Category Archives: Jaymison Joshua

Fifty Years and Counting…

Today Dear and I are celebrating the day we got married fifty years ago. We were married on a Friday evening in Southern California. Our 50th anniversary lands on a Friday, too.

Sharing lots of photos from our years together.

Greg and I on stage in England. We are on the right in this photo.

We met at a church parking lot where Greg was singing in a contemporary Christian Band that my best friend auditioned for. I went to the concerts she was singing in with the group and that is how Greg and I met. Later the group needed an alto so I auditioned and joined the group, too. We fell in love while traveling with this group.

Dating, Engagement party and early marriage collage.

Lousy photo from one of my bridal showers with my mom and Greg’s mom.img560

The rehearsal for our wedding ceremony. Our officiant Andrew Semenchuk turned 99 this week!

December – When December’s snows fall fast, marry and your love will last.

Our wedding day…

img568I love this photo of my dear maternal grandmother and me. She was a gem.

img567My maternal grandmother, my mom and me.

img566Our sweet and oldest niece was at our wedding. Her mom and dad were our matron of honor and best man.

My sisters on our wedding day. Kathy, kneeling on the left, also got married in 1974.

img578My paternal grandparents came to the wedding, too. This was not a given and we were pleased that they came.

img576This is Dear’s paternal grandmother and she was not able to travel to the wedding but she visited us in our first apartment.

img570Here we are heading off to our honeymoon.

Our first apartment in West L.A. We were in it for less than a year. The great thing about this apartment was that it was 2 buildings down from a grocery store and easy to get last minute items we needed for a meal.

Our first home with a mortgage in Huntington Beach across the street from my sister Vera and Nick, 1975. Greg tiled the entry.

Early in our marriage with Greg’s side of the family before we had children.

My first pregnancy and our first son, Joshua.

Almost 2 years to the day after Josh was born, our second son, Daniel, was born.

Our boys were born while we lived in our second home in Huntington Beach.

Three generations of Bayles Boys!

1985 in Arizona on a bicycling trip. I was pregnant with Katie.

Our sweet surprise, Katie, was born in 1985.

On our move from California to Washington state we stopped in Yuba City to drop off Greg’s mom Verna who would join us later in our home in Bothell. Aunt Carol supervised our three on the horse.

Our first camping trip after we moved to Washington State with our friends who were a big part of the motivation for our move. Rainier in the background.

The University of Washington years. We were able to get tickets to the Rose Bowl Championship game in 1992.

Josh and Laura’s wedding in 2001

Edinburgh 2006

2008

From 2007-to early 2010 Greg and I walked the shore of Emma Wood State Beach every Saturday morning when we were living in Camarillo.

My birthday in 2009 at Tam O’Shanter in Los Angeles.

My 60th birthday in 2011.

Katie’s wedding in 2012.

England 2013

England in 2014 for our 40th Anniversary

Dan and Jamie 2015

First granddaughter

First Grandson

We’ve walked together as man and wife for 50 years. We lived in Los Angeles in 1974-75, Huntington Beach 1975-1984, and Ventura 1984-1988 in California. We moved to Washington State in 1988 and lived in Bothell 1988-1997, Kirkland 1997-1998, Kenmore 1998-2018 and now Colville since 2018. We lived temporarily in Camarillo, California from 2006-2010 while still owning our home in Kenmore.

I was a file clerk when we got married and then a school teacher until Josh was born. Greg was a painting contractor with his dad when we got married. When our sons were young Greg got a job with an aggregate company which prompted our move to Ventura where he ran heavy equipment in a quarry. Katie was born in Ventura and Greg was encouraged to finish his education and he decided to take some science courses to see if Pharmacy would be a good fit for him.

We moved to Washington State so he could finish his schooling at the University of Washington and then apply to Pharmacy school. While Greg was in school in Seattle I started a cleaning business for homes during the day and a dental and medical office at night. He finished his courses in 1992 but went on to a year of residency at Overlake Hospital in Bellevue before moving into the Biotec industry dispensing medical information on therapies or treatments that the companies he worked for discovered. One of the big names you might be familiar with is Enbrel. After his residency was over I retired from the cleaning business.

