Phamily Photos and Fun

This tea time image from 123RF at google images

This google image made me SMILE OUT LOUD! I have never seen anything so cute like this. Some folks are so crafty. I sure wish I were.

My dad had a sister who was two years younger then him. After his untimely passing she was the phamily storyteller who kept us in phamily stories. When she passed away her oldest daughter Audrey took over the storytelling job. We lost Audrey too but when she passed away I found out the most amazing fun fact about her. She and her hubby Chuck were fishing lovers. Audrey was the first woman president of the National Association of Fly Fishing. I keep in close contact with her only son and he has shared many stories with me too. Audrey and her hubby Chuck were the first couple to marry in our hometown church when it was brand spanking new. Somewhere in my photos I have their wedding photo too. I am always asking relatives to send me any photos they would like to share. I love posting them here and giving credit where credit is due. Chuck celebrates his birthday on July 23 with my hubby Avery. It was my dad's birthday also and to be truthful, it was the reason I knew I was destined to marry my hubby. Not only did my dad approve of him, he liked sharing that birthday with him too. Chuck is their triple and cousin Kay is the quadruple with them all sharing the day. My folks were her godparents at baptism and Uncle Bear and Auntie Gela (photo) were my godparents.

This is a CHRISTmas phamily photo of their phamily.  Les (far left) was married to cousin Jeanie. They had three daughters and one son but only Savannah is pictured here. Chuck and Audrey pictured with Julie and only son Michael. They had lost a daughter Anna Marie as well and went on to have more daughters, Janet, Susan and Mia and lots of grandchildren and great grands. Kenny was younger here but he is married to Kay who does lots of ancestry work for phamilies and they have two sons, one who is a pastor. Danny ran the filling station and auto repair . He is married to Joan and they have one son and two daughters. Ray is married to Kathy and they had two sons and one daughter. All of the kids pictured have grand kids too.

I love tea and anything related to tea. This humorous tidbit was too cute not to share.

We don't hear people discuss self control very much these days. Occasionally someone will say they need more self control while dieting to being around desserts ans other sweets. Bu it seems to be an ongoing problem in our world today.

Self-discipline is another problem not often mentioned in today's society. We have kind of gotten away from an organized world I think.

I love the Book of James. As a child I heard many of these words from my own father and as I became an adult and studied the Word of God for myself I realized everything my father said to me he took directly from the bible. You might not think that was a big deal, but being raised in the Catholic faith, the church never encouraged people to read the bible. So I know my father studied his bible as he knew they words and applied them in his daily life. He was never angry either and anger is another emotion people use way too much. As a child, I was very spoiled, being the youngest and I had a temper. I try to be a calm, collected person today. But I don't lie, it is hard being a kind soul constantly. I just know I feel better when I am calm and cool.

Before I sign off, I hope you all have sweet dreams and a restful night. Do you have a night time routine? Do you use a special pillow? Is there a specific pillow that you love? Do you get 8 hours of restful sleep?

                                  Thank you all for your visits and being such lovely blog friend.

Happy Birthday to my Honey

Today my sweet hubby has another birthday and another year with me! I am the happiest person ever! We celebrated with his sister this weekend.  Since their birthdays are three days apart it was a double fun time.

When we were first married my sweet hubby had no baby picture of himself that was in one piece. Actually it was in pieces like a puzzle. I was able to find a photographer who put the photo back together for me and he did a wonderful job. My sweet Avery still has those long skinny legs. But he is the best thing that ever happened to me. He is kind and caring and very logical. He loves the Lord with his whole heart and he has helped me to learn and understand the bible.

This handsome lad grew up to work hard and marry and enjoy a big phamily. He attended Bellview Bible College for 2 years.He studied New Testament Greek and I believe he understands the bible so well because he knows it in it's original form.

With our middle Rebekah at Guanella Pass 2018.

With our baby girl Hannah at Niagara Falls State Park May 2020.

With our oldest daughter Noelle for the milestone birthday 2019.

Nick our youngest son, with Avery on Father's Day 2020.

Our oldest son Jeremy and Brittany with their phamily Father's Day 2020.

Avery is not a birthday cake kind of guy. He loves French Silk Pie. So when it is his birthday, he gets what he wants.

My heart is and always will be yours. Happy Birthday silly!

A Traveling We Will Go

When we visited Hannah and Jake last week, we had the pleasure of enjoying an old fashioned bonfire. They had saved up all the wood from cleaning up around their property to have a bonfire. I love the country because you do not have all the city rules although I Have a few neighbors who occasionally bend those rules. The fire kept us warm on a crisp evening and we enjoyed conversation. The wind was not blowing on us so we never ever smelled the smokiness on our clothing or hair. Pure joy for me. I love the little things in life and always will. Simplicity is such a joyfulness for me.

The kids sent us this photo yesterday. They were enjoying an extra day together before Jake headed back to work. They have the loveliest home and we enjoyed their company. Hopefully we did not annoy them! HeeHeeHee!

Thinking of Ravi Zacharias today. Having lost this Apologist of the gospel only last week I am smiling as he has come full circle and has settled into Paradise. I will miss him and his heart for Jesus and his love of the gospel. I know sir, you are resting in peace.

A brilliant man with the most incredible heart for his faith. I am going to miss him very much.

I am not so interested in traveling the world anymore. I would rather  finish seeing our country before it is no more. Our quick trip to Hannah and Jake's made our week. We were refreshed and relaxed. Life is funny. It goes by fast. It is fleeting. Enjoy as much of it as you can.

This is a constant at our house. Doesn't matter what time of day or the year or the times. It is always Mister Kitty bullying the pups or Leo bullying the cat! I am unable to load anymore photos from our trip until my hubby has time to do it on his end. My phone does not have the storage space.

