Table is Set for Corned Beef and Cabbage!

 

My kids are coming over for dinner, corned beef and cabbage. I’ll be making some fun green drinks and we’ll eat and celebrate being together and surrounded by green. I’ll post the people photos later! 🙂

 

I tweaked the table some more before my guests arrived.

 

My beautiful children, with one missing and Dear is in California till Friday, so dinner for four.

The meal was enjoyed by all…
Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage. I’m working on updating my blog posts very slowly.

TT #25 ~ 13 Big Years in my 57!

 Friday March 14th is my 57th Birthday. For my TT this week I’m choosing 13 very memorable years in my 57!

1. 1951 ~ My birth year. I was born in East Los Angeles, California.

2. 1963 ~ At Hume Lake Christian Camps in King’s Canyon, California God called me to become a disciple of Jesus Christ and I started a new life following him.

3. 1968 ~ Graduated from Montebello High School in Montebello, California

4. 1972 ~ Went on my first date with Dear in October of this year.

5. 1973 ~ Graduated from Cal-State Los Angeles with a degree in Home Economics and an Elementary Teaching Certificate.

6. 1974 ~ Got married on December 6th to Dear and have celebrated 33 years of marriage so far. We were married on a Friday evening.

7. 1979 ~ Our first child was born in January. Josh is our firstborn weighing in at 10 pounds. Born on a Friday.

8. 1981 ~ Our second son was born also in January, also on a Friday. Dan was 8 pounds and 1-1/2 oz.

9. 1985 ~ Our third child was born on a Friday, too but not in January. Our first daughter (and last) Katie was born at the end of December even though her due date was in January also. She weighed in at 8 pounds and 12 oz.

10. 1988 ~ We moved from California to the state of Washington so Dear could go to Pharmacy School at the University of Washington.

11. 1996 ~ We gave our dream home and all of our equity back to the bank because of a major landslide on the slope behind our home.

12. 2001 ~ Our first born son was married to our beautiful daughter in law, Laura.

13. 2006 ~ Dear took a full-time job in Southern California and he and I find ourselves living in Southern California again but without our children close by. They are all still in Washington. Dan and Katie are taking care of our home while we’re in Southern California in our Condo.

I’ll leave you with this party image of me way back in the 50’s. I’ve always been one to love a good time…

 

For more TT click here.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage. I’m working on updating my blog posts very slowly.

Wildflowers in Winter ~ Week 6

Week 6 – February 20 – 26. Wildflower Art – Share art made by you or someone else that features wildflowers.

 

I bought these two pieces at Goodwill a while back. I really was drawn to the Old Fashioned look. They are on a wall in the livingroom at my house in Washington.

 

These two tins that I enjoy have a cross-stitch looking design on them.
~
To see more Wildflower Art go visit Elizabeth Joy at Wildflower Mornings.
Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage. They have blacked out all those photos on my blog posts. OH BOTHER! I’m slowly cleaning up my posts.

Fun Reunions ~

 On Valentine’s Day night we met our dear friends from Washington State at a Mexican Restaurant in Venice (California) for dinner. They were visiting Disneyland with their daughter Deena, her husband Jeremy and their grandkids Talia and Martin. We decided to meet at La Cabana which was about halfway for both of us to drive.

They still make their own tortillas at this restaurant.

Jan and Bob…Jan is one of my walking buddies in the Seattle area. Bob was our former pastor and is our good friend. We have been on several adventures with Bob and Jan and our other good buddies Dave and Jody. Bicycle trips in the wine country, bicycle trips in the San Juan’s, bicycle trips in Victoria, B.C., and Leavenworth. Our most recent wonderful adventure was a walking trip in Great Britain. I for one am happy to have retired my bicycle after quite a nose dive and “knock out” experience in Leavenworth.

Dear and me.

What’s wonderful about good friends is that you can catch up in 3 seconds and feel as if you haven’t been apart.

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage. They have blacked out all those photos on my blog posts. OH BOTHER! I’m slowly cleaning up my posts.

Happy Valentine’s Day & Happy Birthday Beth!

A very Happy Valentine’s Day to all my bloggy friends.

And a very Happy Birthday to my dear friend, Beth, in the State of Washington. I’m so happy our boys became such good friends so we could in turn become friends. God’s richest blessings on you this year!

I John 3:1 ~ “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God.”

Psalm 36:5-7 ~ “Your love, O Lord, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies. Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your justice like the great deep. O Lord, you preserve both man and beast. How priceless is your love!”

And now after reading these verses in Psalm I’m singing this song by Third Day..

“Your Love Oh Lord”Your love, oh Lord
Reaches to the heavens
Your faithfulness stretches to the sky
Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains
Your justice flows like the ocean’s tide
I will lift my voice
To worship You, my King
I will find my strength
In the shadow of your wings

Have a marvelous day basking in the “love”

ABC Wednesday ~ D is for…

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage. They have blacked out all those photos on my blog posts. OH BOTHER! I’m slowly cleaning up my posts.

My first ABC Wednesday and the letter is D today.

So many choices, I think I’ll share daffodils, dogwood and doors.

 

This photo was taken in England in April 2004.

 

This Dogwood tree is in a garden on Queen Anne Hill in Seattle, Washington, just uphill from Kerry Park. The photo was taken in July of 2007.

 

The photos in this collage were taken in Oxford~England, York, Edinburgh ~ Scotland, South Kensington and the bottom middle one if taken at Ste Michelle Winery in Woodinville, Washington.

To view more ABC Wednesday participants click here.

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage. They have blacked out all those photos on my blog posts. OH BOTHER! I’m slowly cleaning up my posts.

Wildflowers in Winter ~ Blog Carnival

So many fun bloggy things so little time. This is a busy week with lots of posts. I hope to visit lots of my favorites and lots of new places too! Enjoy. The phrase for this week is keep on scrolling, there’s more to see.

