport announcer’s most stupid statement of all time “It’s going to come down to who wants it more” As if one or the other team doesn’t want to win. It’s going to come down to a lot of factors in the run of play but there’s not anyone on the field who wants to lose! And that’s my personal opinion. Thanks for letting me vent!
“He was the meat in that sandwich” ~ English Premier League soccer announcer. The meat in this challenge happened to be the ref! He’s still down on the pitch…

USA-Panama3Go U.S.A.!

Vámonos!

Last Week of May Happenings

At the very end of May on a day without rain, the first camping trip as a family happened for this crew.

Addy had the big catch of the trip hooking a Prize Fish that was registered with Fish and Wildlife. They are working on what she’ll get for her prize.

She now has more fish tales to tell. Both Grands want to go camping again.

I’ve been on the lookout for a nice chess set. Stopping in at a local estate sale I found this Renaissance set from the 50’s in great shape. It was $25 which I thought a decent price.

With all the rain we’ve had lately it seemed a good time to start another puzzle. This puzzle was purchased at a thrift store and I wanted to see if there are any missing pieces. I’ll soon find out!

And as of last night just a few more sections to go.

More May blooms that are thriving.

June blooms coming soon. Looking forward to all that June holds.

Living Vicariously

Four of ours were able to travel to Kalispell to meet up with many of their cousins over Memorial Day Weekend. There was a special wedding that six of our people were attending on Saturday so the annual ‘Arizona Cousin’s Memorial Weekend’ was moved to Kalispell this year. It was a great accommodation to make.

Their VRBO was on Foys lake close to Kalispell.

Our niece Debbee turned 50 in the middle of May and our DIL Laura was inspired to order a special t-shirt for each of the ‘cousins’ with a special moment in their life with their cousin Debbee. The photo above shows the original cousins with Babushka and Dzeda all together back then and then this photo below of the now.

A re-enactment…

Laura found special photos for all these peeps!

It was a wonderful way to celebrate Deb Deb’s birthday.

It was time for these six to leave for the wedding.

These 6 enjoyed a meal out while the others were at the wedding.

Sunday was a full day for all to be together.

 

 

On Memorial Day it was decided that a trip to Glacier National Park and a hike was in order. Donning their Memorial day t-shirts and coats they set out at 5:30 am!

Another meaningful, encouraging and rewarding Cousin Memorial Weekend in the books!

Ellen with an E, Hodgepodge

Thank you to Joyce From This Side of the Pond for our weekly Hodgepodge questions.

1. Do you like your name?s

I have grown into it. I do not have a middle name on my birth certificate.

Are you named after someone (grandparent, etc)?

No. After my older sisters got the more traditional Russian names, my mother decided I’d get a name none of her friends would choose for their children. Ellen is not a typical Russian name.

In Russian, the name Ellen translates to Эллен (pronounced EL-len) when used for an English name.
However, because Ellen is a variant of the name Helen, the traditional Russian equivalent is Елена (pronounced yeh-LYEH-nah), which is often shortened to the nickname Лена (pronounced LYEH-nah)
Лена is what I was called by our Russian family and friends.
Ellen, Ellen, Watermelon. That is something I remember some classmates in elementary school repeating to try to irritate me. 🙂
I also had to correct people over and over again when they tried to call me Helen. I’d say, NO, Ellen with an E.

If you have children how did you choose their names? 

For our sons we chose strong Biblical names, Joshua and Daniel. For our daughter we chose a name from Greg’s heritage and also a strong name, Katherine.

2.  A piece of red velvet cake, a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a slice of blueberry pie? You can only have one…which will you choose?

I’ll go with red velvet cake.

If you could pick any red, white, or blue dessert other than those listed here, what would you choose? 

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I love a good patriotic berry trifle.

3.  What’s a job you’d like to try for just one day? 

I’d like to try being a detective and solving a murder.

4. Any patriotic decor in your home currently or coming up this summer? 

Yes! And I’m on the lookout for more since this is the 250th year of freedom!

5. It’s the end of May, so let’s exercise our brains. Sum up your month with an acrostic using the word MAY. We can do it!!

