No matter how much fun it is to go away and enjoy family and friends it’s always good to come home again.
Josh, Laura and I flew back to Washington from John Wayne Airport today and it is so good to be home again. We came home to sunshine and clear views. I’ll be sharing all about the celebrations we enjoyed while we were in California soon. In the meantime the lawn needs mowing and I need to catch up with the laundry. What’s happening at your house?
We’ve had many celebrations, an emergency room visit, dinners, breakfasts, lunches, birthday parties, singing, reunions, and there is more to come. It’s Sunday and I’ll be back to my speedier connections Tuesday evening and will share many photos of all our celebrations. Consider yourselves warned. For now I’m just chiming in to say as my dad would say…”we are praizing duh Lorrd for all he does to us” God is good. Blessings on your Sunday!
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration with Dave, Beth, Jamie, Sarly, Raelynd, BIL Steve, my sister Lana, and our son Dan yesterday in the Pacific Northwest. Our son Josh and Laura were celebrating with Laura’s family just a few miles away from us. Our daughter Katie called from their celebration with Son-in-law Andrew’s folks in the middle of Florida.
I nabbed this photo off facebook of part of my family enjoying their feast in Dallas, Texas. My sister Kathy’s family drove from Southern California to Texas to spend time with my brother Leonard’s family.
Then I nabbed this photo of my mom and dad enjoying their Thanksgiving feast with my sister Vera’s family in Huntington Beach, California. I really love that my dad has his napkin tucked into his waist. I can almost hear his voice and I know he is praising God and being thankful to Him for his family gathered around that table and scattered all over the U.S.
My brother Tim and SIL Letty joined them. My brother Steve’s family drove from Southern California to Arizona to celebrate with my SIL Kelly’s family. Dear’s brother Terry’s family celebrated in Fullerton, California.
Here there and everywhere we all joined in being thankful to God for all “he did to us” over the years!
Katie and I are in Southern California enjoying family get-togethers. One of our favorite places to gather is at my sister Vera’s house in Huntington Beach. She and my BIL Nick are always willing and able to host and cook wonderful meals for our large family gatherings. We call their place “Casa de la Playa” because they live in Huntington Beach within walking distance to the Pacific Ocean.
We were there on Saturday for brunch, the beach, and then for dinner!
Besides Katie and I flying in, Miss Hope flew in with her parents from Texas. She loves Uncle Nick and she loves the beach! Vera made a delicious Chile Relleno casserole. Miss Hope was checking Katie and me out. After brunch and a nap we headed down the street to the beach.
Miss Hope loves the beach.
Hi Mommy! Look at me!
Daddy took the first shift with Hope in the water until her teeth started chattering and they came in to get warmed up.
Katie decided to brave the cold water.
Hope’s cousins took the next shift helping Miss Hope hop over the waves and avoid being toppled by them.
Time to pack everything up and head back to Casa de la Playa to shower before dinner.
Tim, Letty, Len and Kathy joined the rest of us for dinner. Nick barbecued ribs, tri-tip, chicken, mushrooms and zucchini and Vera made mashed potatoes, wild rice and salad. We were introduced to Pinkberry’s frozen yogurt for dessert. The salted caramel and the watermelon frozen yogurt was delicious! Thanks Nick and Vera for treating us so well and thank you Mandy for the frozen yogurt.
Thanks to my cousin Jim in Clovis we are calling our week of festivities the Bag-o-rama Jamboree! More fun to come.
I have not watched T.V. since we flew into L.A. but I’ve seen some stories on line about the horrible massacre in Norway. My heart and prayers go out to people of Norway and all the families there who have lost loved ones in such a senseless act of violence.
We got the all in the family photos from my niece Debbee yesterday. I kind of like the whacky one myself.
Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007 to 2015 hostage and has replaced them all with ugly black and grey boxes asking for a ransom to have them re-published. Such a frustrating bother as I go through each post to delete the ugly boxes.
Here are some favorite skies from California and Washington at the end of December! A very Happy New Year to Sky Watch Friday bloggers and anyone else who comes by today!
For more Sky Watch photos from around the world visit the Sky Watch Official Site.
Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007 to 2015 hostage and has replaced them all with ugly black and grey boxes asking for a ransom to have them re-published. Such a frustrating bother as I go through each post to delete the ugly boxes.
We took an early morning walk at Emma Wood State Beach on Saturday morning where we found some Ruby and then we headed South to Huntington Beach for a family gathering and found more Ruby at the Huntington Beach City Pier.
Emma Wood State Beach. This wild ground cover is a shade of Ruby this time of year.
One of the State Beach Campers taking 3 dogs out for their morning stroll. He had to stop and explain to us that not all the dogs were his…
The building at the end of the Huntington Beach City Pier is donning some Ruby, too.
The Prickly Pear Cactus is blooming in Southern California right now, too, with these interesting Ruby bulbs. The top right photo are some roses.
For more Ruby Tuesday click over to Maryt’s at Work of the Poet.
Photobucket is holding all my photos that I posted on my blog from 2007-2015 hostage and replaced them with big black and grey boxes with threats. So discouraging…as I’m slowly trying to clean up thousands of posts!
My brother Leonard, his wife Mandy and their 7 month old daughter Hope paid us a surprise visit from Dallas the last few days. Leonard had to travel to Southern California for business so Mandy and Hope joined him for the weekend.
Leonard is my baby brother, Lana G’s twin. He’s been married to Mandy for 2 years now and they were blessed with sweet little Hope in January of this year.
When my family gets together there is a lot of everything. Lots of people, lots of food, lots of plates, lots of talk and lots of laughter. We generally meet up at my sister Vera’s house in Huntington Beach because her and her husband Nick have the gift of making lots of food. We joke around about what 3 meats they will be preparing this time. The rest of us bring something to accompany all the meat they prepare. This time we had ribs, chuck roast, pineapple chicken, roasted chicken, spaghetti and meat sauce. My brother Tim and his wife Letty were all dressed up because they were headed to a wedding from our get-together. I don’t know why I had to explain that except for they are so dressed up compared to the rest of us.
Hope finally woke up and she just couldn’t take her eyes off of Jack. Jackson is my niece Michelle and Ryan’s 3 year old son. Michelle’s a blogger too and you’ll catch her in some of my photos with her camera in hand. Her blog is “Wait for It”
Some fun with Sweet Potatoes. Yes people there are going to be lots and lots of photos of Hope. I had to get my 4 hour fix before I see her again at Christmas.
After we stuffed ourselves with all that meat and salads and dessert we decided a walk down to the beach was in order. That’s the other great thing about Nick and Vera’s, it’s just a very short stroll to Huntington City Beach.
On our walk we met up with more guests for the evening and when we returned there was a gift for Hope. It was so stinkin sweet to watch her pat her Pooh Bear and give him loves.
We are so happy that our huge family does not overwhelm Hope. She seems to be able to relax with all of us. Did you catch Michelle with her camera?
Jackson entertained us with his dancing skills. He seems to be doing well with not having all the attention on him when Hope’s around.
Hope really lights up and kicks her feet when her Dzeda (grandfather) pays attention to her and he loves to entertain her. She loves her baba (grandmother). Aunt Kathy is great too. Now look at that expression on daddy and Hope’s face…hmmm.
Thanks Nick and Vera for opening your home for another fun get together.
Here’s the verse that Leonard and Mandy chose for Hope’s Baby Announcement ~
“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, Therefore I have Hope in Him.”
Photobucket is holding all my photos that I posted on my blog from 2007-2015 hostage and replaced them with big black and grey boxes with threats. So discouraging…as I’m slowly trying to clean up thousands of posts!
The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b. 