More Photos

Oh my goodness. My heart was about to leap out of my chest on my way to work a few weeks ago. I took this through the windshield while driving. It is against the law in California to talk on your cell phone but it is not illegal to take a picture with your digital camera.

This was taken yesterday up at Lassen National Park. Dad and I went up to close up the cabin for the winter and we decided to take a ride up to the park. My heart said, "the mountains will declare the majesty of the LORD!"

This picture is for you Trin Trin. These cows were hanging out in a field with Lassen in the background. They sure were watching every move I made.

Just a mountain barn. I'd say in a few years it will be laying on the ground.

The shadow does not give this picture justice but it shows what dad and I paid for gas yesterday on the the way home. $2.69 a gallon. Yes, that is right. The prices are finally going down. I paid $2.99 at Costco the other day.

All of us went out to dinner for Grandma's (or in Trinity's case GG-Great Grandmother) birthday. Trin and I are showing off our paper hats that I showed her how to make.

My Mom is the best Nana in the world. And boy does she love Trinity and Joey, and they love her so much. Trinity loves to be with Nana and Papa.


The colors are changing and turning so beautiful. Some areas are just amazing. I love the fall because it means cooler weather, rain (Lord willing we will have more rain this year than last year), getting rid of my farmer tan, planting my winter garden and eventually spring will come and that means time to get ready for my summer garden and summer vacation.

Jen and the kids were up last weekend and we went to a local pumpkin patch.

I love my Trinity Love.

Recent Photos

A few weeks back my Grandma, Mom and myself went up to Apple Hill to celebrate my Grandmother's birthday. Mom and I took the day off from work. Apple Hill is beautiful country. We all had a memorable time and look forward to going again next year.

Here is the birthday girl herself picking (not stealing!) a Rome apple.

Here are some pretty cosmos. I took this picture for my sister Amy. She wants me to take pictures of pink flowers.

Just thought this was a cool picture. These are red delicious. I did not get any of these, only Rome, Fuji, Gala and a few Granny Smith's. My plan is to can homemade apple sauce, apple butter and make apple jam for my dad.

Just thought this was cool with all the crates stacked up.

Here's an old water wheel.

When this picture was taken these sweet grapes were two weeks away from harvest and pressing.

I got some delicious pears too.

Thanks for your patience

As you know, postings have not happened here for awhile and were scarse a few months before my last post. Thank you for hanging in there with me. My sister and Steve S. have told me that they want something different than Pinky's Pizza.

God has been doing a good work in my heart and life over the last 4 months. He has been refining my faith, testing areas in my life that need improvement, pushing me to trust Him more with each passing day and faithfully loving me along the way. The desire to post has been there but honestly, my heart was divided with all the emotions that have been going on inside of me. Most of these emotions have needed to be between my sovereign God and myself. Let me assure you that you don't need to be concerned for me but praise the LORD for making this child more into the image of Christ my Savior. I am reminded of James 1:2-4 and Romans 5:1-5

Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials,
knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance
have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in
nothing.

Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by
faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of
God. And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that
tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance proven character; and
proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God
has been pured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to
us.

My prayer is that would continue to refine me and that I would be able to say that I consider my trials as pure joy, that I would exult in them, that I would have peace with God and that I would have great hope that does not disappoint.

Amy and I had to go to Pinky's Pizza last night for dinner. Pinky's has been in my parents town for a very long time. I can remember going there after swim meets when I was a little girl, after football and volleyball games in high school, a Saturday night special treat when my dad worked all day and we would all be sitting around watching Wide World of Sports, or a birthday party . . . The memories go way back. Tom the owner of Pinky's is calling it quits on August 31, after 40 something years. I tell you we were not the only one's thinking about saying good bye and thanking Tom for the memories. I ran into 3 people I went to high school with, a childhood friend and others that we all had things in common (swam for the same swim team, went to Las Lomas. . .). It took us over 1 hour 15 to get our pizza and we called it in 15 minutes before we got there. It was crazy but it was worth it. As I walked out, I had to stop at the counter and tell Tom (who was making pizza's), "Thanks Tom. There have been many memories here for my family. Thanks for being part of our good times." I blew him a kiss and his eyes welled up with tears. He said, "I love you guys".
Photo is from Google Images and is of the bar at Pinky's.

