Sunday, March 29, 2015

The Whalen family and their newborn baby boy!

 

I slept in until after six this morning.  I stayed up past my bedtime last night talking to Kim and Stacy and reading to James.  I had the bean and cheese I ordered from Elmer's last night for breakfast.  What a way to start the day!

 

I finished preparing for the Easter lesson we are giving today, and James read it through for the first time.  We are about as prepared as we can be for four year olds.

 

Jana and Logan Hancock were the speakers in sacrament meeting.  Sister Hancock shared a quote, and I didn't get the source, but I loved the quote:

 "Having the Holy Ghost as our constant companion is the ultimate indicator that we are acceptable before the Lord."

 

Here is a quote I liked from Brother Hancock's talk:

"The Savior suffered so that we could be together."

 

Stacy did the music in Primary today and Joshua gave a talk about prophets and he said three of his favorite prophets were from the Book of Mormon: Lehi, Nephi, and Abinadi.  He also finished reading the Book of Mormon today and so did Addy.  I am so proud of them!



Joshua

A picture of Addy will be forthcoming.

 

Our Primary class was exceptionally good today during singing and sharing time.  Taylor came in crying because she misses her mom who is home taking care of her dad so she had to sit on Brother Lambson's lap for awhile but the she was fine.  Malachi was an angel and Shade was so much better than last week.   Isaiah was a

 problem in class and I wanted James to take him to his mother but we held off and he got a little better.  I was ready for a Dr. Pepper Ten when I got home. 

 

Michael went to a fireside tonight and wore one of James's shirts his mother got him for Christmas.  It's dark blue with long sleeves and a button down collar.  It looked very nice on him.  Don't ask me why I didn't get a picture.

 

 

 

 







 



Saturday, March 28, 2015

Payson, Utah temple

 

"Only by regular attendance at the temple can we remember the importance of the commitments we have made to serve the Lord

with all our heart, might, mind, and strength"

-Theodore M. Burton

 

James worked all day long today, mostly at Jerod Bowen's.  He also finished putting the window in the family room.  It looks so nice.  Alex and Seth went with him to work at Jerod's. 

 

I worked on my Primary lesson, took Dallin to work, and went to A.J.'s Fine Foods.  I have been craving a lemon square since I got their advertisement in the mail.  I waited in the line for baked goods for about 15 minutes to get my lemon square and then I was off to get rootbeer and ice cream for after women's conference tonight.  I also got James some frozen crab cakes which he loved!  He said they were as good as the ones he gets at Cheesecake Factory.

 

I came home, took a nap, and worked on my blog.  Around 4pm Sheri picked me up to go to Heather Lambson's baby shower.  She and Patrick are adopting a baby girl.

 Ashlyn is the birth mother and she was at the shower.  She

picked the name Raelynn Rose for the baby.  What is interesting is that Heather's maiden name is Ray and her middle name is Lynn.

 

 

Stacy, Kim, Sheri, and I watched the General Women's Meeting at our house.  We also ordered Elmer's for dinner.  Afterwards we had rootbeer floats. 

 

Facebook finds:



True Love

 

Coty Iannoli,

one of the YW in Vernon.

 







Friday, March 27, 2015

Mesa, Arizona temple

Gail is in town for a couple of days.  He drove 1250 miles down from Oregon to surprise Seth for his 18th birthday on Thursday and to do his dad's temple work on Friday.  We had thought someone else had done the work but Jared found out they just had his name reserved.  Jared sent us the name and the brothers agreed that Gail should be the one to do it.  Those who could,  met at the Mesa temple for the 5:30 am session.  Here are a couple of pictures of our group:

James, David, Gail, Terry, Brent, Rebecca, Erik

James, David, Gail, Terry, me, Brent, Rebecca

 

We were hungry when we got home so James made us some ham and cheese omelets with toast.  Very tasty.

 

Brent came out and walked the yard with James.  We are totally re-doing our sprinkler system and getting new plants and granite in the planters.  My big concern is getting rid of all the grass in the planters.  It may come down to getting a shovel and digging down three feet to get it out.

Gail came by for a short visit on his way out of town.  He thinks nothing of driving the 1250 miles between here and Oregon straight through without stopping to sleep.  I don't know how he does it.

 

After a nice nap I went downstairs to work in the year's supply room.  It was a little gross but I am not going to mention why on this G rated blog.  James spent a few hours working at Jerod Bowen's.  

 

James did a nice thing tonight.  Last night when we were at Sheri's I could tell she was a little stressed and needed a break.  I asked James if he would take Max to his two hour football practice this evening so Sheri and I could go see "Cinderella."  He said he would be glad to.  We left him Sheri's car and he and Ben took Max to practice at Discovery Park while Sheri and I saw "Cinderella" nearby at Crossroads Theater.  Evan went to Trina's to hangout with Rowan.  After the movie Sheri and I stopped at the park.  She stayed with Max and Ben and James came home with me.  

