Monday, June 15th, 2020

Fresno, California

78th operating temple

Dedicated: 9 Apr 2000

By: Gordon B. Hinckley

Jesus Christ, King

Moses 7:53

And the Lord said: Blesses is he through whose seed Messiah shall come; for he saith - I am Messiah, the King of Zion, the Rock of Heaven, which is broad as eternity;whoso cometh in at the gate and climbeth up by me shall never fall; wherefore, blessed are they of whom I have spoken, for they shall come forth with songs of everlasting joy.

Book of Mormon/"Come Follow Me"

Alma 13:1-19; "Don't Miss This"

April General Conference

"United in Accomplishing God's Work"

Jean B. Bingham

"As children were born to them, Adam and Eve taught their family what they had learned from heavenly messengers. They were focused on helping their children also understand and embrace those principles that would make them happy in this life, as well as prepared to return to their heavenly parents after having increased their abilities and proved their obedience to God. In the process, Adam and Even learned to appreciate their differing strengths and supported one another in their eternally significant work."

"Keys of the Priesthood"

Russell M. Nelson

October 1987

Lambson Study Group

"Covenants"

After finishing my blog for the day and reading scriptures and saying prayers with James, I began working on preparing my books for shipment. I took the ones that needed labels removed into the laundry room where with a wet rag, a hot iron and a removal spatula I was taking the old labels off. James came in and announced he was going in to town to get a new tire for the Cat. I panicked. I said, but I need to take my books in and I'm not ready. I don't want us to make two trips to town again today. He asked me to hurry and get ready to go. I told him I needed his help. He took over the job of removing stickers while I got ready to go, and prepared the shipment information online. I was having James put the books in the box and getting it ready to go when I realized I had not put stickers on the books yet. I yelled "STOP"! I came in with the labels and began taking the books out of the box and putting labels on them. James then put in packing paper and sealed up the box while I went to print the outside label for the box. I was amazed how quickly we got all of this done. Two heads, and bodies, really are better than one!

We dropped the old Cat tire off at Robert's Tires and picked up the new one on the way back. James dropped me off at the far end of the Walmart parking lot while he went to the UPS Store and Home Depot. He was just finished at Home Depot when I called him and asked him to pick me up at Walmart, which he did. We had wanted to go to Firehouse Subs but he said the line was way too long. We were hungry but I didn't care where we went. James chose KFC because we both like their coleslaw. We ordered a large container of coleslaw, James ordered a three piece meal and I ordered three chicken tenders. It cost us $20. That's our eating out for the week. So expensive. I think we should have gone to Taco Bell or waited to eat until we got home. 

They had no Skinny Cow ice cream sandwiches at Walmart. I do not like the Great Value ice cream sandwiches so I asked James if we could go to Safeway and see if they had any Skinny Cows. They did not, but James got us a nice watermelon. He also got me some mochi ice cream, mango flavored. He really shouldn't have. I can't eat just one and they are 100 calories a pop. I ate all six of them before the day was over. 

Tasty!

An addiction food I can't keep in my house,

very often at least.

After Safeway it was back to Robert's Tire and then home. We started reading our new Aunt Dimity book, "Aunt Dimity and the Summer King." We stopped at the post office and mailed Ruby's panda mask for her birthday and picked up a book. I was so glad to finally be home. Show Low is a rat race in the summer time. I am grateful for the peace and quiet of Vernon.

It's my turn to choose the study topic for our family study group this week. I chose the topic "Covenants." Here are the talks I chose, there are five of them. It's hard to narrow them down. 

1. "Always Remember Him"

 Elder Ulisses Soares

BYU Speeches

February 5, 2019

2. "The Transformative Power of Covenants"

Ellie L. Young

BYU Speeches

June 11, 2019

3. "Look Unto Jesus Christ"

Elder Kim B. Clark

April 2019 GenCon

4. "Children of the Covenant"

Russell M. Nelson

April 1995 GenCon

5. "The Power, Joy, and Love of Covenant"

Linda K. Burton

October 2013 GenCon

Sheri called this afternoon saying she needed two new air conditioning units and it was going to cost her $30,000. I told her dad was taking a nap but he would call her and they could discuss her options. She has had trouble every summer with her air conditioning units. Wolf Mechanical installed them and their has always been a freon leak.

I went to bed at 10:00. I woke up at 12:24 and couldn't go back to sleep so I finally got up and wrote some of my thoughts down:

I am not truly happy in our present situation. We need to downsize. We have too much to take care of. James works so hard and he's always behind and down on himself for not being able to do everything. If we had less to take care of we could focus more on church and temple work. I am questioning my book business too. I want to work on my life story but I can't seem to find the time because of book biz. I feel a need to get our things in order.

