Friday, May 11th, 2018

Twin Falls, Idaho

128th operating temple

Dedicated: 24 Aug 2008

By: Thomas S. Monson

Jesus Christ, birth of

Matthew 2:1

Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,

Book of Mormon

Mosiah 27:18-37

*How does it feel to have your soul "redeemed from the gall of bitternness and the bonds of iniquity?"

- Who among us has not felt the dark abyss, the remorse of conscience from our sins and mistakes, those awful feelings of guilt? Those feelings of pain to our spirit can be harder to bear than physical pain. I liked how Alma explained what the atonement of Christ did for him, and can do for us. Boyd K. Packer states: "The Atonement of Christ is an ever-present power to call upon in everyday life. When we are harrowed up or tormented by guilt or burdened with grief, he can heal us. If Christ hadn't made his Atonement, the penalties for mistakes would be added one on top of the other. Life would be hopeless. But he willingly sacrificed in order that we may be redeemed."

Old Testament

1 Samuel 27-28

27 David flees to Achish at Gath - He dwells among the Philistines for sixteen months.

28 Saul inquires of the witch of Endor for revelation - She foretells his death, the death of his sons, and the defeat of Israel by the Philistines.

General Conference

Family History and Temple Work - Sealing and Healing

Elder Dale G. Renlund

"As Church members, we do have a divinely appointed responsibility to seek out our ancestors and compile family histories. This is far more than an encouraged hobby, because the ordinances of salvation are necessary for all of God's children. We are to identify our own ancestors who died without receiving the ordinances of salvation. We can perform the ordinances vicariously in temples, and our ancestors may choose to accept the ordinances. We are also encouraged to help ward and stake members with the family names. It is breathtakingly amazing that, through family history and temple work, we can help to redeem the dead."

"Fruit detached from the branches cannot long survive."
-Russell M. Nelson

Rescuing Wayward Children:

"Be not afraid, only believe."

-Mark 5:36

Worth the Wrestle:

"Asking inspired questions leads to knowledge, revelation, greater faith, and peace."

Russell M. Nelson, 10/04, #44. Senior Missionaries and the Gospel

"I express gratitude for our senior missionaries. they are young in spirit, wise, and willing to work."

Dale G. Renlund Melchizedek Priesthood: Chapter 10

#2 - The Proper Expression of the Priesthood is Learned

Truman G. Madsen: The Prophet Joseph Smith: Chapter 2

Spiritual Gifts of Joseph Smith

"Don't let a doctrinal doubt drive a wedge between you and the Church."

James had three things to fix before he goes back on the job: His tractor, which is at the Wallace's and is being worked on by one of the Westbrook boys, his power steering line on the truck, and the brakes on the trailer.

This morning he thinks he found the problem with the power steering line. The hose isn't securely clamped. Brother Wallace gave him a clamp and we got some power steering fluid and now it's fixed. 

This morning we went into town so James could get some supplies and I could do a little shopping at Walmart. I saw Laurann and her boys while I was shopping. I also saw my cousin Rita and spoke with her a few minutes.

When I got home from town I made a stew to take to the temple tomorrow. I also worked on my blog and did my 45 minute walking. My life is so predictable. 

James made himself a green smoothie using Trina's recipe this evening. It was delicious! 

We missed the YW Navajo Taco, Pie Auction dinner this evening. James just wanted to stay home and relax. We ended up keeping the lemon pie and we are each going to have a piece after we weigh in on Sunday morning. 

We watched the episode of "When Calls the Heart" where Elizabeth is told that Jack is dead. Tomorrow night we will watch the finale.

Twinners

Earphones

My rose

Eden and her horse lover friends

We want some horses!

I remember how ridiculous I thought it was.

Wayne Todd and his granddaughter.

Baby Kyler looks like he's praying.

I like this idea to keep the plants away from the bunnies.

Wednesday, April 11th, 2018

Birmingham, Alabama

98th operating temple

Dedicated: 3 Sept 2000

By: Gordon B. Hinckley

Jesus Christ Betrayal of

Psalms 22:16

For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.

