Monday, November 28, 2011

Our Family Thanksgiving Gathering


Pumpkin Bread and a whole lot of food...but the best part was the fun and family fellowship!

It is such a busy life...and we don't get to gather together as often as we'd like too...so we make the best of it when we do!

Grandma always likes to hear the kids play the piano. 10 year old Silas is learning and he did a great job playing for us. And his teacher...big brother Jared played for us too. He is amazing!

Jonas is such a sweet boy! He is enjoying his meal.

Kyle and Abigail sitting together in the basement while we were opening birthday gifts.

I love this table full of kids. They are all growing up so fast!

The two oldest grandsons, Jared and Will...sporting their ponytails.

Momma and her silly girls...having some fun!

Uncle Brad at the girl's table! They love it, and so does he!

I love my girls!

Enjoying the food!

Sweet Harrison...the baby of our family!

Jared the 21 year old grandson.

Will the 16 year old grandson.

Caleb turns 15!

Granddaughter Bailey turns 19.

18 year old Abigail with her Aunt Lonna and cousin Adelynn. Addy is our baby girl and she is 12.

Sweet 15 year old Cecily with her Auntie Lisa.

I count all of these precious family members as great blessings in my life! I am truly thankful for each and every one of them!

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Six Word Saturday! Hubby's Special Birthday!!!







My Hubby Had A Special Birthday!

Those are my six words today. What are yours? You can join in by clicking the button above and linking up with Cate for Six Word Saturday!



This year was a special event for my husband John. He had his 66th birthday on 11-11-11. That will never happen again for him and he was excited about it.

I looked around and found this 11-11-11 shirt for him to remember it by.

He started early by going to a Nebraska game with his brother Bill, (Thanks Bill!), and then onto Alma, Ne. to celebrate with his brothers and sister and extended family and friends. They had a gathering out at the golf and country club. He really enjoyed that time with all of them.

He is the oldest of 7 kids. This picture is John with some of them, before the two youngest were born.



And here is a picture from a past cousins reunion. John loves his family so much!
Mom and dad passed a few years ago and now he is the oldest in his immediate family.



Only 6 of them in this picture because his sister Pam has gone to heaven too.



This is John with his sweet Aunt Gladys!



I stayed home this trip because I had tickets to a concert that I didn't want to miss. But he had a great time, and liked celebrating early. Then he came home and just he and I enjoyed his actual birthday, and when we have our family Thanksgiving gathering next Saturday we will celebrate his birthday with kids and grandkids!!!! So I think it turned out to be a nice birthday for him in many ways.

Grandpa always wants to get in on the fun! (This is an old picture and since then our sweet little Anna has gone on to be with Jesus. It has been 7 years today since her entry into the arms of Jesus...but we always carry her in our hearts. Grandpa loved her so much...as he does all of his grandkids!)

The older girls Abigail and Bailey are now 18 and 19...I know they will just be overjoyed that I'm posting this picture! ha!



John deserves the extra attention because he is just one of the greatest guys around! He is a loving husband, dad, and grandpa, as well as a great brother and friend. I thank the Lord all of the time for my wonderful husband. I was so blessed the day I married him!


We have both changed quite a bit over the years don't ya think? But we are still young at heart! Especially when our kids and grandkids are around.


Have a good Saturday everyone.

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Random Ramblings!


Hello Blog Friends...Happy Autumn!
I thought I would show you a little of my fall decorations first of all...and then I will tell you what we have been doing recently. So since I went nearly a month without blogging..(other than posting a poem I wrote recently), I have a lot to catch up on. So, this will be a long one! I hope I don't bore you. I just had some pictures I wanted to post, so I thought I'd just "get 'er done!" (:>)



I saw these big sparkly leaves at a boutique here in town and added them to my table to make it feel fall~ish!



I had fun setting the table as though I was having dinner guests! Ha! I haven't had dinner guests in such a long while. Everything takes so much effort these days...and I just don't do as much as I used to do.



I set my pumpkins on the floor by the door to greet my visitors. I had fun painting a design on one of them.



I placed my two cute little turtles down there with my pumpkins, cuz I thought they were cute. (You can click on the picture to make it bigger so you can see them better.)



I sat a few little pumpkins on my sofa table too...but I don't really do a lot of decorating for the fall season.



My granddaughter Bailey walked her new doggy Duncan over to meet grandma. He is a cute 3 year old Corgi that someone gave them! They also have another Corgi named Riley who is 6 years old! They are good little dogs. The Queen of England has Corgis too.



Grandpa recently bought Bailey her first car! It's a little Ford Focus.



Bailey said she thought a small car would be good on gas mileage! Since she will be paying for her own gas, and also insurance she is wise to be aware of that.