After writing this down I finished some Book of Mormon study and went back to bed and slept like a baby.

 I ordered this lamp today for my corner of

the world

Tuesday, January 1st, 2019

Toronto, Ontario

44th operating temple

Dedicated: 25-27 Aug 1990

By: Gordon B. Hinckley

Jesus Christ, Death of

Mormon 9:13

And because of the redemption of man, which came by Jesus Christ, they are brought back into the presence of the Lord; yea, this is wherein all men are redeemed, because the death of Christ bringeth to pass the resurrection, which bringeth to pass a redemption from an endless sleep, from which sleep all men shall be awakened by the power of God when the trump shall sound; and they shall come forth, both small and great, and all shall stand before his bar, being redeemed and loosed from this eternal band of death, which death is a temporal death.

Book of Mormon

1 Nephi 1:1-15

New Testament

We Are Responsible for Our Own Learning

General Conference

Opening Remarks

President Russell M. Nelson

"This morning we will announce a new balance and connection between gospel instruction in the home and in the Church. We are each responsible for our individual spiritual growth. And scriptures make it clear that parents have the primary responsibility to teach the doctrine to their children. It is the responsibility of the Church to assist each member in the divinely defined goal of increasing his or her gospel knowledge."

My breakfast consisted of lemon cake, banana nut bread, which Sheri and I made yesterday, and biscuits and gravy. In my defense I didn't know the biscuits and gravy were coming but I couldn't pass them up when they did. Brian brought an elk roast and he cut it up and James made the gravy and Brian made the best biscuits, Pillsbury frozen.

Looks a mess but tastes great!

Kim is working on her puzzle, Sheri is watching a Hallmark Christmas movie, and Ian is upstairs reading a book. It looks and feels like we are snowed in. We got more snow during the night but we really don't care. I was trying to blog for December 24th but something was wrong with blogger or my internet connection so I finally gave up and sat down and watched Sheri's movie. 

Michael built a fire this morning and kept it going throughout the day. I think he might have been a little cold. The boys played video games, football, and went sledding. Kim, Brian, and Sheri shoveled snow on the decks and there was a ton! Thanks guys! Kim had a backache the rest of the day and that made me sad.

Kerri H. brought the birthday cards for the sisters having birthdays in January for me to sign. She got stuck two times. I hated to ask him but I did ask James if he would help her. 

Our neighbor Pierre had his tractor out clearing the road and he helped get her "unstuck" the first time. She came up to turn around in our driveway and got stuck again.  This time James got her out. I think she thought her four-wheel drive truck was invincible but she found out that it wasn't.

The boys went sledding but I think the snow got the best of them too.

 Instead of putting their wet clothes in front

of the fire I had them go directly to the 

laundry room and then I dried the clothes

for them.

The first thing they wanted when they came in was some hot chocolate. Here is Joshua putting an icicle in his hot chocolate to cool it down.

Michael and Max playing a game of chess.

Max won.

I made sub sandwiches for lunch. One for James, Ian, Kim, Brian, and myself.

James, Michael, and Max went to Dave Elkins to check on his water to see if it was frozen. The snow was so deep they couldn't find the shut-off valve.

 Who is that masked man?

Max

Michael

Sorry Mr. Elkin, but everything is covered with snow. It's a marshmallow world in the winter time.

I found one of my old dream journals from 2010 in the cupboard today. I had written down for several days some of the dreams that I had. I shared them with Kim and we had a good laugh. I am writing from Darrel and Trina's right now so I don't have the journal with me. One of the funniest was Trisha Yearwood leaving Garth Brooks for Ryan Seacrest. I will share more when I get home.

Sheri made shrimp and tilapia for dinner. I had been snacking all day so I did not eat much dinner. James, and Michael made another cobbler. This time Max assisted. We took a vote and decided on blueberry and peach. 

The kitchen is a gathering place and everyone

adds their opinion. Sheri loved this one better

than the blueberry-apple. I preferred the

blueberry-apple, but this one was good too.

Kim loved the fact that it had peaches in it.

Sheri and I were watching a movie in the bedroom and realized we

should invite Kim even though she was working on her puzzle.

She declined but said she was glad that we thought of her.

A daily dose of Charlie makes everything better.

As I set goals for the new year here are some
things to consider:

I love Mother Teresa!

Friday, May 4th, 2018

Aba, Nigeria

121st operating temple

Dedicated: 7 Aug 2005

By: Gordon B. Hinckley

Jesus Christ, betrayal of

DC 45:53

And then shall they weep because of their iniquities; then shall they lament because they persecuted their king.