Book of Mormon

Mosiah 5:1-15

*What benefit is there in taking upon us Christ's yoke?

- Because his yoke is the one best suited for us...it is custom fit to our needs. The Savior's ways help us live in harmony with our true nature because He knows us and can succor us individually.

Camille Fronk Olson mentions the benefits of discipleship, and ways our burdens become lighter when we are yoked with Christ.

We can dispose of unnecessary baggage thru repentance...

We can gain power thru covenants we make, because when we covenant, God promises to bear us up...There is mutual support from other saints. We help one another, and rejoice with one another. The Lord makes us stronger and helps us build spiritual muscles... Christ teaches us how to carry burdens. We learn to not be weary, and how to be patient in trials and submit to God's will. 

The yoke of Christ is heavy in meaning, though it is designed to make things lighter.

Old Testament

Joshua 19-20

19 Simeon, Zebulun, Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, and Dan receive their inheritances by lot.

20 Six cities of refuge are appointed for those guilty of manslaughter.

General Conference

What Every Aaronic Priesthod Holder Needs to Understand

Brother Douglas D. Holmes

" Your Aaronic Priesthood ordination is central to helping God's children receive Christ's atoning power."

Today is Dennis and Denise's 20th wedding anniversary so I texted them to wish them a Happy Anniversary. I remember my Mom being Dennis's best man (mom). They were married outside at Greer on a beautiful spring day.

Today is also Jeffrey's birthday so I wished him a happy one.

From the Ensign today I read the article and looked at the picture, "The Savior's Final, Lonely Journey."  'No mortal mind can conceive the full import of what Christ did in Gethsemane. His suffering satisfied the demands of justice, ransomed penitent souls from the pains and penalties of sins, and made mercy available to those who believe in His holy name.' President Boyd K. Packer

From "Rescuing Wayward Children:  By the power of our righteousness and not by force, bad things will improve and good things will flow to us.' (p. 185)

#13.Talk by Russell M. Nelson: October 1987 General Women's Meeting:

" Lessons from Eve": From our study of Eve, we may learn five fundamental lessons of everlasting importance:

1.) She labored beside her companion (see Moses 5:1).

2.) She and Adam bore the responsibilities of parenthood (see Moses 5:2).

3.) She and her partner worshipped the Lord in prayer (see Moses 5:4).

4.) She and Adam heeded divine commandments of obedience and sacrifice (see Moses 5:5,6).

5.) She and her husband taught the gospel to their children (see Moses 5:12).

From my study of Preach My Gospel Chapter 5, What is the Role of the Book of Mormon? quote by Boyd K. Packer, p. 108:

" In a world ever more dangerous...the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ has the nourishing power to heal starving spirits of the world."

With all the walking I do, about three hours or so, I have tried different things to listen to while I walk. I have tried conference talks, books, and music. Music seems to work the best. I have the soundtrack of the movie, "The Greatest Showman."  The tract is 40 minutes long and I like all of the songs so that is what I have been using. Most of the songs are upbeat and help me to move along a little quicker than I normally would. 

I set a new record!

My running track. Start at the end of the table

by the window, walk around the island in the 

kitchen and back down around the table.

I love listening to Robert L. Millet's book, "The Atoning One."

Today I listened to chapter two, 'Life in a Fallen World.' Here is a quote: " A redeemed man is capable of rising much higher than an unfallen man. Natural men are not redeemed, living by their own light."

My silk flowers are planted. I hope they don't blow away in the wind. 

Looks like I need to paint the pots. 

James and I went to the 8:30 session at the Snowflake temple this morning. We both did a family name. My name was Sarah and she was born in 1792. That's all I really know about her. I also sent Sheri two names to do.

We came straight home after the temple, only stopping for gas at Maverick. We fixed lunch at home. A frozen Korean BBQ dinner, salad, and for James some ham and eggs. 

I spent the afternoon walking, blogging, and listening to music and gospel talks. It was a beautiful day but tomorrow it is supposed to be very windy and James's weather app says there is fire danger in Vernon. Already?

