Jim & Araksya Kennard

Gardening Seminars - 2011

2011-03-30T12:22:00.010-05:00

Our next seminars were in Phoenix and Peoria, Arizona. Those are the places where we did seminars 2 years ago. It was good to go back there and see our good friends again!

There were over 50 people attending the second seminar and the house was full!

At the end of the seminar our wonderful hostess Terrie Schwartz took us to her neighbor's place to get some fresh grapefruit from the tree. The neighbor picked half a dozen big bags full of grapefruit for us. Some of them were so big! They were the sweetest and the juiciest grapefruit ever!

Jim liked the juicer the hosts had and he volunteered to make some freshly squeezed grapefruit juice.

Terrie took my Mom and me to a European/Armenian store where we got some stuff for dinner. We made Armenian dolma.

Our wonderful friends and hosts made our stay so pleasant!

Fun In Between Gardening Seminars - 2011

2011-03-30T11:32:00.008-05:00

We started our long road trip from Alabama to St George, UT for the first gardening seminar of the trip. It wasn't well organized and so the crowd was small.
After a night there we went to Las Vegas for a visit with Jim's family and had a great time there!
My Mom and I got good make-up tips and goodies from a make-up and color pro expert Renae Knapp. Thank you Clive and Renae for everything!!!

My Mom was in a casino for the first time ever!

We watched this guy create a masterpiece in 5 minutes with spray paint.

My Mom enjoyed Las Vegas but we all were so exhausted from all the walking!

Armenia, 2010 - Part 2

2010-12-10T21:44:00.006-06:00

My sister and my brother in front of our school

On September 30th it's been a tradition for my high school have a reunion for all the graduates. I managed to go there this year! My siblings also were invited as we all graduated from the same school.

I saw my teachers, my colleagues (as I taught English in the same school after I graduated from high school), and I also saw my students who have grown so much!

Those are all my former students, including my brother on the left. I felt so proud when I saw them!

This lovely lady is the principal of the school.

My friends and Family in Gyumri

2010-09-28T03:18:00.012-05:00

Saturday night my friend Mariam (the turkish translator, in the middle) invited me and Marietta (the computer designer) from the same TV station where we all worked together before I came to USA, to her place for some fun time and dessert.

On the way to her place I stopped at a store to get some sweets for Mariam and I saw my former teacher and colleague. She invited me to a big party for all the graduates of the high school where my siblings and I went to school. For the first time they are doing a high school reunion for all the graduates on September 30th. I think it will be fun to go and see my classmates and teachers.

I called and talked to Jim before I got to Mariam's place at around 7PM. She had made some bakhlava, cheese sticks and she had grapes and chocolate. Marietta brought hot chocolate mix with her for us.
We talked and laughed and remembered our good old days in the studio together.

While there I got a phone call from our other friend from the studio invited me to their place for dinner the next day, on Sunday. Their place is quite aways from my city, and I don't get excited to go to the village in marshutkas (vans as a public transportation) without Jim. I told themI would think about it.

I got home at 9:20PM Saturday night. I had a good time with my friends.

As I started thinking about going to the village the next day by myself, I didn't feel good about it. As it was too late to call and cancel the invitation that night, I waited till morning. In the morning I called and told them that I wouldn't be able to go.

Then I got ready for church which starts at 11AM. Then my sister called and told me she got sick and was in bed, and apologized that she couldn't come with me to church. So I asked my Mom to join me, and she agreed.

My brother drove us to church and he left.

The sacrament meeting went way better that I feared to expect. The speakers were well prepared and the first counselor (sp) bore his testimony which was very strong and beautiful. Then I discovered that his parents who were the very first members of the branch in my city and the father has been the branch president several times already, have won a green card lottery and at the end of October they are moving to SLC, UT.

I am kind of sad to see them go as they are the strongest members of the branch but I am very excited for them!

At church I saw a girl who went inactive for a few years. She came to church for the first time again this Sunday. She was so excited to see me, so was I. We gave big hugs and talked for a few minutes. She promised to continue coming to church.

Everybody who knew me came up to me and gave hugs and kisses, and lots of them asked me if it was my sister with me. I said no, that's my Mom! They said my Mom looked very young.

After church my Mom and I walked home (about half-hour walk). Then I felt strongly to call my sister-in-law and arrange to meet her and finally finish the discussion about my nephew and his future. The problem is that my brother and his wife got separated couple weeks ago, and the wife took the baby and left. She lives with her Mom.

I called Armine (my sister-in-law) with their home phone number but nobody answered. I called Armine's Mom and learned that Armine has left for the capital city with the boy for 10 days, as a vacation. As I told Armine's Mom that I wanted to talk to them both seriously, she said she had been wanting to talk to me for a while now. So we decided to meet at her workplace right away.

I went to her store where she sells needles and threads, etc, and we went into a private office and talked for an hour. I won't go into much details but I'll tell that the conversation was very unpleasant and that she and her daughter are not willing to let me take Armen to USA with me, by no means, as they fear that my brother will never get together again with the wife and the child will end up with me!!

I was so disappointed to have such a conversation with a person who doesn't have much class an doesn't even care about the boy's future. She thinks this all was planned to give me a ready child.
That made me terribly sad! So, I had to yield and tell her that I was leaving everything to God to decide who is right. I was trying to save a child from becoming a bum, a smart child who could have a great future...
I felt I had nothing else to do with this woman who doesn't understand about the selfless love and care! I did my best to try to save an innocent child, now I can't do anything else, I am afraid!

As I was leaving, I told her that her daughter needs to bring the child to see us as she is our child as much as it is theirs! We'll see!

After leaving Armine's Mom, I was so heavy-hearted that I didn't want to go home. I wondered on the streets for a few minutes then went home. I will keep on praying for the baby's sake!

Later my Mom and I went to my sister's place to see how my sister was feeling. She was a little better. My nephew was having a hard time doing his Russian homework. So I sat with him and we did the homework together. Then my brother came and took us home in Getk around 10PM.

Overall I had a spiritual at the same time sad and stressful day!

P.S. For those who don't know much about this story about my nephew, have been judging me for wanting to bring Armen to USA with me. So, I decided to mention here that my Mom has been the baby's Mom from day 1, and she has been taking care of the boy, and now I am bringing my Mom to America with me, permanently. Thus, the boy will stay without his "Mom". The real Mom doesn't care about the boy, and she didn't even want to have the baby! There are lots of other things I could add here but I'd better not to get there...!

Armenia 2010!

2010-09-20T07:27:00.019-05:00

My sister got a huge cold sore on her lip as she was anxiously waiting for my landing at the airport

September 1st is the first day of school everywhere in Armenia - schools, colleges, universities, etc.
As my sister stayed with me at night, as it was very late for her to go home, she didn't have her change of clothes with her. In the morning before she had to go to her work (she works at high school) I opened the suit-cases and got her a new skirt, blouse and a pair of shoes to go wll together. She was excited!

My brother took her to work and then he went to his work. Around 1PM I went to my sister's workplace which is the school where my niece and nephew study. They didn't know about my visit.

I go into my sister's office where my 11-year-old niece Lusine is. I walked into the room, she turned to see who came in. She stared at me for long few seconds seriously, and then finally yellew "aunt" and jumped and gave a huge hug to me!

Then my nephew Gevorik came in and saw me there and he was so happy, too!

Could you tell my sister hardly had ANY sleep the night before?

For the first time I had the hardest time with jet lag for a long time. I could fall asleep at nights for days and days and I struggled during the daytime to stay awake so I could sleep at night. But unfortunately this lasted too many days, and I was getting NO sleep at all. On Sunday sept5th I had invited my sister and her family for an American favorite dish - Chicken breast in sour-cream. Since last year when my brother-in-law had this dish that I made for them, he has been asking my sister to make it for him but she never did and waited for me to make it again.

So, with great anticipation they came on Sunday to our place in Getk to find me sick in bed. I got a food poisoning/stomach flu. I couldn't eat anything, I was weak and stayed in bed all day. I was drinking herb tea after a tea! I couldn't keep my fluid in for a few days.

Finally after getting completely drained from the sickness I started getting better and got some sleep and got over the jet lag.

I had the most fun with my nephew Armen was lived with us in the same house until September 11. I'll tell you about that later.

Armen is a 16-month-old amazing boy full of energy. He is small which is very surprising to me as his Dad is tall and his Mom has a normal height. He sings himself to sleep every time he goes to bed, for the nap or at night. His Mom or any of us rock him on our laps and he sings until he is completely out.

He is waiting for me to take his picture so he can continue singing

Armen is modeling for me in his new outfit that I took to him!

Here my brother is "testing" his power by putting the boy in the corner for a timeout! Poor boy!

Armen is such an angel! He is one happy boy if he has car keys or a cell phone!

A Surprise Trip to Armenia - 2010

2010-09-14T01:55:00.004-05:00

This year we didn't go to Armenia as usual - in May but we were waiting for my Mom's visa to be approved and then go to pick her up. As the process got so slow and dragged till August, I couldn't wait any longer. So I bought my tickets for August 30 to be in Armenia the night of 31.

Jim and I decided that I needed about couple of months to finish things in Armenia, so he thought it would be better if he stayed in Alabama then come to Armenia a month after I leave. But I then we decided that there was no need for him to come to Armenia especially when he doesn't speak the language and I will be busy working on some paperwork and so on.

Jim called and booked my tickets and I didn't tell anyone in Armenia about my trip except for my sister and brother. They promised me not to tell their families either.

On the 30th, early in the morning Jim had a hernia repair surgery. We got up at 4:15AM to be at hospital at 5.The surgery was scheduled at 7AM so that I could have plenty time to catch my flight at 5:40PM. After a few hours at the hospital and a successful surgery, I took Jim home. I had a few short hours to get ready for my flight. At 3:30PM our good friend Craig Bennett came to take us to the airport. Jim wasn't allowed to drive, and he wasn't supposed to be up either but he insisted on coming to the airport with me.

It was SO hard and stressful for me to leave my Honey in such a condition! The doctor told me that he shouldn't be left alone the first night after the surgery. Craig volunteered to stay with him that night. What a big relief for me! Our other good friends also called and checked on him! I can't express my gratitude to all of those who called, checked on him or invited him to dinner!!

I had the toughest time with my heavy carry-on and laptop and my big purse. I flew from Birmingham, AL to Detroit and from there to Amsterdam, and the last leg was from there to Yerevan Armenia. Both Detroit and Amsterdam airports had such long walks that my arms and shoulders were killing me. I was so exhausted!

I landed at the Yerevan airport at 10PM and by the time I got through the lines at the passport checking posts and customs it was 11PM. My brother and sister were so worried as they didn't know what was happening.

For the first time ever in any airports around the world, Armenia decided to stick out again with something weird. They checked my carry-on as I had already passed the customs and other checking areas. They screened my luggage to see what I was carrying with me!!! DUH!!! They saw a watch in my carry-on and wanted to know what watch it was and why I was bringing it with me. After I told them that I needed a watch, so I brought my watch with me, they let me go!

It was so good to see my siblings after 14 months of separation! We had a long drive and got home in Gyumri at 1AM. As my parents didn't know about my visit, they were already in bed upstairs and they didn't hear me come home.

My sister-in-law and the baby were in bed, too but they heard us bringing the suit-cases in and my sister-in-law suspected something so she got up and saw us.

A little later my 14-moth-old nephew Armen got up as we were getting ready to sleep. He came out into the living room where my sister and I were going to sleep, and he saw my suit-cases. He was SO excited that he started pulling the strips to undo the suit-cases. He was hiding behind them and trying to understand who I was.

Armen stayed up for 2 and half hours, and we couldn't fall asleep. Finally around 5-ish in the morning he went to bed. I couldn't sleep for a long time. I remember waking up at 7AM in the morning from my brother's alarm. He had to go to work but he wanted to see my Mom's reaction before he left. So I made a phone call to my Mom upstairs from my sister's phone hiding the number. She was asleep. She woke up and answered the phone. Her phone was so trashed up already that we couldn't hear each other well even before I came to Armenia. So this time also I told her that I couldn't hear her but I wanted to talk to her. So I suggested him to go and get the phone from my brother and that I would call her in 5 minutes.

