Wednesday, June 12th, 2019

Las Vegas, Nevada

43rd operating temple

Dedicated: 16 Dec 1989

By: Gordon B. Hinckley

Jesus Christ, Exemplar

Mark 10:21

Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.

Book of Mormon

Alma 14:32-15:4

New Testament "Not My Will, But Thou Wilt"

Matt 26:26-30 Mark 14:22-26 Luke 22:14-20 Gospel Topic: The Sacrament.

General Conference

Behold the Lamb of God

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

"My beloved brothers and sisters, with the exciting new emphasis on increased gospel learning in the home, it is crucial for us to remember that we are still commanded to 'go to the house of prayer and offer up thy sacraments upon my holy day.' In addition to making time for more home-centered gospel instruction, our modified Sunday service is also to reduce the complexity of the meeting schedule in a way that properly emphasizes the sacrament of the Lord's Supper as the sacred, acknowledged focal point of our weekly worship experience. We are to remember in as personal a way as possible that Christ died from a heart broken by shouldering entirely alone the sins and sorrows of the whole human family."

I love this quote by President Nelson:

"I urge you to stretch beyond your current spiritual ability to receive personal revelation." 

He counseled us to pray. to listen, to write down our thoughts, and to take action.

After breakfast and scriptures this morning we all left for town. I am going to do some grocery shopping while James takes the kids to Woodland Lake to take some pictures on the covered bridge.

Our first stop was Wendy's for lunch. We saw Brother and Sister Elmer from Eagar at Wendy's. They are our temple coordinators and we enjoyed seeing them and introducing them to the grandkids.

After lunch I walked over to Walmart while James loaded the kids in the car to take them to Woodland Lake. Trina called while I was in the Walmart parking lot and I told her she should probably call James if she wanted to talk to the kids, which she did.

Charles Gordon from our ward checked me out at Walmart. He is quite shy and quiet, barely saying anything to me. I must say he was an efficient cashier though.

Here are the photos James took at the lake:

I wish I would have done Lola's hair better.

She says her mom is the best at doing her hair. She can do

it anyway. Sorry Trina.

On the way home I read an email from a sister in our ward who is giving away two cats to a good home. Rowan texted his mom with a picture and of course she said no.

Lola likes this one

Back at home the kids watched the movie "Rio" and ate popcorn and M&M's. Afterwards Rowan and Ruby went on a hike and Rowan found a horned toad. 

Ruby even got to hold it.

While Rowan and Ruby were hiking with granpa Lola played with the Calico Critters.

She has shoes on because she was going to go on the hike

but she changed her mind.

For dinner I fixed chicken nuggets, peas, rolls and strawberries. 

After dinner James took the kids on a long Razr ride while I had a 

Relief Society presidency meeting with Tamara, Kerri, and Maxine. We worked on our father's day gifts, candy bars with clever quotes for dad's.

One of the things reported in our meeting was the brother Joel Robertson is speaking after having a stroke. This was good news! 

Happy Birthday Ian!

 The first time in 40 years a church has been

recognized in Kuwait.

 Hush, Hush sweet Charlie

 I love this!

Friday, August 25th, 2017

Sydney, Australia

28th operating temple

Dedicated: 20 Sep 1984 by: Gordon B. Hinckley

Atonement

DC 18:11

For, behold, the Lord your Redeemer suffered death in the flesh; wherefore he suffered the pain of all men, that all men might repent and come unto him.

Jesus Christ, Antemortal Existence of

Abraham 3:27

And the Lord said: Whom shall I send? And one answered like unto the Son of Man: Here am I, send me. And another answered and said: Here am I, send me. And the Lord said: I will send the first.

Alma 56:18-40

When have you had to stand up for something you believe in?

*Once I was asked to not pray or meditate for a month as part of a training exercise for an online position. I told my leader I could not do that and ask to get my money back and withdraw my name from the program. Can you imagine not praying for a month?

DC 124:16-30

What can we do to make our homes a place that Christ may come and dwell?

*melanieryerse:"I remember seeing an ad that said something like this - 'put good in, get good out!' If it is our goal to be good and we want our kids to be good as well, we need to put good in our homes. These good things include daily scriptures as a family, couple and individuals, prayers, family time, working together, forgiveness, kindness, service, wholesome media choices, keeping the commandments, etc.

General Conference

The Godhead and the Plan of Salvation

Elder Dallin H. Oaks

"Because we have the truth about the Godhead and our relationship to Them, the purpose of life, and the nature of our eternal destiny, we have the ultimate road map and assurance for our journey through mortality."

I worked on my Primary lesson today and read lesson 17 in the Gordon B. Hinckley manual, "The Power of the Book of Mormon.

Today was a day of anticipation. Tomorrow we start as temple workers in the Snowflake temple. I must say, I am a little nervous.
My co-ordinator, Sister Winhardt called and said she looked forward to meeting me. James's co-ordinator, Brother Coltrin called and said we would have an opportunity tomorrow morning at 7 to introduce ourselves during prayer meeting. That made me even more nervous. 

I did a little research and discovered that out of the 157 dedicated temples, President Hinckley dedicated 84 of them. That is amazing!

We went to bed early this evening with a plan to get up around 4:30 since we need to leave for the temple around 5:30. No TV tonight!

Photos

These little guys are showing up everywhere.

