Category Archives: Family

A Day with Friends…

The most beautiful discovery true friends make is that they can grow separately without growing apart.  ~Elisabeth Foley

On Saturday Dear and I spent the day with our old friends Jim and Jeanie. Jim is my cousin and I was friends with Jeanie in college before they met. Jeanie and I both majored in Home Economics and we both became teachers. She’s still teaching in high school in the Fresno area.

When we were just married we lived in Huntington Beach and attended the same church. All of our children were born in the same years 1979, 1981 and 1985. Jim was a policeman in Huntington Beach but then left this work and started his own business building pools. We moved to Washington, they moved to Central California so now we see each other maybe one or two times a year. When we get together we can still catch up quick and relate and pray and laugh with each other. Oh and we eat too…I’m still stuffed.

There’s a great story behind this little booth that now sits at the entrance of the driveway to J & J’s house. When Jim was younger he worked at Hume Lake Christian Camps in a security position. He’d be in this booth stopping traffic into the camp conference grounds to make sure people knew where to go or be turned away because they had no business there. Hume Lake Christian Camp is located in the Sequoia’s. This booth went up in auction after it was replaced and Jim had the winning bid. Now he has a fun piece of his and Hume Lake’s history at his home.

 

These are some photos of their beautiful home that they had built on 4 acres of property they purchased. Jim is gifted in landscaping and of course he’d build a beautiful pool to have on his own property.

 

After lunch at their home we drove over to get a tour of Jim’s Pool Company. It’s located on the main drag through their town in a remodeled old home. He’s done a beautiful job with several partial pool designs on display and water features and water falls etc. It was a fun tour of Vineyard Pools in Clovis, California!

 

These are the photos of some of the pools, waterfalls, and water features…

 

Across the street from Vineyard Pools was Rossetti’s Biscotti and Fine Foods. We had to run across and do a little shopping. We bought some Triple Almond Biscotti to take home. We headed back to J & J’s house via Starbucks.

 

These are some of the cactus plants around the home that I had to get photos of and some roses.

These are in abundance.

We went out to dinner and headed back to Southern California very full of fellowship and food…

I have to share one more photo with y’all that I got such a kick out of on our way to J & J’s on Clovis Ave.

 

Have a wonderful joy filled week….

As of June 2017 Photobucket has blacked out all my photos that I had stored there and are holding them hostage. Hopefully I can update my photos on all the posts they have ruined, over 4000 of them.

Fall Y’all! Bloggy Giveaway ~ October 29th – November 2nd

As of June 2017 Photobucket has blacked out all my photos that I had stored there and are holding them hostage. Hopefully I can update my photos on all the posts they have ruined, over 4000 of them.

Update: Besides the U.S. and Canada I’m also opening up this drawing to anyone in Great Britain or Ireland just because I’m so drawn to these countries…

Ellen B. at the Happy Wonderer is giving away an Apron for the Fall Giveaway sponsored at Shannon’s BloggyGiveaways.com

 

The apron I’m offering is an April Cornell Classic Floral ~ “Bring nature into your home with classic colorful floral prints.”

 

 

Hope you enjoy my Classy Ironing Board Model!

 

Just leave a comment with a good email address and I will randomly draw the winner when the contest is over. Blessings on you all and may the best Homemaker win 🙂  My giveaway is open to anyone in the United States or Canada! Giveaway will close at noon on Friday. I will announce the winner by 6:00 PM on Friday!

To see many more giveaways go to bloggygiveaways.com.

 

Santa Ynez Trail ~ Saturday Day Trip…

 

Dear and I are heading North today to check out wine country north of Santa Barbara. Here are the wineries we’re going to try to visit. I hope to get some good photos along the way. We also have a great spot to stop for lunch in Los Olivos.