I homeschooled Katie for a couple years and when she went back to public school in 7th grade, I substitute taught for a few years.  Greg continued in the Biotec realm until he retired in 2019. We are happily retired in the country in the small town of Colville with Dan, Jamie and our Grandchildren close by. Our ‘Coast’ kids have the freedom to visit us several times a year and we like to visit them, too.

Here we are in Kenmore, Scotland with Josh and Laura giving a nod to Kenmore, Washington where we lived for 20 years.

This post is just scratching the surface of our 50 years of marriage and all the experiences and opportunities that God opened up to us. We were both Born Again Christians when we married and have been in the Sanctification process these past 50 years. Our life with Christ has progressed with some mountain tops and valleys but has always gone forward bit by bit as we choose obedience instead of our self-centered bents. Some of those bents are easier to identify than others. We’ve been members of Bible teaching churches all our years. Evangelical Free church in Huntington Beach, Bible Fellowship Church in Ventura, Sunrise Christian Fellowship in Seattle and Edmonds, Evangelical Free Church Conejo Valley,  Northshore Baptist Church in Kirkland, and now First Baptist Church Colville. We attend and we serve.

This post doesn’t cover any of the friends that God has surrounded us with who have sharpened us like iron sharpens iron. Friends who have helped us grow in the Lord. Friends that were by our side for so many life experiences. Friends that God graciously put in our lives. That will have to be another post.

As my dear old Pop would say we are so thankful to God for all He “did to us” these fifty years! Thank you God for what you did to us” was my pop’s prayer. Thank you, LORD God Almighty for bringing us together in our marriage covenant. You have given us peace and joy through the hard times and good times. You continue to lay your hand upon us and lead us beside still waters.

We already had a wonderful anniversary celebration in Walla Walla with our family of ten but that doesn’t stop us from continuing our celebration today. We are having a small overnight getaway in Idaho to celebrate our actual day. The photo above is our celebration meal at Parallel 47, a restaurant in Hayden, Idaho. The food was so satisfying. After dinner we walked the Christmas lights boardwalk at the Coeur d’Alene Resort.

We trust God for the future of our marriage and thank Him for his lovingkindness and mercy in our individual lives and as husband and wife.

Thank you, Dear Readers, for making it to the end of this long post.

Thanksgiving Leftovers…

…are the best!

On Friday of our long Thanksgiving weekend we enjoyed Swedish Pancakes and little smokies while we waited for Josh and Laura to arrive from the west side of the Cascades. We enjoyed some Bible Challenge questions read by Dan and Addy before and after Josh and Laura arrived, too. They arrived before dinner and it was good for the 10 of us to be together. The guys hauled the Christmas tree in and set it up which was a special treat for me.

After dinner and a game of Uno the grands were given instructions on playing solitaire.

Saturday morning the girls went shopping along Main Street in Colville before we all gathered on Bayles Mountain for Charcuterie for lunch. The rest of the afternoon was filled with crafts, a walk, making dinner and decorating for the special birthday we would celebrate.

Our Grands love their Auntie Lolo and they made a special sign to let her know. Hers was the special early December birthday we were celebrating on this Saturday evening. We enjoyed a delicious dinner of Ribs, Smashed Potatoes and a Broccoli salad before it was time for a special lemon birthday cake that Dan made for LoLo!

Presents were opened with our special thoughts for Auntie LoLo included in the cards. I forgot to get photos of all her special gifts.

We watched the Sounders v LA Galaxy game and unfortunately it ended in LA’s favor. Boohoo. We all retired to our own and our guest beds for the night.

On Sunday Katie and Andrew left early for home spotting a herd of elk crossing the road.

The rest of us gathered at the early service at church before Josh and Laura hit the road to travel home. We enjoyed the first of many worshipful Christmas Carols for the Advent season and a sermon to set our minds on God. Everyone made it home safely and we thank the LORD for that mercy.

Josh and Laura left us a gift of Daily Advent readings for December by Alistair Begg, Let Earth Receive Her King. I’ll share this small portion for December 1st:

“Christ’s divinity has no starting point in time. He always was. He was God before time began. He is God at this very moment. And He will continue to be God forever.”

Happy December everyone! This will be a very busy week here at our country bungalow with decorating and gatherings and travel. Time will tell how blogging will go. How are things in your corner?

Black Friday

JJ took our group selfie with a little help from his mom.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving meal together with most of our family and Jamie’s family.

