Should I stay or should I go…

So this is part of the beautiful resort in Cancun we are suppose to be at this weekend for our niece’s wedding…Cancun, Mexico. We are praying and consulting before making a final decision on whether we will be cancelling our travel plans. We are praying for the young couple who have to make the decision to carry on with the plans or cancel the event that has been planned for so long. Praying for wisdom and comfort in the decisions and praying about disappointments and concerns…

Also praying that the State Department and CDC get good information and give out good advice in regards to the Swine Flu and travel.

Photobucket is holding all my photos that I stored on their site from 2007-2015 hostage replacing them with ugly grey and black boxes and asking for a large ransom to retrieve them. It is a slow process to go through all my posts deleting the ugly boxes.

Friday’s Fave Five ~ Family & Spring…

 

Oh these Friday’s come so quickly when you’re living life! My favorites this week are leftovers from our time in Seattle. We came home to Southern California Sunday evening after a 3 hour delay due to a dent in a door on our original plane…We then got to fly on the Tinkerbell plane so we all chanted We Believe and clapped and then when the plane finally took off successfully we clapped louder! But this is about favorites….

Absolutely at the very top of my favorites is time spent with our family. Happy, happy, joy, joy!

Signs of Spring popping out all over. Beautiful apple and pear blossoms, clematis blooms, and anything pretty in pink that is blooming. Mama and Daddy duck walking over for a Spring visit…

Shopping at my favorite Goodwill stores in the state of Washington…where I always seem to find sweet treasures!  The baking dish is one of my new purchases.

Having the time to hear my son Dan’s keen sense of humor. He can really make me laugh.

Looking forward to spending a few days with our kids and Dear’s side of the family at our niece’s wedding in Cancun next weekend. I won’t be blogging for Fave Fives next weekend or blogging in general because we’ll be in Cancun.

Bonus Fave!: Getting the news that our son Josh will be down to visit us soon and that we’ll all be going to a Sounders/Chivas soccer game here in Southern California. Ole, ole, ole , ole!!

To see more Favorites from this past week visit Susanne who had lovely Spring weather and then another snowstorm oye, oye oye! Click over to Living to Tell the Story….

Photobucket is holding all my photos that I stored on their site from 2007-2015 hostage replacing them with ugly grey and black boxes and asking for a large ransom to retrieve them. It is a slow process to go through all my posts deleting the ugly boxes.

Friday’s Fave Five ~ Seattle

 

So it’s time for Friday’s Fave Five and all of mine come to your from the State of Washington this week. Dear and I will be heading back to Southern California on Sunday. Boohoo.

1. Spending some one on one and one on four time with our children in Washington! Our oldest son took me to a soccer game last Saturday which was so much fun. Katie and I did some shopping on Monday and she found her strappy gold shoes she needed for an upcoming wedding she’s in. Working around the house with our son Dan. Having Easter Brunch together and Taco Night. Good times.

2. Easter Tradtions! I love Easter and it’s always fun to do the traditional things each year. This year my sister Lana G! and I even made the traditional Russian Easter Bread and Cheese topping. Ok, I keep mentioning that but it was a big accomplishment for us and now we know we can do it and we’re so excited we can have fresh Kulich every year if we want it! Coloring Easter Eggs…it’s so much fun to watch Katie get creative with the colors on the eggs. Going to Easter Service. There’s something special about Easter Sunday at church. We go to church most every Sunday but Easter Sunday always stands out to me. Repeating the traditional Easter greeting to everyone we see on Easter…Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!

3. Spending time in Downtown Seattle with Dear. We had a hair appointment together and then headed downtown to have lunch at the Pink Door. It happened to be one of the sunny days in Western Washington so it was nice to walk around and enjoy Downtown! The Market and all the fresh flowers, the tall buildings, our yummy lunch and buying dessert for the taco dinner we were having later that night with our kids.

4. Fresh mowed grass! I really enjoy mowing the lawn at our home here. There’s nothing quite as satisfying as seeing a freshly mowed neat looking yard! Dear does the weed-wacking and I do the mowing. The first Spring mow is always a bit time consuming and I had to empty the bag more often…

5. Flowers! It was great to see flowers blooming in the yard when we arrived. My Lenten Rose was full of blooms which made me smile. I love the shape and colors of this plant. Seeing all the fresh cut flowers at Pike Place Market was great, too. So many beautiful varieties of tulips and daffodils. I bought a bunch of yellow with orange daffodils to bring home for Taco Night!

Thanks to Susanne at Living to Tell the Story was hosting this weekly event. It’s good to look back and think about the good times and blessings we enjoy each week.

Antique Easter Postcards ~

Greetings from the beautiful wet Puget Sound Area of Washington!!

I wanted to share these Antique Easter postcards that Dear’s Great, great, Aunt Emma received in the early 1900’s.

 

And then here’s a classic Easter shot from the 50’s of my sisters and me!

Vera, Kathy and Ellen b. We always got dressed up for Easter with a new Easter dress that my mom would usually sew for us. White patent leather shoes and white socks and a cute little purse finished off the outfit.

I took a stroll around the yard yesterday and I was so happy to see my Lenten Rose in full bloom for Easter.

 

Lana G! and I worked hard yesterday baking Kulich, (Russian Easter Bread), for the first time all by ourselves. In the past we’ve always watched my mom make it or were part of a group effort in making it. We had many questions in our heads yesterday wondering about the instructions and if we were doing things correctly. We were exhausted by the end of the baking process! Lana re-wrote the recipe and instructions so that someone who has never seen the process would understand what to do better…

 

My mother wants us to bring her back a piece so she can see how we did. Oh the pressure!!