I got to see Prince Charming again.

 

 

 





 



 

 



Thursday, March 26, 2015

Throwback Thursday to this picture of

Paul & Stacy

 

I cleaned in the living room today.  The ceiling fan and the silk plant took the most time.  The carpet needs to replaced or professionally cleaned. 

I also picked up Ben, Max, Evan and Joshua from school because Sheri had to be at work. 

 

I got a call from my brother Dennis today.  He said that our cousin Carol Seay passed away either during the night or early this morning.  She had been complaining of her legs hurting but I am not sure what the cause of death was determined to be.  He is going to let me know when the funeral will be. 

 

I was doing a little shopping this afternoon and got a call from Trina and the kids.  They invited me to meet them for ice cream at the DQ in Santan Village. 

What a fun way to spend part of my afternoon!

 

Sheri invited us down to her house for dinner tonight.  She was supposed to feed the missionaries but one of them was sick so they didn't come.  We had ziti, salad, garlic knots, brownies, and a small meatloaf from Safeway which was my contribution.

 

 

The high today was around 90 degrees.  A little too hot for March.  The evenings are still nice though.

 

Kaitlyn Booth was in a car accident tonight.  She fractured her nose sprained her ankle, and busted her lip.  This is what her car looks like:

Adam is very worried about her!

 



 

 









Wednesday, March 25, 2015

 

"The Atonement of Christ provides a way for God to be at the same time both just and merciful.  Since Christ and I are one in the gospel covenant, and since in a covenant partnership it doesn't matter which partner does what, Christ can answer the demands of justice for me, and I can then receive the benefits of mercy from him.  This is an arrangement that satisfies both justice and mercy."

-Stephen E. Robinson

 

I couldn't bend my knee when I got up this morning.  But I can sit, and so it didn't stop me from doing my gospel study and preparation this morning.  Instead of doing any cleaning though, I went with James to Jerod Bowen's job.  Of course I read to him both coming and going.  I am getting pretty darn good at reading in the car. 

We stopped at Sonic to get something to eat and since I am counting calories, I looked up the nutritional information for their burgers and cheese burgers online.  Yikes!  A cheeseburger has 710 calories and 43 grams of fat.  I don't think I will ever be able to eat another one.  A hamburger has 640 calories and 37 grams of fat, which is not much better.  We settled on grilled chicken sandwiches with 450 calories and 17 grams of fat. 

 

When I got home from our trip I took a couple of aspirin and laid down for awhile.  My knee was much better when I got up. 

 

I picked up Joshua and Max from school while Sheri took Ben and Evan to appointments. 

 

I sent Addy a text this afternoon.  She is performing at the Suns game tonight during half time and I wanted to wish her luck.  I hope Darrel takes some pictures.

 

We spent the evening at home in our room.  I paid bills and James worked on preparing information for income taxes.

Good choice for a best friend

Kaytlynn!





Tuesday, March 24, 2015

"The Atonement of Jesus Christ 'is the most important single thing that has ever occurred in the entire history of created things; it is the rock foundation upon which the gospel and all other things rest."'

-Bruce R. McConkie

 

James helped me clean the kitchen today.  He reached back into the corner behind the stove where I couldn't reach.  He took off the fan cover which was covered in grease so I could clean it.  He also took down the shutters so I could clean them and wash the windows.  I think that cleaning helps you to love where you live.

It's so nice to have a man around the house, especially one who

helps with the cleaning.

 

Today being Taco Tuesday we headed out to a Mexican restaurant.  We chose Guedo's.  In all the 40+ years of living in Chandler I can only remember going there once.  Now I remember why.  They only take cash, and excuse me for saying so, but I think the place is a little creepy.  We settle for a family favorite, Serrano's instead.  This is what I got:

I only wanted the enchilada and the refried beans but James made me order the taco because it's Taco Tuesday.  Every thing was good, but not nearly as good as LaCasita in Show Low.  Next week James gets to choose where we go.

 

This afternoon I went to Target to get marshmallows, cardstock and ribbon for my visiting teaching handouts.  The messages this year are focusing on the attributes of Christ and this month it's patience and long-suffering.  My handout has a quote from the lesson on patience and a story about an experiment done in the 60's regarding children and marshmallows and the ability to patiently endure.



The treat is a carton of marshmallows that look like strawberries.

The marshmallow experiment



Since Bunny was late getting home from work I went to visit Gerry Price by myself.  We had a nice visit.  I found out that Bob Layton is her cousin and that he has Parkinson's disease.  He and Dianne are some of the nicest people I have been privileged to know.

 

Bunny and I visited Karen Payne.  They are both doing the Medi-fast diet so we talked about dieting and mechanics and broken down cars, and a sister Karen visit teaches who read some anti-Mormon literature and doesn't want to come to church anymore. 