M emorials beginning and ending the merry month of May with

A wakening buds and weeds displaying a springtime

Y ard that needs attending to!

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Memorial weekend scattered many of our family to Texas and Montana, far south and far north! The travelers originated from California or Washington State.

Kathy is our oldest sister and turning 80 over Memorial weekend she deserved a celebration all her own. She was in Texas on her day so our sister, Lana, threw a birthday party for her. Our youngest sister, Lana, lives in Texas.  Both my older sisters (Kathy and Vera) were in Texas to attend our youngest niece’s graduation from high school. The graduation ceremony was on Friday. Our youngest niece is the daughter of our youngest brother who also lives in Texas. Are you following? Anyhoo, hats off to Lana for giving Kathy a very special celebration.

In Texas our friend, Heidi, sat in for me for this ‘sister’ photo above since I couldn’t be in Texas for the events this past weekend. Lana, Heidi, Vera and Kathy on Kathy’s 80th birthday.

Kathy’s kids and grands were all in Montana for a wedding. Our kids and Vera’s kids were in Montana, too, for the annual ‘cousins memorial day weekend’. This group of cousins sent their mom, nana, auntie a special photo greeting for her 80th. There was some face timing, too.

Meanwhile back in Texas…

Our niece, Hope’s graduation ceremony.

Graduations, weddings, cousin’s annual gathering, it was a full weekend! Why were we absent? We enjoyed taking care of our Grands while their parents had fun with the cousins in Montana!

Each of these loved ones got a t-shirt with a photo of a special moment in their history with their cousin Debbee. She turned 50 in May and our DIL Laura was inspired to celebrate her at cousins weekend in this special way.

The original ‘band of cousins’.

Whew! That was a very busy weekend. Our Colville kids made it back Monday evening and our ‘sitting’ duty was over. We shared our time watching over our Grands with our DIL Jamie’s dear mom. She got the evening/overnight duty while and we got the daytime duty. I’m sure our Grands had stories to tell about their caretakers and didn’t hesitate to throw us ‘under the bus’. 🙂

And just like that, May is almost over!

Our Week in California

Before we parked at the Spokane airport for our flight to Orange County we enjoyed our Linner at the Rusty Moose in Airway Heights which is just a hop skip and a jump to the airport.

We arrived at the Santa Ana Airport in Orange County on Thursday evening May 7th. Our brother-in-law picked us up at the curb and brought us back to my sister Vera’s home in Huntington Beach, where we would be staying for a week. Our sister Vera had been in Arizona and she arrived this night, too, and brother-in-law headed back to the airport to pick her up. BIL lives in Texas and he arrived the afternoon of this day. This Orange county airport had a total of 7 of our family members arriving at different times on this day. We all initially traveled to attend our friends memorial service on Friday morning but after that we filled the rest of our time meeting up all over the L.A. area traversing the freeway system for graduation ceremonies, Mother’s Day meals, birthday meals and farewell meals with different family groups and different venues. Whew!

Our Washington kids were able to attend our Great Nephew’s graduation from The Masters College in Santa Clarita. They drove across Los Angeles from the Memorial Service to attend.

That evening we were treated to dinner at Seasons 52 in Costa Mesa with two of my sisters and brother-in-law. I didn’t take any photos.

Saturday this crew drove from different areas of L.A. and Orange County to meet for brunch at Twoheys. Those of us who weren’t at Jack’s graduation were able to congratulate him in person at this gathering. Some of us were also meeting his bride to be for the first time.

This restaurant moved from it’s original location in Alhambra to this South Pasadena location.

Retro, family-friendly American diner known for burgers & hot fudge sundaes since 1943.

Our church youth group would end up at this restaurant frequently in the 60’s and 70’s. That was when they were still in the Alhambra location. We could down a burger and then have one of their famous sundaes. My choice for a burger was always the Stinko Burger. A plain burger with a thick slice of raw onion. I ordered the same on this day for ‘old times sake’.

Josh and Laura left the 2EE’s gathering and headed straight to the airport to fly home.