My Mom came down half asleep, half awake in her pajamas and she is standing in the kitchen trying to figure out how she can go into my brother's bedroom while they are sleeping, to get his phone.
Meanwhile I was watching her from the living-room glass door. I went into the kitchen and stood in front of my Mom. She is looking at me with thoughful eyes, looking at me in my pajamas but still not getting what was going on. A few seconds later she "woke up" and yelled and hugged me. She started crying.

Then I called my Dad from downstairs asking him to come down. He said - Is that Araksya?? And he quickly got dressed and came down. I was hoping he would confuse my voice with my sister's but I couldn't fool him. He came down, hugged me and cried like a baby.

Those were such precious moments for me!!

I heard you are celebrating your 25th birthday!

2010-07-29T14:33:00.014-05:00

"I heard you are celebrating your 25th birthday!"

This is what my brother-in-law (my sister's husband) said on the phone when my sister called me to wish me a happy birthday yesterday, July 28th! Nice job, Hrach! :)

The day started out as usual. I went to exercise in the morning. Amanda came with me, and we had three other girls show up, as well. That was fun to be 5 of us, as it's been a long time since we were that big of a group.

After the exercise I took the TV/DVD player back and when I came back, all the girls sang a "Happy Birthday" to me. That was very nice! Thank you, girls!

When we came home Jim kept asking me what I wanted to do for my birthday. We can't go on a trip right now and so I thought we could go out to eat, and then maybe decide what we want to do.

Since the night before, I started getting phone calls from my family in Armenia. As I was telling my family that it wasn't even the 28th in America yet, they said they didn't care, as I was already born in Armenia at that time. My mom called me at 10:45PM which makes 8:45 AM in Armenia. The hour I was born!

Then my brother called at 11PM thinking it was midnight here which would make the 28th officially started. After talking to him I decided to turn all the phones off and go to bed I used to get birthday calls through the night every year since I came to America. I decided I needed the sleep to feel better on my birthday! Sorry!

For the next few hours after the exercise I was BUSY answering phone calls, responding to Facebook messages and talking to my friend and her family with skype. That was crazy but I loved it!
I got birthday messages and phone calls from a bunch of different states in the USA, from Austria, Switzerland, Greece, Turkey, Russia, England, Armenia, etc. I feel so blessed to have such good friends and families who care about me!

Later I checked online for movies and saw some movies showing before dinnertime. We left at 4:30PM and after driving through a commute time on US-280 and getting our GPS confuse us, we missed the movie.
We decided to have dinner and then go to a movie.

note my bangs: I cut them myself when I was so sleepy. my brain wasn't functioning enough to understand how badly I could have messed it up for my birthday!

We went to Cheesecake Factory. We had a wonderful meal there!!!

Then we ordered some cheesecakes. Jim had a mango key-lime pie, Amanda ordered a caramel pecan turtle, and I ordered the 30th anniversary double chocolate cheesecake.

mango key-lime pie

caramel pecan turtle

They brought my dessert with a candle, and a big crew started singing a "Happy Birthday" to me!

the best cheesecake EVER!!

They did a great job! I didn't think I would enjoy hearing them sing for me in front of so many people. But it felt good! :) They even sang my name correctly. How amazing is that?!

After the great dinner we headed to a movie theater to watch "Letters to Juliet". It was a chick-flick but very heart-warming and romantic. We all loved it!

That made a great ending to a perfect day! Thanks to my wonderful husband, Amanda and all my great family and friends who made the day so special for me!

Trip to Europe (part 2)

2010-07-13T18:31:00.027-05:00

In the morning of May 28 Jim and I walked to the harbor in Venice, Italy where our ship (Norwegian Gem) was waiting for us. The ship was built in 2008, and was huge!
After standing in the line for a while we finally got on board.

Our stateroom was on the 10th floor.

The ship was very beautiful with swimming pools, hot-tubs, basketball and tennis courts, lots of games and even a bowling alley!

The first stop after Venice the next morning was in Dubrovnik, Croatia. The old city was surrounded by walls like a fortress.

There were orange-top roofs everywhere!

Jim is bargaining for some jewelery. He managed to get some cute stuff for me!

As we were walking in the streets of Dubrovnik and smelling some oils, like lavender (and getting nauseous), eating jam filled donuts and checking out some shops, we came across to a tiny opening on a solid wall. Being adventuresome, Jim decided to check it out and see where that would lead him to. We walked with our heads down to fit through the opening, and we saw this breath-taking scenery!

This spot where we are standing is a very small landing with stairs taking us down to a cafe right on the shore.

You can see our ship on the background

Here are some more fun pictures of the locals there!

Trip to Europe (part 1)

2010-05-26T18:46:00.027-05:00

On Wednesday, May 25th, after the exercise I came home to find Jim on the phone. I could tell he had been on the phone for a while but I didn't know who he was talking to.After a while I hear him say something like "tickets" and "Europe". I started panicking and tried to tell him we couldn't go to Armenia yet as I didn't have all the documents ready for my Mom yet. But Jim wasn't paying attention to what I was saying, and he was still talking, so I decided to let him finish his conversation.

About couple hours or so later he came to me and asked if I wanted to go on a Cruise to Europe. I was shocked. Of course I do! He said we'd need to fly to Italy to get on the ship. I thought I was dreaming!! When are we flying, I asked? Tomorrow morning! I definitely woke up from the dream. That was even more shocking. I had only a few hours to pack for 2 weeks vacation, finish the things I had started, and plus finding people who would be willing to water and fertilize our garden while we were gone. (Thanks goodness for our good friends who agreed on taking care of our garden). And Jim had to work hard on fixing a few things in the garden, and do the tax return to send to IRS and to NVC for my Mom's paperwork. In addition to that, I was feeling bad that we were going to miss Amanda's graduation the same day. But to get a ticket a day later would have cost him way more money. So, we had a few hectic hours till the next morning.

We flew from Birmingham to Atlanta, and then from there to Milan, Italy. A direct 9 1/2 hour flight wasn't bad at all. We watched 4 movies on the plane and I was way excited to see Italy and then have a cruise.
We rented a car in Milan at the airport and drove to Venice where we were going to get on board the next morning.

We found a very nice hotel and left our luggage, freshened up and went out for a long nice walk.

Jim, in front of the hotel entrance where we stayed

What a lovely place and a perfect weather!! At nights it got quite cool and I needed a sweater but I forgot to pack it, so I ended up buying one there. I also found gorgeous shorts for $5.

We saw so many dessert shops and cafes on the streets of Venice. Jim couldn't pass the opportunity of tasting the black Italian licorice. It was so long! And it was as hard as a rebar (like the airport security girl called it -:))

There were open market type stores everywhere. It was so surprising to me to see fancy masks sold everywhere!

some fancy boats

It was dinner time and we decided to share a BIG calzone and then have some gelato for dessert.
We were disappointed at the calzone as it was made of canned mushrooms and it wasn't flavorful.
But the dessert - gelato - was to live for!!! We got chocolate gelato, caramel with nuts and amarena (cherry gelato). They were SO good! Amarena was our favorite!

More pictures of Venice!

The next morning we had a yummy breakfast at our hotel and then walked to our dock to check in for the cruise. The docks were half hour-40 minute walk from our hotel.

Apparently, they don't use trash cans for gums and cigarettes!

Count your blessings!

2010-05-12T09:24:00.004-05:00

On May 8, 2010 Jim was conducting a gardening seminar in Locust Fork when he felt some pressure and pain in his chest and the left arm went numb. Among the people around him there was a nurse who worked in Trinity Hospital, and he insists on taking Jim to Emergency Room. As it appears Jim had had similar chest pain for a few time for a month. They took him to ER where the tests didn't show anything wrong. After 3 hours in ER they let Jim come home with a promise to go back there if she experiences another attack during the weekend until they schedule an appointment with the cardio doctor.

On Sunday after church Jim had another angina attack and I convinced him to let me take him to the same hospital. He agreed and disappeared while I was getting some changes of clothes for him. He was in the garden tying up strings and guiding the plants!! I haven't met anyone else who loves gardening as much as Jim does!

As soon as we got there they recognized him. The nurse from Locust Fork had already called and talked to everyone on that shift about Jim going back. So, they all expected us. After some blood tests the doctor said he thought Jim possibly had a mild heart attack but everything would be clear after the special cath test the next day, Monday 10th.

They moved Jim up to a private room and hooked him up to IV, and told him they are keeping him there. I stayed with him. All night every 20-30 minutes somebody would come in fill out more documents, check his blood pressure, check his heart monitor, etc. We got no sleep!

In the morning of May 11th, the cardio doctor (Dr. Baker) came in and talked to us, and then they took Jim to a surgical room downstairs. They worked on him about couple hours and the doctor came and showed me the photo that he took during the cath test.

The top one was taken before the surgery where the artery is narrowed and blocked (it was blocked 99%, note the arrow). He said if Jim didn't come to hospital and had this taken care of, he would have had a massive heart attack.

The bottom photo is taken after the surgery when they went in from his thigh and inserted a stent into his artery to expand it.
To my question about the status of his heart, the doctor said that there was no damage to his heart! What a blessing!!

As soon as Jim was out of the surgery they brought him to his room and brought some food. He wasn't allowed to eat or drink anything since midnight, and it was about 4 o'clock PM. I fed him his dinner, as he wasn't supposed to move his leg not to bleed. There are no stitches on the leg or anywhere else. That is so amazing to me!

They kept us there for another night and on Tuesday 11th, Jim was allowed to go home. The nurse told him to wait for me until I get the car close to the building and that she would get a wheel chair for him. By the time I got to the elevators, Jim caught up with me carrying the computers and a bag of clothes. He is too funny! The nurse came running and saying at least allow me escort you downstairs.

Jim is doing very well, and he needs to stay away from heavy physical work for couple weeks. Then he is promised to be back to his normal health.

We are so grateful for good doctors and especially for the numerous prayers by our families and friends. Our phones were working almost non-stop while we were in hospital as people were calling to know what was happening!

It felt so good to sleep in our own bed last night!

Farewell party/Girls' night!

2010-05-06T18:11:00.010-05:00

Three of our great friends are moving to different states as their husbands are going to school or found a new job there. So, we decided to get together and spend a fun time before they had to leave. Melissa, Carrie and Laura were the reason (or excuse) for the party.

Way to go Melissa for the skinny waist pose (you don't have to worry about it for sure!) What was I thinking about??

Chelsea and Melissa are pretending to be tasting the crepes that Chelsea made. Sorry Melissa, I couldn't help myself not to post this picture!! :) After having the ham'n cheese and asparagus crepes for dinner and nuttella and banana crepes for dessert, we played games and had some homemade popcorn. We had a great time laughing hard and enjoying ourselves until everyone left 12.30 at midnight!

My Painting!

2010-04-12T08:27:00.005-05:00

During the Easter weekend as I was listening to the conference I decided to do some drawing. This time it ended up being on a very big sheet of paper, so it's hard to scan it. So I took a picture of it with my camera.

Couple cysts got removed today

2010-04-05T15:40:00.005-05:00

Jim and I had an appointment at 7:30AM this morning to remove a cyst from his back and a cyst from the back of my ear on my head.
So, I woke up with a migraine headache and a stiff neck. What a great way to start a day, plus a surgery!

