Regional Convention 2016 Netherlands.....

Korey and Summuer came back from their convention in the Netherlands
and brought us back some gifts from the friends there.

Boy this brought back memories of our trip
to Germany when we attended
the Regional Convention there 10 years ago!

What a joy!

Going In Circles.......

So.....

I haven't posted to my blog in awhile....

It's always hard to get your thoughts together 

especially

after you lose a loved one.

I had a hard time posting to my blog

back when we lost my Uncle Ducky.

But once you resume your composure....

you just have to continue on living....

This reminds me of when we lost my mother in law

in death

shortly after we were married.

I remember Kim and I went to the San Pedro pier

with some friends to get things off of our minds....

We remember watching everyone around us

just laughing and carrying on with their lives.....

We thought to ourselves.....

DON'T THESE PEOPLE KNOW THAT WE JUST LOST OUR LOVED ONE!!!!!

But it occurred to us at that moment.....

Sad to say.....

But life DOES go on.....

It does not mean....

 that we will forget our loved ones that we have lost in death.....

But...

We can CHERISH the memories that we made with them until we see them again....

Aren't we grateful for those memories!!!

That's why I love having my blog....

SHARING MEMORIES.....

Some are SAD.....

Some are TRYING at times.......

Some may be BUSY ....

Then there are CELEBRATIONS....

And

So it goes.......

LIFE AS WE SEE IT......

Here are some pics of what we've been up to in the few months.....

Let's Catch Up!

Since March we have been very busy with life in general....

My father had a stroke and has since then been placed in a nursing home in San Clemente....

The same week, our adopted daughter had a stroke and a heart attack....She is doing much better we are glad to report.

In between we have had numerous doctors appointments between Mom, Kim and Myself....

We have dealt with bouts of verdigo and I also had an absessed tooth that needed a root canal done on!!!

Oh yeah, it never ends!!!!

Through all of this we also are very active in our ministry 

and our meetings at the Kingdom Hall.

But we are not the only ones that are trying to stay a float

in this crazy world we live in.

As 1 John 5:19 says "The whole world is lying in the power of the wicked one"

So EVERYONE is affected....

"BITTER SWEET MOMENTS"

We began the month of May sadly with the loss of

my nephew

Matthew Raymond Martinez...

His friends and family chose to celebrate his life as he loved it...

His services were held in his friend Jeremiah Risk's, backyard.

Jeremiah told us that Matt would come over there after work and skateboard with him long into the late hours

of the night.   

So everyone came to Jeremiah's house and those that skateboarded lined up their boards and
celebrated Matt's life after the services.

Friends and family gathered together to share many memories
of Matt
through tears and laughter......

We also attended a memorial service in the month
of May in support of our friends
Darrin &Valerie Barraza
who lost his sweet mom Martha.

We saw her last at her grandson's wedding
back in October and she was not well then.

We are so proud of Darrin who gave a talk sharing the hope of the resurrection with the audience.

It also was a celebration of her life and we loved hearing all of the stories that her siblings told about her.

I especially loved how her children helped us to really see the person that Martha was and how much she was really loved.



A CELEBRATION.......

We attended our friends, Mark and Jonie Harmon's wedding.

What a fun celebration!

This was a beautiful celebration of two lives uniting as one.

The bride was beautiful....
The wedding party was very colorful and elegant....
The guys looked dapper....
The cake was absolutely the most beautiful wedding cake I have ever seen!
Every thing came together like a bouquet of flowers!
Just beautiful!!!!

What a nice time with family and friends at the Harmon wedding.

The happy couple, Mr. and Mrs. Mark Harmon



Ariel and Christopher's Wedding.....

Our niece Ariel and her husband Christopher.....

This wedding was held in a beautiful setting on a horse ranch in wine country in Temecula.

We celebrated the joining of these two lives together late into the night!

Our son Kamron was having a blast reuniting with his cousins.
Here is Kamron with his cousin Tyron.

Kamron and his beautiful girl came down for the wedding.

This was the first time we met Cass and she was absolutely lovely!

Can't wait to visit with her again.



GRADUATION SEASON..........

Yes, everyone's child was graduating......
 and of course
we had everyone's graduation party to attend!

We are a Chase Oakley's graduation here having a blast!

My Cae Cae also graduated from preschool and will now be starting
Kindergarten on Monday.....

Her cousin Zae Zae also is going to kindergarten.....

So enough of the graduations for now......


REMODELING COMPLETION......

We FINALLY finished the remodel of the guest bathroom!!!!
Yay!!!!

Kitchen cabinets and flooring complete......

Floors done!!!!

We have this large rock on the upper corner of our yard that is a fountain
and each morning the birds love to come and take 
their baths.

They are so happy!!!


TRAILER RESTORATION......

In between the craziness in our lives Kim and I have also been restoring our camping trailer.

Kim is working on the exterior and I am working on the interior.

We actually find it relaxing working on it.

Kim has decided to change the colors and he is also stripping paint to make it look shiny.
The pink is actually for Cae Cae who thinks this trailer is hers....

Exterior is looking pretty good.....

I made curtains and recovered the cushions with extra fabrics.....

Made pillows with scrap fabrics and clothing.....

Got these beads at a yard sale and thought they would be perfect for my
"Boho" look trailer......

Curtains made with an old skirt and topper was a belly dancing scarf....
Cushions complete!

My "Boho" curtains.....


GIRLS GET-AWAY WEEKEND......

My longtime friends Robin Jensen and Rose Kitchen
invited my mom and I to share a girls weekend with them
down in San Clemente.  