Saturday evening this crew met up in Huntington Beach at Mario’s Mexican Restaurant for dinner. My brother Steve and SIL Kelly were able to make it to this gathering, driving out from Moorpark. Our niece Debbee was turning 50 this same week so we celebrated her. The Brother in law who picked us all up at the airport is sitting next to Greg. Me and my two sisters are seated at that end of the table. My brother is next to me and SIL across from him sitting next to our niece Melissa. Our niece Debbee is to the right and her hubby is taking the selfie. There was a two hour wait time for a table at this restaurant (remember this was Mother’s Day weekend) but…our Lenny, Debbie and Melissa are good customers here and the manager of the bar came up with seating for us in 20 minutes! Muy Bueno!

On Sunday, Greg and I attended Beach Bible Church (formerly Evangelical Free of Huntington Beach) with my sister Vera. This was Mother’s Day. This was the same church Greg and I attended when we lived in Huntington Beach in the mid 70’s and mid 80’s. Both of our sons were dedicated in this church. It hasn’t changed much and it is still a Bible believing and Bible preaching church. The service with the worship songs and preaching was balm to the soul.

At some point during the weekend gatherings there was a last minute decision to gather at Vera’s home for a Mother’s Day meal. Our niece Melissa offered to bring the pies and our nephew Ryan made a special gluten free cake for the gathering. Vera and I made the decision to order a couple dishes from a Chinese restaurant close by to make the day easy peasy. The Beef Broccoli and Orange Peel Chicken with steamed rice was just right for everyone.

I wasn’t with any of our children on Mother’s Day but it was nice to be with all my sisters, a few nieces, nephews, BIL’s, one brother and SIL.

Monday was beach day and I’ll save that post for another day.

Our flight home would be on Wednesday morning so our last gathering was on Tuesday night with a skeleton crew. My sisters Lana, Vera, Greg and I had a wonderful meal at an Italian Restaurant in Newport Beach called Sapori.

It was a very nice finale to our time in Southern California.

Vera drove us to the airport on Wednesday morning. Thank you, Vera, for your hospitality and to all our family who drove miles for our gatherings. Thank you, Lana, for giving up your bed for a few nights and for the use of that amazing hair dryer! 🙂

Our Friend Ken

Ken’s Memorial Service was held on May 8th, 2026. We traveled to Southern California for the service.

Ken and Heidi’s son, son in law, daughter and grandsons all spoke, read scripture, in honor of their dad’s, pop pop’s, memory. They spoke much of Ken’s love for his Savior, Jesus Christ.

Old Testament Readings:

Isaiah 40:31 ~ …but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

Isaiah 45:22 ~Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.

Isaiah 12:2 ~ Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the Lord God is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.

Psalm 56:3-4 ~ When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?

Joshua 1:9 ~ Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

New Testament Readings:

John 14:1~ Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.

1 Peter 5:7 ~ …casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

Philippians 3:20-21 ~ But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.

My brother-in-law led the congregation in singing. We sang, How Great Thou Art, It is Well with my Soul, and “God be with you till we meet again”.

God be with you till we meet again;
By His counsels guide, uphold you,
With His sheep securely fold you;
God be with you till we meet again.

Refrain

Till we meet, till we meet,
Till we meet at Jesus’ feet;
Till we meet, till we meet,
God be with you till we meet again.

Our kids and our nieces with Ken’s daughter.

After the beautiful service we had time to catch up with friends and family at a reception at the church. It was so good to see old friends we haven’t seen for ages. I should have taken more photos.

All my sisters in order of birth.

My college bestie who was married to my cousin.

My dear friend, Ken’s beloved wife, Heidi.

The memorial for Ken was held at the same church that Ken and Heidi got married in back in November of 1978. I was the matron of honor, pregnant with our firstborn son. Greg and I were both in the wedding. We met Ken when he started dating Heidi.

The photo above is after the wedding reception at our home in Huntington Beach. Ken and Heidi opened wedding gifts and then changed and headed off for their honeymoon. That’s my dear old Pop watching on. Heidi and I spent so much time together that she was part of the family.

The upper photo in the collage was Christmas 1979 when they were expecting their first baby and the two lower photos were of our last time together as couples in November of 2025. Ken and Heidi traveled to our home to visit. It was a precious time of catching up and of also understanding that these were Ken’s final months on this earth. We had a glimpse of the suffering that they were in the midst of. It helped us to know how to pray for them in the months after this visit and leading up to Ken’s death.