Andrew and Katie drove over the mountains and through the woods on Thanksgiving day and Josh and Laura are doing the same today.

I’m adding some great Thanksgiving quotes from Spurgeon’s Thanksgiving Gems.

“Our thanksgiving is measured by the depth of our awareness of what we’ve been delivered from, and of the glorious blessings which we shall soon partake of.”

“We are debtors to God’s saving grace, and the very least we can do is to give Him endless thanks.”

“He who has been forgiven much–loves much and thanks much. True gratitude springs from a deep sense of what God has done for us in Christ.”

So grateful for God’s love, mercy and saving grace.  Thankful for all of our loved ones!

Are any of you shopping today? I’m waiting till tomorrow to shop small local businesses. Have a great weekend!

Pour It On Hodgepodge

Joyce from This Side of the Pond is dishing up some new Wednesday Hodgepodge questions just in time for Thanksgiving.

1. Talking turkey…are you cooking the turkey this year? Does ham belong on a Thanksgiving day menu?

I will not be the one who is cooking the turkey this year, our Colville kids will do the honors. Ham is not typically on our Thanksgiving day menu but this year there will be one. My side of the family grew up Kosher so I don’t crave any pork products. But now that I said that a BLT sounds real good right now! 🙂

When it comes to gravy do you pour it over your whole plate, skip it altogether, or land somewhere in between?

I pour the gravy on the turkey, potatoes and stuffing.

Cranberries-homemade or jelled right out of the can?

I’ve gone to the trouble of making homemade and the response to eating it hasn’t been great so it comes out of the can.

Do you look forward more to the main course, the savory sides, or the desserts?

On Thanksgiving, it’s the main course that I look most forward to.

I know there are at least a couple of bloggers who participate here who live outside the US and won’t be celebrating Thanksgiving. If that’s you feel free to adapt this question to your December (or any) holiday meal.

2. Holiday movies…tell us your favorite and what it is about the film that makes you love it. Is it the film itself or a memory it stirs?

Miracle on 34th Street is a Christmas movie that I enjoy. The original Die Hard is another favorite…what a contrast to Miracle on 34th Street!!

3. A favorite way to give back and help others? 

Giving unexpected gifts to those in need without them knowing who it’s from.

4. Name a place or setting you encountered this month that made you feel grateful.

Our church worship services make me feel grateful to be able to worship God with the melting pot of people in our congregation. 

5. Knowing what you know today, if you could redo yesterday what would you do differently?

Yesterday as in Tuesday the 26th of November I wouldn’t do anything differently. If you go back to my teen yesterdays there are a lot of things I would do differently. Naming just one: I wouldn’t date most of the guys I dated.

6. Spill your own random thought here.

Looking back at our Grands at their first Thanksgivings in 2017 and 2019…

 

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you Hodgepodgers in the USA. Happy end of November to everyone around the world!

Colville Catch-Up

It’s time to share some happenings right here in our neck of the woods. We had a Big foot sighting in early November.

Our Colville family all together on a beautiful fall day.

At our Country Bungalow we had our Monday fun time with JJ.  He enjoyed some time with marbles before our outdoor time pulling and running down weeds with his big wheel.

On their mountain both Addy and JJ had a time to climb up to the tree stand and see a different perspective of their property. Both were very brave.

On Saturday we enjoyed Addy’s Basketball game time in town.

While we were sleeping on Saturday into Sunday our higher elevations got a nice dusting of snow. Nothing stuck to the roads or lower elevations.

I took the photos on the way to our church service. On the 17th we had our first Sunday with two services. Our sanctuary has been overflowing so this was our only option for now. We gathered at the 8:30 am service. Our second service starts at 11 am. In between we have Sunday School. It will take a little time getting used to this new schedule.

Hope you all have a good week ahead.

Artful Hodgepodge

History and art is something I enjoy together. I took this photo at the National Cathedral in Washington D.C.  spring of 2011. George Washington in our National cathedral with the stained glass window and sunlight adding some highlights!

If it’s Wednesday it must be Hodgepodge. Thank you, Jo!

1. What’s something you think is under appreciated. Explain.  

The work that policemen have to do dealing with people who are mentally ill, drug addicts, and other people who have no respect for their authority is under appreciated. Policemen are important in restraining evil, for the health of our country and the safety of our citizens. I appreciate our Border Patrol Agents in the same way.