Book of Mormon

Mosiah 22:10-23:15

*How is this story of Limhi's people similar to our own escape from this world into the arms of the Savior?

aliciamil4: "I can see the Savior's hand in everything, the good and the hard as He gives me the choice to choose Him or the ways of the world. He blesses me, he prepares me and he teaches me to move forward. 

Old Testament

1 Samuel 11-12

11 The Ammonites encamp against the Israelites of Jabesh-gilead - Saul rescues them and defeats the Ammonites - His kingship is renewed in Gilgal.

12 Samuel testifies of his own just dealings in Israel - He reproves the people for their ingratitude - He exhorts them to keep the commandments lest the Lord consume them and their king.

General Conference

The Heart of a Prophet

Elder Gary E. Stevenson

" As I sought guidance to know the topic the Lord would have me address today, my mind was directed to a recent conversation with the newly called First Presidency. In this discussion, one of the counselors shared words to this effect: 'I deeply hope that the membership of the Church can comprehend the magnitude of what has taken place with the calling of our new prophet, President Russell M. Nelson, and the significance and sacredness of the solemn assembly that will take place at general conference.' He further observed, 'It has been 10 years, and many, especially the youth of the Church, do not remember or have not experienced this before.'"

Russell M. Nelson-10/01: "Set in Order Thy House"

'Our family is the focus of our greatest work and joy in this life; so it will be throughout eternity.'

Rescuing Wayward Children:"Afflictions can push parents apart, when in actuality afflictions are designed to weld us together" (p. 227) "Oneness brings deliverance." Charity has 3 meanings: Love from Christ, Love for Christ, Love like Christ. (p.233)

James went on an early morning walk while I went downstairs to work on my blog. I was there when Addy got up and left, Ruby, Darrel, Rowan, and Lola. 

Trina and Darrel have a green shake for breakfast in the mornings. It's made from kale, spinach, frozen pineapple, a banana, and sometimes an orange if they have one. Trina let us taste her shake this morning and I must say, it was very tasty. She also introduced me to My Fitness Pal which she uses for her food diary. I love it!

Thanks Trina!

Trina told us a funny story about Lola this morning. She said they saw a woman with black hair and Lola said: "Is that Jo"? Trina asked her who Jo was and she said: "You know that girl who builds houses and her husbands name is Chip."

We said our goodbyes as everyone left for school or work. Ruby's class is going on a fieldtrip to the aquarium and Lola and Trina are going to meet them there. 

James and I loaded up and left for Fry's around 9:00 or so. We were looking for Grape Nut Flakes, for James. We didn't find any but we found the Larabar date balls that Trina introduced us to so we bought two flavors, brownie and salt caramel. A tasty little bite without having to count as a sweet.

James dropped me off at AARA for my infusion at 10:15. I had an appointment with Rana, Dr. Caldron's PA, and then I had my infusion. I lost about 10 lbs since last month which makes me happy and which also means I get less Actemra.

James took the car to get the new headlight put in, took our cast-offs to D.I., and got gas. For lunch we shared a salad I made up at Fry's salad bar. Since we have been on this diet we have actually craved more healthy food. 

Our next stop was in Scottsdale where James is seeing an allergy specialist. I dropped him off and then went to the Fry's Marketplace on Shea Blvd. just to look around. Just to look around cost me over $150. I ended up doing much of my grocery shopping. It was so fun. Much different from Walmart.

I bought James some fried chicken from Fry's because he loves it. He was pretty excited when I picked him up. He said this doctor helped him more than any other doctor. He told him to cut way down on meat, no spicy foods, milk products, or acidic foods. No water within an hour of going to bed. He also wrote him a prescription that he said would help with acid reflex more than the prescription that he is on. 

From Scottsdale we went home through Payson. 

I got my new crockpot!

Casserole Crockpot

There was a volcanic eruption and several earthquakes on the big island of Hawaii today. The one we visited in 1998.

I had to finish my walking when I got home. Afterwards James and I watched "The Beach House."

This reminds me of the Loggerhead turtles

in the movie "The Beach House."

An 18 year old picture of the Wilhelm family.

They just had their 10th baby.

The biggest Star Wars fan I know.

Teresa prepared for a Nerf gun war with

Jack.

Addy loves pineapples!

Good advice!

Gorgeous flowers at Fry's. I especially 

like the blue ones in the back.

The bear won. Can this be true?

What exactly does that mean?

Fun memories!

I wonder who will win this fight.

Thanks Paula.