The first time I had a cyst removed from my head was by a doctor in Utah, and it was pretty much painless. So that was in my mind when I dared to go for a surgery this time, in Alabama. Those cysts I inherited form my grandmother (couldn't I inherit something better, like money, etc).
The preparation took forever and then the doctor came in and he started cutting an opening on my head, and that was the worst feeling I had. It felt like he went deep into my head as he was putting way too much pressure on the knife. Then he accidentally hurt my ear with the knife but he didn't apologize even after I told him it hurt. But instead they gave me couple more shots to numb my head more. I couldn't convince him that he hurt my ear I didn't need more shots:(

After cutting off a bunch of hair, cutting and removing the cyst, burning the spot continuously to stop bleeding, and a group of stitches inside and out, I ended up with a painful and bruised head that feels like an iron cast around it.
Jim had the same doctor removing his cyst on the back, and he thought that the doctor was cutting the back clear through the lungs.

I can't even look at the picture let alone his wound. Sorry, guys!

I have to say, he is a skilled doctor, he knows what he is doing but just forgets that he works with humans.

Easter/conference weekend

2010-04-04T16:01:00.011-05:00

Saturday of Easter weekend we started the day by dying eggs. Amanda's friend Frank from Bountiful came on Friday for the weekend to see her and we put him to work. He walked from the hotel to our place that morning. He helped us dye eggs. We decided to try the design method, and they turned out pretty good.

Jim had to teach a gardening seminar early morning in Talladega, so he came home around 1 o'clock. Then we listened to the conference from my computer while Jim continued working in the garden and I did some drawing. I hooked up powerful speakers to the computer and we enjoyed listening to the messages.

Later the guys went to the priesthood meeting, and Amanda and I stayed home deciding what to make for dinner. Amanda wanted to treat her friend with chinese food. So she asked us if we would join them to go to our favorite chinese buffet for dinner. We were the last people going in to eat that late. We had a great time and excellent food. I love that place! We left there as they were closing at 11PM. Can you imagine eating that late and in a buffet??

On Sunday we went to church for the first session, then came home to have lunch which was cinnamon rolls. Then I connected the computer to our big TV and we all watched the conference. We loved it!

Jim is pointing out to my purse that stayed on the car. I was thinking to have it with me in the picture but I forgot, and the camera was on an automatic shooting!

The weather was so beautiful that we decided to eat our dinner by our neighborhood waterfall and gazebo. Then we grabbed our baseball materials and went to the soccer field to play.

We played until it was very dark and hard to see the ball in the air.

A Baby Shower for Carrie!

2010-03-06T18:02:00.018-06:00

My friend Melissa and I planned a baby shower for our friend Carrie. The colors were blue, yellow and white. After decorating my place with Carol for a few days with those colors and decorations, in the morning of the shower my eyes were drawn to clothes with blue in them in my closet. Even though I was making a joke a night before telling Carol that we needed to match our clothes with the theme of the shower.

We played couple games the first one of which was the clothes pin game, where the person who get the most pins by catching others say the word "baby" for half an hour, wins. Don't I look too proud in the picture? I got the prize I bought myself for somebody else. I am too competitive at games, sorry!

The food was great, we had quiches, cheese puffs, yogurt bar, and some dessert. We had 25 people come to the baby shower! What a turnout!

Melissa is explaining the diaper game, where she melted different kinds of chocolate candies, smeared them on the diapers and the women had to guess what they were by smelling or even tasting them!

Here is the mother-to-be! I managed to convince her to taste the stuff on the diaper. And she was sweet enough to do it for my picture!

Now it's time for opening the gifts. The baby got lots of fun things.

I want to thank everyone who came and made it be a fun experience for Carrie and the rest of us, too.

Happy baby shower and good luck, Carrie!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2010-02-14T17:25:00.016-06:00

We started the Valentine's Day weekend by teaching a gardening seminar in Gadsden. Then we were planning to stay there over night and be back home on Sunday, after church. But because it snowed hard on Friday and we couldn't go outside to work on gardens, we finished the seminar earlier than planned.
So we came home Saturday in the afternoon and went to the Sweetheart Ball at our stake center on Saturday night.

Next time instead of wearing open-toe shoes I'll need to get steel-toe shoes or just practice some more dancing together!

It was fun to watch our friends Chelsea and John dance together!

And here we are at the end with our silly faces!!

Our 5th Anniversary!

2010-01-23T10:57:00.019-06:00

A day before our anniversary (which is on January 21), Jim asked me if I wanted to go to a ride with him. I thought we were going to a store or something, and I said yes. He wanted me to be ready to leave around 2:30PM, as soon as he finished working in the garden.
After he came in from the garden he brought a suitcase with him and said I had 17 minutes to pack for couple days or so. I had no idea where we were going or what we were going to do. So I threw in some stuff in a hurry, and as we were ready to leave Jim noticed that his car keys were missing. For over half an hour, we were looking for his keys everywhere. Finally I found them in one of his coat pockets in the garage.

I was so excited for the surprise! We drove almost 5 hours, and I was trying to guess where we were going. One of the names of places I mentioned was Mississippi. Of course Jim wasn't telling me anything, neither yes nor no!

We drove through a heavy rainstorm and huge lightening.

Then I saw a sign saying Biloxi. I started playing with the word saying - it's a baloney when people call me Roxy, which I hate. So, that's why this place is called Biloxi (baloney+roxy). I know it's silly but that way I could remember the name. Little did I know that we were going to stay there!

It's a small place on the beach with lots of hotels and casinos. We stayed in Grand Biloxi hotel for 2 nights. It was a great one!

Here is the view from our window.

Some hotel suites were $2,500 and up a night!! It's crazy! We had a tour through those suites in Beau Rivage.

We had a great weather those couple days in Mississippi. We spent the time walking through the big hotels/casinos, eating in their buffets and doing shopping.

No, we didn't gamble!

Note our Hard Rock cafe matching hoodies

Hard Rock casino had a great Asian buffet. We had the best egg roll ever!
I am dipping a marshmallow in a chocolate sauce

As we were driving home on the 22nd, we made several stops at outlet malls, shopping malls and we had a wonderful lunch in the L Y buffet in Pascagoula, MS.

We definitely had a happy 5th anniversary!

My First US Driver License!

2010-01-11T17:59:00.008-06:00

Today I needed to apply for my new passport but in order to do it I had to have an ID card. So I pull out my Alabama ID card that I got last July, to make a copy when I noticed the expiration date - 12/04/2009! That was a shock! I didn't remember about it, and I thought I had it for the next 4 years. No, because my green card was expiring on December as well, so that's the date they had to follow.

We got up at 6AM today to be at the driver license place at 7, so we wouldn't get a big line in front of us. As I have been postponing getting a US driver license for over 5 years now I thought I'd better do it now and be done with it.

So I took and passed the written test and as they were preparing my documents for the driving test, we noticed that my car registration was expired, too.
They told us to go and get it registered and come back the same day and go in without waiting in the line or come back some other day early in the morning.

I was determined to finish it today!! Jim and I went to take care of the car, and after a few hours of hassle we got a new Alabama plate number.

We got back to take the driving test, and a grouchy woman came with me in the car. As I was driving made my first mistake, I thought I was going to fail. But I managed the get 95% from the test.

After getting my license we went and send my application for my US passport. I'll get it in 4-6 weeks!

A Big SIGH!!!

I have to say, that dealing with the government offices is not fun!

Christmas and New Year in Florida!

2009-12-20T11:23:00.049-06:00

We spent a week in Marco Island Florida. Jim rented a condo there and it was right on the water with a beautiful view from our window. It had 2 bedrooms, one living room, a kitchen, a bathroom and a porch.
The weather was just perfect, in upper 70-s. We went to the beach and collected tons of shells.

This picture is taken on Sunday after church, when we just discovered the beach.

Jim had a lot of fun with his new board! He got hit hard also!

The Marriott hotel was just beautiful with its scenery to the ocean.

This is in Key Largo. It was a little windy that day, not a beach day.
Getting on the hammock was a trick! That's the only second we managed to stay balanced for Amanda to take a quick picture!

The next day was a beach-day. The guys went to kayaking while the girls went to an outlet mall for shopping!

The Island looked beautiful in Christmas decorations.

We had a modest Christmas celebration with a Christmas story, gifts and later a Christmas dinner in the condo.

Here is the view from our bedroom window.

After a week in Marco Island we drove to Walt Disney World, Orlando for another week or so.
I got a pin to celebrate my becoming a US citizen. And, of course, Jim had to have a pin, too, as he is the husband of the citizen!!

I can't imagine going to WDW and not to eat those delicious and tender turkey legs!

Here I wanted to show off my new cap. I love it!

We went on lots of rides among which were the Dinosaur ride and the Everest. I hated them both, especially the Everest. Amanda and I skipped the Splash Mountain.

The night of New Year he had the most beautiful and colorful light parade. My most favorite part of this was the changing colors of the castle. It was unbelievable!

Jim and I rode a boat to Grand Floridian resort area from Magic Kingdom. After having lunch there, we rented a motor boat and had a great time on the water.
after a while Jim suggested that I'd drive now. I agreed but I didn't know he was planning to send me alone this time (so that the boat would go faster with less weight). It was fun!!

We did some shopping and then visited the other stores and hotels in that area.
In this place the owner of the store gave me a postcard-certificate for my citizenship (he saw the celebration pin on me).

Here I am talking to my family wishing thema Happy New Year as it was the midnight of December 31. It was a new day of the new year, 2010 in Armenia!

Later that night we had some fireworks. The next days we went to bowling, air-boating and shooting.
While in Marco Island we managed to watch a few new movies - "The Princess and the Frog", "Sherlock Holmes", "Invictius", "Avatar", etc.

Happy Holidays to Everyone!!

A Surprise Party!

2009-12-16T17:06:00.007-06:00

After coming back from Atlanta citizenship Interview, the next day I went to exercise as usual. My friend Chelsea congratulated me on my citizenship and said: "The first order of business as a citizen, I need you to come to my house tomorrow to watch my kids". I was planning on working on my mom's documents to bring her to US, and I was hesitant to say 'yes'. I promised to call her that evening with an answer.

That evening I almost forgot about it. Carol reminded me and I called Chelsea and told that I would be there the next morning.

On Wednesday, the 16th I got ready and got to her place as promised, at 11:30. As I got there, I saw a bunch of cars parked in front of her house. I could identify every car there. There I understood what was happening.

I parked my car and instead of going in, I decided to call Jim and tell him what is going on. For some strange reason Jim didn't answer any of the phones. As I got out of the car (I was all shaky) I saw Jim parking his car not too far from mine. Hello?!! That's why he wasn't answering the phone.

What's funny that Carol had to prepare a vegetable dish and couldn't do it properly as I was around and she couldn't hide the tray where I wouldn't see it. In the morning she grabbed the things and ran out of the kitchen as I was coming to kitchen, and I was surprised that she didn't stay to say hi (it wasn't like her). But I didn't suspect anything.

As I went into Anderson's about a dozen of my wonderful friends stood by the door and started singing "God Bless America".
It was very touching!

The food was great and we all had a great time visiting with each other.

Thanks to all my friends and family members who organized it, and made the yummy food, and especially for making me feel so special!
It was the first surprise party for me, ever!

I am a US Citizen now!

2009-12-14T23:00:00.018-06:00

After struggling with paperwork for almost 5 years I finally became a US citizen.
My Interview with USCIS people was on December 14, 2009, in Atlanta, GA at 9:25AM. It's almost 3 hour drive to get there so Jim and I decided to drive to Atlanta right after the church. We changed our clothes in the church and left. We got there around 4PM. We drove and found the USCIS office to make sure we knew where it was.

The next thing was to get a hotel which wasn't hard to do. That place was surrounded with hotels. We settled down in one, about 5 minutes walking distance from the office.
Then we went for a walk (to the mall, not to buy anything but just kill the time) for about 3 hours, until we got tired and hungry. The mall was beautifully decorated and there was Santa Clause having his pictures taken with kids. You can see him in the right corner of the picture.

Then we went back to the hotel and asked for a recommendation for a good place to eat. We were hoping to find Olive Garden restaurant but they said it was about 15 miles away. Instead, the front desk boy suggested us to go to a family owned Italian restaurant. The food was excellent!

