Category Archives: Friends

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.

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….

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

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.

 

10-20-30 ~ Meme

 It’s another carefree Saturday meme post.

I stole this little gem of a meme from Mary at Relevantblog…

10-20-30! Let the Virus Begin!

Quick: What were you doing ten, twenty and thirty years ago?

10 Years Ago ~ 1997

We were getting ready to move to our 2nd rental home after a huge landslide had forced us out of our lst home in Washington State. Our oldest Son was away in his freshman year of college at Westmont in Santa Barbara. Our 2nd son was in his Junior year of high school. I was homeschooling our daughter who was in 6th grade. Dear was working in downtown Seattle for a Biotec Company. This was an emotionally tough time with the loss of our home and the beginnings of letting our children go…

20 Years Ago ~ 1987

We were living in Ventura, California and had made the decision to move to Washington State so that Dear could complete his education at the University of Washington and apply to Pharmacy School there. Josh and Dan were in Elementary school and Katie was almost 2. Greg’s mother Verna was living with us after Rex’s death in 1985.  Lots of packing, planning and emotions going on. The photo below is taken in 1988 when we stopped in Yuba City at Dear’s Aunt and Uncle’s on our way to Washington State to start our new life….

Aunt Carol, Dan, Josh, and Katie (July 1988)

30 Years Ago ~ 1977

Married for almost 3 years. We were living in Huntington Beach, California in our second home. We didn’t have any children yet (Josh arrived in 1979) I was teaching 2nd grade in Bell Gardens, California. Dear and his brother worked together in their own house painting business. We were active with our church young marrieds group and on our 2nd ski trip to Mammoth, California decided we were going to move there and live the life of bliss skiing our life away. At this time there was a building moratorium going on in Mammoth because of lack of snow and other issues in the city. We bought a beautiful lot for a great price because of the moratorium. We were dreaming big! Within the next year I got pregnant with Josh and the practical reality of not being able to make a great living in Mammoth set in. Just before Josh was born we sold our lot for double what we paid for it (biggest snow fall in years and the moratorium had lifted) We really could use the extra money since I was going to quit my teaching job to be a full time stay at home mom!

Well there you have it. I’m sure there are bigger things I forgot to mention but there will be another meme in the future that will bring out more lost memories for sure.

If you decide to steal this meme like I did and play along, let me know. I’d love to read about your decades….

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

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….

Choose Joy! ~ Carnival of Beauty

This Friday Vicki at Windows to My Soul is hosting the Carnival of Beauty with the Beauty of Joy as the theme.

I am so pleased that the theme of Carnival of Beauty is the Beauty of Joy!!

I have a dear friend Jody who has always given her children and friends the encouragement to “Choose Joy”!  Believers in the Lord Jesus Christ have every reason under heaven to be filled with JOY!

Nehemiah 8:10, “…And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

Psalm 4:7, “You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound.”

Habakkuk 3:18, “yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.”

Luke 2:10, “And the angel of the Lord said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”

John 15:11, “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”

Our Savior is the author of our Joy. He is the one that has put joy in our hearts by redeeming us with His blood. We have every reason to shout for joy to our Lord. The good news was for us and we need to choose joy! Even in the midst of struggles and defeat the joy of the Lord is our strength. We look ahead to the Hope that is set before us with joy for what has already been done for us and for what is being prepared for us in Heaven. This kind of joy will make us beautiful on this earth. When we reflect the joy of the Lord to those around us they will have joy, too!

So dear friends in Christ “choose joy”!

On Friday you’ll be able to click here and see more entries on this theme…

Friday’s Feast ~ #5

Appetizer
When was the last time you were surprised?

When my over 40 year old brother and his over 40 year old wife told us they were expecting a baby. They’ve been married for a year and this is the first marriage for each of them. The baby is due in January. Very surprised and filled with joy for them…

Soup
Fill in the blanks: My eyes are Hazel, but I wish they were more green.

Salad
If you were a Beanie Baby, what would you look like and what would your name be?

I would be a brown and black Hedgehog and my name would be Tiggy!

Main Course
Name two things you consistently do that you consider to be healthy habits.

Reading my Bible and eating High Fiber Cereal with a banana in the morning.

Dessert
What brand of toothpaste are you using these days? Do you like it? Why or why not?

Crest Paste not gel and not the one that tastes like pepto bismol. (yuck)

For more Friday Feasts go here.

Wedding Day Fun In California!

 

We started our day with an amazing breakfast at Nick and Vera’s. Then we all got our wedding attire on and headed to the wedding in Seal Beach, California.

The first two rows of the collage: (DIL Laura), (Josh & his dad), (Katie)

(Katie, Michelle & Laura),  (Brother Tim and Letty), (Melissa, Svetlana, & Kathy)

(Kelly & Steve), (Miss, Kathy & Michelle), (Dan, Ryan, & Michelle)

(The mother of the groom, Letty), (Dave, Kristin, Laura, & Josh), (The Groom Derek)

Mom & Pop

Some of their Grandchildren (The Young-uns)

The Beautiful Granddaughters and one old guy!

Some of their Children (The Older folk)

Dear and My Family

My Guys!

Here’s Amy the bride and Derek the groom

Mother and Son Dance

4 Things Meme ~ Just “Four” Fun…

Time for some weekend Meme fun. Now we are off for some extended family fun with our Nephew’s wedding today! Blessings on your weekend.

A Meme “Four” You

I saw this at Cherish the Word and decided to play along with Myrna!

Four Jobs I have had in my life….

1. Office assistant

2. File Clerk

3. Elementary School Teacher

4. Housecleaning Business

Four Places I have Lived…  (I’ll do the places since I’ve been married)

1. West Los Angeles, California

2. Huntington Beach, California

3. Ventura, California

4. Bothell, Washington

Four Places I have been on Vacation….

1. Maui

2. London

3. Great Britain (Wales, Scotland, England)

4. Napa/Sonoma Wine Country Bicycle Tour

Four of my Favorite Foods…

1. Anything Russian my mother makes

2. Mexican food with good Salsa

3. Stews or thick hearty Soups

4. Bread! (in any form sweet or not)

Four Places I’d rather be right now…

1. In the State of Washington

2. At a Restaurant having Brunch.

3. In Great Britain

4. At a Cabin in the Mountains

Four Places I’d Rather Not Be…

1. In the desert.

2. At a funeral

3. In Traffic

4. In the Dark!

If you’d like to play please do and let me know if you do because I’d love to read your 4’s!