Family Hodgepodge

Thank you to Jo for coming up with questions this week even though her daughter’s wedding was this past weekend!

For Hodgepodge Wednesday questions we were with all our kids and grands in Arizona, flying out later on Tuesday afternoon. I posed some of these questions to them for fun.

1. What’s something we’d find you doing most afternoons?

Dear and I eat dinner most afternoons, not in the evening.

2. Who do you take after? In what way(s)?

I’m more like my mother, snarky but willing to feed a crowd.

Joshua takes more after me, more of a people person and more adventurous and willing to spend money. Dan is a mix of me and his dad, jumps in to get things done more introverted like his dad with the best one liners coming out of nowhere. Katie is mostly her dad, more introverted, the brightest in the bunch and smart cracking.

3. ‘After every storm comes a rainbow’ or ‘the calm before the storm’...which phrase do you relate to more right now? Tell us why?

Most of the group was ‘after every storm comes a rainbow’. I tend toward looking on the bright side and knowing things will turn out in the end. Because Jesus is our Savior and Lord we know who holds the future and that Hope brings us through the storms of life.

Our daughter says…”how about in the eye of the hurricane?”

4.What are your plans for the day after tomorrow?

We will be back home after a week in the sun trying to catch up with laundry and mail and bills, etc.

5. Complete this sentence-“After all is said and done_____________________.”

From Andrew: …naptime.

Laura: …it’s over.

Joshua: …atta boy.

Jamie: …,satisfied.

Ellen: …time to relax.

Greg: …I wouldn’t change a thing.

Katie: …the best is yet to come.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

The parties are over and it’s time to come back home to Winter…

Arizona Log Ride

We had planned on a family trip to Disneyland this year but plans changed and it worked out to have a family week in Arizona instead. This isn’t the log ride at Disneyland but it was just right for our almost 4 year old, Addy. This ride was at the Wildlife World Zoo and Aquarium.

It was a fun way to end our time at the Wildlife park…being a little wild!

Running Nonstop!

Busy, busy, chasing these two! I’ll be back to normal living on Wednesday. Hope y’all are doing well.

We’ve been enjoying lots of family time in the home our son is part owner of here in Arizona. A nice large space with a pool for us all to enjoy! Each couple has their own room, too, along with a room for Addy. An amazing property. Two birthday celebrations down with one more to go!

I’ll be visiting blogs again later this week!

Arizona Getaway

We flew away from Washington State to Arizona for a family birthday getaway. For the record we wore masks at the airport and masks on the plane. Here we are flying over the Grand Canyon. So much going on with our family bubble.

Our son and his partners have this fabulous Arizona getaway that we are enjoying.

Our daughter and daughters in law enjoying the poolside.

Today we visited the Wildlife World Zoo and Aquarium in Litchfield, Arizona and we got to feed some giraffes! Amazing. More animal photos to follow soon when time permits! Masks were worn at the Wildlife center.

Lunchtime at the Wildlife park.

Today is our daughter-in-law’s birthday, tomorrow is our middle son’s birthday and Tuesday is our oldest son’s birthday. Many celebrations are afoot!

Early Celebration

I set the table, I made the meal, made sure the presents were all ready for them, made the cake, but did I take a photo of the birthday guests? The answer is no. My photo taking has taken quite a hit these past 12 months.

Applesauce Spice Cake baked in a star cake pan this time around.

Presents from near and far were all wrapped and ready.

We had corned beef and cabbage with potatoes and carrots and some yams, too. Pumpernickel bread and a cucumber tomato salad. We made one of the corned beef briskets in the crock pot and the other one in the Insta Pot and we decided the Insta Pot meat was more moist. It also only took 70 minutes in the Insta Pot.

These are our three who have birthdays this month all within 5 days of each other. We’ll be celebrating with all of them later this week and I’m going to make sure to get photos this time around!

Family Photo Shoot

We were gifted a professional photo shoot of our family from our kids Christmas of 2019. We were going to try to schedule the shoot in the Spring but then COVID19 struck and it didn’t work. We finally got a date on the books during our annual Family Hunting Weekend in October. What we didn’t count on was snow on that weekend and temperatures in the 20’s!

I think we did a great job at not looking like we were freezing! This was the photo we sent with our Christmas card and letter this year.

Gramps, Addyson, Baba, and Jaymison.

Oh how we love these two little grands!

Our firstborn son and his love.

Our second born son and his love.

Their beloved family.

Our youngest and our only daughter and her love.

The original three who married three exceptional human beings that we love dearly.

God has been good to us despite ourselves! We are grateful and thankful to Him.

The Wonderful Leftovers!

