Might I Say How Much I Love You

I love Love is....and this sweet tribute is especially meaningful to me today. First of all I love being with my phamily. So I would need to add extra blessings here! The sentiment is absolutely precious to me. Stop by and visit Marydon so we can see your Love is...favorites too.

Sisters at graduation. Our middle graduated from college today! She was a member of the largest graduating class of Metro State! Sixteen Hundred graduates made the walk today! It was a wonderful Spring day. A bit overcast but the sun did not fail us. It was a perfect day! Hannah was late so when she finally made her appearance I texted her to ask if she would be late to her own graduation! She replied, no she would camp out the night before!

I scored for Blue Monday! Aside from the perfect blue skies we have men at graduation and they are all wearing blue! "J" who lost fifty one lbs. and still counting has blue stripes in his white shirt! My grandson Colton sports blue hair with this blue t shirt! Nick is hiding his blue yes and blue shirt because he is wearing a neon orange jacket!

We wore a lot of blue! This is a picture perfect proud parent moment! As Jeremy was getting ready to graduate from Metro State College last year, they were changing the schools name to Metro State University of Denver. Rebekah who graduated today was part of the largest graduating class in the schools history!

Sisters! You can't see Noelle's pretty summer sundress with the colors of the rainbow. Yep, it includes that vibrant shade of blue!

I hope Sally and the blue crew like all the colorful shades of blue I shared today!

We have a lot of photos from graduation and our trip to Casa Bonita on my Facebook page. It was a fun filled day with lots of wonderful memories we will always cherish.

 Thanks to everyone who comments here, the friendships I have shared, the special times we all enjoy with our blog phamily. I appreciate you and love you more than you know! I love that you are a part of my phamily here!

"Z" is for

Zany! I always wonder what I will write about while showcasing the letter "Z". I like to be zany! There are lots of variations on the word zany. Here are a few: simpleton or silly person; clown, professional buffoon, comically wild or  eccentric person. Ludicrously or whimsically  comical, clownish. One who plays the clown or fool in order to amuse others. A secondary stock character in old comedies who mimicked his master! My phamily often likes to be zany!

Are you zany? Do you like to act silly or even laugh a lot? I do! I think laughter is good medicine. I love to eat too! How about some zucchini ? A nice plate of ziti ! A glass of Zinfandel?

Before you zip over to Ms. Jenny and visit all the "Z" gang tell me if you have ever participated in a blog retreat? I have been reading about these and wanted to see if anyone will share their experience. I think it would be zestfully  fun to participate. Tell me what you think!

Why Do We Blog?

I found this image of a favorite bible verse. I have a friend dealing with cancer! Aack! Demon that it is!  So it hit me that I blog because I love my friends and when real life kicks them down I have to fight alongside! I had a tough two days at my office. No need to whine about it. I feel so alone there. But I know there is a plan for me. I think it is my people skills! I have always had a knack for finding friendships and so it makes me feel good. Please pray for Tom. I know he can kick this cancer.

 I love to share my phamily.

I was told no graduation cap and gown photos til the official day! Whaaaaaah! So I stole this from my "legendary" oldest girl. She calls this photo "1970 called Rebekah, they want their bell bottoms back." This little miss loves big bell bottomed pants! So do I! She will graduate Sunday morning! I am excited! She will begin a new chapter in her life. It will be one amazing journey for this hard working smiling lass! She has put great effort into her schooling! We are very proud.

I suppose I could use an attitude adjustment! I should ask for prayer for me too! You can never have enough people praying for you!

Tomorrow we will watch Nick's high school buddy Sean run the 2 mile at the state competition. Please pray as getting here was quite an ordeal with the finals at school being held at the same time. Lots of prayer helped get him here and he can take the final he needs next year as a senior. 

Nick won this 5k last Spring in his age group. He will run again this Saturday! Prayers please.

Jeremy was in the last graduating class of Metro when it was a college. Rebekah will be in the first graduating class at Metro as a university. Lots of hard work and struggles to get here. I am overwhelmed with pride! Two down, two to go! Sigh!

Aw.....the tiny baby is getting so grown up! Aren't they the cutest little phamily? I can not believe he will turn 2 this September!

Cousins! Just a few months apart!

What is your favorite thing about blogging?

Mother's Day : Always Love Your Mother!

A perfect gift for all the mothers out there today! I am thinking of all of you fondly and especially the "pinkies" at Beverly's! A pink bouquet filled with flowers sending a beautiful scent to fill your day. Mothers are unique creatures. There is a saying "God could not be everywhere, therefore, he made mothers". Rudyard Kipling

It is a beautiful Spring day where I live. I have been up for a few hours, the birds will not stop serenading me, so I decided to get this post up and ready for the beautiful SONday ahead.
My week was filled with a lot of everything! Friday morning my Sweets and I traveled to Kansas to pick Nick up from college. He finished out his first year and passed all his finals! It was a fast and furious trip and we are exhausted! I took a lot of random snapshots so I will share them this week.