Aw....Mondays Ten Things of Thankful Love is.. and Much More

Here is an old photo. We celebrated Boots as a new kitten back in 1998. He was born on our wedding anniversary of May 3rd. I saved my post about him until Aw...Mondays. He was a devoted feline friend of mine his entire life, which was too terribly short. Hannah, Nick, Rebekah (holding Boots) and Colton. Harrison saw this photo and thought Colton was himself rather then seeing a photo of his dad as a kid. HaHaHa! It was too cute. I will always hold a special place inside my heart for Boots. As I sort through old photos I will share more. He was a real character and sat like a good soldier as the girls dressed him up in costume. If I tried this with Mister Kitty today I would have shredded arms and possible lose an eye because he is not a cooperative feline. I have often felt I have known true angels in my lifetime and Boots was one of them. I think he was sent to me directly from God. He came at such a good time where he made me so happy just by being at my side. He did not act like a snarky cat. He was kind and gentle and very sweet. Don't get me wrong, I have a good life with a great hubby and wonderful kids but he was there when I suffered from terrible migraines. He saw him though some difficult times. I will never forget him. Happy birthday while you roam the Rainbow bridge Boots. I love you my friend.

I was visiting Mimi and she is participating  with several others Ten Things of Thankful. So  I wanted to participate and share some of mine today, stop by Kris's and be thankful, share your thankfulness and thank her for hosting. I am new at this blog hop so I will learn as I go.
1.) Weather:  living in Colorado we natives we get use to crazy weather but lately, the beautiful days have made me extra thankful.
2.) Rain : the simplicity of the sound of hitting the windows and the fresh clean smell it leaves makes me happy and thankful.
3.) Good food: Thankful for all the delightful food we have had especially during the lock down. I forgot to take a photo before we indulged in our anniversary dinner of steak, mashed potatoes, green beans and corn with a tossed salad and homemade Bleu Cheese dressing. Yummy toast too.
4.) Health : happy to have really decent health and keeping that way with simple vitamins and good choices.
5.) Eyesight:  I have really awful eyesight but with corrective lenses I am blessed to be able to see clearly. As a child seeing my grandmother lose her sight when I was 8 years old made me extra thankful to have eyes to see with.
6.) Water :  always thankful not to take clean water for granted and having a fridge that pops out ice cubes automatically. Our ice maker went out and our handy son-in-law Zach and the hubby bought a new part and repaired it in a simple hour. Thankfulness galore!
7.) Springtime: looking around our yard and seeing butterflies making their fluttering sounds around the flowers and a bush in our backyard that is tarting to show many new signs of life is thankfulness for the simple things we enjoy. Love the smell of newly mowed lawns too and our back yard was a labor of love after ten years of mud and muck out there. Thankful for the simple smells of Springtime.
8.) Grandkids:  seeing the little ones in videos and drive by's in the car have been a thankful blessing.

The Baby Shark Boy Brody. At age two thankful for his parents who work with him to learn all his colors and reading every single day.  Love and am thankful for all the grands.
9.) Music:  thankful music is available to listen to anytime and anywhere. Having been raised by a father who loved country music as much as opera, I am thankful for a dad with such an array of beautiful music he shared with me as a kid.
10.) Good neighbors: extra thankful to live in a nice, quiet area with good neighbors who help out in times of need and are friendly and social. Thankful they are interesting and fun to be living nearby.

Ah...love is....right on que.

A google image of Jaipur Blue Pottery. I Had a high school friend who was an amazing artist and he made pottery, I had a few pieces and still do. Oneday I will post some photos. Thought I would share this beautiful image for Blue Monday

My eleventh thankfulness.

I hope your week is beautiful and blessed.

SONday is the Lord's Day

I spent my childhood attending Catholic school and church too. It gave me a good foundation because in the 5th year if my life I went to school and the very first thing they taught me was "everything good comes from God". I never forgot it. I lean it on daily especially during these troubling times. It doesn't seem that most people are learning anything from this lock down. They are so divided. So filled with anger and hatred. I personally feel that if we don't open businesses and put people back to work our nation will falter and fail. So I pray and seek God's wisdom, not man's.

I'm like Billy from the Family Circus. Today was a good day, restful and we ate homemade bread. Two of our daughters are always baking bread. Yesterday was a good day too. Nick brought us delicious cookies from Crumbl. We have heat when it is cold outside and we have been in the teen's for a few days with the snow. I heard we received close to 150 inches of snow since January 2019 to the current days. Hopefully the rain prediction for next week is correct and we will get moisture but no snow. That would be nice.

25th Anniversary Okalahoma CIty Bombing

25 years ago today marks the anniversary of the worst domestic terrorist attack in the USA. These were the children pulled from the ruins who survived. I will never forget a girl I worked with, her cousin was one of the pre school teachers and her body was the last one removed from the wreckage. I worked with two people who lost loved ones in the bombing. 

I will pray for the families of those lost in the bombing all the days of my life. It is strange there is no remembering except for those who lost their loved ones.

God has a goodness no one else possesses. He gave His only son so we may live. I know He remembers each and every name from that fateful morning of April 18, 1993. Our son Nick was going to turn 2 that summer and he was napping and I was watching a doll show on  HSN TV. My friend Sharon called me, having seen the reports of the bombing on TV. I felt so guilty for not noticing what happened but 25 years ago the news was not in your face constantly.  25 years later I still remember but I don't watch constant news reports of the world today. It is sad, I pray kindness rules and hate slips away.

BLOG WOES AT ANNES PHAMILY BLOG

Just a quick FYI! I am unable to write a post at my other blog because  there is a weird little smiley face images person who will not go away. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you