Category Archives: Jaymison Joshua

Addy’s 9th Birthday Party

If you are a fan or have watched ‘Survivor’ or ‘Alone’ you will understand the challenges we enjoyed at Addy’s 9th birthday party. We all gathered on Saturday dressed to survive any challenges thrown at us by our challenge host, (Jeff Probst) Dad Dan.

Addy’s most talented mom made her logs on fire cake or campfire cake! The flames were made from jolly rancher candies!

Before cake and before our survivor challenges began we enjoyed lunch of chili and homemade sourdough and cornbread.

Fortified for the challenges Addy and JJ (the captains) chose their teams.

Team Addy on the left and team JJ on the right with Dan (Jeff) giving the rules and asking the bonus questions for extra supplies to build our shelters. Each team was given a set of supplies to begin and then had the chance to earn extra supplies. The shelters would be judged as to whether they could survive a rain storm (simulated with buckets of water).

 

If you’ve watched ‘Survivor’ you will notice that Dad Dan had Jeff’s look captured to a T! Here he is giving us the rules and the go ahead!

The Shelter making challenge was borrowed more from the TV show, Alone.

There was a time limit and everyone worked fast to get their shelter completed. JJ’s team had supervisors overseeing the work.

Team Addy’s shelter!

Team JJ’s shelter.

The Bucket test would be after cake and presents!

Time for cake before either Addy or JJ would get soaked or stay dry in the bucket challenge!

Time for presents!

From presents we moved on to the very exciting fire starting challenge with only select materials to get our fires going. The team who’s fire burned through the rope first would win the challenge. No matches only a type of flint, a little kindling and other elements plus wood to get the flames going.

The rope you see was what we needed to burn through to win. Not an easy task. It was a group effort from beginning to end.

We got a flame!!!

It was a windy afternoon and we had that challenge to deal with, too.

Team Addy for the fire making win! What an intense and fun challenge this was!

The final test was to see if team Addy or team JJ would stay dry in their shelter.

Team JJ won this event. Addy got the wet end of this challenge! Well done on your shelter, team JJ!

Thanks to Addy’s mom and dad for hosting such a fun 9th birthday for Addy and guests!

After all the excitement of Addy’s birthday party there were more gatherings for dinner and cake and presents for my belated birthday.

The March birthday girls got the hats and songs at the Mexican restaurant.

We then all gathered at our home.  We enjoyed another cake that Addy’s mom made, a Persian cake, for my belated birthday celebration. I was showered with presents and kind words of encouragement.

It was an evening of reminiscing about years gone by and we talked about my mom’s last days and how we had visited her for the last time in person in August of 2013. Laura remembered she had photos from that day on her phone and quickly found this next photo which brought back the memories of our mom wanting to share this portion of Jude with all of us. This is my hand next to the verses that were important to our mom to share.

Here is part of the post that I published on my blog in August of 2013, after our visit with our mom/Baba. Our mom was received in heaven by her Savior on September 13, 2013.

MomAfter the beautiful wedding on Saturday we packed up and headed to my mom and pop’s apartment for a short visit before our flight home. We had a wonderful time around my mom’s hospital bed where she shared her favorite verses from the Bible with us with some added words of counsel. She was able to walk into the living area for a while to eat and watch the video of the wedding of grandson Caleb and sweet Marie that was recorded with my sister’s IPad during the wedding ceremony.  By this point she had to go back to her bed and rest. Dear, Josh, Laura, Katie and I said our goodbyes knowing this would be the last time we would see her alive.  Heavy…

Jude 17-25:

But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. They said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.” It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit.

But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. and have mercy on those who doubt, save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by flesh.

Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever, Amen. 

It was a lovely way to end a day of joy celebrating our dear granddaughter and being celebrated by my dear family.

Thanks for surviving our 9th and 75th celebration!!

The First Day of Spring

Uncle Joshie and Auntie Lolo arrived early for the big birthday weekend. On Friday, Addy’s actual birthday day, we showered her with love. Preparations were already underway for her party that would be on Saturday. While cake making and other preparations were being started we also enjoyed revisiting the Rock Band days. Dan had pulled out the drums and Josh and Laura brought the microphones. Addy and JJ have enjoyed the drums for a while and with the microphones added, singing commenced. So many memories from years gone by with this interactive program. By the time we gather for JJ’s birthday party in April I won’t be surprised to see a guitar join the fun.

Friday night we had a table at a fundraiser for the local Rotary Club. It was an Irish themed event with a corned beef and cabbage meal included. The reason we were there was to see the special entertainment, the Haran Irish dancers that Addy is part of.

We all wore a little something to go with the theme of the night.

Besides the dancers there was a musician who played several Irish tunes.

We always enjoy seeing our favorite dancer, Addy May! They were the stars of the evening.

Our dinner table took advantage of the photo op before we all headed home to rest up for Saturday!

Photos from Addy’s Epic ‘Survivor’ party will be coming soon. It was so much fun!

Land Legs

“Land legs” refers to, the ability to regain balance and stability on solid ground after being on a ship, boat, or in motion for an extended period, essentially reversing the effect of “sea legs.” It is the process of readapting to a stable environment, which often leaves travelers feeling as though the ground is still rocking or swaying.

We are in the process of regaining our stability.