We had 4 Autumn Birthdays to celebrate, so we finally got around to doing that. Here is Adelynn showing us her Birthday money. Grandpa gave it all to her in one dollar bills! He thought it would impress her...but she was quickly talking about getting it changed into bigger bills! (Oh and on the front he stuck a fake million dollar bill! He is such a jokester!)



Here's our daughter Lynnette showing us her birthday bucks too!



And here are all of the birthday people...Jared, Lynnette and Kyle, and Adelynn. We had birthday pies instead of cake.



We met our friend Toni and her youngest daughter Kerri at the airport in Springfield Mo., and then spent a week in Branson with them in Oct. They live in Arizona, and invited us to share their time-share condo with them for the week! It was nice, and we enjoyed time together.



We have been friends for 32 years, and we feel like sisters! And I am Auntie Linda to her girls, and she is like an Auntie to my girls.



Here is Toni and her daughter Kerri in a quaint little shopping village in Branson Mo. They have a Christmas shop in there and then a whole lot of specialty shops. The day we were there there was a man playing a saxophone and selling cd's. I bought one, cuz I love saxophone music.



This is the big Sight and Sound Theater where we went to see The Noah Musical. It was Awesome! Just an amazing production! It was the last week that it would be there and I had wanted to see it for years. Next season they will have The Joseph Story...and I want to see that too!



I just loved this statue of the lion laying down with the lamb.



This was a fun display of pumpkins at Silver Dollar City. Yes,...we went there again! (:>) We always get season tickets. And then we get discount tickets for guests. It was the fall Craft Festival, so lots of artists were there.



This is a glass chapel in Eureka Springs Arkansas, we took a little side trip to Arkansas one day. Toni and Kerri wanted to see this cool chapel, so we rode the trolley up the hill to see it. We stayed there about 30 minutes and also went inside. It is such a peaceful setting!



My friend Myrna's daughter got married there 5 years ago. It was a neat place to have a wedding, out there among the trees.



People come from all over the place to see this chapel, and to sit inside and pray. It is pretty in each different season. Eureka Springs is a tourist attraction...but it is a Victorian town and has several neat old homes nestled in the hills. They have turned several of them into Bed and Breakfasts.



When the trolley returned for us we had it leave us at the top of the hill in town and we walked down through the town and shopped in different shops. This was a neat park in the middle of town, so we sat there for awhile and enjoyed listening to a guy play guitar and sing. It was a peaceful setting too.




We took some pictures and just enjoyed the park, and the beautiful day.





There were some neat old buildings in Eureka Springs.




John liked the old advertising that was painted on the side of one of the brick buildings.



We enjoyed our day in Eureka Springs Arkansas and then headed back to Missouri before it got dark, since there were lots of winding roads that we didn't want to drive on after the sun went down.



While in Branson we also saw several shows. One of them was the brother's group called SIX. They were fantastic. We bought a cd...but nothing is ever as good as it is in person. Six is good music and lots of comedy. We loved them.



When we got home from our trip, I felt like making a fall arrangement for a bucket I bought at my friend Rodgie's antique store. I have been enjoying it.



I got my haircut when we got home too.



And then a few days later I got it colored. It is darker, so I am having to adjust to it. It will fade and lighten up each time I wash it...but if I don't get used to it I may have to have it highlighted again! (I never seem to be content with it these days! But I think it's part of me just getting older and not wanting to admit it!)



Last night my daughter Lisa and I went to see Amy Grant in concert with Michael W. Smith. We got there early and got our seat. It was in a big church here in Wichita.



It was fun and we both enjoyed the concert and being together for a girls night out.



Just before the show was over we felt like someone was kicking the back of our seats and causing them to vibrate. But after the lights came on Lisa had a text from her husband who told us we had just had a 5.6 earthquake! I have lived in Kansas for 32 years and have never felt an earthquake here. It was a little unnerving. The son-in-law said that here in Derby, he felt the whole house shaking. The center of the quake was near Oklahoma City and it was felt hundreds of miles away.

I was born and raised in Southern California, and I grew up experiencing earthquakes. When I was a kid we always had earthquake drills at school. They would tell us to get under our desks or stand in a door frame.

I have forgotten the fear of earthquakes since I moved to the Midwest and tornadoes have taken their place. I experienced one of those and it blew out all of the glass in my car and the light pole next to my car crashed on the car right next to mine, as I worked in the mall and we all had to run to the inner hallways to take cover.

Life is full of unsettling things...but when you know the Lord he is our refuge and strength!

We enjoyed singing praises to God along with Amy Grant and Michael W. Smith last night and while we were singing our Hallelujahs, the earth was moving and we didn't even realize it! Praise you King Jesus...You hold the whole world in your mighty hands!