The next morning after going through a tight security in the USCIS building, Jim and I found some chairs and waited almost an hour and half for 5 minute interview. The test went very fast and very well. Then I was told that there was only one spot left for the oath ceremony for that same day at 2 PM. How lucky!

This is right after the test

As we had couple hours until the ceremony, we decided to go out and do something. We went to the mall and bought couple things and came back.

They took me and another 157 new citizens to a big room for the oath ceremony. They announced that there were people from 58 countries around the world who became a citizen that day! the lady who was responsible for the ceremony called the names of our countries asking us to stand up. I was the only Armenian there!

I was very grateful that they called our family members in, as well. Jim came in and started taking pictures.

After the pledge of allegiance and a few short clips we were allowed to take pictures after everyone else was out of the room. As we were exiting, an employee handed us our certificates.

We made friends with a lovely couple. The girls is from Mexico. They were so excited to have her citizenship done, too!

Botanical Gardens in Birmingham!

2009-12-07T11:46:00.014-06:00

Last Sunday after church we got out and saw the beautiful weather and Jim took a lot of pictures around the temple.

After we came back home I asked Jim if he would like us to go to the Botanical gardens before the cold season starts. That Sunday was a day before his birthday, and it was a perfectly beautiful day!

We got changed, and then I grabbed some orange rolls and peppermint tea and left.

The colors in the garden were amazing!

Jim found a big bell and had a lot of fun "ringing" it several times.

It was getting dark and we went to the car and got our orange rolls and the tea and came back to the park to eat them.

We were so glad we went there when we did, as it froze soon after that.

For the next day, Nov 30th, on Jim's birthday we didn't do much, but we had some fast food and hurried to watch the movie "The Blind Side". It was new in movie theaters, and I chose that movie thinking he would like it. Jim did not like it, he LOVED it! So did I! That was the best highlight of his birthday.

I had bought a cell phone for him for his birthday but it didn't arrive until December 3rd. But he is loving his phone so far!

After watching the movie we hurried to the airport to get Amanda and Michael and bring them home.

A Funny Story!

2009-12-05T15:17:00.008-06:00

I thought I'd write about this "little challenge".

A few months ago I bought a new phone from ebay for Jim.
He tried to use a few times and then decided that it was too fancy for him and he didn't like it much. So, I thought to myself "you kill the dog you carry it!" (it's an Armenian phrase).
Jim had to fly to California for some meetings and then to Utah and drive his car back home to Alabama. I didn't go with him, and I also kept the phone. We talked a lot while he was gone using our landline and his cell phone.
He was supposed to come back Saturday night and instead he called me on my new cell phone Friday at 6 A.M and here is the conversation:

Me: Hello? (Trying to wake up and understand what's happening)
Jim: Is this my Honey???? (with such a hesitation in his voice)
Me: Yes, of course! why? what's up?
Jim: I don't know...your voice is .... different....!
Me: That's because you woke me up early in the morning in case you didn't know that.
Jim: Sorry, would you please do me a big favor?
Me: Sure! (my heart is already pounding as I tend to think of something bad happened with him)
Jim: Could you please come to the front door and let me in?

I couldn't believe my ears, as he was already home. He drove all night without stops to get home early. I was happy!

But here's the fun part to come.

On Monday morning I am driving to my exercise class and I decided to call my friend Melissa and let her know that I've got a new number that she can call me directly. Here is our conversation (I might have forgotten something, sorry Melissa, if so):

Melissa: Hello?!
Me: Hi Melissa, it's Araksya!
Melissa: It's who?
Me: Araksya (with such a strange feeling, why didn't she recognize me?)! I have a new number now you can save that number to call me.
Melissa: Hold on a moment! (she turns on her speakerphone). let's try again, this might be better.
Me: Is it better? can you hear me?
Melissa: I have a hard time believing that it's you, the only thing that sounds a little familiar is your accent. Steve is listening to you now and he also agrees that it's a man's voice!
Me: (I started panicking and I am trying to make sure Steve understands that it's not a MAN talking to his wife) OK, let me change my phone and I'll call you back later to see if it's fixed.
Melissa: Oh, please, because I can't talk to you like that, sorry!

I hung up and I still don't really know what's going on. I got to my class and Sherilyn was there, so I told her about the conversation with Melissa and decided to call Sherilyn so she can hear "my" voice.
As I called and started talking to her from the next room, she said, it's really a man's voice. So we switched our phones and this time Sherilyn spoke to me from my phone. That literally gave me chills and I was shocked!

Now I understand why Melissa couldn't talk to me and why my husband, coming home a day early from his trip calls me and a man's voice answers the phone! Wow!

As I was telling this to my brother in Armenia, he got excited about this new phone and the ability to change voices. I think I'll give the phone to him when we go back to Armenia next year. He also helped me fix some settings in the phone and got my normal voice back. Thanks Hrach!! As it appears my phone has voices of 2 men and 2 women and a child.

When I told this to my sister, she and her husband were laughing SO hard! Then after we hung up my sister asked her husband - what would have you done if you were in the place of Jim, when you call and a man's voice answered the phone? he said - you know better what I would have done! (and he means it! a big jealousy and sick doubts in those men in Armenia!)

I am grateful Jim didn't think that way! Maybe I'll play another trick on him?!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-26T11:01:00.013-06:00

This Thanksgiving we didn't have any plans, and I thought just for the two of us I won't cook a big turkey or a meal. We'll either go out to eat or travel.
Well, neither of them happened.

We heard that our friends are staying home for Thanksgiving so we decided it will be better if we spend the Thanksgiving together. Then the missionaries wanted to come for dinner, as well.

So I was happy to prepare the dinner.

We had a yummy meal with desserts and a fresh juice that Jim made by blending some fresh fruit. The color of the juice was perfect with my dinner setting! That was a coincidence though.

Laura made the best Lemon meringue pie I had ever eaten!
After dinner the missionaries left and the rest of us stayed and played rook cards.

I am so grateful for my family and good friends!
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

Highlights in My Hair

2009-11-08T12:41:00.008-06:00

For the first time I decided to get some highlights in my hair, and I wanted it to be closer to my hair color with some red in it. My friend Laura did a good job getting the color I wanted. It's not too bright to catch eyes but just enough to be noticed. With colorful trees around me I am not sure you can easily see the highlights. I'll post the pictures that I got today anyway.

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-31T20:53:00.009-05:00

For the first time ever in my life I dressed up for the Halloween today! I have to say I had a lot of fun figuring out our costumes and fixing and making them. As I bought a new black dress a week or so ago I thought I could wear that. Cleopatra was an easy choice for me. I almost cut my bangs to match hers but luckily I found a wig!

Then Jim's choice was even easier - Marc Antony.

This year it was the first time for me to go to the Trunk or Treat at the church, and I got excited to go to this one because it wasn't going to be just for the kids. There was a chili cook-off contest. I made our family's favorite mushroom and chicken chili. There were 17 different chilis. The judges decided to choose my chili!
We also had some corn-bread and dessert.

There was also a pumpkin carving contest. Next time I am going to carve a pumpkin. I haven't ever done it before.

Everything was so well organized, and everybody looked great!

Here is Carol and Amanda.

After getting home Jim wanted to take a few more pictures (of me!).

A Haircut and a Painting Class!

2009-10-24T15:45:00.013-05:00

Today Carol and I had an appointment with our friend Laura Lydan to have her cut our hair. She did a great job!

Then we went to the painting class.

It was fun. Wish I could do a better job!

Why are the guys so adventurous?

2009-10-20T20:00:00.012-05:00

Curiosity kills the cat!

Jim and I went to do some errands today, and he decided to check and see how the construction is going with a new subdivision. Even though there is really nothing to see but a fairly flat dirt-area as a pad for new homes. I guess he forgot that he was driving his Mazda not my Honda, so the car got stuck in deep mud!

Jim took off his shoes and got into the ankle-deep mud trying to pull the mud away from the tires.

Then he started pushing the car. It didn't move a bit when he was pushing from the front of the car. Jim went and pushed the car from the back. After trying a bit and getting the tires spin like crazy and splashing mud everywhere, on Jim, on the car and even on me inside the car as the window was open, and we were about to give up when the car suddenly took off and got out of the deep mud.

Jim found some pit with rain water in it and "cleaned" his feet. As he finished getting "cleaned" and got into the car, we discovered that we were headed to a dead end. we had to go back the way we came - through the deep mud. We were nervous but we managed to get out this time without getting stuck. Just barely!

We surely enjoyed the deep car wash at the gas station afterwards!

What a Day!

2009-10-03T20:51:00.006-05:00

3 years ago this day Jim and I got sealed in the Temple in Utah. Right after that we went to a cruise to Mexico and Belize. We had a great time!
This year the General Conference is the same day, so we decided to stay home and watch it on our big TV. As we have canceled our satellite service and now we have only basic cable channels, there is no BYU channel to watch. So, I connected my new computer that has a HDMI port to the TV, couple speakers and we enjoyed the conference with the best quality picture and sound!

Jim promised that after the second session we'll go out to dinner to celebrate our anniversary. In the middle of the second session I remembered that there is going to be a priesthood meeting at 7PM. And I wasn't going to be ready to leave right after the conference as I hadn't showered or anything. At 5 o'clock I literally ran into the shower without wasting time so I could be ready to leave soon. As I came out of the shower we got a phone call from Sister Bennett to remind us about cleaning the church right away. NO WAY!! I decided no dinner tonight, no anniversary, and I have to admit I wasn't happy with the situation. Jim insisted on me taking my nice outfit that I was planning to wear today and some make up to do it in the car. I grabbed those quickly and with no make up, and with wet hair we drove to the church, did our cleaning, and then Sister Bennett said there were only 2 rooms left to vacuum and that they could handle that and sent us on our way to dinner. What a lovely person she is! I changed my clothes in the car and did my make up while Jim was driving. Anyway, we went to Outback Steakhouse, and after there Jim took me to our favorite ice-cream place for some ice-cream.
As we were running a little late for the priesthood meeting, I went there with Jim and then Carol came and picked me up and brought me home.

What a busy day. We think we'll watch a movie and call it a day!!

I have to say, Jim is fun to do things with, it doesn't matter if it's cleaning, cooking or vacation!

This is at the restaurant. You can tell how "relaxed" we look.

Moths in My Pantries!

2009-09-24T22:17:00.007-05:00

We have 2 pantries in our kitchen, and a few days ago I noticed dozens of moths there. One of the pantries especially has been so loaded with food and other stuff that it scared me to think about emptying and cleaning it.

Finally after researching online and learning what I need to do to get rid of the moths and their eggs and nests, I went to Lowe's today and bought some moth traps.

Carol and I emptied the pantries, vacuumed the walls and shelves. Then washed them with soapy water. We also washed all of the containers, threw the grains and similar items away (no, I didn't just throw them away, I put them in a garbage bag and froze them in my big freezer, in batches, and then took them out of the house), and then after cleaning every single item that came from the pantry, we put them back nicely. We got the moth traps in there, too.

Now both of the pantries look clean and organized and there is a lot of room there! I am looking for some stackable container/organizers to store my new grain in. I would love any suggestions you may have.

Why am I so tired? Just because it took several hours to do the job?! What a trooper Carol is!! She has no complains!

I don't have pictures of this, sorry! Jim is traveling and he has the camera with him.

My New Aprons

2009-09-22T21:48:00.013-05:00

The RS activity for the last month was to make a reversible apron. With the great help of my friend Carrie I made 2 aprons as I got some fabric from the store that I liked a lot and couldn't decide which ones to use. So I used them all! Here they are:

They turned out pretty good, and now I am not sure I want to wear them for everyday cooking.
Thanks to Melissa for organizing it and making this happen!

Carol's surprise birthday party!

