Thursday, September 22, 2016

Happy Fall Y'all

My decorations are up!

This is a good as it gets around here.

The wind howled all night long.  I thought for sure it would blow up some rain clouds.  It looked like it was going to rain, but it never did.  I know it rained in the valley and around Flagstaff.

The sky in Vernon

The sky in the Valley

Helaman 7:13-8:10
When have you raised your voice in support of the living prophet?  How did this effect you and others around you?
By listening to their counsel in General Conference and following it.  Bearing testimony to others of them, and remembering them in my prayers.  By raising my hand to sustain them and speaking out against those who are critical against them.  Defend the anointed.

GC: 'See Yourself in the Temple' by Elder Quentin L. Cook

"The temple is a place of refuge, thansgiving, instruction, and understanding, 'that we may be perfected  . . in all things pertaining to the kingdom of God on the earth.'  Throughout my life it has been a place of tranquility and peace in a world that is literally in commotion."

The first temple in Wyoming

I read a talk by Elder Brent H. Nielson entitled "Can We Live 'after the manner of Happiness'"? in this month's Ensign.  It really had a lot of meaning for me.  Here are just a few notes I took.

*Let the Savior's Redeeming Power Cleanse You

- Let the Savior, through His redeeming power, take your sins.

- We profess a belief in the Savior and in His Atonement, but we may have doubts that the Atonement will actually work for us.  So we carry our own sins.  We worry, we doubt, and sometimes we despair.  That is not God's plan for us.

-Only Satan wants you to think you can't be forgiven and that you have to pay for your own sins.  Let the go, and do it today.

*Embrace Your Trials

-Facing trials is not only a part of our earthly existence but also essential to our progression.  It is how we grow and become.  Years ago a General Authority told me if I didn't have trials in my life, the plan wasn't working for me.

- Embrace your trials and move forward with faith.

*Access the Savior's Enabling Power

-As we make our way through life, the enabling power of the Savior's Atonement can make our burdens light and allow us to live "after the manner of happiness."

- When you face burdens in life, the key to access the Savior's enabling power is to submit cheerfully and with patience to the will of the Lord. 

This should be our family motto.

James's new home improvement project is making doors for the pump house.  He is always busy doing something but I am afraid he pays for it with aches and pains.  I don't know how to stop him.  

James and I headed out to visit Hailey Chaffin this morning with a candle and a quote from this month's visiting teaching message.  We found her across the road from the Stanford Store waiting for a truck who was delivering a tank to their ranch.  I went over and stood in the wind and talked to her about the lesson, about the books I gave Braylin to read, and her mother's family reunion in Van Horn, Texas the weekend of General Conference.  I would say we had a good visit considering the circumstances.  When I was finished James and I headed to town to pick up the Garden Fresh Veggie thin crust pizza we ordered from Pappa John's.  We devoured it!

After eating pizza James went to Home Depot while I waited in the car.  He got some lumber for his doors, an edger and a lawnmower. We are low on funds but we really need these last two items.  

Points to Ponder:

*The bishop wants to meet with us on Sunday at l p.m.  I wonder why.  

* Where did the gift bag go that I had to give to Kaeli Nicoll.  There was a $25 gift card in there!  James tried to go down to the church to see if I left it in my Primary room, but it was locked up.  He thought he could see something pink through the window of my room.  I sure hope so.

 Three of my favorite Vernon girls.

This picture was taken about five years ago.

Trenda, Alice, and Ruthie.

Monday, August 22, 2016

Salt Lake temple

Alma 54:13-55:14

13 - Moroni to Ammoron: Ye have sought to murder us, and we have only sought to defend ourselves.

16 - Ammoron: I will avenge Amalickiah's blood upon you.

17 - Your fathers robbed the Lamanites of their right to govern.

18 - Become subject unto us and we will lay down our weapons of war.

19 - We fear not your threatenings, Moroni.

20 - We will exchange prisoners and wage a war to subject the Nephites to our authority or to their eternal extinction.

21 - Concerning God, we know not such a being.

22 - If there is a devil and a hell, he should send you there for murdering my brother.

23 - I am Ammoron, a descendant of Zoram.

24 - Now I am a bold Lamanite.  I am avenging their wrongs and their right to government.

Alma 55:1-14

1 - Moroni is angry with Ammoron.

2 - I will not exchange prisoners with Ammoron unless he withdraws his purpose.

3 - I know where the Lamanites do guard my people who have been taken prisoners.

4 - Moroni searches among his men for a descendant of Laman.

5 - He finds one, a former guard of the king whose name is Laman.

6 - Moroni sends Laman and a small number of his men to go forth unto the guards over the Nephites.