It's Been a Busy Month

Hello everyone! It's your missing in action blogging friend Shelly. Would like to say I can't believe that it has exactly been a month since I last posted but it feels like it has been at least that and more.
Here is a brief re-cap of the last month.

First, I finished up with my week at VBS healthy and feeling much better. The week was wonderful. What freedom to share the gospel to needing little hearts. At work I can not share the gospel freely with my students. My highlight of the week was the closing program. All the kids were singing the praise songs so loud and from their little hearts. That is one of the best sounds in the world, a child singing praises (now my prayer is that God would save them). The church was packed with the kids and their families, over 60% that were from the community and not from the church. There were 15 kids from a homeless women and children ministry that my church supports. It was good to have them all at VBS.

Let's see the rest of the time has gone by so quickly. Here are some of the things in no specific order. I am back at work now, a week now actually. Before I went back to work Dawn and I took a trip to San Diego (sorry Keli J. and Jen A.- it was a very busy and packed 4 days. I need to get down there and see both of you when I have time to visit. Love you both). There will be a post later about my trip. It was a wonderful time. Before that I finally was able to start on my front yard project with the help of a landscaper. Can't wait to show you the pictures. I had 2 visits from separate past college friends. There will be a post on this too. Very sweet time of fellowship and catching up. I have been to 3 Giants games since I last posted and my boys finally started to win the game I attend. What else, oh there is more but just a brief catch up of what has been going on in my life.

I will catch up more after this long 3 day weekend. Happy Labor Day to all of you.

No Text Needed

Image taken from Google Images

A Dime a Dozen

The last three game series have been sweeps. The Giants have been on the losing end of the broom stick 2 out of 3. I went back and looked at the Giants record this year and sweeps. Not surprised I saw they have been swept 8 times and they have swept 4 times. A few of those sweeps have been against the Nationals. Can we change the rest of this season so we play the Nationals at least every week?

Picture taken from Google Images.

Fever and Prayer Request

Hi all, if you read this sometime by Monday am, I have a prayer request to ask of you. Monday the VBS program starts at our church and I am leading the games/recreation time each day for 3 groups of children. Thursday night I came down with a mystery virus that just needs to run it's coarse. I have had a fever for most of the time since Thursday evening and still have a slight one tonight. This morning I woke up with a sore throat and suspicious looking spots. I went and had a throat culture done for strep yet it came back negative. That is a good thing but I need to be free of my fever for about 24 hours before I start working with the kids. If I am not able to be there, we already have plan B worked out but it would just be easier if I was able to lead the games. God has a plan and I know He is in control. He if wants someone else to lead the games then I know that will work out just fine. So, if you think of it, please say a prayer for my fever and throat. I have a feeling that God is going to do great and mighty things through VBS this year. In the very slightest way this reminds me of my pre-Mexico mission trip a long while back.

Ultimately, I know this little fever is NOTHING in the scheme of everything. I have been reading a web page called ConnorWatch. This web page was set up 40 days ago when a young man (18 years old) injured his spinal cord while attending a youth camp. This young man is daily fighting for his life and the life that he will now live. So, my little fever is NOTHING but I do ask you to pray.

Who Can Tell Me the Problem with the Arrow?

Check out these 2 photos of the same piece of "art work", if I can call it that. Wondering if any of you can notice a major problem with the arrow? Winner gets a new Cadi! Just kidding, but seriously, let's see who can figure out the problem first. Look carefully. You get extra credit if you use proper terminology.

By the way this is on the water front walking from Bart to the Giant's stadium, AT &T Park.

Answer will be revealed sometime in the future.