2. As winter approaches how do you stay productive?

It helps me to stay on top of things if I have company coming. Winter does make things harder when the snow and ice appear. Keeping my lists and ticking off the items is a good motivation for me.

3. What’s a popular food you don’t like? 

Sushi

4. What do you think is more interesting-art or history? Elaborate. 

Seeing works of art in an amazing historical cathedral is very satisfying to all my senses.

I find history in art very interesting.  It’s enjoyable to connect some historical facts to the places we travel to. Art is more interesting when I know something about the artist. Modern art has no appeal to me.

Children’s story illustrations/artwork are a favorite of mine, too.

5. What advice would you give to someone half your age? 

Don’t put off traveling. Plan the trip and go!

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Speaking of being productive in the winter, this two have a way of getting me moving…

We had our first sign of some snow in these parts. Addy also lost another tooth!

Thanks for popping by and leaving a comment. You are appreciated!

The Last Week

On Mondays we have a set date with our grandson JJ. He gets dropped off for a visit with Baba and Gramps while his mommy takes Addy to her Irish Dance Class. Last Monday I snapped some photos of him.

On Tuesday we had lunch at the newest restaurant in Colville, El Patron. It took many months to open and we were happy to see that it finally did open. It passed our salsa test and our taste test, too. We will return.

On Halloween our bunny family got ready for the Harvest Festival Trunk or Treat at our church and then they came out to our place to get their treats.

 

Knowing they’d have a big bag of candy already from the Harvest Festival we had some fruit snacks, goldfish crackers, and a bag of change for their treat. Gramps cleaned out one of his piggy banks and they each got quarters, dimes and nickels.

Addy got busy counting out her cash!

On Friday there was something that I ate that turned my insides out and I suffered with nausea through the night and all day Saturday. I was happy to wake up on Sunday feeling like a new person with the nausea gone. It was good to be able to attend our Sunday church services and our Connection group on Sunday afternoon. I was so thankful to feel better.

Now we face the challenge of the Time change and adjusting our sleep back to a normal wake up time.

Today we are looking forward to our Monday date with this little guy.

Grace and peace to all of you as we face this new week.

Fall Stages Hodgepodge

This photo is from the last event that we wore costumes to and it is from this season of life.

Jo From This Side of the Pond has challenged our memories once again for Wednesday Hodgepodge.

1. What are your current priorities in this season of life? Elaborate as much or as little as you like. 

At my stage of life I’m one fall away from a nursing home. My priority is to end life well. I want to keep cooperating with the Holy Spirit in conforming my life to be more like Christ. I want to love Jesus more because my life and my future are all tied up in what He did for me on the Cross. For that I am so grateful. Thankful that I am not spiritually dead anymore because I’ve been born again. I thank God the Father, who has qualified me to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered (rescued) me from the domain of darkness and transferred me to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom I have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Colossians 1:12-14

2. What’s one thing you wish you had more of? 

Retention. Being able to keep what I’ve read and or heard or studied in my memory bank.

3. Do you celebrate Halloween? If so, what are your Halloween traditions? Any special plans for Halloween this year? 

Some of our family in their costumes.

The only Halloween tradition that we have kept in the past was handing out candy to trick or treaters. I say in the past because here in our country setting we do not get any random trick or treaters. We do enjoy our grands being  driven over to show us their costumes and us treating them. That is the only plan this year, to have a treat ready for our Grands when they drop by.

4. Last thing you ate that contained chocolate? Last thing you made that called for chocolate? 

How is this for a complete Chocolate experience. On our Scotland trip we stopped at Highland Chocolatier and enjoyed some amazing world famous chocolate. I wrote about the experience here.

I haven’t made anything lately that has called for chocolate.

5. Do you prefer laid back weekends or do you like to have a lot of plans? Thinking back to this past weekend… which was it? 

I prefer laid back weekends with a touch of accomplishment. I don’t like to get to Monday morning wondering why I didn’t accomplish anything. Rest is important but laziness is not necessarily rest. This last weekend we attended our granddaughter’s basketball game in town on Saturday and then we had lunch out. Sunday, as usual, we attended our services at church and in the afternoon we had our ‘connection group’ and then had a quiet evening. That was the ideal amount of activity for me.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

We are enjoying Fall and enjoying getting photos of our Grands enjoying Fall to the fullest!