 

James finished putting the cover on the fan in the bathroom and matched the paint on the ceiling quite well. 

 

Before bed James rubbed heat rub on my right knee.  It is swollen and very painful.  I am concerned because it hasn't even been three weeks since I had my Remicade infusion.







Monday, March 23, 2015

The Tree of Life

 

"Every attempt to reflect upon the Atonement, to study it, to

embrace it, to express appreciation for it,

however small or feeble it may be,

will kindle the fires of faith and work its miracle towards

a more Christlike life."

-Tad R. Callister

Dallin told Michael and I all about his trip to California.  It sounds like he had a lot of fun. 

I cleaned the family room fan before leaving for my doctor's appointment at Dr. Allen's. When they took my blood pressure it was 110/78 and that was after not taking any blood pressure medicine this morning.  I did have to have more bloodwork done to test my hormone levels.  On the way home I stopped at Costco for some frozen burros and wound up getting burros, chimichangas, apples, and Panko bread chicken.  It is so easy to overbuy at Costco.

I also went to Deseret Book to return the garments I bought for Sheri in exchange for some for myself.  Susan Barker waited on me and told me I looked the same as I did 30 years ago.  Thanks Susan, you made my day! 

My last stop was two stops were at the bank and then to Walmart to pick up prescriptions. 

When I got home James was drilling so loudly to remove the family room window that you couldn't hear yourself think.  I had to give Stacy some earplugs.  She was working on a poster for Joshua.  He is the star student in his class this week. 

 

James worked for about an hour and then stopped.  We went to dinner at Jersey Mike's. 

 

For FHE we helped Stacy find pictures of Joshua to put on his poster.  I think it turned out pretty well.



 

 

I wanted to post this thank you note from Trina.  She is always

so very thoughtful.

 

 







Sunday, March 22, 2015

He is the light of the world.

He carries me through my toughest days, inspire me to be a better person, helps me make the right choices and keeps me on the strait and narrow path.  He lights the way.

Because of Him I have hope and eternal life and joy and love.  He is my Savior, my King, my hero.  Because of Him I have understanding about this life, why I am here and a glimpse of heaven and the future where all my tears will be wiped away.

 

I was up at 5am, an hour late, to prepare for the day.  Today our Primary lesson is on the gift of the Holy Ghost.  I came to the conclusion that I need to do more work earlier in the week. 

 

I packed my Primary bag with: cookies, Playdough, plastic eggs, pictures, my computer for music and a video, plus the lesson outline. 

 

The theme for sacrament meeting today was Young Women's Personal Progress.  The youth speakers was Ciarra Armijo who spoke on Individual Worth.  "I am of infinite worth with my own divine missin, which I will strive to fulfill."

Cammie Soderquist - Virtue - "I will prepare to enter the temple and remain pure and worth.  My thoughtsand actions will be based on high moral standards.

Robyn Rogers - Divine Nature - I have inherited divine qualities, which I will striv to develop.  Only through Jesus Christ can we reach our divine potential.

 

The Sunbeam teacher, Nancy Tolman, was absent today and Sister Casto asked if her three Sunbeams could come with us.  Since we only had six of our children here today we thought we could handle it so I said yes. 

Before getting into the lesson on The Holy Ghost we talked about spring time and how new things are born in the spring.  We showed bird eggs and baby birds and talked about how Heavenly Father blesses our lives.  Later, after the lesson, the kids made nests with their Playdough.  Shade is not pictured here.  He was having a bad day and needed to be with his mom.





Brooklyn

Brooklyn with her mama bird

Taylor

Brielle

Ivy

Isaiah

Sunbeam class:

Riley

Liam

Nelson

 

James and I always come home from church exhausted.  He left immediately with Dave to go home teaching to the Bingham's.  I fixed some lunch: leftover bbq beef and a Chinese ginger sesame salad.  I worked on my blog, took a short nap and then had interviews with Ben and Max about the Book of Mormon.

 

James came home, ate, and laid down for a looooong nap.  I finally had to get him up after 6pm. 

 

My interviews, so far, with Alex, Ben, and Max regarding the Book of Mormon have gone very well.  Last week I interviewed Alex and he shared one of his favorite scriptures: Mosiah 4: 19-26.



Alex

Ben's favorite scripture was

Alma 7:14

Ben

Max's favorite scripture:

2 Nephi 31:20

Max

I am so proud of these boys!

 

After dinner I recorded the Relief Society lesson on Sustaining the Prophet in my Sunday journal.  I also read from Jesus the Christ by James E. Talmage.  Here is what I had for dinner:

 

I read to James, per his request, from our book:

 



 







Saturday, March 21, 2015

 

"The very beauty of the word repentance is the promise of escaping old problems and old habits and old sorrows and old sins.  It is among the most hopeful and encouraging - and yes, most peaceful - words in the gospel vocabulary."

-Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

 

Today is the second day of my "diet", which is mainly keeping track of what I eat and limiting my calories. 

 

James asked me again today to go with him to Jared Bowen's office.  We read from our new book "A Lady's Honor" on the way there and back.  We are both excited about this new book and how it captured our interest right from the beginning.  It is interesting how you become familiar with an author's style of writing and start trying to predict who is going to do what based on the last book you read.

 

For lunch we went to the drive-thru Panda Express and I got my teriyaki chicken bowl only this time I also got a side of beef and broccoli.  James ate the beef and I ate the broccoli.  We also picked up an orange chicken bowl with noodles for Stacy per her request.

 

I needed to go shopping this afternoon and decided I would go to Winco instead of Walmart.  When I got home I realized the reason I needed to go to Walmart was to pick up my prescriptions.  Duh!  I guess I will have to wait until Monday. 



Winco has the finest display of Little Debbie cakes that

I have ever seen.  It reminds me of my good friend Kay who had Little Debbie cakes just about every day.

 

James picked up the new windows for the house today and realized that two of them were wrong so he had to take them back.  He was not happy either with himself or with the guy from Lowe's who he placed the order with.  They are low-e double insulated windows.

 

Dallin and his Harrison Fjiord band friends made a trip to California this weekend to practice with the piano player they are performing with at the instrument museum in Phoenix.

 

 

 

We missed Max's first tackle football game today.  He came home just as we were leaving for Michael's track meet to tell me he finished reading the Book of Mormon.  I gave him his $50 and told him he would need to come back tomorrow to share his favorite scripture with me.  He agreed. 

 

Chandler Rotary is the biggest track meet in all of Arizona.  With schools competing from all over the southwest.  Michael did very well in his event, which is the 800 race.  He got 11th out of 40-60 participants and was 2nd in Arizona.  Alexis got 5th, so we are confident they will both go to state. 

Two super nice and talented kids.

It was a beautiful night to be outside and was so fun to watch Michael run.  James and I took Joshua with us and brought him home so Stacy and Paul could stay a little longer.



Friday, March 20, 2015

 

"A soft heart has nothing to do with being a coward.  In fact, the bravest people I've ever known have had the softest hearts.  I've known of situations in which the Lord's servants have put their lives in jeopardy because of their love for God and his children."

-Henry B. Eyring

 

The Chandler Rotary track meet starts today.  It is the biggest track meet in the state of Arizona.  Participants come from Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Utah, Nevada, California, and Arizona.  After playing a little soccer and Batman on the X-Box, Michael spent the day at the track meet, even though he's not running until tomorrow. 

 

Jon and Jamie are here from Boise.  Jamie's parents are having their 50th wedding anniversary. 

 

James started Jared Bowen's job today.  He took Seth and Alex with him this morning to work. 

 

I started tracking what I eat today and limiting my calories to 1600 a day.  I need to feel like I am exercising some control in this area of my life.

 

Kim wanted to go to the temple today so we went to do initiatories.  Stacy took Joshua on a little date to the Dollar Store and McDonald's.  Spring break will be over soon and she wanted to spend some time with him. 

Thanks to Jared for preparing all of these

family names for us to do.

 This evening we went to a Navajo taco dinner at Kendall and Kristy Thomas's.  It was a fundraiser for their son Edward for his mission.  While there we also saw Sarah and Alea Cruz and Walt Turley's wife Rosalie.  The Navajo tacos were delicious!  I am so glad we went.

 

Kim took a picture of the sunrise this evening.

This picture was posted on the channel 12 website:

 





Thursday, March 19, 2015



One of the books I am reading right now.

 

Stacy wasn't feeling very well today so we did not do initiatories as we had planned.  Maybe tomorrow. 

 

I worked in the kitchen today.  I removed things from the counter and scrubbed it with Softscrub.  I also wiped down the backsplash on the walls.  There is still lots to do, but at least I got a start. 

 

For lunch I was craving Chik-fila chicken strips with honey mustard sauce, so that's what I got.  When James returned from the cabin, which was nearer dinner time, he brought me a mixed burro.  I lost control of my eating today and I don't want to do that anymore.  Tomorrow I am going to start keeping track of what I eat and the amount of calories I consume.  I would like to lose at least 25 lbs. by my birthday which is five months from now.

 

James had to go to Jared Bowen's physical therapy office in east Mesa where he is starting a little remodel job tomorrow.  He asked me to ride over there with him so I did.  We started reading from a new book:

Another Laurie Alice Eakes book.

 

As I was waiting in the car for James I rolled the window down.  It is so beautiful in the evenings this time of year.  There are lots of Brazilian Palo Verde trees in Jared Bowen's parking lot.  I love them with their green trunks and branches and yellow flowers.