2009-08-24T08:32:00.021-05:00

August 24 is Carol's birthday and I decided to make a fun birthday for her. I thought a surprise party will be fun, and she'll get to meet good people at the same time.
I started out the day by going to my exercise class in the morning and after which I went to a couple stores to get the last minute things for the birthday party. As I got home I had Jim watch and make sure Carol is not around when I bring the balloons into our bedroom. Our master bedroom is the only place I could hide them without being seen.

After a quick lunch I told Carol that I was going to clean the house. You can't believe how dusty the whole house was, sanded mud everywhere!

Carol and I started the cleaning and finished it around 4PM and we had to leave in an hour to go out for dinner. I was thinking to myself that it's not fun to have Carol clean the house on her birthday but I knew we had to do it. We were thinking to do the cleaning after the carpets were installed but it'll be another week, probably.

Jim took us to Olive Garden restaurant with Carol's choice. We had a great meal there as always. I tried to "warn" Carol to leave some room for dessert, and Michael kept saying - are we going to get a dessert? Then we finally said that we have some dessert at home. And then Michael says - I thought we were keeping it a secret from mom. Here I got a shock! I am looking around and trying to figure out if he really knows what I had planned. As it appears Amanda mentioned to him about having a cake for their mom, and asked him not to tell Carol.
Anyway, Carol felt like we were all acting weird. But she didn't understand what was going on.

My friend Melissa, Carrie and Laura (she is not in the picture, she kept hiding from the camera) were so nice to come to my place while we were in the restaurant and start setting up the tables and warming up the food. When we came in Carol was surprised to see people waiting for her. That was such a great moment! We had about 25 people come to the party.

Here are Carol's birthday cakes. We got 2 cakes to make sure there was enough for everybody. Jim bought the cakes, and they were absolutely yummy.

Carol got a quick help to get the candles out of the cakes from Mark and Abby Joyce.

Thanks to everyone for coming and helping us make this party a fun experience!

We are a bigger family now!

2009-08-10T19:47:00.007-05:00

After 6 days of separation Jim came back to Alabama around 3:20PM today, Monday 10th. He was with Michael driving a big 26-feet truck and pulling a camper on the back. Carol and Amanda were driving their car.
As soon as they got here the missionaries showed up to help us. Then lots of guys from our ward starting coming to help. It was very nice!

After unloading the truck, the guys helped Jim park the camper which was very heavy.

It was a very hot day, and the ice-cream felt really good after work.

Our garage and the house is full of boxes and stuff, and we are still working on the upstairs rooms caulking and mudding, and preparing to paint and carpet so we can put Carol's furniture and beds into the rooms.

Loneliness=Sadness!

2009-08-05T15:45:00.004-05:00

Jim's daughter got a divorce and she and her 2 kids are moving to live with us in Alabama. So, Jim decided to fly out to Utah to help them load a big truck and drive it here, and Carol is going to drive her own car. Plus, we have some stuff left there in a storage unit, and this was a good excuse to go there and load the things into the truck.

Today in the morning I took Jim to the airport, and came back and worked in the garden for a while. I had to fertilize our peppers, pick a bucket of tomatoes and water the whole garden and the greenhouse.

Since we got married 4 1/2 years ago this is the first time that I am staying all alone by myself in the house. I am so sad when Jim is not around. It's hard!!! I hope the week will go by fast. Those few hours since I dropped Jim at the airport seem sooooo long! Luckily my mom and my sister called from Armenia and they helped me feel better. I also helped my friend Melissa a little to cook lunch at my place. And Jim calls me occasionally when he is waiting for the next leg of his flight.

I am blessed to have Jim as my husband. I love and miss him a lot!

Araksya's Birthday Trip - 09!

2009-07-30T21:26:00.014-05:00

Jim thought it might be fun if we drive to Louisiana (New Orleans) for my birthday as it is one of the very few states I haven't been to yet.
We had a slow start on the 27th of July, as Jim discovered that some disease in the garden is killing the tomato and squash plant. He had to go to Lowe's to get some sprayer to try to fix the problem. After spraying a bed of squash, the sprayer stopped working, so he had to quit and get ready to leave. We left around 12:50PM.
We got to New Orleans around 6:30PM, and the first thing was to find a hotel to get our stuff out of the car and go out to explore the city and get some dinner.
We found a nice place close to the French Quarter. The front desk girl recommended us to try Deanie's Seafood restaurant, as it had a good reputation. We went there right after parking our car in a multi-level garage. The restaurant had a very nice atmosphere and the food was excellent. We ordered Crab stuffed flounder which came with a salad, green beans w/ red peppers and onions, and red baked potatoes. We loved it!!

After dinner we spent couple hours walking through the French Quarter which was a big surprise for me. I had no idea what was happening there before I got there.

So, I decided I to spend my birthday in a beach instead. So the next morning after breakfast we headed toward Florida. We drove through Mississippi and saw an outlet mall, which I love very much. We stopped there and because it was a rainy day I thought that the beach won't be fun, so we spent very long few hours in the mall shopping for lots of things. That was fun! Later in the evening we drove to Florida.
So, on my birthday we had breakfast in Louisiana, lunch in Mississippi, and dinner in Florida! How cool is that?

Leaving New Orleans, LA.

Once we got to Florida and went to a store to get some milk, Jim asked the cashier about the closest beach to go. She recommended Pensacola Beach. We got there around 9:30 and had little over 2 hours to spend there before we had to a fertilizer company in AL before they closed for the day. We walked on this long pier and visited with some fishermen and watched one of them who was a visitor from Tennessee, catch the fish and then throw them back.

Then we got into our swimming suits and jumped into the ocean. I love white sand, and the beach looked so beautiful and clean.

Jim took off to snorkel while I stayed closer to the shore letting the waves hit my back. It was very relaxing!!

As we didn't take towels with us we got into our clothes not quite dried, and I suggested we'd shop for T-shirts. They will be dry (a good excuse) and a good memory for a long time. So we spent a few minutes getting some Florida T-shirts while eating lunch (chili hot dog).

On the way home we stopped and bought a big yummy watermelon.

My birthday was a great one. Besides all these, Jim bought me a new and wonderful laptop computer. I am so excited!! I love my hubby very much!

Pioneer Day Celebration in the Park!

2009-07-25T14:07:00.018-05:00

We started our day early this morning as we had our friends the Erretts coming over for breakfast with us. Jim made our favorite pancakes and waffles and we all had a quick breakfast and left to go to the Park in Fultondale to join our friends for some games and fun, and more food for Pioneer Day!
We got to the park just on time to watch the flag ceremony. Then we started to play games. One of them was to throw the horse-shoes.

Here is Melissa aiming for a throw.

We couldn't compete with Jim, he was really good at throwing the horse-shoes.

Then the guys had a log cutting contest. Here is Steve Hodgen sitting on the log and Donovan and Jim are cutting a slice off a log. 40 seconds wasn't satisfying for them.

We had a lot of food to eat. Jim and Joe Joyce grilled some hamburgers and hot dogs.

Adam helped himself to his sister's hamburger meanwhile Reid decided to take a nap right on the "table".

We also had some brownies and handmade ice-cream for the kids that they made for themselves by rolling the can with the ice-cream ingredients around to each other until it was ready to eat.

We finished the party with a slow-pitch softball where Jim was a pitcher for his team.

It's still a hot day and I think I am ready for a nap!! Oh, wait, we have to go and clean the church today!

My Residency Status In The USA!

2009-07-20T18:13:00.008-05:00

It's been almost 5 years since I came to United States and it's been a long and hard process for me to get a lawful permanent residency status. Today I finally received my "Green Card". What a big relief!

Last time we were coming back from Armenia to US I was forced to stay in Armenia. The custom people in the airport were refusing to let me get on the plane. They wanted original documents about extending my conditional green card for a year which expires this December. Because I am told by immigration office not to take my originals with me and make sure I don't lose them, so I made a copy of it and took with me to England and Armenia.

Of course, England, France didn't have any problem with it but Armenia had to make a BIG deal out of it. Jim and I were arguing and convincing and asking them to let me fly back to US but they were too hard to understand the situation. After more than half hour of arguing and just couple minutes before the plane was to take off they finally let me go. And the funniest thing is that, because I had a visa to go to England valid till September 2009, they came to a conclusion that I was flying to Birmingham England, not Birmingham Alabama, USA. After trying to explain them what is what and feeling that those people are a pain, I just gave in. Whatever! Let me go to England. And another thing, our tickets had a 24-hour layover in Paris, which means you have to claim your luggage and go through a custom all over again, and the Armenians said - ok, we'll let her go but Paris will send her back anyway. Little did they know that Paris and England had no trouble with my legal documents to continue my way to United States.

Each year we go to Armenia, there is something that they have to find to give us a hard time about coming back to US. We'll see what they are going to say when I have the new card with me.

We are at the airport in Armenia with my sister, my mom and brother (he is taking the picture) waiting for our boarding (before the big fight!)

A Gardening Article in Meridian Magazine By Jim Kennard

2009-06-26T22:46:00.002-05:00

If you are interested in growing your own vegetables, check out this article in the Meridian Magazine.

http://www.ldsmag.com/gardening/090626laws.html

My little nephew!

2009-06-18T11:25:00.012-05:00

As I have promised I am posting a few pictures of my nephew and my family.

I am holding a few hours old baby boy in the hospital. This is the same room where Armine had the baby and got the stitches. What an 'exciting' atmosphere!:( How about the outside view?! The picture on the right is taken from her delivery room window.

Here is my sister-in-law a week before the baby was born

After the baby was born Armine wasn't sure yet that it was worth going through the pain to have the baby!
I managed to give her the baby to hold to take a picture.

Here is the proud daddy, my brother Hrach with his son Armen.

And this is my sister Narine with my nephew.

My mom gives the baby a bath every day and helps my sister-in-law take care of the baby until she knows how to do them by herself.

He is such a good boy in the bathtub. He is patient and quiet.

He is watching his grandma wrap him for a nap after a bath.

My mom takes care of the baby like she is the mom of the baby. She loves him a lot!

Look at his long fingers and nails!

Sweet dreams, little angel!

I became an aunt!!!

2009-05-21T03:46:00.007-05:00

My brother and his wife had their first babyboy today!! It was a tough one for my sister-in-law Armine. She started laboring yesterday and around 3 A.M. she was taken to hospital. She had the baby at 8:30AM this morning. He weighed 5#11oz and was 19" tall. They are going to call him Armen in honor of my cousin who got killed in the border by Azerbaijanis a month and a half ago.

Armine had a lot of pain, I could hardly stay in the surgical room without passing out. She was screaming and crying a lot, and got lots of stitches.

The boy is a quiet one so far. He is so cute! I'll post the pictures later.

Daily “Adventures” in Armenia

2009-05-18T04:57:00.006-05:00

Yesterday felt like an easy day as it started out. We even napped some during the day, and didn’t work all that long in the gardens, etc. But things changed quickly when we went to town. It was already fairly late – about 8:30 – when we left, so I had no time to spare if I was to answer all my email messages at the internet club before they closed at midnight.

Araksya & her sister-in-law Armine wanted to visit with Araksya’s sister Narine, so that was our first stop. I then went looking for the missionaries to try and get a couple of people together who are both into wrestling. That’s when the adventures started.

Arriving at the missionaries’ apartment I mistakenly removed the keys from the ignition before turning off the engine, and quickly discovered that I could NOT put them all the way back in, nor could I turn off the engine. I checked for the missionaries there and drove to the Church, both without success, then returned to Narine’s home. Once there Araksya called her brother Hrach and asked him to come and help me.

By the time Hrach came, disassembled the ignition switch, and got the key back in and working we had lost an hour.

I then returned to the missionaries’ apartment – this time with some success, but it took another ½ hour, and it was almost 10:30 when I arrived at the internet club and got to work.

I managed to get most, but not all of the messages answered by 12:15 A.M. when they kicked us out of the place, and Araksya suggested that her folks would be up waiting and worried with us being gone so late, so we thought of nothing else but getting home as quickly as possible as they didn’t have a phone to call and let them know.