And this is one of my favorite Fall photos of their Father’s property before he had any inkling he’d have a beautiful wife and two children of his own.

Four Somethings in October

I’m joining a new to me monthly blog party today called Share 4 Somethings 2024. Coming in late since there are only 3 of these left in 2024. Thank you to Jenn at Overflowing with Thankfulness for the party.

Today we’re talking about the things we loved or disliked, accomplished, improved upon/needs improvement, and noticed this month.

Since I’m coming in late, I’ll keep it simple.

Loved or Disliked…

October was a great month watching our kids (3 adult children and their spouses) and grands (two grands, a girl and a boy) soaking in the October moments on the westside of our state. I love that they make an effort to keep their relationships growing and enjoy time spent with each other.

I also loved seeing our grands with the pumpkins they picked at our local Pumpkin farm and corn maze. (photo at top of post)

I disliked the fact that our property taxes practically doubled this year. They are due on October 31st…scary. 🙂

Improved Upon/Needs Improvement…

I could use some improvement on my food plans for hubby and me.

Noticed this Month…

We live in a small country town in Northeast Washington State. We were on Main Street this week and I noticed this sign outside Redbird Boutique (a clothing store). The sign made me chuckle. Hunting season is real in these parts!

Wow! Here we are in the last weekend of October! Enjoy it while you can!

Thanks again, Jenn, for the linky party!

VW’s and Smiles Hodgepodge

Thank you to Jo From This Side of the Pond for our fresh Wednesday Hodgepodge questions!

1. Monday was National Apple Day…did you eat an apple or enjoy something made with apples on Monday? Do you like apples? Do you prefer your apples raw, baked, or in cider? Do you have a favorite variety of apple? 

I did not eat anything apple on Monday. I do like apples but don’t have them often. I enjoy them raw, baked or in cider. I like the tart apples.

2. Do you think there’s any truth to the saying ‘an apple a day keeps the doctor away’. Of the following healthy habits which do you find easiest to incorporate into your life and which is the most difficult for you to adopt-

adequate sleep, a balanced diet, plenty of water, eat breakfast, don’t smoke, exercise, limit alcohol,  include fruits and vegetables in your diet, manage stress, limit screen time

There might be some truth to that saying as far as it being a part of more healthy choices.

The easiest for me is; don’t smoke, since I’ve never smoked. Unfortunately I did inhale a lot of second hand smoke in the 60’s and 70’s working in offices where smoking was still okay. The most difficult to adopt is a balanced diet.

3. Who taught you how to drive? Do you enjoy driving? Would you rather be the driver or the passenger?  Do you have a favorite scenic drive near you? 

My brother, Fred, taught me to drive a stick shift. He even let me learn in his VW Bug. I think I taught myself to drive an automatic. While I’m typing the answers here on Tuesday the 22nd, it happens to be Fred’s 75th birthday.

This photo of my siblings and me from 2009 is the most current photo I have of our brother Fred. Left to right; Kathy, Vera, Fred, me, Lana and Steve. My brothers Tim and Leonard are missing from this photo.

The first car I purchased with a car loan and the first car I owned that I actually liked was this VW Bug.

I do enjoy driving if it’s not snowing or raining hard. On a scenic drive, I prefer to be a passenger so I can take photos. On a shopping trip that involves navigating parking lots and getting to several different store destinations, I prefer driving. We are blessed with many scenic drives in our neck of the woods. Driving to Wal-Mart is scenic. Driving along the Columbia River is a favorite!

4. What small habit has had a big impact on your life? 

Smiling. Since early years I have found it easy to smile, especially to smile at people. Smiling has opened up some interesting opportunities and conversations.

5. Tell us about something nice that happened to you recently.

It is so nice living close enough to our grands that we can see them and get that ‘hello’ hug and that ‘goodbye’ hug and any snuggles in between.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

We have been enjoying some beautiful fall colors on all our drives here in Colville.

The golden larches are my favorite!

I’ve figured out my photo issues and I hope my photo platform is slow in making any new changes for me to figure out!!

This is a quote I copied from an article I read this week.

“Discontent makes a wasteland of the greenest garden—-even Eden. But contentment bears fruit in any circumstance.” Andrea Hoglund

Happy Wednesday, Hodgepodgers, Faithful Bloggers, and readers. I’m thankful for you all.