The Hedgehog Family

The Koala's

The Squirrel's

Runaway rabbit babies

Paul and Tara

Addy is out shopping for her birthday and

she sent me this.

Arizona Highways

Baby sloth

Thursday, August 24th, 2017

Boise, Idaho

27th operating temple

Dedicated: 25-30 May 1984 by: Gordon B. Hinckley

Rededicated: 2 May 1987 by: James E. Faust

Rededicated: 18 Nov 2012 by: Thomas S. Monson

Atonement

Moroni 10:33

And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the covenants of the Father unto the remission of your sins that ye become holy, without spot.

Jesus Christ, Antemortal Existence of

Moses 4:2

But, behold, my Beloved Son, which was my Beloved and Chosen from the beginning, said unto me - Father, thy will be done, and the glory be thine forever.

Alma 56:1-17

How does Helaman show courage and faith in these verses?

*Helaman shows great courage and faith when he encourages the people of Ammon who had buried their weapons of war and covenanted not to fight, to be loyal to their covenants There is great power and strength in covenant keeping, and Helaman knew this.

DC 124:1-15

What did I learn from these verses?

*When we follow the prophet we receive great blessings. The power of the Holy Ghost. Hyrum Smith is loved because of the integrity of his heart. Repent and be baptized for the remission of sins. You shall receive the Holy Spirit and know the truth and be numbered with the House of Israel.

General Conference

Whatsoever He Saith Unto you, Do It

Elder L. Whitney Clayton

"The trial of our faith will always involve staying true to simple, daily practices of faith. Then, and only then, does He promise that we will receive the divine response for which we long. Only once we have proven our willingness to do what He asks without demanding to know the whens, the whys, and the hows do we 'reap the rewards of our faith, and our diligence and patience, and longsuffering. Real obedience accepts God's commandments unconditionally and in advance."

James caught squirrel number six in his live trap. He will go down to live by the lake with his friends. Chuck gets rid of his in a different way where they are not able to ever come back.

I read an article in the Ensign, "Eight Strategies to Help Children Reject Pornography." I texted all the kids and asked them to read it.

I found evidence that there has been a mouse in our pantry. James set four traps, but I think he is probably gone. We are just wondering how he got in there in the first place as James sealed up all the holes.

We read outside on the porch today. It was absolutely gorgeous! 

For lunch I had one of Rosa's tamales with some ketchup. Yummy!

I went outside and cleaned about 18 greenhouse panels for James today. Some of them have dirt caught in between the two panels.

James found out the greenhouse is only built to withstand 15 mph winds. That is nothing!

I love our book, "Lily of the Manor." It is my favorite!  It was written by Anita Stansfield.

I made french vanilla cupcakes with lemon frosting today. These should last for awhile because James doesn't like french vanilla. 

I think I have a pinched nerve. 

Photos

Talon and Trenda

Best friends

Trenda and George

The oldest and the youngest

Alice

Johnny

Andy, Curtis and friend

Calico Critters:

Chihuahua's

Cows

Piggies

Mrs. Bunny and babies

Friday, August 29, 2014

James left for work quite early and asked me to take the papers down to Sheri to notarize for the sale of the house on Ithica Street to Kim & Brian.  I caught Sheri at home about five minutes before she left for work.  That was a little after 7am.  

Around 8am I left for the arthritis center for get my infusion, have blood drawn and to see Dr. Caldron's assistant, Tiffany.  I was going to meet Karen Schneider for lunch after my appointment but she called and said she couldn't make it.  As I was leaving the arthritis center, Karen was walking in.  It seems that Lance has been suffering with gout and he made an appointment with Dr. Caldron.  Even though we did not get to have lunch together at least we had a nice visit.  I thanked her for my birthday present.

 Thank you Karen!

I finally took the plunge and got my membership at Costco renewed today.  I also got the Costco credit card which has no annual fees and gives discounts on certain items. I even got a free membership which I am giving to Sheri.

  I bought a bag of ice and loaded up my ice chest with ham, pork chops, roast, BBQ beef, and chicken fetuccini.  I got James some Alpine bread and headed out of town.  I was making good time until about 30 miles before getting to Payson when traffic came to a complete standstill.  This was around 3pm.  The Scottsdale woman in the Mercedes ahead of me said there was a wreck up ahead and they hoped to have it cleared off the road by 4pm.  Traffic didn't start moving again until 4:30. My four hour trip turned into almost six hours!

Stopped in traffice for an hour and a half.

People were driving crazy, cutting in and out of traffic to make up for lost time.  When I got to Payson I had to stop at Wendy's just to take a time out and calm down a bit.  It was after 7 when I got home.

James, Seth, Adam and Alex had made it through Payson before the accident and they were on a Razr ride.  Darrel gets off work at 6 on Fridays so he was the only one at home.  I guess Trina got caught in the backed up traffic from the wreck and had to stop and wait for awhile with all the kids in the car.  She stopped at Wendy's in Payson too just to get the kids something to eat and let them stretch their legs.  She got to the cabin around 11pm. James and I were already in bed.  I had hid the Calico Critters around the cabin for the kids to find.  They were so excited about them!

 The Hedgehog's

Mrs. Bunny and her two sets of twins.

The Chihuahua's

 The Squirrel's

The Koala's

The Cow's

The Pig's