We sat on the pier and had some drinks and dinner.

Robin's sister Beth joined us before she had to go home to her husband.

The next morning me, my mom and Rose took a long walk down to the pier
and had coffee and muffins.....
This was so relaxing!!!!
Much needed time to myself to just relax and smell the ocean.......

This was our view from our balcony.
Just beautiful!!!
At the top of the hill.....

The only bad thing about walking all the way down that hill
was you have to walk back up!!!
Mom and I having fun getting winded......

I love walking to the end of the pier.
So does mom.....

Our view at breakfast on the pier.....
Somehow the coffee tastes better by the sea.....

We even saw mermaids.......

Rose made us a great breakfast the first morning.....

Robin and her sister Beth....
Love these girls!!!

Beautiful Sunset....

Us girls spent one evening watching the inspiring documentary on
the designer Iris Apfel
My mom came home and took this photo.....
TOO CUTE!!!!

We had a blast! Can't wait to go again!

Anyway.....as you can see we have been very busy......So until the next time.....
I'll be busy making more memories........

Only You Can Prevent Forest Fires!!!!!!

As summer continues
 the land
 seems to get dryer and dryer
so please
lets be mindful
that there are many precious
men and women
who are sons and daughters
and nephews
and nieces
and husbands
and fathers
who need our help
to keep
all of us safe!
My nephew Sam
 (I call him Sam I Am)
is on his way to fight a wild fire.
He is the one in the front right.
I am so proud of him!
(And so nervous at the same time!)

My prayers are for all of our firefighters
out there!

This is my little brother Eddie
(We call him Capt. Eddie)
 who has been with the
Los Angeles County Fire Dept.
since right out of highschool.
He hopefully will be retiring soon?
He is catching up with me in age.....just kidding.
He's seven years younger than me.
And I couldn't be any prouder of him!

 

When Someone You Love Dies.....

My heart is broken today as I reflect

 on the caos and emotions that everyone goes through when they lose a loved one.

My prayers are for my families comfort

and peace.

 It doesn't matter who you are

what faith you are

 how old you are

 what gender you are......

we are ALL saddened by the death of a loved one 

and everyone mourns in their own way.

Death is so unnatural.

The Bible speaks of death as an enemy.

And this is why we look forward to the time when Jehovah will do away with this enemy death (1 Corinthians 15: 26)

This week I read a timely article

 in the

 Watchtower magazine

 dealing with the very subject 

of 

"When Someone You Love Dies."

I am so grateful that Jehovah has provided these tools for us to find comfort and that

 I have a hope for my loved ones that have died

 and

 that I know the truth about

my loved ones who have died

and the fact that I know

 how to

USE my Bible

 to find comfort when we are faced with the death of a loved one.

If you have been affected by the death of a loved one

I urge you

 to read this article on the right of this page

and Please

 look up every scripture in your Bible

so that you can be comforted as my family has been.

We look forward to the day when we will see 

Matthew again 

and he will be smiling

and not in pain.

We look forward to seeing him again very soon

along with 

all of our precious family and friends

 who have died

 as 

they await the day that they will be awoken from their sleep in the resurrection (John 5: 28, 29)

This is dedicated to the memory of Matthew Raymond Martinez

who was a very talented and sensitive young man.

Until we meet again..... 

Bathroom Remodel Update.....

So, we've had more than the usual distractions and obstacles that have been keeping us from completing the remodel of our guest bathroom for the past YEAR!!!!

But

We are slowly making progress.....

The biggest obstacle has been money.....

and

TIME!!!!

But it will eventually get done.....

I HOPE!!!!

We started out removing the existing shower/bath combo
 and
 the outdated tile floor.

Then our friend Todd came by and prepared the pipes for the new tub.
(Thank you, Todd!)

We are going to install an old iron claw foot tub in it's place.

Then drywall was completed.

This picture shows the pipes stubbed out for the tub
 and
 the drywall now in place.

The wood also was being installed on the back wall to give it some texture.

After the wood was installed we painted the walls.

This insert had to be put into the wall so that we can accommodate the claw foot tub.

I'm thinking about doing a decorative mosaic

 or some rustic shelves inside of 

the insert

 to hold some bath salts.

A year ago a friend gave us some rock tiles that he had left over from a job

and we didn't have enough to do the whole bathroom

  so.......

You know me, I'll make it work one way or another!!!!!

So what did I do?

I turned to Pinterest of course!!!!!

 So, we got some ideas together and decided to incorporate it

along with tile that has the wood-look.

I love the way the wood-look tile and the rock blend together!

It's slowly coming together......

Thanks to Pinterest!!!!!

I don't know if I'm going to use this mirror yet.....

it's what I have for now,

 but I'm sure I will be replacing it with something a little more bohemian
 or
 I'll have to mosaic it.

I also have no idea what we are going to use for the top of our table that will house our bowl sink.

We thought we were going to have a piece of scrap granite but that didn't work out
but I do have
a wood top in storage from an old roll top desk that I can re-purpose.....
Hmmm....

Kim and I pieced together this stand that we will be using for the bowl sink.

The legs and sides came from an old victorian table that I've had for years
 and
 some re-purposed  two by fours and some decorative wood that I've had hanging around.

Kim is painting it and distressing it for me.

I love how the stand came out!

It will have a bowl sink installed on top of it.

The light fixtures are re-purposed also.....

So.....

Now if we could ever get that bathtub put in place
(It's in the garage and ready to be installed)

 and

 the toilet and sink installed we will be back in business!!!!

That's with having two bathrooms, I mean......