For the previous 3 years the 35 year-old piece of Soviet junk called a Volga 3100 the family uses for a car has operated on both natural gas and gasoline, with a simple switch changing from one to the other whenever needed, so I thought nothing about possibly running out of the natural gas we were using.

But 3 miles out of town and almost 2 miles from home – at 12:30 in the morning – we ran out of gas, and we couldn’t get the car to start by switching to gasoline!

Leaving the car there overnight and walking home was not a good option because the car would most likely be gone or stripped of engine, battery, tires, etc. by morning, so we called Hrach for help again.

They were ready for bed and just about to eat a late night snack when we dragged him out into the night again. But he “had it coming” this time because he knew the gasoline fuel option was disabled and hadn’t told us.

He arrived in a small car, about ½ the weight of ours with a small rope, and announced he would pull us back to the all-night gas station in town. I thought this was crazy and said so. I said he should take Araksya home first, so she would not get colder, and so the parents would not worry any longer. Hrach then announced that he was almost out of gas himself and didn’t have enough to go home and back to town pulling us. So the parents were left to worry, as they didn’t even have a cell phone with them.

Hrach proceeded to tie the rope to both cars – in the dark – and then jumped in and began to pull the big car, with me “white knuckles” in the driver’s seat of the Volga. Amazingly the rope didn’t break at the first lunge, and we actually began to move. We even negotiated the sharp turn necessary to reverse direction on the narrow two-lane highway.

A small hill almost stopped us because Hrach’s car also runs on natural gas, which is gutless, but we got over it okay. We all held our breath many times whenever the cars started to come together, but I always managed to brake enough to avoid hitting him – even when he turned into the gas station and stopped at the gas pump. Whew! What a relief.

But the adventure wasn’t quite over yet. After filling up we were leaving the station when Hrach called out to us to stop. He then pointed out a flat tire on the front left side. Boy, was I grateful he noticed that! I would have had a terrible time trying to change that out on the road, and we’d have destroyed the tire and possibly the rim if we had driven all the way home.

Hrach quickly changed the tire, then as we were driving away he casually mentioned that we needn’t worry about the bumpy ride, as the spare tire would get us home safely. He then drove with us to make sure we DID get there, and we were again grateful, because the spare tire felt like it was SQUARE, instead of round.

Arriving at 1:30 the parents were SO happy to see us alive and safe that they smothered Araksya with hugs and kisses. Their concern was justified because other times we have had problems traveling, and once we were side-swiped by a big van and escaped death or serious injury by inches.

We were so pumped up after the stress that it took two hours to go to sleep. What a day!

Jim

Touring Windsor Castle

2009-05-15T13:19:00.004-05:00

On the late afternoon of day 5 we arrived at Windsor, England, parked on a back street and walked to the castle that has been occupied by English royalty for nearly 1000 years.

We were too late to get inside, so we walked and took pictures of the massive castle complex and grounds from the outside for much of an hour. Araksya lamented not being able to “walk those hallowed halls”, and wished to come back another day.

And so it was that on our last full day in England we set off first thing (11 A.M.) for Windsor Castle.

Arriving some time after 12 P.M. we immediately set off on an audio-guided tour of this amazing place that is so full of English history.

Araksya was fascinated by Queen Ann’s Doll House, which occupies a medium-sized room and includes a miniature house and a large assortment of furnishings in perfect scale, as well as an assortment of large dolls.

For the next 2 ½ hours we immersed ourselves in the stories and settings of the English kings and queens who have lived in this storied place since before the time of William the Conqueror.

Queens’ bedrooms, reception chambers, and very large rooms displaying collections of Royal China and weaponry & armor were made to appear almost insignificant by the massive, almost building-size rooms, filled with paintings and sculptures of the nobility and their friends that were (and still are!) using them for special occasions.

After taking pictures of the private wing, in which the queen and her family live, we walked downhill to St George’s Chapel. This is where the Royal Family attend Church when they are in residence. It also houses the tombs of many of the former kings and queens.

The town shopping area that occupies a couple of Utah-city blocks on one side of the castle was fun, and we managed to eat some outstanding “Honey-Comb” ice cream after an interesting Spanish meal of rib-eye steak and Chorizo, plus a mild eggplant dish.

Wherever we went by auto was high adventure/stress. The roads were narrow, the drivers were fast and impatient. And the worst of it was that we had to drive on the WRONG side of the road while sitting on the WRONG side of the car. At the conclusion of each of the 4 excursions (2 were simply arriving and departing) I was a bundle of nerves and SO grateful to still be in one piece.

England was a really fun experience, but we surely learned why most of the people don’t own cars, and instead ride public transportation – which is excellent.

Jim

London Adventures!

2009-05-05T16:30:00.016-05:00

We started today by going to the Tower of London. Jim and I are liking the buses more and more as we get more and more tired by walking so much every day. Plus it's a tour for us and we don't have to drive on the opposite side of the road and then worry about parking.

We spent at least 2 1/2 hours in the Tower of London going up and down the stairs. I was so grateful for Jim to carry my heavy purse for me!

Here is Jim "helping" the guard to aim.

After we got out of the Tower, I was so ready to find a bench and sit down.

St. Paul Cathedral was magnificent. Before getting in there we decided to have some lunch and we found a pizza place that served us one of the best pizzas! Then we had a Magnum bar - double caramel ice-cream. I am going to miss that ice-cream bar!

Westminster Abbey was our next stop. We got some audio guide there and started our own tour in the Abbey with it. It's hard to describe how amazing it is to be inside Westminster Abbey and hear the stories about so many famous people.

A TV crew was interviewing a member from the Parliament.

More Adventures In London!

2009-05-04T17:23:00.017-05:00

As the battery of our photo camera died yesterday, we couldn't take pictures of lots of things I saw. So, we went to couple places again to fix that. Of course, those are places you can go over and over again. The good food took us back to Harrods where Jim took this picture. The guy with Princess Diana is Dodi, the son of the owner of Harrods. He died in the same accident with Diana.

Today's lunch was rabbit leg and ham and salad sandwich. We both agreed that yesterday's lunch was still the best.

The jewelry department was big in Harrods and there were some amazing and very expensive things there. It was so interesting to me to find out that the owner of this store has an Egyptian origin. Thus, the statue in the store with Egyptian escalators on both sides.

We had some fun shopping or just trying some things on.

I love hats and I have a few of them at home but for some reason, I don't wear them.

Jim, though managed to buy a beautiful pair of shoes for himself.

We went back to Victoria and Albert Museum for more pictures.

A great finish to the fun day was the musical "Les Miserables". It was so touching and the singers were amazing! The next play is planned to be the "Wicked".

LONDON, UK!

2009-05-03T16:57:00.013-05:00

I have always dreamed to see London some day since I went to an English college. We studied British English, and it was challenging for me to come to USA and start all over again. Now I am having a little difficulty with British English but not too bad. The problem here in London is that you can hear all kinds of languages around you and very little English.

Here my dream came true. We are in London! It's been 2 days since we are here and the weather is the best ever!

While Jim was working on a rental car at the Heathrow airport in London, I was watching the planes fly by to land. They were flying so close that it seemed that they might hit the roofs.

We noticed some fun ways to ride around the city. We chose the bus and subways. It's so tricky for us to drive in London that we prefer to ride buses. And they are fun to ride especially on the top level.

Here are e few pictures of the places we have visited in London.

The Green Park was beautiful with its big and exotic trees!

It was funny to see the petite version of Paris' "Arc De Triumph" in London:)

Here is another beautiful view from the Green Park.

Jim had some fond memories of the Royal Albert Hall where he sang in the Tab Choir a few years ago. His dad did the same many more years ago.

Behind me there is the statue of Prince Albert.

Victoria and Albert Museum was the best museum I have ever seen! I'll post more pictures after we go back there again as my camera ran out of juice as we got there. Here is a glimpse of the entrance in the museum.

We finished our today's tour in Harrods. What an amazing place!

I had the best Salmon Watercress sandwich in Harrods' food court! Jim and I are enjoying the food so far. We liked the fish and chips we had in a place close to our hotel yesterday, as well.

More of Arizona!

2009-04-27T23:18:00.009-05:00

I was so impressed by the citrus trees in Arizona. This lemon tree had so much fruit and they were so big that I got tempted and ate more than half a lemon at once.

If you look carefully, you'll see 3-generation fruit on this tree.

Darla Stevens organized our second visit to Surprise Arizona. Her 7-year-old very smart boy Grant has lots of interest and knowledge about insects, bugs, animals, plants and etc. Here is what he has in the house and in their yard. I couldn't get a picture of his spider. I am glad though I didn't get to see it.

Our Lovely Hostess In Arizona!

2009-04-25T13:50:00.021-05:00

Jim and I were invited by a wonderful couple Bill & Terrie Schwartz to stay with them in their house while we were conducting gardening seminars in Arizona. They have a beautiful house and a big yard. They made us feel at home right away. I felt so much at home that decided to cook dinner for Sister Schwartz (the husband was traveling).

We had freshly squeezed orange and grapefruit juice for dinner.

Sis. Schwartz is a talented and lovely lady.

Terrie Schwartz grew these beautiful flowers in her yard

She makes lotion bars and chap sticks from Bees wax, cocoa butter, and different kinds of natural oils, etc. She agreed to teach me how to make some bars. It was a lot of fun!

I also made some yogurt with unsweetened vanilla soymilk. Just before eating we added fresh fruit and some honey.

I also got to see a fruit/vegetable that Terrie Schwartz grew in her yard that is called "Luffa sponge". I had never seen anything like it.

She showed me how to make it wet after it dries out for a long time, and then we peeled it and let it dry. Then it becomes a tough and scratchy thing but as soon as you make it wet, it'll become a sponge. What's the most amazing thing about this "vegetable", that you can wash it in the washing machine. How cool is that? Sis. Terrie let me fix one and bring home with me.

You Can Turn a Long Drive Into a Fun!

2009-04-25T11:20:00.018-05:00

The flight from Alabama to Utah was very hard on me. I got sick in the airplane and was feeling bad. We rented a van at the airport to drive to Arizona in 2 days.
Jim and I decided to drive through Las Vegas again where we can stop at the Sunset Station again and have dinner. Last time we stopped at this place I didn't have a camera with me to take pictures.
Here are a few pictures of the Sunset Station and the Feast buffet.

This buffet has different kinds of food - Asian, Italian, International, American and lots of dessert.

There were lots of fancy motor-cycles parked in front of the station.

We drove through the Hoover Dam late in the evening this time and I was excited to take a few pictures of it at night though my camera shows more light than there was.

Preparation for the trip to Arizona!

2009-04-25T11:03:00.005-05:00

Last month after we finished our gardening seminars in Mesa Arizona, we got a call again this time from Surprise Arizona asking us to go there and teach gardening to a group of interested people. So, we packed our suitcases again. But a day before we had to fly from Alabama to Utah and then Arizona, our power went off because of the wind that broke down a tree on the power lines. I kept calling to the power company to know what the status of our power was and they kept promising us that it would be on in a few hours. Those few hours (36 hours) were very long hours without being able to do the things I needed to finish before our flight. We had to go to a hotel near us to check our emails. The morning of our flight I finally had to give up on waiting for the power and so I took my laundry to a friend's place while Jim emptied our freezers to take the food to the church's freezer. I managed to give a lot of frozen stuff away because the freezer in the church wasn't big enough to hold all of them.
While I was chasing around doing different things Jim managed to get in deep mud and plant seedlings in 4 grow-beds.
After I came back home to get ready to leave to the airport, the power came on. I was so frustrated that I didn't wait a little longer. I am so grateful though to have good people around us who were so willing to help us when we need them!

A New Blog - Recipes For Everyone!