I ate my last carbs before 6 p.m., strawberries, whipped cream, and yogurt. I only had 12,000 steps around 6 and my goal is 20,000. I made it! (See above)

James and I watched the next episode after Jack and Elizabeth get married of "When Calls the Heart."

Pretty much the same for 39 years.

Thursday, March 31, 2016

Bettylea Strickland Maxwell

September 13, 1930 - March 31, 1999

Today is the 17th anniversary of my mother's death.  I still miss her and wish we could spend more time together.  I am grateful for the gospel and the resurrection which helps me to know that I will see her again.

I have one person in my family who never forgets to tell me she is thinking of me on this day.  Can you guess who it is?

James is pouring concrete today at Fountain Hills.  If everything goes as planned he will be coming home tonight.  I look forward to seeing him.

It felt so good to be home that I am afraid that I was a little lazy.  

I watched DWTS again, Chopped, and a Hallmark movie.  I did try to go visiting teaching this afternoon and I mailed a letter to Michael encouraging him to serve a mission.  

I tried to visit Claire Mercado but she said she wasn't feeling well.  I prepared her a handout to go with the lesson and I left it on her door step.

 The lesson was on being created in the image of God.

I was also going to leave this jar of Rollos but since Claire

was sick I decided not to.

James got home in time for us to watch this week's episode of "When Calls the Heart."  I had Pero for the first time in a week!

Great to have my honey home!

Sunday, March 13, 2016

Happy Birthday Terry!

 Terry with two of his favorite people,

Colin and Cathi.

Something happened in our sacrament meeting that I have never seen happen before.  Brother Wilhelm got up and announced that because people were leaving right after the sacrament, we were going to have the talks first today and then the sacrament.  He then said he was joking and the real reason the sacrament would be last was because there were no cups and someone had to go get some.

Hailey Hunsaker was the youth speaker.  She is the newest Beehive and you could barely see her above the podium.  She said she was going to talk about her favorite bible story, Abraham and Isaac.  She shared the story, read scriptures, related it to the Savior, and bore her testimony.  According to James it was the perfect talk.  She really did do a great job and her mother said she wrote it herself.

Pam Wood and Rick Lauritzen were the other speakers.  Pam spoke about friendship and Rick, at the bishop's request, spoke about doctrines, policies, and traditions.  Did you know that taking the sacrament with your right hand is only a tradition.

Kacey, Curtis and Zemira were in my Primary class today.  Our lesson was on Abinadi and King Noah.  The first thing I had them do after the opening prayer was guess how many coins were in this jar.

 The coins in the jar represent how many people left to flee into

the wilderness with Alma.  Do you know how many there are?

The person who guessed the closest got an extra piece of candy from the candy basket.

 This candy basket was much fuller before Primary.

Curtis guessed 350 and he was the closest.  The answer, of course, was 450.  More about Alma next week.

In sharing time today Sister Chaffin taught about King Noah and Adinadi.  I noticed that my kids knew most of the answers, except Zemira couldn't remember Abinadi's name.

Good News!  James was able to teach his Sunday School class this week.  I had called Ed Miller earlier in the week so he was prepared to step in any time if needed.  

After lunch and naps James went home teaching with Brother Lauritzen to the Scott's and the Hunsaker's.  I stayed home and watched a movie starring Alexis Bleddell, (Rory from Gilmore Girls), "Remember Sunday".  The movie was about a guy who was a genius and then he had an anuresym and lost his short-term memory every night when he slept.  It was a touching story in keeping with the Hallmark tradition.  

This evening I spent a couple of hours studying from the Book of Mormon Religion 121-22 manual in connection with my reading of the Book of Mormon.  James studied his Sunday School lesson.

Before going to bed we watched this week's episode of "When Calls the Heart."  

Last year on this day, I took my five oldest granddaughter's to see the new Cinderella movie.  We had a great time!

Ruby, Emmy, Molly, Anna, and Addy

 

Sunday, March 6, 2016

How true.

