Tag Archives: Family

A Great Reason to Celebrate…

…our daughter Katie completed her coursework for her degree from University of Washington!

A wonderful reason to don the Oscar de la Renta and go out on the town…

 

We chose to celebrate at Palisade Restaurant at the waterfront on Elliott Bay…

The views of Seattle were great and the food and company were lovely…

Dear, Ellen b., Katie, Josh, Laura, Steve, and Lana G!

Our two lovely daughters…

Laura and Josh…

Ellen b. and Dear

Josh and Katie…

Sisters…

Our daughter in love, Laura.

The proud mama!

Isn’t she lovely!?

We are so proud of your perseverance in the challenges of changing schools and finishing well, Katie. We pray for God’s richest blessings in your life as you continue to grow and remember that God is the provider of all good things!

Mosaic Monday ~ Christmas Past

Last year was a rare Christmas with most of my side of the family together for our Christmas Eve Celebration in California. This year our little part of the family will be in Seattle. There are a few more of my parents’ grandsons and granddaughters and great grandchildren missing in these photos.

For more of Mosaic Monday please click over to Mary’s Little Red House.

Friday’s Fave Five ~ December 4th

Wowie Zowie!! So many favorites especially since I missed last week. Thank you Susanne for hosting this great weekly event. Visit Living to Tell the Story to join in.

1. Thanksgiving weekend is one of my favorite times of the year. We usually have my brother Tim and his wife Letty stay with us which adds to the fun. Our wonderful friends Dave and Jody invite my family and any extended family that happen to be in the Northwest to their house for a large Thanksgiving gathering. This has gone on for 20 years give or take a couple…

Tim & Letty ~ Judy (Dave’s mom) my BIL Steve and my sister Lana ~ Dear carving the turkey ~ Jamie, Bridget, Lucy (Dave and Jody’s daughters) Laura and Katie (our daughters)

2. The day after Thanksgiving the girls had a great time shopping at Goodwill and going to Tea. (I’ll be posting lots of photos from the Tea Room next week)

SIL Letty, Katie B.(daughter) , Katy K. (Good friend of Katie B’s), Ellen b., Lana G! (my sister), Wilma (my DIL’s grandmother), Pat (my DIL’s mother), Laura my DIL.

3. On Saturday my son Josh and I flew/drove to New Mexico via Arizona and Texas to see my son Dan and to attend his graduation. It was so good to be there and to spend time together. While we were there we visited the Carlsbad Caverns which are AHHH Mazing! Wouldn’t you know that we would bring some snow to Sun Country. Our route back to El Paso where we were due to fly out of on Tuesday was impassable because they shut down the pass that goes through the Guadalupe mountains. We had to do some fast talking and got a flight out of Albuquerque instead. Since all the graduation festivities were over we checked out of our hotel early and drove 4 hours to Albuquerque found a hotel room next to the airport. We were very thankful that the road north was clear. There was snow on the ground next to the highway but no snow on the road.

4. This photo of my grandniece in the hat I bought her is one of my favorites this week, too. She is so sweet…

5. Thursday was my Daughter in Love’s birthday. She is definitely one of my favorites.

6. Bonus Favorite! ~ “I love the Lord, because He has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy. Because He has inclined His ear to me, therefore I will call upon Him as long as I live.”  Ps. 116:1-2

Over and over in my life God has shown His love to me in big and small ways. There are always things on the back burner that I’m “waiting” for Him to work out in my life. This past week He has shown me His mercy and grace again in my children’s lives and my life. I’m overwhelmed at times at His goodness to me and my family. Some of that goodness has come through very difficult times. On Sunday Dear and I celebrate 35 years of being married. It has not been difficult being married to Dear but we together have gone through difficult things. I thank God for the good the bad and the ugly! :0)

Looking forward to seeing what your favorites are this week. See you soon…

 

A Funny Thing Happened…

…on the way to Thanksgiving! I spent so much time enjoying real live people and real good food that I didn’t have time to upload photos and post about it. I’m re-winding now and getting caught up. Please bear with me.

Have you read or seen the T.V. shows about those great Food Trucks that move about the city offering good food at different locations each day? Dear and my brother and his wife had seen a segment about the Best Food Truck in the U.S.A. and a truck right here in Seattle won the distinction. On the Wednesday before Thanksgiving we found out it’s location and headed out with our Thanksgiving company to have some good eats! Marination lived up to it’s honor and served us up some really good food. To thank the people of Seattle for nominating them it was Free Taco Day! Woohoo!

The food was delicious and the people who run the business were great! Find out where they are today by clicking on the Marination link above. You won’t be disappointed when you take your first bite!

We were hankering for something good to wash down this fabulous food and found out that Hale’s Ales another great Seattle establishment was just down the street.

I’ll be adding this link to Foodie Friday because it’s all about the Food! Thanks Gollum for hosting Foodie Friday.

Back From Sun Country…

where it snowed on us and I didn’t use my sunglasses once until this morning at the Albuquerque Sunport!

It was good to be with my sons and see them enjoy each other! Hey, Willow, if you look closely you’ll see I’m wearing the scarf you knitted for me. Josh and I stood out like foreigners in New Mexico with our scarves on!

Josh and Dan at the Carlsbad Caverns

On our way up to the caverns Dan spotted a herd of these great looking Big Horn Critters. I’m going to be looking them up to see what they are.