2009-04-20T14:43:00.003-05:00

After my husband promised his gardeners a blog with my recipes I was "stuck"! So, I created a new blog that sounds close to his foundation Food For Everyone. My blog is Recipe For Everyone at - www.recipeforeveryone.blogspot.com.

I hope my recipe blog will be helpful for those who like to cook. Enjoy!

HAPPY EASTER!

2009-04-12T21:25:00.003-05:00

I decided to dye eggs for Easter this year as I managed to miss the previous 2-3 years. Here is my modest work.

Happy Easter to Everyone!

A Law Of Attraction!

2009-04-11T19:31:00.004-05:00

Our friends have to move to Georgia and they sold their home. Jim and I went to their place to help them with packing. As we were getting into the drawers in the kitchen, my friend asked if I wanted a brand new hand mixer. And later, she asked if I had an ice-cream maker. How did she know that those 2 things were in my wish-list?! I didn't even let Jim know that I wanted to get them. Now I believe that the law of attraction works!!

Meanwhile, this crock-pot is a different case - it attracted me in the store yesterday! Today we had a very yummy dinner cooked in it.

Cake Party!

2009-04-07T14:33:00.013-05:00

How does it sound to have 7 different kinds of cakes for lunch with friends?!

Even the little ones had a good time visiting with each other and sampling the cakes.

And here is the finishing touch on my 'Ruby Red Grapefruit Cake'.

We didn't have our husbands with us but don't worry they won't suffer, they have the leftovers to enjoy!

Something reminds me of the song "Heaven, I am in Heaven...."!!!

Potluck Dinner With Friends!

2009-04-07T13:21:00.020-05:00

The theme for dinner last night was Mexican food. I made 'Mushroom and chicken chili' as the main course, Chelsea brought the side-dishes of homemade guacamole, salsa and corn chips. Carrie brought homemade crescent rolls and Melissa had a rice pineapple dish and a yummy coconut cream cake.

Our efforts to cut Melissa's fluffy and light, and very delicious cake!

The food was great and the company was wonderful. We had a good time!

Happy Mothers' and Beauty Day in Armenia!

2009-04-07T10:49:00.001-05:00

April 7th is the Mothers' and Beauty Day in Armenia! It's called beauty day to include all the women independent from their status, not only mothers. I wish all the Armenian girls and women around the world a happy holiday!
My special love to my mom, my sister and my niece, my sister-in-law (who is going to have her first baby this month) and all my girlfriends in Armenia!

My New Freezer!

2009-04-04T09:42:00.010-05:00

Jim bought a new freezer for me! Exciting!! Each time we saw a good bargain in the grocery stores I'd give him a hard time and say - too bad we don't have a freezer to buy and store them.
After we came back from Arizona, we went to several stores just for fun and looked at the freezers to have an idea about the price range and the kinds of freezers. I didn't plan on buying it that day. But I saw this one in Sears and I liked it a lot. Jim wanted a bigger one to match our fridge but this was the biggest freezer there. So he bought it. I am happy with it - "a happy wife - a happy life!"

3 Gardening Seminars in Arizona!

2009-04-02T09:11:00.022-05:00

It's been a while since I updated my blog. My cousin's death was very depressing & I had a hard time to concentrate on anything at all.
I am back again, and, thank goodness, with better news. Yesterday I received my visa to go to London in May, and after a week in London Jim & I will head to Armenia for a month. I am excited to see my family and friends!

A few days ago a group of people from Arizona called and asked Jim to go there and teach gardening. We decided to go if there was a reasonable group of people who are interested in gardening.

We flew from Alabama to Utah where we rented a car and loaded it with the gardening materials we needed and drove about 12 hours the next day to get to Mesa. We drove through Hoover Dam which was fun to see, and it was more fun to stop in Las Vegas for dinner in Sunset Station which was very good.

Here is the Dam and the new bridge being built to bypass the Dam.

Jacqueline Olsen was the organizer and she did a tremendous amount of work to bring them all together. We conducted seminars last Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The first 2 were in Mesa and the 3rd one was in Gilbert Arizona. We had almost one thousand people in the seminars. The weather was very beautiful and very warm.

We spent 2-2.5 hours indoors and more than 4 - 5 hours outside creating a garden with the principles and techniques Jim taught inside.

Day 1. Somebody from the audience asked to take my picture. Nice of him to do that! This is actually a proof that I am in the seminars with Jim! We had over 350 people on Thursday.

The trees must go if you want a good garden (if they shade the garden, of course) - it's Jim's verdict!

After working hard on the seminars during the day, we had to work as hard at night to create the garden tools or mix micro-nutrients for the next day's class.

It's a good thing we had some good help!

Day2.
It was sunny and very hot outside and Jim forgot his sunscreen, so he borrowed somebody's hat (is that a man's or woman's hat?:)).

Day 3. He spent 8 hours with these people in Gilbert, Arizona. They were so interested and anxious to learn more about the gardening! We had no lunch break during the seminars.

He had to have a microphone to have everybody hear him. This man was working hard to keep the mic close to Jim when he couldn't hold it when he was showing how to transplant seedlings.

Friday night Jim & I were invited to dinner by Luis (who was our translator in Colombia, SA) and his new family to celebrate Luis' birthday.

We had Scottish Salmon dish in one of the local restaurants in Mesa the next day.

After the 3-day seminars we drove back 12 hours to Utah to fly to Alabama the next morning. This time we drove through Page Arizona and stopped in Navajo reservations to take some beautiful pictures. Here Jim bought couple beautiful handmade necklaces for me that I liked very much. These poor Indians were out in the sun and wind hoping somebody would stop and buy stuff from them.

It was a windy day and the sand was fogging up our way. The wind was pretty cold.

We definitely enjoyed the 12-hour drive.

Glan Canyon Dam!

The toughest thing was to get to snowy and very cold Utah. Luckily the next morning we flew back to Alabama where the weather was very pleasant. Our very good friends Krasniskys came and picked us up at the airport and we all went to our favorite Chinese buffet for dinner.

RIP!

2009-03-13T13:40:00.006-05:00

My dear cousin Armen who was turning 20 years old in less than a month (April 12), got shot to his heart by an Azerbaijani 2 days ago during his service in the Armenian Army. He was finishing his 2-year service in the army in less than 2 months. The family couldn't wait for his return!

We all love you and you will be greatly missed, dear Armen!

I am so sorry I can't be there for your funeral on Sunday, March 15, 2009.

Happy Women's Day!

2009-03-08T18:36:00.006-05:00

In this picture from left to right: my best friend's sister and his son, my best friend Marietta, my dad, my mom, my brother, and my brother's wife in the back

In many countries in the world, including Armenia people celebrate International Women's Day today, on March 8th! We exchange gifts and the best of all, we receive gifts from our men (brothers, husbands, bosses and colleagues, etc, if we are lucky, of course:))

Yesterday my dad, later my sister and then my brother called me to wish me a Happy Women's Day. And I called my mom to wish her a wonderful holiday!

I miss my family in Armenia! In 2 months exactly this day we'll land in Armenia!

In the picture: my sister-in-law Armine, my niece Lusine, my sister Narine and my brother Hrach

Feels So Good!!

2009-03-08T18:09:00.010-05:00

It feels so good to be back home! We missed our bed, friends and warm weather, even though we were really blessed to have nice weather for most of the time we were in Utah. It's amazing that it was 60 degrees in Utah when it snowed in Alabama and the highest temperature was 45F.

We loved our visit to Utah, it was a lot of fun to see our families and friends, except it was very hectic to try to do all we needed to do to take care of some business.

Now as we are back home, and what else makes you feel at home more than making bread! This time I decided to try something different and I added some wheat gluten to my ingredients. It turned out SO fluffy and SO light! I love it!

Yesterday we had such a beautiful weather of 75 - 80F. Jim and I worked on building a fence on our driveway, to block the view of the greenhouse and the garden from the street (we had to do this because of the covenants of the subdivision we live in). It's not finished yet, but it looks promising and we were very excited with how well we were doing building a fence.

Gardening Seminar 3 - Preston, Idaho!

2009-03-05T00:51:00.003-06:00

2 days before we had to fly back to Alabama, Jim conducted another gardening seminar in Idaho. We had a very pleasant drive from Utah, and got there half an hour before the seminar was going to start, around 5:30PM.

The seminar was held in a county fair building with over 150 people attending. And again, it was very productive and interesting.

As it was dark outside we didn't go and work in the gardens but instead we showed them a video of Jim working in a garden with all the details.

Jim's student, Jeff who takes care of the Utah Zoo garden, also attended the seminar. Jim wants to prepare Jeff to conduct the seminars we can't attend. He is the one leaning on the table on the right.

Gardening Seminar 2!

2009-02-28T23:35:00.007-06:00

The gardening seminar was in La Verkin, UT close to St George. We had an AMAZING group there of over 200 people!

Jim started the seminar in a cultural hall at 9 AM and in 2 and half hours he took the people out to one of the attendee's garden to create grow-beds and show lots of other techniques. He spent 4 hours in the sun working and talking and answering people's questions.

Like my mom always says, "I can't believe how much energy Jim has for work and helping others."

The people seemed to like the seminar and they were so anxious to get their gardens started right away!

The young lady - Glenda - who invited us to La Verkin to do the seminar had us stay at her lovely home with her husband and 2 talented kids. They gave up their own cozy master bedroom to put us up (even though we suggested we could stay in a hotel or somewhere else).

Jim and I were very happy that we could go there and help those wonderful people, who really wanted to learn how to grow good gardens!

The next stop for a gardening seminar is on Tuesday, March 3rd in Preston, Idaho.

2009-02-27T11:34:00.002-06:00

A Gardening Seminar in Sandy, UT!

2009-02-26T13:46:00.006-06:00

Jim conducted a gardening seminar from 6PM - 10PM in Sandy, Utah. He had almost 100 people there, a big screen, projector, and a professional videographer (besides me:))).
It was very successful and interesting (it had to be interesting to keep those people there till the end!) !

The next seminar is on Saturday morning in La Verkin near Saint George, UT.

We are in Bountiful, UT!!

2009-02-17T22:59:00.007-06:00

It snowed all day today, and I wasn't feeling up to going out. Jim left alone and did some errands while I stayed home (at Jim's daughter's home).

I had such a fun time with 5-year-old genius Adam cooking dinner! But the most hilarious part of it is that Adam announced that he was going to make a soup for dinner all by himself! And it was going to be his own made-up recipe! That got our attention.

I asked him what he was going to put in his soup so that I wouldn't copy something like that when making my part of the dinner, and he said - uhh... ice-cream, uhhh... syrup, uhhh... carrots, celery.... .

Well, that made me a little nervous! So Adam's mom Heather asked him to let me help him with cooking that soup and try to listen to my suggestions, too.

It took over an hour to make the soup, and I am so relieved that I could keep him away from putting onions or garlic with ice-cream, honey and syrup. When I suggested that he add some pecans he got so excited all of a sudden that it surprised me.

But he understood that I said "pickles", and I had a really hard time convincing him not to put pickles in the "soup".

He put lots of green food coloring, a handful of cereal, half an apple, "cimanon", salt, butter, lemon and orange juices, milk, one biscuit, a big pinch of
baking soda (which of course made it foam, making him SO happy!), honey, sorbet and syrup, and brought it to a boil. And older brother Matthew filmed the production!

And it wasn't too bad! Everybody even had a second helping.

After his masterpiece was completely finished, Adam helped me make the rest of the dinner! I love those boys!!

Girls' Night!!

2009-02-13T17:10:00.012-06:00

I wanted to get together with my friends for a while now before Jim and I left for Utah. I didn't really know what we would be doing but I was sure that all of us together will make a special night no matter what we do.
Carrie brought some delicious sweets of Valentine theme! She made everything and they were very yummy! Melissa's cheese sticks were a good break from sweets! Later Jim made some popcorn for us.

Chelsea brought a fun game called "ImaginIff..." which kept us occupied and entertained for a while.

