OUR FAMILY: September 2026

Friday, September 4, 2026

Sunday, August 23rd, 2026: Packed & rdy to go, up early to finish outline & quotes, my Bohemian dress, arrived early, setup easy, best setup ever, talk w/ Kerri about Dominique, handouts to Primary & YW, visit w/friends, Bishop introduces sacrament, Brady's & Karmalynn, Debbie's miracle, lunch, R&R, clean upstairs, CFM weekly review, Jared, & friends coming

San Juan, Puerto Rico

Temple #176

Most everything for my lesson is packed and ready to go. I got up early to finish my outline and quotes to handout.

I wore what I call my Bohemian dress today. I tried to take a selfie but you can't really see the dress very well.

Just a couple of oldies looking

forward to a wonderful Sabbath day.

We arrived at the church early and no one was meeting in the Relief Society room for ward counsel, so I was able to setup. I should have taken a picture, it was my best setup ever.

Kerri came in to setup the microphone system and we talked about her niece, Dominique. Dominique has moved back down to the valley to be close to her kids, but it's highly unlikely she will get custody with no job or very few assets.

After setting up James and I went down to the chapel to look for someone from Primary and Young Women to give handouts to. I found Sister Putz from Primary and James saw Susan Crane from Young Women's.

Before sacrament meeting started I visited with a few friends: Millie Scott, Oksana, Evelyn Carter, Donna Beckham, Kristina Hipps, and Tamara Applegate. I got several compliments on my dress and the belt I wore with it.

Bishop conducted sacrament meeting. To introduce the sacrament, he talked about the Savior in 3 Nephi 11 reaching out to the one and how he encouraged spiritual renewal and growth which is what the sacrament is all about, and repenting of course. Our remission of sins is ongoing. We need to seek, and knock to come unto Him.

Karmalynn Edwards was the youth speaker today. It was her first time. She is the granddaughter of the main speakers, Mike & Chris Brady. She spoke from "For the Strength of Youth" manual and did very well. I had a hard time hearing but here is something she said:

We can't control what others do, but we can choose how we react to them. You don't have to be perfect. Heavenly Father doesn't compare us with others.

Chris Brady John 13:34-35 As I have loved you, love one another. "Love All, Love Each", Elder Causse. As we know others better we learn to love them more. We love as we serve and ask questions to get to know others better. We should feel and express Christlike love to all. Caring for others is a way to connect them with Christ. As we extend Christlike love to each person, our eyes are opened to their divine potential. Though He was often surrounded by multitudes, the Savior always gave His full attention to the one - one sheep, one leper, one Samaritan woman, one child, one soul at a time.

We have two Elder Allens serving in our ward as the full-time missionaries. One of them played the piano and the other song the special musical number, "I Am Not Ashamed."

Mike Brady I'm not sure what the theme of Brother Brady's talk was but he mainly spoke about his family history here in Vernon. He has lived in Vernon all of his life. His pioneer grandparents came here in the early 1800's. Brother Brady's grandparents rejoiced when they came to Vernon. He learned from his grandmother to be forgiving. He learned from his grandfather to work hard and to always do your best. Family always helped each and those around them in need. They made it through hard times.

When I asked the sisters who read the lesson Lorraine Vaught said she listened to the lesson.

My introduction to the lesson went something like this:

You all just came from partaking of the sacrament and I don't imagine that you committed any sins while coming down the hallway. This means that you brought the Spirit with you into this class. I invite Him to stay and bear witness to us of eternal truths.

I then told about the wonderful week I had, all of the things I did and the people I visited with, including my birthday. I said it was almost a perfect week until last night. I told about the misunderstanding James and I had about the fan and how I went to bed a little sad. One thing about a misunderstanding, it creates an opportunity to apologize and forgive, which I did this morning before coming to Church. How grateful I am for the principle of repentance!

We went through the lesson, using Peter's story to illustrate "Best Days and Worst Days." I felt good about the lesson when we were finished. As I was talking with Judy Hunter, who teaches the temple prep class, she mentioned to me that Debbie Schwarz would be going through the temple on the 28th, and the Kostusiak's would be going on the 29th. I was surprised because Debbie was baptized in October and I thought she had to wait a year. Judy said that Bishop Crane called the First Presidency and told them about Debbie and how our temple would be closed in October and how much she wanted to go to the Snowflake temple. The First Presidency prayed over Debbie's name and gave her permission to go this month before our temple closes. I told Debbie how special she was and she said: "I know, I feel so loved." I told her I wouldn't be hear because I was going to Texas for my granddaughter's baptism but I wished her all the very best. She thanked me and gave me a hug.

James and I had a simple lunch before our rest time. Here is what I ate:

Taylor corn, a mole enchilada, cottage

cheese and avocado.

Jared Ammon and a couple of friends are coming up tonight for a visit. James and I went upstairs to do a little cleaning. It turned out to be more than we thought and we vowed we would never do this on Sunday again.

Here is this week's "Come Follow Me" review:

1. "I have trusted ... in the Lord."

2. Jesus Christ is the promised Messiah.

3. "The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord."..

4. The word of the Lord is Powerful, "rejoicing the heart."

5. The Savior can help me be pure so I can enter God's presence.

"If we are to succeed in developing a Christlike character, we must possess His motivations - His thoughts, desires, and intents of the heart."

D. Todd Christofferson

Psalm 40:5

Many, O LORD my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.