Bye Bye Duram, Welcome back Roberts, Last 2 Times at the Ball Park

Last Sunday, my dad took all of us to a Giants game for his birthday. What a guy. Happy late birthday dad. Love you. We had a great time. It was absolutely a wonderful fun time even though the Giants lost. The age range was well represented with our clan. My 93 year old Grandma and my 5 week old nephew attended. My sweet niece, can cheer just like the rest of us. All of us were decked out in our Giants fan wear.

Early that day I heard that possibly the Giant's 2nd baseman, Ray Duram was going to be traded at the end of the game. This saddened me a little because Ray Ray was beloved by the fans. I have two favorite memories of Ray Ray. One time he hit a walk off home run. The stadium came unglued and we all stood and hooped and hollered for about 20 minutes. It was soooosweet. Someone (will remain nameless) who I know well used to work as a bouncer at MoMo's across from the ball park. This person knows of my love of the Giants and liking Ray Duram. Ray Ray came in after a game and spoke with my friend. My friend got out his cell phone and had Ray Ray give me a call. Sadly, I had my phone on silent when he called but he left a message. It was a fun message. I saved that message for about 2 years. It would have been nice if the Giants played Ray for his last game with the Giants. The fans would have given him a proper goodbye. Bye, Bye Ray Ray.

Here are some pictures from the day we all went. The picture above is of my loves in their Giants gear.

Here's Jen, Joe and my mom (in the back ground) holding baby Joey. Cute picture J & J.

Mom you are the best Grandma ever. Trin Trin loves you so much and Baby Joey loves you too!

Amy and I went to a day game on Thursday. We had a great time and this time the Giants won.

Here we are at the ball park after the Giant's won. Always a good day at the ball park when the good guys win. See the giant Coke~Cola bottle in the back ground? Some of you know this, some of you don't but there are 4 long slides inside the bottle. 2 are curvy and the other two are a straight shot down with a couple of dips along the way. On Sunday, Amy and I had a race down the slides. Each time I got to the bottom first. She claimed it was her jeans that held her up. I know better.

At Thursday's game Dave Roberts returned from being on the DL. It was good to have him back and he stole the show, literally. He made two fantastic plays in the outfield and hit a base hit to knock in the lone Giant's run and the only run of the ball game in the 8th inning. Welcome back Dave.

As you can see Amy got attacked by a giant spider on our walk down the water front.

Here is a random picture of an old street car. Thought it was cool. I think it still is in operation.

1 Year in the Blogging World

Yesterday marks the anniversary of when I officially joined the blogging world. Wow. I know my blog is not the most exciting nor is it going to change your view on life. My blog is random and is basically an attempt to keep people posted on what is going on in Shelly's world. My brain thinks of ideas of what I would like to blog about constantly and I keep a little list by the computer. Most of those ideas never make it to the computer mainly because of time and energy. I actually think that I better at spelling and write more grammatically correct now that I have been writing on the blog. I praise the Lord that through the blog I have been re-united with some friends from long ago. What a blessing that has been. Through the connections I have made, I have had the privilege to pray for others and the trials that they are experiencing. Many emotions have filled my heart through my friend's blogs, I have laughed, cried, pondered circumstances in a new light, have been greatly encouraged and have been challenged in my faith.

Thank you for your time and energy if you stop by and read my blog. We will see what God does in this next year of life in the blogging world.

Meet and Greet

On Saturday my mom hosted a Meet and Greet Baby Joey Party. My mom always hosts the most wonderful parties. The definition of a good party: good people, good food, people enjoying themselves, and people not wanting to leave. This was the type of party my mom hosted. My mom is able to host a wonderful party because she is so wonderful herself. Mom, great job on another wonderful party. Thanks for the fun and memories.

Baby Joey was able to meet extended family, friends and neighbors. It was really nice to see everyone. Baby Joey was such a good little baby boy. He was passed around from person to person and did not even give a fuss. Trinity did a great job with all the people and excitement. She is such a good girl and big sister.