7 - They were in the city of Gid.

8 - Laman says to the guards, fear not, I am a Lamanite.  

9 - The Lamanites say to Laman: Give us of your wine to drik for we are weary.

10 - Laman says: You may do according to your desires.

13 - The Lamanites take of the wine freely and it was strong.

14 - They become drunken.

GC: "See Yourself in the Temple" by Elder Quentin L. Cook.

I got ready this morning and went in to town to visit Aunt Gene.  I left James behind doing surgery on the house.

We have been smelling dead mice.

He found five.  He sealed up the wall where they

were coming in from the garage.

Aunt Gene is in room 110 at the Summit Hospital in Show Low.  When I arrived around 10 am.  The room was full of family:

Rita, Bill, Randy, Debbie, Rita's kids: Chris, Rick and Gina.  And Gina's three year old boy Bentley who reminds me of Evan.  He told Aunt Gene he would give her a big prize if she would get well.  So cute.  

Aunt Gene looks very tired and frail.  She has had nothing to eat since last Thursday.  They want the blockage to go down on its own because they are cautious about doing surgery because of her age.  I don't know how long they will wait.  I stayed for about an hour and visited and then I felt like I should go.  I did a little shopping at Walmart and picked up some lunch for both James and I at Panda. I had to take this picture of Show Low Creek on the way home.

Our sunflower field in Vernon didn't bloom this year because the rains were so late.  This one is almost as beautiful.  It is

prettier than this picture shows.

I got a package from Jared today for my birthday.  It is a very large book entitled, "The Complete C.S. Lewis Signature Classics."  I was hoping for The Great Divorce because Jared likes it so much but this has not only The Great Divorce but six other books.  Thank you Jared!

Speaking of Jared, his kids started school today in San Antonio.  Tricia posted this picture:

They grow up so fast!

I think Molly has changed the most in the past year.

This afternoon I did a little cleaning, reading, and blogging.  For FHE we filled out our voting ballots and prepared to send them in.

I cooked some navy beans in the Power Cooker in less than an hour.  They turned out quite delicious.  I used the same recipe I use for pinto beans with tomato sauce, El Pato, and butter.

Mary took Paul, Stacy and Joshua out to dinner for mexican food.

Xavier's Casa Reynoso in Mesa

House is this for a guest house:

It has a Victorian look.

For my closing picture:

Mt. Ranier

Saturday, July 23, 2016

Vernon, Arizona

Mount Mentoso

The Highlands of Scotland
I would love to go there someday!

Alma 37:26-47

33 - Preach unto them repentance, and faith on the Lord Jesus Christ; teach them to humble themselves and to be meek and lowly in heart; teach them to withstand every temptation of the devil, with their faith on the Lord Jesus Christ.

GC: "See Yourself in the Temple" by Elder Quentin L. Cook

This talk was appropriate for today.  James and I took Jared and Kacey with us this morning to the Snowflake temple.  I was impressed that they would get in late last night and be up and prepared to leave for the temple by 6:45 this morning.

Kacey is from Hallsville, Texas and has a 

nice southern accent.  James and I really liked her.

We didn't have to take a selfie!

Our friends from Chandler, Curtis and Hilary Whalen

were in town today for the 24th of July celebration.

They have had a family picture taken in front of all

the temples in Arizona.

I got this quote from Preach My Gospel.

I love it.

After our session in the temple we took Kacey for some local mexican food at El Cupido.  I got a bacon breakfast burrito with green chilies.  James got a buffalo chicken salad, and Jared and Kacey both got Grande burros.  We were going to stop at Walmart on the way home but it was too busy.  James and I went back to the Walmart in Show Low later on in the day so Jared could take Kacey to Green's Peak, Greer, and Pinetop.  This is her first trip to Arizona.

We missed the Snowflake parade this morning.  Our graduating class was supposed to ride on a float.  We thought going to the temple was more important.  Here are two of my favorite people from Vernon watching the parade.

Shelly Applegate and Ruthie Wilhelm

James and I went to our class reunion dinner this evening at Eva's in Snowflake.  There were over 60 people in attendance and we had a great time.  I especially enjoyed visiting with Kathy Mattice who married Leon Stock, Deann Hunt, January Smith Stratton whose husband Blaine has been a mission president and temple president in Peru.  Now he is a stake president at BYU.  I also visited with Ted Kipeke, Richard Farrabe whose wife is Eb Lewis's sister, Mike Chlarson who lives in Vernon, and Sharon McCleve and Lorin Hatch.  I am so glad we went!

Alex posted this picture on Instagram and I thought he drew it.  I guess he has an app that does this to photos.  Anyway, I really like it.