This next song was one that Ken listened to the last months of his struggle and one that comforted him. He shared it with his dear family. It was played at the end of his memorial service.

It is such a comfort to know that Ken is with his Savior, Jesus Christ and that his suffering on earth is over.

Till we meet again, Ken, at Jesus’ feet!

70th Birthday Video

This is personal and for my memory here on my blog. Our Daughter-in-love, Laura, put requests out to my friends and family to make a little video greeting for my 70th. She gathered them all and put them together in this 26 minute video and then surprised me with it after our family dinner in Spokane back in 2021. We all watched it together at Dan and Jamie’s house cast onto their TV. It is so meaningful to me and brings tears to my eyes as I recount the goodness of the Lord to me by giving me loving family and friends.

I’m finally adding it on my blog 5 years later!

Thank you, Laura and thank you to each one of you who took the time to deal with the internets and the recording and sending your clips to Laura!

My extended family will often sing when we are together and two of our favorites to sing are Great is Thy Faithfulness and Bless Thou the Lord. You’ll hear those songs at the beginning and at the end of the video.

But wait…that’s not all. This is another video put together from a very old reel to reel from Greg and my church wedding shower. My brother in law, Nick filmed it. It took place in 1974 at Bethany Baptist Church in Los Angeles. No one will love this video as much as I do. Our kids showed it to us at our Family 50th wedding anniversary weekend in Walla Walla in 2024. There is no sound and the quality is poor but the memories are priceless. Both my maternal and paternal grandmothers are in the footage and they both gave us their blessing and how I wish there was audio for those words. It was our little Russian Baptist church tradition to have this church shower with both the Bride and Groom present. This is where the wedding gifts were given, not brought to the wedding.  Greg’s parents and my parents were present along with Greg’s Brother and his family. A few other men were present like my uncle Paul because they were the chauffeurs. My brothers were there and brother in laws. You’ll see them in the kitchen helping with the dishes.

So many of the people in this footage have passed away. The church is still in existence in Los Angeles.

Note: It was so much fun to watch this with our kids and to fill in some commentary on our own. Hilarious with belly laughs. Thank you, Josh and Laura, for sending off the reel to get it in a visible format.

Here are some stills from our shower which aren’t the best quality either.

My paternal grandmother in the background with the pink and my maternal grandmother in the blue.

Thanks for going down this rabbit hole with me.

I’m working on my posts from our trip to California and will share them soon.

‘Clicking My Heels’ Hodgepodge

We’ve been staying with my sister Vera this past week and her orchids have been a treat to the eyes.

Wednesday Hodgepodge is here again and we have fresh questions that Joyce From This Side of the Pond has prepared.

1. What’s one piece of advice you would you give a recent or soon-to-be graduate? 

We have a great nephew that graduated from The Masters University in California and we have a niece who is graduating from a private high school in Texas. In their cards we wrote these words of encouragement;

“May you use the amazing gifts God has given you for His glory” and

“Praying that God will lead and guide you and protect you from choices that draw you away from Him.”

2. May 15th marks the birth date of L. Frank Baum, author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. At this point in time are you more in need of brains, courage, heart, or a trip back home? Explain. 

I would have said brains as mine seems to be holding less information these days but I’m going with a trip back home, since that is exactly what we are doing today, traveling back home. Clicking the heels of my magical Danskos and repeating ‘there’s no place like home’ 3 times should do it!

3.  “There’s no place like home” is an oft repeated line from Baum’s book. When was the last time you felt the truth of that statement? 
We felt that way when we got home from our trip to Europe and Great Britain this past March.

4. May is National BBQ Month…do you own a grill? Who does the grilling at your house? What’s your favorite thing to throw on the grill? What’s the last thing you grilled? 

We own a Traeger. Greg does the grilling. Steaks are a favorite to throw on the grill and that is the last thing we grilled. Porterhouse steak is a favorite followed by Ribeye steak.

5. What’s a memory you replay in your head when you need a little joy?

 

Any memory about our family brings joy and a photo memory adds even more!