Here are some pictures from the party and later that day.

This is Michelle, one of my sister's closest friends. This is her baby Addison.

Sometime during the party the "girls" were teaching me some of their new dance moves. What cracks me up in this picture is that we were trying to get Trin involved in the dance and as you can see she was picking up the steps (just a few beats behind us, or was it that I was a few beats ahead- could be possible because I am not know for the dance and rhythm in me!).

Here is my cousin Lorie, her daughter Elizabeth and the star of the party, baby Joey.




Olivia and Angela brought their little doggy Taffy to the party. Trin had a ton of fun with the "girls" and the pup.





Addison is at least a month older than Joey and look at the hair difference. It was cute when Jen set him down next to Addy (or is it Addie? This was a debate for the day) she said, "You need to sit down here next to your future prom date". This made us all chuckle.







Here is my Gma, my cousin Cheryl, Steve, Trin and the girls.

I love this shot of the girls. They were playing inside the little playhouse. Olivia did not fit inside so she is leaning in the window.

I love my baby Joey Love.

3 sisters and a brother and a sister. We all got down and were enjoying baby Joey.

More to Come

There are about 10 things that I want to write a post on but tonight is not the night. Hopefully, I will be able to get a few more of the posts out within a few days. Here is what you can look forward to: meet and greet Baby Joey party at mom's, the baseball game for my dad's birthday and some of what God is teaching me. Usually, I have thoughts running around in my head of things I want to post on but most of the time I don't have the time or energy to blog. Thank you for your patience with me.

Random Pictures

Here are a few random pictures taken from my trip to Lassen last week.


Firstly, thank all the fire fighters for their faithful committment to fight fires for the sake of civilians. On the drive up to Lassen we saw several "crews" of fire fighters traveling to one of the biggies within the hundreds of fires burning. When my grandma and I went into a local city we stopped at the airport and saw this helicopter. The large tube hanging on the underside is called a snorkel. This snorkel is placed in a lake or creek to suck up water to dump on a fire. Pretty cool!





This is in a meadow near the cabin. I had stopped the car to take a few pictures of some daisy's. Thought this fence was pretty with the green grass below.













I love this picture. Daisy's remind me of the silly saying we did as kids when we liked a boy and plucking petals, "He loves me, he loves me not. . ." But since being a Christian I like to say, "He loves me, He loves me, He loves me, He forever loves me. . ." Because I am His, it is always, He loves me!








Just looking up a tree trunk. As you can see the air quality was poor the day I took the picture because of a few close wild fires burning. There was no blue in the sky this day.










This picture was taken up at Lake Helen at the base of Mt. Lassen. The elevation here was close to 8,000 feet. On this day, my grandma and I drove up to the national park and had lunch by the lake with the peak in the background.

Speaking of the peak, it has been a few years since I have climbed to the top. Hopefully, I will get up there this year.

Ping

Ping
Ping
Ping
. . . (counted 29)

Today I canned another round of jam. This time my job was easier because I had skinned, pitted and cut up the fruit about 10 days ago and stuck it in the freezer for when it was convenient to can. I made 29 jars of jam. Surprisingly, I only have about 10 jars left from the first two rounds that I made (47 jars). I have been giving them away to different people. The round today consisted of apricot, plum and apricot raspberry, all reduced sugar. The plum might have some problems setting up because I used more fruit than the recipe called for and the label warned me that it might have trouble setting. If it does not set, I will either open the jars and use the 6 cups the recipe calls for and try to set it again, or turn it into plum sauce.

I love to hear the ping after the jars come out of the water bath. You know that your jars are sealed when you hear that cute ping. Each batch that comes out of the bath I count to hear the pings. It got a little confusing today because my first batch was not finished pinging when I took my second batch out and they started pinging. Thankfully, all of my jars sealed properly.

I am also trying a recipe that I pulled off of the Ball Canning Jars web site for Strawberry Vinaigrette Dressing. The strawberries are sitting in a large steel pot with distilled vinegar over night. Tomorrow after I get back from the farmers market I will finish the recipe and can the dressing.