Melody and Mallory joined us a little later after the game.

Tricia, Sherilyn, Melody and I visited and talked till about 11.30PM. What a fun night! Thank you girls!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Jim had a gardening seminar on Valentin's day, so we were too busy with it to celebrate the holiday. Besides, we were getting ready to fly to Utah the next morning.

Jim surprised me with his gift in Utah, though - a beautiful pair of long boots that he bought in Salt Lake City! I loved it!

Dinner with a family from our ward!

2009-02-07T13:15:00.003-06:00

My chicken onion soup (Chakhobili) was the favorite dish for my guests again. That's our signature dish.
After dinner we played Rooks, sang karaoke and played my electronic piano. Lymans are fun to be around!

My worst bread EVER!!!

2009-02-02T16:38:00.003-06:00

My friend Jessica came to my place and we made bread. For some reason my yeast went bad and my bread didn't rise. I made the worst whole wheat bread EVER!! I was so embarrassed! I am going to buy new yeast and make a new batch with her and hopefully have a good one this time.

Jessica's beautiful kids - Mark & Abby - had a lot of fun playing the piano and singing karaoke. Jim had his number, too!

Happy 4th Anniversary!

2009-01-27T15:03:00.008-06:00

Jim & I spent a day in Walt Disney World on our anniversary on the 21st of January. It was the coldest day! It was 27F at night! But it didn't stop us from having a great day.

Jim caught me biting on the turkey leg. I love those turkey legs!!

My anniversary gift from 'Japan' in EPCOT!

Jim found one of his swords in 'England' in EPCOT. He got that sword a few years ago from Spain.

Florida, Here We Come!!!

2009-01-19T14:18:00.007-06:00

We got to Florida last night and found a beautiful home (unoccupied but completely finished) waiting for us. One of Jim's gardening group members who is a chiropractor arranged everything. He and his colleague invited us to stay for a few days to help them figure out the area they want to turn into a big garden. We also have a 4-year anniversary coming up on the 21st, so we'll manage to have fun also. My inclination is to go to Walt Disney World in Orlando but there are several other places here that can be fun to visit, too. We'll see! I am excited. The weather is high 60-s and low 70-s. That's my kind of winter!
Here are some beautiful sunsets in Homossassa and Pine Island!

I wonder why this place is called Pine Island!

My New Hairstyle!

2009-01-07T16:03:00.008-06:00

It's been a while since I had my hair cut. I love my hairdresser in Armenia. Cutting my hair in Armenia is a must for me. I managed to find a good hairdresser in Salt Lake City as well (he happens to be Armenian, too) but I am having a hard time finding one in Alabama who will do a good job without breaking the bank!
Yesterday I finally went to someone called Josh who was referred to us and I think he did pretty well. We'll see that for sure after I wash my hair and try to fix it myself.

My Christmas gift from Jim - Traveling!

2009-01-03T12:57:00.014-06:00

Jim and I love traveling! I have already been to 42 states in 4 years of my being in United States. So Jim decided to buy tickets for Seattle Washington this time, and he got them before the snow storms started. So we went! I managed to visit 2 more states I hadn't been to - Washington and Oregon. We also drove to Vancouver Canada. Even though the weather was very cold and it snowed every day, we had a lot of fun, especially shopping in the malls and going to movies.

This is what it looked like in downtown Portland after we came back from Macy's! We were really lucky to have a good rental car that was one of the rare ones on the streets not to get stuck in the snow or slide off the freeways. Jim managed to get 39 MPG. It's Toyota Prius Hybrid.

The 'Pacific Place' was close to our hotel which was in downtown and I enjoyed spending some time there as many times as I could. They had daily live music for the people coming to the mall for shopping or dining!

Driving on the freeways was not fun at all!

Driving from Vancouver Washington to Seattle WA in a snow storm was not easy. Jim did a great job and was very careful driving in the snow!

The street where lots of famous brand stores were. The big star is shining on the Macy's building.

On Sunday, the 28th (our last day in Seattle) there was a little sunshine. So we got some pictures from a flat beautiful roof of an empty house.

The only little fun we had in Vancouver Canada was to try some very extreme and extremely uncomfortable shoes in a big mall. I liked the red one but for the look not the comfort.

We also ate in a Hot Pot buffet as we got to Canada late in the evening we didn't have many choices of places to eat. That was unbelievable!! I had never seen anything like that! You get to choose the sauce or soup for your meal and they bring you big bowl with a divider in it for separate soups. They put it on the table in the middle where there is a flat burner. You also choose the meat, veggies, seafood, etc and you drop them into the "soups" and have them be cooked right on your table and fish them out and eat. Then they'll bring more and more and more, anything you want from their menu. The people there spent HOURS eating lots of meat, seafood, a few veggies!!! The worst part comes an hour or 2 hours later after you leave that place. The smell that your clothes and even your skin have absorbed!

The malty chocolate strawberry shake was a great ending of a delicious dinner in an Italian restaurant in 'Pacific Place' in Seattle WA!

We had a great Christmas and we celebrated the New Year with our friends Ripple and Vince in our Alabama home from 9PM on the 31st till 1AM of January 1st, 2009! We were playing cards and having some Armenian traditional food I prepared for the New Year's Eve like we do in Armenia!

My Favorite Holiday - Christmas!

2008-12-14T18:02:00.016-06:00

Jim bought this beautiful nativity set in Spain a few years ago and brought them with him. Lucky him he didn't break any!

I had lots of fun making my own wreath for the door, a centerpiece for my kitchen table. Putting up the nativities and decorating the Christmas tree was a lot of fun!

Jim and I had a lot of fun doing shopping for Christmas gifts for his children yesterday. And we spent some time today to fold and pack the gifts to ship them out to Utah tomorrow. They don't know anything about it. Hopefully they'll like their surprise-gifts.

Happy Birthday, Honey!

2008-12-05T13:02:00.015-06:00

November 30th is Jim's birthday! I made a chocolate cake with cream cheese icing and chocolate frosting! Yum!

Jim was not as "happy" about the cake because I didn't put candles on it!!!:(( (he was giving me a hard time, of course).

The gifts that made him excited especially the popcorn bowl. He LOVES (what a relief, when I ask him what he'd like to get he says
'I don't need anything' ) his new bowl as the cover lets the leftover popcorn be perfectly fresh the next day, and of course, there are hole on the bottom for the ones that didn't pop!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-12-05T12:24:00.010-06:00

My gorgeous and yummy turkey!

Thanksgiving is a beautiful time of the year! I love all the fall colors, and I love to spend Thanksgiving with our families and/or friends. So we invited 3 young couples to Thanksgiving dinner with their children. We were 8 adults and 5 kids. We had a lot of fun! There was lots to eat!

Jim and I love playing games. So after dinner we played rook cards.

Yearly medical check-up!

2008-11-22T17:08:00.010-06:00

Jim and I set an appointment in the Health County for a general check-up. We had an appointment at 8:40 A.M. and 8:45 A.M. November 21. After a LONG wait we finally were called in and started filling out some forms. Later the nurses checked our blood pressure, drew a bunch of blood, etc. After another long wait the doctors (we each had different ones) came in. Everything seemed to be alright. It was 11:30 when we were done and we were told we needed to have our eyes checked as well. The earliest appointment was at 1 P.M. the same day. We managed to come home for a quick lunch and went back to wait for a while again for the doctor and her students come back from lunch. Jim and I got students to check our eyes. After a few hours of bright blue laser lights and painful drops we were finally done around 4 P.M. The good news is that we had great visions and healthy eyes. The bad news is that we couldn't read or see close. Our eyes were very blurry. And I had to go to my friend Carrie's place to make quilts and do some stitches. Good luck with that! I had to ask the student who was checking my eyes to find Carrie's phone number in my cell phone so I could call and cancel that. Instead we did some Thanksgiving grocery shopping.

Girls' Night and a Birthday Party!

2008-11-22T14:20:00.017-06:00

It was one of our friend's husband's (Eric) birthday yesterday, so the men decided to get together to celebrate meanwhile the 4 of us spent a few fun hours at Chelsea's place eating ice-cream, a fruit salad and other snack. We watched the movie "Made of Honor". It was midnight when we left to go to our homes. Today in the morning I had a hard time to get up.

My friend Melissa's daughter Shannon is turning 4 on the 29th of November, and as they are not going to be here for the birthday (they are spending Thanksgiving with their folks in TN) they decided to through a birthday party today, November 22!
She had quite a lot of friends, and she received a lot of beautiful gifts. Shannon had her "ups and downs" but the party was fun! She is a smart little girl! The kids played games and ate lots of sweets and pizza! I was the 'photographer'. It is hard to take good pictures when the kids are playing and moving a lot.

Eric made fun stuff with balloons. Even I got one!
Happy Birthday, Shannon!

Lunch with Friends

2008-11-15T10:00:00.005-06:00

It was our friend Ripple Krasnisky's birthday! The Mears and us took the Krasniskys out for lunch. We went to Fish Market in downtown Birmingham. It's a Greek restaurant and a fish market at the same time. It looks old but it offered great food. I loved the grilled snapper fish. We had a great time visiting with each other and touring around the store.

A Busy Day!

2008-11-13T16:29:00.005-06:00

On Tuesday morning I went to my good friend Melissa's place and we took her kids and went to shopping. First Melissa took me to her favorite spice store where Shannon (Melissa's beautiful 4-year-old daughter) had me draw a mermaid to post on the wall for children. Then she made up her mind and she kept it. After that Shannon enjoyed smelling almost every spice and herb and extract in that store. I had a "colorful" smell in my nose that whole day!
The next stop was in a store specialized in baking where Shannon was treated with an apple juice and hot chocolate! We spent quite a lot of time in Whole Foods Market. I love this store with their orange-fig gelato!
The kids were getting tired and we went home to meet again in couple hours to visit teach. I enjoyed the time we spent with Carrie. She likes sewing and making quilts, drawing. I haven't discovered the other talents yet. Melissa left with the kids and I stayed at Carrie's to watch her work on one of her quilt projects. I am excited to have this opportunity! We made a deal with Carrie: she will teach me to make quilts if I teach her make homemade bread! Works for me!! Can't wait to start it!

Jim started exercising!

2008-11-05T19:21:00.003-06:00

After many tests (general health, stress, biopsy, etc) Jim finally was qualified to participate in 37-week exercise class with his own coach!! We are very excited! He is hoping to loose some weight and keep on staying healthy (he is blaming me for his weight. I feed him too well, he says. It's ok, I'll take the blame!). His first formal training starts on Friday 7th. I go to his classes with him and I exercise by myself. Jim gets to drink special protein drinks before and after the exercise, 3 days a week.

We are enjoying the fall in Alabama! I love the colors of the trees especially the red ones!!

A Fun Day!

2008-10-30T18:52:00.003-05:00

Early in the morning Jim had an appointment with his personal coach. After a few tests he is finally going to start his morning exercises starting Monday the 3rd! We are very excited! I might get some workout there, too!
After his appointment we had about 2.5-3 hours to kill before my appointment to take my fingerprints and photo for my permanent residency card. So, we went to Whole Foods Market and then had wonderful lunch in TGI Friday. After my painless appointment (which is rare in this case) we managed to stop in several stores that we like, and it took me a long time to put the things away after we got home! The only thing that is missing in this whole day's fun is the fig-orange gelato that I didn't get to eat in WFM (I couldn't spoil my lunch and miss eating in one of my favorite restaurants).
Thanks for the great day, Jim!

2008-10-28T15:57:00.002-05:00

I finally created a blog! This is exciting but I also realize that it's going to take a lot of time to update it. I hope it will be worth the efforts!

Today I spent 2 hours in my friend's Melissa's place making whole wheat bread with her and her mom. I hope they like it! It's a very healthy and easy recipe.

After I came home I started craving for some sweets and I made oozy-gooey molten chocolate individual cakes with caramel filling. They were sinfully GOOD!