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

We are returning today after a week in Southern California. We had a Memorial Service, a graduation and then of course, Mother’s Day. On Mother’s Day we were with all my sisters and some of their kids. We were able to see many family and friends during our stay. More posts coming on our time away.

We came up with a last minute plan for Mother’s day with a gathering at my sister’s home. The decision to order takeout from a Chinese restaurant made it easy on everyone. A niece and nephew were able to make desserts and pick up another dessert and we were all filled and grateful for our time together.

I’m adding this collage after the fact. On Mother’s day when we were all together at our sister/auntie Vera’s home we learned a new way to slice a cake and we were able to live stream the Master’s Chorale (Jackson) singing in a Romanian church in the Chicago area. Jackson’s mom took the selfie with our whole crew watching for Jackson in the livestream. The Romanian church service was classic old school and we had lots of insider reactions which made for fun viewing!

Early May Days Hodgepodge

May the hodgepodge questions entertain your brain, thank you to Joyce.

1. What’s something you may do this month?

Drop some pounds…

2. Hola! Hodgepodge Day lands just after Cinco de Mayo… how do you feel about Mexican food? What’s your favorite dish? Do you make it at home or is it a strictly dine out option?

Mexican food might be my comfort food. I don’t think I have an absolute favorite dish out but we choose the restaurant on whether they make a good salsa which is always served up with chips on the table. We do make some dishes at home like tacos, enchiladas, quesadillas, guacamole, pico de gallo and margaritas.

3. When the children of today grow up what do you think they’ll say about this time period? What do you most hope they remember?

I think Covid will be something they will never forget not only because of the sickness and lives lost but also all the false information and lies circling around that time that were devastating to relationships and mental health.

I want our Grands to remember the rich time they have had learning about God’s love for them and all the love that their parents, uncles, aunts and grandparents showered on them, too.

4. What advice would you give a new mother?

Cherish all the seasons of growth and find joy in the current season even if it is a difficult one.

It is okay and beneficial in many circumstances to say NO.

5. What’s a phrase your mother often said to you? If you’re a mom do you say it to your own children?

No phrase from my mother comes to me. I’ll ask my siblings if they can remember anything.

Now that I’ve read some of your answers for this question, I do remember a phrase that we heard growing up. It was in Russian but the gist was “It will heal by the time you are married!” I might have said this same thing a few times…

6. Insert your own random thought here.

May already has given us lots to enjoy and it’s only been around for 6 days!

An overnight visit from Uncle and Auntie!

We were able to cast a live you-tube of our Great Nephew’s Senior Composition Recital.

We were all blown away by his talent.

Graduation is this Friday.

Hope that your May has started out well, Hodgepodgers and other visitors here!

Catching Up

Some things of late that I want to store up in my memories.

Turkeys have been strutting around our property this Spring.

This is the latest puzzle I put together and it was a delight except for the pictures of the puzzle on the box did not show a section of the right side of the puzzle or the very top of the puzzle.

This puzzle was found at Goodwill. It was a sealed puzzle that had never been opened so I was confident all the pieces would be in the box. A fun celebration puzzle to complete for the 250th anniversary of our country!

For the Friday night of our latest Birthday Weekend this recipe for Raspberry Lemon Bars was a hit. Click on the link to find the recipe from Reluctant Entertainer.

There were stories told and stories reenacted that made for lots of laughter during the birthday weekend and afterward. If you know you know. I know these next photos will be a hilarious reminder.

I’ve had some nostalgic days going through photo albums after the death of a dear friend of ours and it was uncanny to come across our sons combined 7th and 9th birthday party photos and to see the similarity to our grandsons party this Spring some thirty eight years later!!

Laura captured this beautiful photo of Colville mountain driving into town for the birthday weekend. She has a knack for capturing beauty around her.

Homeschool Co-op had their last session on Thursday. These three have done well and persevered. That doesn’t mean school is over for the year, though.

Working on the last of the limbs to maneuver to the burn pile on this sunny and windy Friday.

Hope you have a beautiful Spring Day in your corner of the world. If you are in a land below the Equator have a lovely Fall Day!