We had a very spiritual fast and testimony meeting today.  I don't necessarily think my testimony added to that, but I did feel prompted to bear it.  I talked about how Enos prayed for his enemies the Lamanites and his example made me stop and think if I had anyone I would consider an enemy, or anyone whose relationship with me was not quite right.  I thought of someone, and reached out via messenger on Facebook.  We corresponded back and forth, and now I feel like we are in a good place.  I am grateful for Enos's example and the Savior's Atonement.

Some of the other testimonies that I especially enjoyed: Sean Hunsaker's, Chuck and Kathy Crane's, Dave Westbrook's, Blain Curtis's, and Trenda Wilhelm's.  

This is Trenda's last week in the Vernon ward.  She is moving to the valley to live with her grandpa's x-girlfriend and go to school.  She will be going to Grand Canyon University and her classes starts in August.  She will be going down this week to get settled in and to find a job.  She wants to be a physician's assistant.
Trenda came in to Primary Sharing Time to help her little sister Ruthie give a talk.  It was so cute when Trenda left, Ruthie 'hearted' her with her hands.  I love these two!

I will bet that is the sucker Ruthie got after Primary today.

Our lesson in Primary today was on King Benjamin.  We talked about taking the name of Christ upon us and the importance of a good name and honoring our family name.

We broke our fast when we got home from church.  I actually fasted 24 hours.  We had a very important reason for our fast.

Around 3:30 today we took Rick and Pam Giles up to see the falls at Buckelew Springs. We learned that Rick is from Flint, Michigan and Pam is from Chicago, but both have lived in Arizona for over 20 years.

We didn't stay long at the falls but I took several pictures.

 

Why do we get so excited about these falls and the running water?  Because most of the time it is so just a dry wash.
It doesn't seem like much when you compare them to these falls:

Oh well, we will take what we can get and be grateful.

We really enjoyed spending time with Rick and Pam and hope we can have them over for a bbq sometime.

This evening we watched this week's episode of "When Calls the Heart."  We both love this series. 

Nancy Reagan passed away today.  She was 94 years old and died of congestive heart failure.  

 

Saturday, December 26, 2015

The Case family and some Lambson's too!

We had steak and gravy with Cathi and Terry this morning, courtesy of James.  (Thanks to Terry for providing the elk.)

  

We washed the sheets and bedspread on the bed where we sleep before loading up the car and leaving for home.  It is suppose to snow.  Jared meets Camie for breakfast and then leaves for home too. The forecast says that it is supposed to snow in El Paso too.

We stopped at the Burger House and got toastados and chicken tacos.  They were ok, but not the best we've ever had.  

We had snow in Vernon, but Jared had more in El Paso.  He said it was snowing so badly that he had to go 15 mph on the freeway.  El Paso drivers aren't use to driving in the snow.

We unloaded the car and watched:

 

 

Saturday, July 18, 2015

Jack and Elizabeth from

"When Calls the Heart"

 

Even though the cabin bed is very comfy, I had a restless night.  When I got up this morning I had strawberries and cherries for breakfast while reading from the New Testament and the Book of Mormon with James. 

 

James went on a Razr ride this morning even though he could not find the gas cap.  When he came back he left the Razr outside and it rained and water got into the gas tank.  While he was out for his drive he saw Jimmy Brookbank who was up in the hills for a family reunion.

 

We took a drive to the Stanford Store so I could show James the shed I want to get for the kids to use for a clubhouse.  I am not sure why I didn't take a picture.  It is painted red with white trim and a white door and two windows in the front.  He liked it but said we couldn't buy it because it cost too much and he could build one much cheaper. Somehow he talked me into driving into Show Low with him to get ant killer at Home Depot.  We stopped at Sonic for some refreshments and then I waited outside of Home Depot while James does his shopping.  

 

When we got back from town the entire house was filled with smoke.  Before we left James had put some eggs on to boil and he forgot to turn them off.  The pan was burnt to a crisp and so were the eggs.  It took awhile to get rid of the smell and the smoke.