I am grateful to have returned home safely and thank God above that our trip was uneventful.
The weather was perfect so it made for nice traveling. When he returns to Kansas later this summer we will take a few extra days and enjoy some of the state! We always seem to be in such a hurry and miss out on so much! We also will rent a larger vehicle! Although his fridge and microwave broke   during the school year, the car was stuffed with all his things He sorted all his things and filled two trash bags that will head over to the thrift store later today.

I remember my mother's prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life.
Abraham Lincoln

I am not as fortunate as many of you may be. I lost my beautiful mother in 2001. She was a strong willed wonderful woman who baked the best bread and listened with a kind and caring heart. She was the disciplinarian as my father worked long hard hours in a steel mill. So if you are fortunate enough to have your mother with you today hug her for me. I feel sad on this day because I can't reach out and talk to or hug my mother.

Two favorite Mother's Day photos. Me and my mother and my first born daughter Noelle and myself.

Here is tiny baby Jayden with his momma Tarrah. Please pray for her as she is so young and has a terrible illness causing her so much pain.

Noelle and her Gram.

Colton, Christal and Andrew. My daughter is blessed with her beautiful phamily. Christal is mom to three and Andrew  to one. Our phamily is always expanding and growing larger each year!

Two of my all time favorite mothers, Grandma Steblay and her sister, my Tata Rose. What role models these beautiful ladies were!

One big happy phamily Thanksgiving 2012!

I know you can find lots of blues here too! So please visit Sally and more blues too! I know you will laugh because I always share my grandson Colton's hair! He looks like a Bronco fan and that makes my daughter mad! SHe is a tried and ture Cowboy fan! Hee Hee!

'Y" IS FOR YUGOSLAVIA

I have always been proud of my heritage. My grandparents all came from the former country of Yugoslavia. They were from the state capital of Ljubljana. It is the largest city and state capital of the former Yugoslavia which is now called Slovenia. I don't know much  about the country because I have never had the opportunity to travel there but I love all the beautiful photos I have found on line.

Here is a montage of the city of Ljubljana. I often wonder how my grandparents felt when they left their homeland and made their way to America when it was a bright and beautiful new nation.

This was the flag of Yugoslavia.
There is not a lot of history listed on line regarding Yugoslavia now known as Slovenia but everything I know about the culture I learned from my wonderful maternal grandmother and paternal grandfather. My mothers mother was widowed in 1927 when her husband and youngest son died tragically in a mining accident at Victor, Colorado. My mother was 13 at the time of her father and brothers death and I find myself wondering what went through her mind when she lost these important people in her life I can not imagine the pain my grandmother Cecilia felt having to continue raising her family which including my mother and one older sister and brother and three younger sisters. She was one of the most influential women in my life and I learned how to work hard and use my faith as a guide for this life we live. My fathers father was a marvelous man. He was very kind and quiet but he often talked about his homeland and told wonderful stories. Oh how I wish I had the technology we have today so I could have recorded the conversations with all my loved ones who made me the person I am today. My grandfather worked at the local smelter. He and my grandmother Mary lost two sons between 1918 and 1920. One of them perished from the great influenza epidemic during1918-1919. They raised two other sons and five daughters. The colored picture photo is my grandmother  Steblay and myself far right with my nephews and some cousins.

This is my mom and her siblings. Her brother Tony that perished in that mining accident with their dad is on the far right. The next photo is my dad and some of his siblings and parents. I am not sure which one is my dad, I think the smaller boy standing and the two younger boys are the ones that passed away. I am often overcoming wondering how they survived such sadness.

 

This Slovenian cookbook was sold by the Christian Women, that my mother belonged to. Somewhere in my storage I have my copy of this book. It is filled with wonderful recipes as well as lots of good memories. Hop over to Ms. Jenny's

I NEED YOUR HELP!

I found this google image and had to use it! You know my yougest son is a runner. So that was easy! The question mark "?"  I will explain:

I had a lovely "Blog Book"! It was a simple notebook I added all of your contact info into it! It is somewhere in my house but .....

I hope you will be kind and e mail me with all your info:

Name:
Birthday:
Blog Name:
Favorite Color:
Favorite Food:
Favorite Music:
e mail address:
mailing/home address if you wish to share:
any phone #s if you wish to share:

You can add any other info you wish. My e mail is here:

phamilybusiness1@aim.com

I am getting worried about the changes with google reader. I have gotten on bloglovin but can't seem to incorporate all my contacts. Sigh!

Technology is great but I like the old fashioned hand written stuff too!

I hope you will send your info my way! Thank you!

Blue Monday/ Love Is....

Here is a tumblr  image! Isn't this blue car just a perfect picnic carrier? A Face Book friend found it first so I had to share it!

Look at this garden bench! It was made from wood pallets and painted a bright shade of blue! Also a Face Book friend find!

Now give Sally a Blue Monday share along with all the other folks who participate. Make all your Mondays blue!

Marydon shares her Love is...each week and I do too! Come join us. When our kids were small we use to do this balancing act. I respect any parent who has to balance phamily and work yet never complains!