 

Today we will decorate the tops of the Kulich with some frosting and sprinkles, color eggs and shop for our portion of the Easter dinner tomorrow.

The most exciting thing that is happening today, though, is that my son Josh is taking me to the Seattle Sounders Game tonight!! That’s MLS soccer for those of you who don’t follow soccer. My son Dan is giving up his season ticket and his scarf for me tonight! Whoohoo! Of course you’ll see and hear more about it later…

Tomorrow we’ll be celebrating with millions of people all around the world that Jesus Christ came to earth, lived a perfect life, died on the cross for our sins, and was resurrected from the dead with the power to save anyone who believes in Him. Now that is something to celebrate everyday! Blessings on you and yours!

Photobucket is holding all my photos that I stored on their site from 2007-2015 hostage replacing them with ugly grey and black boxes and asking for a large ransom to retrieve them. It is a slow process to go through all my posts deleting the ugly boxes.

My Mom~

I wanted to give you all an update on my mom. She’s doing a lot better and is healing nicely. She even answered the phone when I called last night and sounded upbeat. So again thank you so much for your concern and your prayers. It means a lot. Oh and today is her actual birthday! I’m driving out to see her today to wish her a Happy Birthday in person and see for myself how her face is doing!

Happy 85th Birthday Mom!

My other update is that Dear and I will be flying to Seattle tomorrow for 10 days to celebrate Easter with our Northwest loved ones. I hope to continue posting but if I’m a bit slow you’ll understand why.

Outdoor Wednesday ~ Father & Daughter

My Outdoor photos this week were all taken on an early morning walk at Emma Wood State Beach when our daughter Katie was spending a week with us.

 

Katie is a lot like her father. She and he tend to think the same way. It’s always fun to see them interact with each other.

 

 

 

 

Doesn’t the vegetation at the beach look so alive in the Spring!

 

 

This evening or tomorrow for more Outdoor Wednesday posts please visit our hostess Susan at A Southern Daydreamer.

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage unless I pay them a lot of money. I’m slowly cleaning up many posts from this time period and deleting their ugly grey and black boxes with a ransom request. Such a time consuming bother.

Friday’s Fave Five!

This past week has been full of some memorable events. Seems most of these events centered around food. Makes me wonder if I should just give up on losing weight, but this is a post about favorite things so onward and upward.

Topping the list of favorites was the fact that our daughter was here with us for several days. We walked on the beach, did some vintage shopping, attended her good friends wedding, and ate a lot of good food.

Worship on Sunday was really powerful with a challenging sermon about the Holy Spirit. There was a wonderful sense of unity in the Body that was really cool.

Katie and I made a trip to Glendale Forest Lawn and it was stimulating to see so many beautiful works of art. The grounds are so well kept and the little churches are filled with beautiful stained glass.

This is the Wee Kirk O’ the Heather at Glendale Forest Lawn

One of the favorite food items this past week was this hot fudge sundae Katie and I shared at the Tam O’ Shanter after our trip to Glendale Forest Lawn. It is served with the original fabulous C.C.Brown’s hot fudge that seriously tastes like very good candy! I can’t remember the last time I had a Hot Fudge Sundae! I’m salivating just thinking about it!

On Wednesday I met my Women’s Bible Study ladies at Cheesecake Factory to celebrate Fran’s birthday. We had such a great time laughing and enjoying each others company and celebrating Fran! Ok I’ll go ahead and show you what I ate…

So anyone want to place a bet on whether or not I gained weight last week??

Please visit the lovely Susanne at Living to Tell the Story to join in the fun or to see other Fave Fives!

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage unless I pay them a lot of money. I’m slowly cleaning up many posts from this time period and deleting their ugly grey and black boxes with a ransom request. Such a time consuming bother.

Time for Recuperating…

 

The Seagulls can relax now, Katie’s flight back to Seattle was early this morning and we were on the road at 5:30 AM. I made the round trip and was home at 7:30 AM. If I was a napping kind of person that’s exactly what I’d be doing right now. It was so nice to have Katie around here for the week and now my body will have to be eased back into something more normal for me. I hope to be able to work up a post on the wedding and more about Forest Lawn Glendale.

Hope your week is going well. Blessings…

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage unless I pay them a lot of money. I’m slowly cleaning up many posts from this time period and deleting their ugly grey and black boxes with a ransom request. Such a time consuming bother.

Welcome Spring!

 

Ellen b. has been busy running here and there with her daughter Katie while she is visiting us in Southern California from Seattle. On Saturday we will be on the road for several hours to attend a wedding of Katie’s good friend in San Bernardino County. We are meeting my brother and SIL in Redlands for lunch before the 3:00 wedding. I attended the University of Redlands for my freshman year and I hope we can get in a quick drive by to see what the campus looks like today. I attended there in 1968-69. Wow 40 years ago!! I’m not participating in any of my regular weekly memes until Katie leaves because I do not have time to return comments and that really makes me feel bad.

Hope that Spring is showing much promise to you all! Blessings…

 

Seattle Sounders 3 ~ N.Y. Red Bulls 0 ~ Welcome Spring!!

 

What fun for Seattle last night and my sons, nephew David and friend Beau! They attended the Inaugural game for the Seattle Sounders and they got to see them win with a sell-out crowd who were very loud. Seattle fans are known for cheering loudly.

I really enjoy seeing my sons together having a good time!

The signs of Spring that I enjoy!

Easter, Renewal, Strawberries, Flowers, Bird Nests, and Soccer!

Happy Spring Everyone. May this be the year of fresh revival in your Spirit, Soul, Heart and Mind!

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage unless I pay them a lot of money. I’m slowly cleaning up many posts from this time period and deleting their ugly grey and black boxes with a ransom request. Such a time consuming bother.