 

It was a beautiful day today but it didn't rain until after dark.  James and I watched the finale of "When Calls the Heart."  Of course they always make the finale a cliff hanger and this show was no different.  I really do think it is the best show on T.V. 

 

I got a good start on cleaning the main floor of the cabin and James put several boxes of stuff away.  He got a call from Joel who is in Chandler trying to put up the last piece of crown molding in the master bedroom.  It sounds like he messed up.  When James hung up he told me I was right, he shouldn't have left Joel to do something he had no experience with. 

 

We finished The Secret of Pembrooke Park before going to bed tonight.  It just started to rain as we went to bed.

 

Sheri posted this picture of Lola to make me jealous.

It worked.

 



 

  

 





Friday, July 17, 2015

Ensign article:

"Preparing to Enter the House of the Lord"

by

Elder Kent F. Richards

"Our labors in the temple cover us with a shield and a protection..."

"...If we will enter into our covenants without reservation or apology, the Lord will protect us.  We will receive inspiration sufficient for the challenges of life...."

"So come to the temple - come and claim your blessings."

 

Joel painted the master bedroom today.  Stacy and I picked out the color.  It is a pale lavender.  James worked on putting up crown molding but didn't finish before we left for the cabin.

Such an improvement!

The crown molding looks good with the blinds.

Ben came down today and spread granite.  Evan came down and vacuumed the family room for another dollar.

Adam and Kyle rode the bus and got here late after Ben had gone home.  They also worked on putting granite in the planters.

 

We took the car to the cabin, loaded down with boxes, etc.  Somehow Adam and Kyle squeezed in and begged a ride back to Adams. 

This week we were able to stop at Burger House for our mexican food fix.  We both ordered two green mixed burros and ate one on the road and saved the other one for later.

 





  We also stopped at Safeway for a few groceries.  It was dark when we got to Vernon.  We were anxious to watch the next episode of "When Calls the Heart."

Happy 60th Birthday Disneyland!





 



 

 

 

Sunday, March 2, 2014

We woke up to snow on the ground this morning!

 On our way to church.

After church all the snow was melted.

Today is the day we have been waiting for!  Today the Gilbert temple was dedicated in three different sessions.  I attended the

 9am session.  Poor Lexy was a muddy mess when I arrived.  James was one of the ushers at our building.  Brothers MacArthur and Brimahll from the high council were the other two.  James was able to sit with me during this first session.  I was able to take notes in my Sunday journal up until the dedicatory prayer which was offered by President Henry B. Eyring.  We heard from Nancy LeSueur, her husband who is the temple president David LeSueur.  The LeSueur's donated the land that the temple is built on.  Elder Tad. R. Callister and Elder William R. Walker conducted.  David Layton, son of our friends Bob and Dianne Layton, gave the opening prayer.  Louise Jones led the choir and Jake and one of the Jones girls were in the choir and Mitch Jones, president of the Chandler Stake, gave the closing prayer.  

One of the things President Eyring said in the prayer was that the temple would be a sanctuary of serenity and a refuge of peace.  It was a wonderfully uplifting experience and one I will not soon forget.

 President Eyring and President Monson

at the cornerstone celebration.

When the dedication session was over I went out to get in Lexy to go home and I had a flat tire.  Luckily James was there with his compressor and put air in it for me so I could make it home.  How grateful I am for him!

On the way home I was grateful I had taken pictures of the snow this morning, because it was all melted.  I waited to break my fast until after 1pm., a little over 24 hours.  I had a green mixed burro for lunch and watched Sister Dalton and Sister Cook, formerly of the General Young Women's presidency speak on BYU TV.  I got the very end of Sister Dibb's talk.

After lunch I worked on Personal Progress.  I am working on devising two week menu plans for one of the Good Works experiences.  I also studied from Preach My Gospel and studied paragraph seven of the Proclamation on the Family.  My greatest accomplishment, well at least the one that I felt best about, was writing a March letter to all my children.  

James was home before five and brought with him some chicken salad, potato salad, and cookies.  The Relief Society provided lunch for the priesthood here from the stake.  

Before going to bed we watched the latest episode of "When Calls the Heart."