July

In July, my husband and I took a 17 day trip to Ireland and Scotland. It is so beautiful there.  We live in the hot desert so it was very unusual for us to wear coats in the summer.  : )

We enjoyed every last second.

Lots of food, walking, exploring and history lessons! My head was spinning at times, trying to keep everything straight.

Blessings,

Kim

 

Here I am!

Hello Blogging World!

It has been awhile!

I have decided to pick up my little blog again.  I miss the simple format of posting sweet pics. A lot has changed in the 4 years since I last blogged. The biggest one is that We ARE EMPTY NESTERS!!

My husband also retired a year ago... and my youngest moved across the country for work!

We moved back to our home town which was a hard move but we moved with several purposes. One was to take care of my aging daddy and the other was to prepare for retirement.  Well, the years of taking care of my daddy zoomed by and he went to his heavenly home in 2022. It was and is very hard without him. My faith gets me through.

My life has been ever changing since 2019 when we moved back.  First, my step mom passed, my daddy moved in with us, we moved states, my son got married, my daughter finished college and got a dream job (but moved far far away) and my husband retired.

Whew!

It is a lot to take.  I am trying to figure out who I am... and most days I do ok. Other days not so much.

This little blog will be used to jot down memories, get back into taking pictures, share some of my traveling adventures and hopefully share some of my faith along the way.

I hope you can tag along.

Blessings,

Kim

 Just seeing if my blog still works... :)

2019 Flew By....

 I didn't blog all year...

It was a crazy year...

January- my step mom fell and broke her hip.

February- Don and I celebrated our 29th Wedding Anniversary.

March- I spent the entire month in my home town taking care of my step mom, dad and brother.

April- my step mom passed to her eternal home.

May-we moved back to our home town to take care of my dad.  

AND

My boy got married!

June-was a blur

July- we sold our beautiful home in California and headed home completely : /

August-My guy started a new job (which I believe is straight from Jesus).

He doesn't travel as much! PRAISE!!

September-Settling in at home... 

October-Trip of a lifetime started-

November-Trip of a lifetime continued...

December- Home and celebrating with family and friends that are as close as family : )

I think I will start blogging again because I like it and I like taking pics..

Blessings,

Kim

January in Pics

Whew... January was BUSY...

My step mom broke her hip and I spent 10 days in my hometown taking care of my brother, dad and step mom.  She had surgery and then was in hospital and re-hab.  It was rough on everyone.  My brother is 53 and is a creature of habit but with momma down for the count, he got up and went to hospital everyday with me.  But he still managed to squeeze in his nap daily even at the hospital.

Then the second half of the month, I spent with my grandson in Texas.  My SIL was coming home from serving overseas for 9 months and my daughter was also away for about 10 days before.  So it was just me and my grandson for those days and then we prepared for daddy's arrival! It was emotional to say the least.

Blessings,

Kim

Merry Christmas New York Style

Merry Christmas!

My girlie and I went to NYC for a week and we had a BLAST!!!

We had a great time seeing the sights together.

She is super fun to be around and I enjoyed every moment.

New Year and New Changes coming for the Oliver household.

But forever we are Praising Jesus!

Blessings,

Kim

My Girlie Turns 19!

Documenting the fact that this is the last year I will have a teenager! 

We survived 5 teens! Ha! No, really we have enjoyed all of our teens...

My girlie turned 19 in August!

Blessings,

Kim

Seattle Flowers

Every time I am in Seattle, I walk to Pikes Market and get a bunch of flowers.  These are two bouquets that I picked up in the last few weeks.  

And the last picture is of a cute pumpkin and some fall leaves I picked off the trees outside.

So fun...

Just practicing my photography...

Blessings,

Kim

Best Friends Wedding...

I can't believe the places I get to go and the people I get to be with.

One of my best friend's daughter got married in July! She is also my daughter's best friend.  Which makes a heck of a fun time and a lot of tears.

My girlie and I got to fly out to Louisiana and then drive to Alabama to see this sweet girl tie the knot.

By the way, the beaches are gorgeous there... just so DANG hot! I mean come on.. there is no cooling off!

The wedding was gorgeous, the bride was gorgeous, the momma of the bride was gorgeous and of course her blonde brides maid is gorgeous.

It was a gorgeous time...

Blessings,

Kim

Seattle in July...

Like I said in previous post, we visited Seattle during the week of 4th of July.

We enjoyed the cooler weather which is always nice.

I say I could live in the PNW but all my friends say I would need more sunshine.

I am not sure about that.  I do LOVE the RAIN!

My girl and I enjoy exploring the city.

We have pretty much explored every nook and cranny over the last 6 years.

The job is almost complete and we are happy to be almost done BUT we have enjoyed visiting often.

Blessings,

Kim

Hike In Seattle

A hike in Washington...

During July we yet again went to Seattle with my husband. We ended up there the week of Independence Day and we went on a great hike...

So much fun!

Love my family...

Love my guy..

Blessings,

Kim

Traveling With Friends...

Traveling with friends is the BEST!

Especially these friends...

Our friends visited us in Seattle for a week and then

 we took a few days and headed to Victoria BC.  We rode a ferry over and explored the island for two nights and two days.  We walked our tails off. 

One of the places we visited was Butchart Gardens.  It was GORGEOUS!! The beauty of the flowers and the smells were incredible.

The pictures only give a glimpse into the beauty.

Our friends are life long friends...

I have been friends (sisters) with my Lisa for my entire adult life.  We were kindred spirits and went through many of the same things in life.  

She held my hand through most of them...

What a blessings she is...

Blessings,

Kim

More Hawaii Pics....

I am not sure what I am doing with this little blog...

This may be my last year.  

I do love taking pics, practicing and having a place to display them.  But- my life is kind of all over the place. Literally...

These pics were on my camera forever.  I finally took them off and edited them.  We had a beautiful time in Hawaii and it seems like forever ago.

I will be blogging our summer adventures over the next few days.

Blessings.

Kim

Hawaii Hike.....

Last week we went to Hawaii for a week....

It was a nice family vacation... We were able to do some different things because we went to Oahu instead of Maui.

We were able to visit Pearl Harbor, which was a favorite of my sons, since he is a History Major. 

Also, on one of the days we went up a hike called Ehuki Pill Box Hike.  At the end of a steep climb up, you find a Army Pill Box... which is a bunker for the military defense during World War 2.

It was a good work out.  The Pill Box is now covered in graffiti.  But it was a beautiful view of the Pacific Ocean...

Blessings,

Kim