I have so much to post but will need some time recuperating from my travels…Hope to see you all soon.

Drip, Drip, Drip…

It’s still pretty drippy around here with some dry spells and sunshine here and there. Perfect weather for housework and getting things ready for the Thanksgiving festivities.

And for our Canadian friends who have celebrated Thanksgiving already perfect weather to get a head start on preparations for Christmas.

Today I’m headed for a 6 mile walk with my friend Jody rain or shine. Hope you have a relaxing Saturday…

Friday’s Fave Five ~ Pacific Northwest…

Time to look back over the last week and remember things we are thankful for. Please visit Susanne at Living to Tell the Story to join in with this great exercise.

Wow it’s hard to believe I’ve been in the Seattle area for almost a week already. So many favorites to share from this past week.

1. Spending time with 3 out of 4 of our children. Our daughter Katie picked me up from the airport and we stopped for lunch at the Corner Cafe in Bothell where my sister Lana G! met us for lunch. Then on Sunday I met up with our son Josh and our DIL Laura at church. What an amazing service…I needed my hankie the whole time. Later in the day Josh and Laura came by for a couple hours. I got to speak on the phone with our son Dan and hear he’s doing well at Academy. He graduates on November 30th. Good times…

2. Getting some things done around the house that really needed to be done. Katie and I got the lawn mower started and I was able to mow most of the lawn before the big storm rolled in. Got soaked the last 15 minutes of mowing :0). I’m tackling one room a day inside to get a much needed deep clean done around here before Thanksgiving company arrive. I’m pleased that the guest room is ready and on Thursday I got the living room done which included dusting all these books and bookshelves!!

and the Guest Room. The couch has a very comfortable full size pull out mattress.

3. Walking in the sunshine along the Sammamish River trail with my friend Beth. Beth and Dave became our good friends through the friendship of our son Dan and their son Jamie that started in 2nd grade. That was over 20 years ago!!

4. Finding the recipe for this soup on a bloggy friend’s site and making it for dinner on Thursday night. This is a tasty soup and so easy to make!! Just scroll on down to the post after this one for the recipe and instructions.

5. Looking forward to seeing more of my Northwest friends. Hopefully walking with my buddies Jody and Jan on Saturday. Then looking forward to Dear joining me here on Tuesday along with our Thanksgiving company my brother Tim and his wife Letty. The room is ready Tim and Letty!!

And a bonus looking forward to…

My son Josh invited me to tag along with him to the MLS Championship Cup Game at Qwest Field on Sunday night! L.A. Galaxy is playing Real Salt Lake for the title. We’ll be sporting our Seattle Sounder Colors and making these teams feel welcomed in the Great Northwest! Since my other home is in Southern California and I was born in East Los Angeles I’ll be cheering L.A. Galaxy on to the victory!!

 

Outdoor Washington State!

Time to travel around the Blogisphere and see the great outdoors!  Susan at A Southern DayDreamer is our hostess for this weekly event.

On Saturday I flew from our Condo in California to our home in the state of Washington. It’s been good to be home.

 

Here’s a view of the Maple tree that drops all it’s leaves on our lawn in Fall. It’s our neighbor’s tree but we get to enjoy it and suffer from it! On a really wet day I took the photo on the left. The window was dripping with raindrops so the tree is blurry. Today the sun peeked through and gave a different view.

My daughter’s 2nd class of the day was cancelled so she and I took advantage of the extra hours and went shopping on the Eastside of Lake Washington and also went in search of some remaining fall color.

It really was a beautiful day. We arrived home and I decided it would be good to take advantage of a little dry spell and mow the lawn for the last time this Fall (or we hope it will be the last time). We were wondering if we’d be able to get the lawn mower started since it hasn’t been started for quite a while. Well…between the two of us we got it to roar and then we said “I am woman, hear me roar!” You see until next week it’s just the two of us ladies around the homestead. I managed to get most of the lawn done before the raindrops came falling on my head. By the time I was done I was soaked but happy to have gotten the job accomplished! When I came inside I told my daughter that I felt like I had just finished my “last chance workout!” If you watch The Biggest Loser you’ll understand what I mean.  Here’s a little bit of unexpected color I still have in my yard…

Have a wonderful Wednesday everyone!

 

Tea Things Tuesday!

We started a little tradition last year during Thanksgiving Weekend. On Friday after Thanksgiving the girls head to Goodwill to shop the sales in hopes of finding some little treasure for real cheap and then we go out to eat. Last year we decided on tea at a favorite spot of Lana G.’s and mine but since that time our sweet tea shop changed hands and we’re not impressed with the new establishment. We were hoping to continue the tea tradition after Goodwill shopping. Well I’m so happy to say a new Tea Shop has opened in Downtown Bothell and we have reservations for 11:45 on Friday after Thanksgiving and Goodwill. Yippee! We hope all the usual suspects will be able to come!

My girls Katie and Laura. Aunt Letty and Katie. Aunt Lana G! and Katie. Lana G! and Ellen b. My DIL Laura and her mom Pat.

 

I’ll take lots of photos from the new spot Three Cups of Tea and show you all in December…

Happy Tea Things Tuesday to you all. Please visit Kim at Shabby, Pink and Pretty for more Tea Things…