We made it home from Cambridge after a 2 hour bus ride to Heathrow, a 9 hour flight into Seatac (Seattle) and a 1 hour hopper to Spokane. Our son was waiting for us when we got off the plane a little after 9pm. The back seat of our car was decorated for a happy birthday greeting for me with crepe paper and balloons and there was a card for me from Addy and JJ. Such a sweet hello. Dan left his truck at our house so that he could drive us all the way home instead of us dropping him off at his house and then us continuing on home. Very thoughtful and very much appreciated since we were very tired after starting our journey 9am England time. (8 hours ahead of our Pacific Standard Time) If I’m figuring that out correctly, it means we were traveling for approximately 22 hours!

These are the sweet cards waiting for me when I got off the plane.

We got our hugs Sunday morning at church from Addy and JJ. It seems like they grew 6 inches since we saw them last!

We had a great trip but it is always so lovely to return to all the comforts of home and family.

Seventy Five!

Today is my seventy fifth birthday. God has been so good to me. We will be traveling all the live long day today. From Cambridge to London to Seattle to Spokane and then home again, home again, jiggity jig!

It will be good to be home again and to get our bearings.

Here are some birthday photos from the past.

 

 

 

 

The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
    indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.

Thank You, LORD!

 

A Pause…

It has been difficult to upload all my great photos while we are cruising along the Danube. The internet is slower than mud and stuck in the mud. We will be docked in Vienna later this week and I’m going to make a prediction that the internet might be working better for us there. If not, when we get to Cambridge next week, I’ll try to catch up. Until then…

Missing these two munchkins!

Currently

I’m enjoying the sun on the snow and how it sparkles.

The snow crown on the bird bath caught my eye. I like it even better with the sunshine on it.

Before our snowfall I got some shots of Quail. They love our Silver Spruce Bush.

When we step out on our deck at times upwards of twenty quail will fly out of that bush!

It wasn’t planned but when JJ arrived on Monday afternoon, his mom mentioned we were twins and needed to take a photo!

Today is Women’s Bible study morning and I made some Date Nut loaves to slice and share with the ladies. I’ll share the recipe and photos if they turned out good.

Before I close off this post I’m going to give you some unsolicited advice.

Do not buy furniture with a black finish if you do not like to dust! 

If you are under 60, celebrate the fact that you can still get up off the ground easily.

When I have to kneel down it is a major event for me to get up again.

Enjoy the rest of the week!

Weekend Re-Cap

On Valentine’s Day, these two cuties arrived at our door with their mom to deliver some Chocolate Covered Strawberries. They were making the rounds to their loved ones. So very thoughtful. They were delicious.

Our family exchanged greetings via texts. Greg and I enjoyed steaks off the Traeger for our Valentine Day Meal.

These were some of our views on the way to church on Sunday morning.

When the interesting bank of fog/low clouds burned off we had a beautiful Sunshine filled day. We received photos from the Western side of our State and we reciprocated with photos from the Eastern side.

From Kirkland where sunglasses were a must to Colville where sunglasses were optional.

Being out of doors was a welcomed treat.

The blue sky and sunshiny views were so appreciated! Thank you, Lord!

Our daughter sent a photo of her latest hair color just in time for Valentine’s day.

It’s the start of the third week of February already. Time is flying. Five more weeks of Winter! Maybe I’ll have some snow photos to share this week if the predictions are correct.

Hope all is well in your corner of the world.

Super Weekend Re-Cap

On Saturday I pulled out a few Valentine goodies to decorate with, inside and outside.

Saturday afternoon we headed into downtown Colville to the yearly Awana Grand Prix.

Super Sparkle was Addy’s car.

The Bullet was JJ’s car. It’s the slick grey with gold tip. Both cars did better this year than last year in the races.

Addy’s car got a second place for design.

She was pleased.

On Sunday at church this handmade Valentine was in our box. Thank you to the anonymous giver! I appreciate the thought and encouragement!

Our family in Colville in the Seattle area and family in Texas were rooting on the Seahawks in the Super Bowl.

We watched the Seahawk/New England Patriots game live but for the halftime show we switched to Turning Point USA’s All American Half time show!

I’m using these flashback photos to say Congratulations to the Seattle Seahawks for winning the Super Bowl in an overwhelming fashion!! Well done, Defense!!

Looking forward to this new week with some family time ahead and a special baby shower at our church on Saturday.

Changes

Sometimes it just takes a little change to brighten your prospect.

This past weekend we decided to do a little jimmying of our furniture to see how we’d like it. Of course as soon as the huge heavy sofa was moved, the rug had to be moved, tables had to be moved, lights had to be moved and wall art went to more suitable locations.

I’m adding a daytime photo of the room after this post was published. I’ll share a couple more on my Hodgepodge post, tomorrow.

In total bloggy fail, I did not take a before photo.

We are happy with the change in that it gives us regular sitters a new prospect around the room and to the outside. We are looking forward to a full house to see how our ‘people’ like the changes.

Our ‘littles’ who aren’t so little anymore gave the room a thumbs up!

It was JJ’s afternoon yesterday while Addy was at Irish dance. He looked in the refrigerator and announced to me that he was making guacamole. He had the avocados out and said “Baba, I need onion powder and lime juice, and a little salt, please.”

“I don’t think we have any chips so you’ll have to use crackers.” He was good with that. He did end up having a favorite of the two crackers. Note to Baba.

I’m happy that our grands can come up with good snacks and have kitchen skills that will serve them well.

How is February starting off for you?