Joshua and the broken dishwasher!

 

We got all new appliances...

 and after running the dishwasher 4 times...we knew it was not working.

Joshua was analyzing exactly what the problem was.

 Baxter was checking it out, too.

 Baxter doesn't like to be too far from Joshua.

 Of course, Joshua figured out exactly what the problem was...

and when Sears was going to send out a technician to fix the new dishwasher,

Joshua uninstalled what he had installed...

took it back to Sears..

and a new one came in a few days later!

It works perfectly!

Thank you, Joshua!

Joshua and Baxter

This is my RETIRED son!

Joshua...we are so incredibly proud of him.

He came up here to spend some time...and Baxter LOVES him!

 In the mornings when I would be sitting downstairs with Baxter by my side...drinking some coffee...

the second he heard Joshua upstairs, he would leap out of the chair and run to the bottom of the stairs and wait....and watch...for Joshua!

It's also been fun to watch Joshua train with Baxter...

and watching Baxter respond so well!

I do believe Joshua is pretty fond of Baxter, too!

This makes me SO happy!

I absolutely love these little men..

and they make me so happy!

But there's something else that makes me incredibly happy...

and that's that these families all got together...

without Ron and I.

Not that I wouldn't have loved being there with them,

but knowing they arranged it and got together...

well, it just makes me so happy!

Another flashback!

Such seriousness!

I'm guessing this was about 1982...

Joshua would have been 6 years old

and Gabrial 4 years old.

Now my brother and my sophisticated sister-in-love...

they've always been a hit with Joshua and Gabrial...

and Lindsey, too!

Mimi

My grandchildren call me 'Mimi'..

and this is my grandmother who I called 'Mimi'.

I loved her so much...

I'm also named after her.

Her name was actually Jewel..

but was called Judy.

She was one special person in my life..

and in my Mom's life...

along with many others.

Do you know who this is?

This is probably 1956...

do you know who they are?

Flashback to February 19, 1983

 

I've been going through drawers...

going through closets...

throwing away, taking things to the thrift store...

and look what I found!

I love seeing the way the boys' wrote their names...

and Gabrial's Pac Man he drew for his baby sister!

I didn't throw this away...

I just can't get rid of things like this!

Another walk...the marsh and the new trail!

 I think I might paint a picture of this.

 Something about it, I just really like.

 This is the new part of the trail.

It runs next to the bay...

 and next to the highway!

Baxter was uncooperative when I asked him to look at me for a picture...

so we just headed back to the actual marsh...

and the car...

and home.

New Year's Eve walk

 New Year's Eve

Ron and I were painting...

Baxter was doing pretty good with us being busy...

but it was TIME to get out and get some exercise!

 Baxter loved the leaves...

 He was licking his lips with all the interesting smells buried in the leaves...

Baxter was looking back at 2017...

thinking of his  move from Oregon to California..

thinking of his adoption and becoming a Johnston.

We love you, Baxter...

and Happy New Year to all who read this blog!

Baxter was excited to walk at the marsh

Baxter!

He needs ANOTHER haircut!

He didn't care, though.  He was excited because he was heading to the marsh for a walk.

 Baxter LOVES to sit in the front seat.  

He can see better!

 There's so many interesting smells!

Sometimes, he wants to check every.single.one.of.them!

Those days, our walks are a bit longer.

 We got to this one area...kind of a dead-end area.

I told Baxter I wanted to take some pictures of him...

He gave me the OK.

The marsh is a beautiful place to walk.

Lots of trails...

lots of dogs...

lots of smells to keep Baxter totally happy...

It was a fun time!

Flashback to May 16, 2008

time flies!

Now, 9.5 years later, 

Joshua is RETIRED

and Thalia is in college!

I love these two!