What a joy to have learned how to can jam. I am having loads of fun. By the way, if you remember a few post back when I first spoke of learning how to can. Marie told me that I had to pass along the skill of canning to someone else. The second time that I made jam I taught my good friend Janet how to can. Still hoping to teach my sisters one day.

My Cutie-Pies

Just have to share the latest picture of Trinity and Joey. Trinity is such a good big sister. I think it is just adorable how dark baby Joey is. They are both my favorite loves. I am so excited to see them next weekend for my dad's birthday.

Thanks Jen for sharing pictures with us. I am wanting to get back down and spend time with you all. Love you!

Check

One of my life time goals has been to learn how to can fruit and veggies. Growing up I watched my grandmother and grandfather can tomatoes and I helped my mom one time can cherries. I was young and did not really pay attention because there really was no need to. Now that I am some what grown up (I say some what because I am still a little kid at heart at times) I have seen and tasted the benefit of home canning.

On Saturday, Dawn and I picked enough plums and apricots to fill 3/4 to the top of 3 five gallon buckets. We picked about 1/5 of the fruit that was on the trees. There is still more fruit to harvest. Marie from church came over and taught me how to can my yummies. Actually, she knew the process of canning not making jam. So, we were both learning something new.

There is a whole process in canning and I don't need to tell you how to can here. But if you are interested here is a link that we used to guide us through http://www.pickyourown.org/. In the end we had canned 33 total jars of peach/plum sauce, apricot jam, reduced sugar apricot jam, reduced sugar plum jam and reduced sugar apricot/plum jam.

Yummy, yummy. The jam and sauce turned out wonderful. I had such a wonderful time with Dawn and Marie of sweet fellowship and fun. Marie learned how to can from another dear sister named Yvonne from our church. Yvonne told her that if she teaches her how to can that she has to teach someone else how to can. Now Marie has taught me how to can she told me I have to teach someone else how to can. I hope to teach both of my sisters, Jen and Amy, how to can. I am looking forward to the opportunity to teach others how to can (or how to make jam). Anyone want to learn how?

Speaking of jam, I want you to check out one of my dear friends blog page. Tim and Sandi's 2 1/2 year old son recites a wonderful poem called Bread and Jam for Francis. Check out the blog link here.

Cabin Time

Last week I spent a few days up at my parents cabin near Mt. Lassen. Mom, Dad and Gma had already been there for a few days when Amy and I arrived. I absolutely love going up there. I love the pace of life, I love God's creation, I love being with my wonderful family, love playing cards, love exploring new and old things, love eating the food that we make (it always tastes better in the mountains- ALWAYS), love going into Chester, love the fresh air (although this time the air was very smokey, there was a fire about 10 miles away), love watching the animals around the feeding stump, oh . . . I could go on. Lassen is one of my most favorite spots on this earth.

Here a cool picture that I took.

This is an actual working fire truck. I find the speed limit sign funny, "Ranch speed 12 1/2 M.P.H. next 2 miles NO exceptions".

Today's Pick

I just had to show you another picture of what was picked today. Really hope that you are not getting sick of my garden. God has been abundantly good and He has allowed my garden to produce goodies.

This year is proving to be one of the best yet since I have been in the house (can't believe it has already been 6 full years). But this year's crop has brought some lessons too. My young fruit trees are loaded and I am not the most experienced fruit tree "farmer". I did not thin out the crop when it was just forming and now many large branches have broken and I will need to cut them off when the fruit is done. My trees will take awhile to regain the girth and strength that they were prior to this year.

This summer I have started to buy my fruit and veggies from a local farmer's market. The produce is so fresh and I love supporting local grown farms. I am thinking about starting my own little market with my yummies. J/K!

Tonight Janet and I are going to visit and have dinner with a widow from our church. We are bringing dinner and I am bringing some of the love from my garden.