Wildflower Morning is having a Wildflowers in Winter celebration for the next few weeks. She has posted a wildflower related theme for each week and will have a Mr. Linky to add your blog entry.  Here’s what she has to say about her celebration and give away:

Every winter I find myself longing for spring. I just love the warming rays of sun and the wildflowers that start to open. It is my favorite time of year. Wildflowers bring me so much joy.

So, I propose some wildflower fun this winter to take us into the first days of spring. I will have a different theme each week through the middle of March. Join right in by making a post on your blog fitting the theme. You may copy the theme image for Wildflowers in Winter onto your blog entry, and link back to this blog so others will know where to look for more information. Then come back to my blog and enter your information in the Mr. Linky at the bottom of the page, so we can all see your post. Late entries will be accepted up to March 12. My daughter wants me to make sure and let you know that children can participate not only in the children’s art contest, but in all aspects of the Wildflowers in Winter Theme, if they have the photographs or skill to do so, and thus be entered in the drawing

Please do spread the word so your friends can also enjoy Wildflowers in Winter. I would love to see lots of entries. It will brighten up my gray winter days.
The theme for January 16 – 22 is: Your favorite wildflower photo from your files.   Here is my favorite photo/oops photos!

 

This photo was taken on Whidbey Island in the State of Washington. The photo was taken in July of 2007 on a walk at Greenbank Farms. We are looking back to the city of Everett across the Puget Sound. Unfortunately I can’t tell you the name of these wildflowers.

Just one more please…

 

This one was taken on the grounds of Chatsworth House in England (where parts of Pride and Prejudice were filmed) My little wild flower is in the midst of these daffodils that are now growing wild on the grounds. This was taken in April of 2004 when we took our daughter to Great Britain for a graduation gift.

Click on the links above to see more wildflower entries…

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage. They have blacked out all those photos on my blog posts. OH BOTHER! I’m slowly cleaning up my posts.

Friday’s Feast #13 ~

Appetizer
When was the last time you received a surprise in the mail, and what was it?

Just this week I got 2 packages from the Bloggy world that made my day. One package all the way from Greece and the other all the way from Tennessee! I posted about it here. I also got a late Christmas gift in the mail of the new ESV Literary Study Bible.

Soup
If you could have a summer and/or winter home, where would you want it to be?

Interesting question because my hubby and I without any master planning on our own part do have two homes right now. We have our family home that we love to spend definite seasons in Washington State and now surprise to us we have a lovely little condo in Southern California because “Dear’s” job is located here right now.  We have seasons whenever we want in the great Northwest and summer most every day in our condo in Southern California.  The hard thing is being divided and paying two mortgages. We are waiting and trusting on the Lord to make us content wherever we are until the day we are finally in the best place…heaven!

Salad
Pick one: pineapple, orange, banana, apple, cherry.

Oh my this is hard. I love all these fruits. I love them all together. But I’m suppose to choose one so I’ll choose the versatile banana that is available all year long for about the same price!

Main Course
Describe the nicest piece of clothing that you own.

Whoa! I don’t own many fine pieces of clothing. These days I prefer to shop second hand and I hate to spend full price for anything. I have some nice pieces of clothing (great labels) that I have bought at Goodwill. The most versatile nice practical piece of clothing that I own right now that I did not buy at Goodwill is a great Gortex raincoat that keeps me dry in the great Northwest rain or the Great Britain rain! I bought that coat at REI!

Dessert
If you could forget one whole day from your life, which day would you choose to wipe from your memory?

Wow just one? There are so many from my junior high days. Then there are those from High school. Ugh those early days of dating. Yuck all those mistakes in early marriage and early parenthood. Sorry there is not one day that stands out from all the rest. Thanks be to God that He has mercy on me and that I can leave these days/mistakes behind and move forward in mercy and grace!

For more Friday Feast participants click here.

Our Little Girl is 22 today!

Happy 22nd Birthday Katie!

Photos from Katie’s 1st ~ 21st Birthdays
1st in Ventura with family & friends
2nd in Ventura, California
3rd in Downey, California. She’s pretty happy even with that tiny cake!

 

4th  in Bothell, Washington.

5th in Bothell

 

6th at Baba and Deda’s sharing the day with Aunt Nina and cousin Stephen both born on the 27th too.

7th in Bothell, Washington
7th with family, Titov’s and Spiro’s
8th at Discovery Zone
9th with fam and Spiro’s

 

10th at the Skating rink where your dad broke his wrist…

11th in Bothell (1st rental) with Jamie, Christie, and Johanna

 

12th bowling with fam and Hiller’s

 

13th with Jamie, Kristen, Heidi, and Christie (sorry Christie this was the only photo I had)

 

14th with Jamie, Heidi, Kristen, and Christie (very nice photo this time Christie!)

15th with Kristen, Heidi, Christie, and Katie K.

16th Ice Skating with fam, Katie K, Christie, Heidi, Jamie, Kristen, Brad and Joe
17th ~ fam, TCL crowd, school crowd
18th smaller TCL and School crowd

 

19th ~ the year of the ice cream cake…

 

20th ~ The year of the maple bar cake!

 

21st the Spice Bundt cake and another small crowd with Kristen, Christie, Jamie, Heidi, Ben and fam.

22nd will be another wonderful celebration with Bowling, Tacos and another Spice Cake!

We love you dear Katie and are so happy that God brought you into our lives 22 years ago. May your birthday and everyday be filled with an awareness of who created you and who you are in Him.

Photobucket has blacked out all my photos and is holding them hostage. I’m slowly cleaning up my posts to remove the ugly black and grey blocks that photobucket has inserted instead of my photos.