• Sunstone Winery – best picnic spot, Provencal setting
• Kalyra Winery – a touch of Australia in wine production
• Gainey Vineyards – beautiful setting, twenty-minute wine tour
• Buttonwood Farm Winery – small production winery, great Sauvignon Blanc
• Rideau Vineyard – historic tasting room, Creole touch, the gardens

Have a great Saturday and I’m posting a couple of fun quizes for Saturday. So scroll down and enjoy…

 

Show and Tell ~ Torch Relay 1984 Olympics

 

Before the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles Dear was chosen by his company to run a leg of the Torch Relay. This was a fun event for our family to experience. He ran his leg of the relay in Ontario, California. We were all there to cheer him on. His company representatives were there too with one of their Cal-Mat Cement trucks on the sidelines. Fun times…

Oh and no we didn’t get to keep the torch. The company has it on display somewhere but they did pay for the photo!

For more Show and Tell Friday go to Kelli’s at There’s no place like home….

Show & Tell Friday ~ Russian Immigrants in the Early 50’s

Show and Tell

From the late 1940’s thru the early 1950’s many of my parents’ family and friends immigrated to the U.S.A. from Iran and settled in the Los Angeles area. Because they were in a new country and didn’t know the English language they spent much of their free time together. There was fun, fellowship, and comfort in socializing with these old friends in a new country.

My dad is sitting on the floor in front with the tie on. My Uncle Paul is standing on the left in the back. I’m going to have to get my family to fill in some of the names of these men. I don’t know who the two standing next to my Uncle are.  2nd row Hamzieff, V. Katkov, A. Menn (the one American born in the group who married a Russian Katkov girl in Iran while serving for the U.S. in WWII) , N. Katkov, C. Titov, ??, A. Katkov.  Who is sitting next to pop? Mr. Law on the arm of the chair. The guy in the back with the funny expression?

Some of the ladies… My mom in the back on the left, Z. Katkov, O. Hamzieff, Aunt Nina, Aunt Anna, P. Katkov, L. Titov

I love the hairdo’s.

For more Show and Tell head on over to There’s No Place Like Home….

Josh and Laura ~

Some encouragement from the Bible and John Piper ~

God pledges to Carry Our Burdens ~

Psalm 55:22, “Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.”

The word for “burden” here is lot. What is your lot in life today? What has providence brought you? In the end, this is of the Lord. And He will carry it for you. It is not meant to crush you or carry you away. It is meant to test your trust in God to carry it for you.”

Psalm 16:5, “The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot.”

Psalm 63:8, “My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.”

God Pledges to Carry You – All Your Life

Isaiah 46: 3-4, “Hearken to me, O house of Jacob, all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been borne by me from your birth, carried from the womb; even to your old age I am He, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save.”

 

It was wonderful to spend an extra day with you this weekend. Blessings on both of you!

ht: Pierced by the Word ~ by John Piper

Baba and Deda ~ Grandchildren ~ Heritage

On Sunday afternoon my children got a rare treat of being at their Baba and Deda’s all together. My parents have been in their Senior Apartment for one year now and Katie is the only one of my kids that has had a chance to visit them there. We had dessert then 4 more grandchildren arrived and we got to listen to my Pop tell some stories about their time in Russia and Iran before they came to the U.S. The Photo below is of my Pop’s cousin who served in the Russian Army during WWII. The story my dad told us about him is below the photo…

 

This is Feodor Ivanovich Aryeshen. One night during patrol of the trenches, as he walked with his rifle in his hands he came face to face with a Nazi soldier. They faced each-other with their rifles pointed at each other. Then they both turned around and ran for their lives. When he woke up the next morning his hair had turned pure white! They say it was from being so frightened.

My Father told a few more stories about his life that were great for all his grandchildren to hear. What a rich wonderful afternoon we all had with my parents. What a joy to hear how God has kept them safe and close to Him for so many years. We ended our time with my Pop praying for all of us and blessing his grandchildren again…

Photobucket is holding hundreds of my photos hostage and that’s why you don’t see the original photos on this post.