For the benefit of our family and my memory bank I’m posting several more photos of our family time over Christmas. Some of these are out of order and some repeats in collages…

Thank you to Laura for all the photos!!

On the day of our Coast kids’ departure we gathered for more last minute fun at Dan and Jamie’s with a great lunch of leftover Rib Roast, creamed corn, salads and other goodies. A great clean out the fridge meal!

Such great uncles and aunties.

The day after our Coast Kids journeyed home we had seven more inches of snow at our country bungalow (Wednesday December 30th). In the next several days the temps will be above freezing and we have some rain in the forecast so the snow will become a sloppy mess with puddles everywhere.

Here’s the latest puzzle we are working on and hope to get done before Russian Christmas which is January 7th! Perfect weather for puzzle time.

Before the New Year

I posted this collage of our daughter Katie on Facebook with this birthday message;

Happiest of Birthdays to our little girl who was a special surprise from God all those years ago in Ventura, California. Your dad and I are so thankful to God for His watch care over you and for the place He has brought you to in your life. We love our beautiful, smart, kind, precise, meticulous, precious girl! We pray that the Lord will guide you continually. From Spurgeon, “There are no dilemmas out of which you will not be delivered if you live near to God and your heart is kept warm with holy love. You will not go astray in the company of God.”

Sunday December 27th was our Katie’s birthday and it was a full day of fun in the snow and then a snowflake taco dinner party with Spice Applesauce birthday cake.

The kids spent the day at Dan and Jamie’s playing in the snow and the guys helped Dan get caught up on chopping wood for their fireplace.

Santa brought JJ a new battery powered tractor.

Some steamed frothy milk to warm up before naps.

And a great finale to the B-I-B-L-E…Bible!

Now for some cuddle winding down time to calm down for his nap…JJ’s not Joshua’s. 🙂

The older crew came back to our place to get ready for the Birthday party.

It was a snowflake table setting for our winter girl. Now here’s the funny story about the candles on the table. The center candle in the table setting was a battery operated candle. All eight of the other candle holders had votives in them that needed to be lit. I asked Dear to please light the candles on the table while I finished up the taco shells for dinner. I heard some belly laughter from the dining room when everyone realized Dear also tried to light the battery operated candle. That candle looks even more authentic now!

Cake first or presents first?

A delightful birthday from beginning to end! We love you Katie!

Praying that God will increase your love and devotion to Him in this next year!

Family Moments Hodgepodge

1. Tell us about your favorite moment or share one of the bright spots from the year we’re leaving behind.

My favorite moment was when our Colville kids decided enough was enough and we were allowed to hug our grandchildren again. Oh Happy Day!

2. What do you wish you’d known at the start of 2020? Elaborate.

I wish I’d known that travel would be so adversely affected because of the COVID. I wouldn’t have booked our flights to London and our lodging in Oxford. Then I wouldn’t have had to spend any time cancelling and wondering if we’d get our money back. Thankfully we were refunded for everything.

3. Best book you read this year? If you did not read any books this year, what’s the best thing you ate all year? We’ve all eaten, right?

Nonfiction: Besides the Bible which is by far the best, Only Jesus (What It Really Means To Be Saved) by John MacArthur

Fiction: All the Devils Are Here by Louise Penny

This was the only nonfiction book I read all year and it wasn’t until December that I read it!

4. The Pantone Colors of the year for 2021 are ultimate gray and illuminating yellow (a bright shade)…are you a fan? Would we find either of these colors in your home or wardrobe?

The ultimate gray could be found but I would not choose the illuminating yellow. We have some gray in our home and wardrobes but no illuminating yellow.

5. If you were/are making a list of 21 things to do/accomplish in 2021 what is one thing that would be on it?

Weeding out things that I don’t want to leave to our children to deal with is one of the 21 things to accomplish in 2021!

6. Insert your own random thought here.

Our family of 10 had a wonderful few days together over Christmas and we are so thankful for the relationship strengthening time we had!

Our 4 kids from the other side of the Cascade Mountain range left on Tuesday for home. We are thankful for how they honor us, their parents, and how they contribute to our family unity!

Addy asked our “Coast Kids”, “Why don’t you live here with us?” She loves spending time with her aunts and uncles. Addy had several deep questions during our times together. Out of the mouth of Babes…

Thank you Joyce From This Side of the Pond for your faithful weekly questions that add a midweek boost to our blogging!

Ami the Amish Snowman

Snow!

It started snowing Christmas night and into Boxing day morning. We got between 2 and 3 inches. We bundled up and went outside and tested the snow to see if it was snowman worthy. YES!

Josh had help rolling the snow into the 3 portions we wanted for the snowman. He was placed in the back yard so that we would be able to see him from the family room.