Today's handouts

Baskets - To - Go

Cookies and Handouts

Saturday, August 22nd, 2026: Whitney Tilson & Stansberry Research, scriptures, DAB talk, Kim & Brian's, Polly's funeral, The Guadalupe on Main, trip home, movie, argument about the fan

Quito, Ecuador

Temple #175.

I got up around 3 am this morning and found an advertisement for a company called Stansberry Research. It is a financial investment company. I listened to someone named Whitney Tilson talk about investing and how the United States is split in half in their views. He also said that the next six months are critical for investors and the country at large. He feels we are going to see a lot of changes, most of them, not good. I signed up for the program for $149.

We are getting the money for the land sometime this week and we need to invest a big chunk of it. Neither one of us know anything about investing, so this is a way for me to learn.

James and I had scriptures and prayer together as we normally do in the morning. As part of "Come Follow Me" we listened to a talk by Elder Bednar, "Clean Hands and a Pure Heart" from the October 2007 General Conference. I loved this talk and want to go back and study it again.

We arrived at Kim & Brian's in the valley somewhere around 10 a.m. Everyone was at home. I am always amazed at how beautiful their cat Bella is. She has the most beautiful big brown eyes and I have never seen a cat the color that she is. Brian notarized the warranty deed for the sale of the 23 acres to Dave & Wendy Elkins. Brian's signature is very "brief" and unique. He says it's because sometimes he has to sign as many as 218 pages. For example he just did that for a man in the hospital who wanted to do a reverse mortgage on his house.

I gave Joe a hug, and admired the flowers he got for Kim when she came home and I also admired his kitty Bella. I never see Louie when I come. I guess he sleeps in Kim & Brian's bedroom.

He got these at Walmart!

Look how the vase matches the flowers.

I think that was luck more than planning.

On to Polly's funeral in San Tan Valley. We arrived early. I was impressed with how many family and individual photos were displayed. There were no programs but there was a huge poster instead.

As we were sitting and waiting for the program to start we turned around and saw Rita sitting a few rows behind us. She said she didn't recognize me because my hair looked shorter. James did give me a haircut last night. Anyway, she came up and sat with us. Her son Chris is married to one of Polly's nieces, Jimmy's daughter, but he came in with his wife and they sat with the family.

The program was one of the best funeral's I have ever been too, because it was all about Polly and the things she loved and the things that she accomplished in her life, and her testimony of the Savior and Heavenly Father's Plan of Salvation.

Her daughter, Suzette Tenney gave her life story. I did not know that Polly had 7 children. One of her boys, Tyler, weighed over 11 lbs. and he said his mother reminded him of it every year on his birthday.

Here are some more highlights from Suzette's talk:

She mentioned the trip that Polly and I took with the other girls from our ward to Salt Lake City one summer for a youth conference. It was one of the highlights of my life and I guess it was for Polly too. She mentioned Judy Nikolaus, our advisor, and how much we loved her.

Suzette said Polly had three good high school friends. Lynette (Bryant), Rita, and Karen. (Rita and I were proud to be called her friends.)

Polly loved to sing and was a fun Primary chorister in her ward. When she married Ron Cluff she told me that his family had a singing group called The Cluff Family Singers. They sang all over the valley at different events.

Another thing about Suzette's talk was she had so many pictures to go along with what she was saying. She even had a video of Ron giving Polly her engagement ring and asking her to marry him!

When microwaves first came on the market Ron bought one for Polly. She didn't know how to use it, so she took a class. She did this with everything. She wanted to learn how to make fancy birthday cakes, so she took a class. She wanted to learn how to sew, so she took a class. She made lots of prom dresses and even made her daughters wedding dresses. She loved to laugh, she loved life, and she loved learning. During Covid she made surgical masks.

Everyone was Polly's best friend. She was a survivor of breast cancer which she was diagnosed with in 1994. Ron & Polly lived in Gilbert for 24 years. In 2021 Ron was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. Polly took care of him until his death. They have lived in San Tan Valley for the past several years. the Bishop said Ron was always one of the first ones to volunteer for service projects when they were announced in elders quorum.

Polly belonged to an Empty Nesters Group. She loved people! I think she learned that from her mom, Skeets. Polly had 7 children, 24 grandchildren and 5 great-grandchildren. She was a temple worker.

The talk that her son Tyler gave was one that Polly gave at Ron's funeral with her testimony of the Plan of Salvation. There were lots of sentences beginning with "I believe . . .

Polly passed away on July 22nd, 2026 of terminal colon cancer, two days before our 60th high school reunion. It was a privilege to know her and I look forward to seeing her again!

From the funeral we met Sheri & Ian at the restaurant where Jared Ammon works in Mesa. It's called The Guadalupe on Main. Sheri invited us and insisted on paying for us. Thank you Sheri.

Jared made each of us mocktails. Mine had cucumber in it and was so refreshing. James ordered the fish tacos, I had the mole enchiladas, Ian had pulled pork, can't remember the name of the dish, and I can't remember the name of Sheri's either. It had two fried eggs on top and was a little too spicy for her taste. I think everyone's favorite was the fish tacos. That's what I'm getting next time.

After lunch we said our goodbyes and went home through Globe. At home James and I watched a movie together before going to bed. It was a wonderful day until I got in bed and since James was not in bed yet, I asked him to turn on the ceiling fan. We got into a tiff and I went to bed thinking I wasn't prepared to teach my lesson tomorrow because when we began to argue the Spirit left. I was able to fall asleep and vowed to resolve the issue before going to church tomorrow. It was such a wonderful day up until this tragic moment.