Wednesday, January 21, 2015

 

"The effort and the determination to seek Him and to follow Him will  be rewarded with the blessings we need"

-Elder Eduardo Garret

 

I went to Staples today and made copies of this 3 month schedule for reading the Book of Mormon.







Here is the deal:  Everyone who reads the first column by our first FHE on February 15th gets $20.  The second column by March 13th when Jared and his kids are here for the next FHE is another $20.  And the last column must be read by Easter, April 5th for the last $20. Stacy, Kim, Sheri, Ben, Michael, and Joshua are really trying to make the deadlines.  Sheri is way ahead and says she loves reading 3 or 4 chapters a day.  It's fun to see people excited about the Book of Mormon.

 

We took my car to Sears today to get the oil changed and the tires rotated in preparation for our trip to El Paso on Friday.  While there we had delicious grilled fish tacos from Rubio's and read from our book "Necessary Deception."  

 

I missed my meeting with John Usher, the guy who is going to give me a quote on cleaning up the yard, because Sears was so slow.  

 

In other news, the Pinewood Derby is this Saturday and Paul takes it very seriously.  Michael and Dallin took first and second in the stake when they were in Cub Scouts so he feels like he has a reputation to maintain.  

  Joshua sanding his car.

 



Max's pirate gun came today.  The first one I ordered was plastic.  This one looks like the real deal and came all the way from Europe. 

  

 

When we take the kids to Disneyland they get to choose a souvenir.  Max wanted a pirate gun but they were all out so I told him I would order him one.  I think he liked it.

 

 

Evan is an artist and a writer.  This is a picture he drew for an assignment for school.

 

I especially love the guys face!

 







Thursday, January 8, 2015



 

"But verily, verily, I say unto you, he that hath the spirit

of contention is not of me, but is of the devil, who is the father of contention, and he stirreth up the hearts of men to contend with anger, one with another."

-Elder Dallin H. Oaks

 

 

James went to St. John's with Chuck Crane to get Cary Dobson to sign papers so we can get a tax credit for him grazing cattle on our land.  Cary has 260,000 acres and his ranch is worth 20 million dollars, but he's not selling. 

 

This afternoon we made a trip to town to take my tire to get it fixed at Discount Tire.  They said it was unfixable and they had to put on a new tire.  It's a good thing we had insurance.  It ended up costing us $30.00.  We also went to Chase and National Bank, the Book Barn, and had lunch at LaCasita.  We had to take care of business because we are leaving for the valley tomorrow morning.

 

 

Tonight we watched the second part of Christmas in Canaan and liked it almost as well as the first one.

 

 

Facebook find:

 



Wednesday, January 7, 2015

 

"The gospel of Jesus Christ opens the path to what we may become.  Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ and His grace, our failures to live the celestial law perfectly and consistently in mortality can be erased and we are enabled to develop a Christlike character."

-Elder D. Todd Christofferson

 

 

Am I ever going to sleep in my bed again?  I love the recliner in our bedroom almost as much as I love the one in the family room!

 

I got a good morning text from James at 5:19.  He is having more troubles and woes with the city of Chandler over the Hatch Hanger job at the Chandler airport.

I started my morning with what I call my lemon toddy which consists of: one squeezed lemon, one table spoon honey and one tablespoon vineager in a cup of hot/warm water.  This is supposed to be a good cleanser to use in the morning.  I am determined to drink more water.  Also, James and I are on a no junk food challenge for the next 3 weeks.  Today I had 8 glasses of water and one soda.  I told him I couldn't cut out junk food and sodas all at once.

 

Today was Niles Dutson's funeral.  I am sorry we missed it.

 

I worked hard today.  I swept, cleaned and polished the wood floors until I ran out of polish.  I changed the sheets on our bed and vacuumed and dusted our room.  I also paid bills and blogged.  James was home around 5:30.  He brought me an Asian salad and cup of chili from Wendy's.  We watched Downton Abbey and The Mentalist. 

 

The high today was around 50,  sunny and no wind.    It was 75 in the valley.

Gas in Show Low is $2.39 and in Chandler it's $1.87.  Come on Show Low!

 

Facebook finds:

 

Not sure what this is but I liked it.

 

 

It's always good to end with something spiritual. 

 

 

 



Monday, January 5, 2015

 

"Courage is not just one of the cardinal virtues, but as C.S. Lewis observed: 'Courage is...the form of every virtue at the testing point...Pilate was merciful till it became risky.  King Herod was sorrowful at the request to behead John the Baptist but wanted to please them which sat with him at meat.'" (Matt. 14:9)

-Elder Lynn G. Robbins

 

James built me a fire before leaving for the valley.  He is one of my heroes.

I did my gospel study, some cleaning, and bill paying and two blog posts, December 13th and 14th.  The blog posts took almost two hours because of the pictures I downloaded.  I called the infusion center at the arthritis center to see if I could keep my 1:30 appointment today.  I left a message saying I needed to know by 9:30 because I would be coming almost 200 miles to get there.  No one ever called me back.  Another day of pain.

 

After taking a shower and getting ready to go somewhere I decided to go into the post office in Vernon to return the duplicate Madden game I got Max for Christmas.  I left the house at 11:38 in a bit of a hurry because the post office closes at noon for an hour.  When I got to the intersection of the Vernon road I pressed on my brakes and began sliding.  I know to let up on the brake but somehow the message did not get from my brain to my foot and I just kept pushing on my brake.  I began sliding on the ice still on the road and continued sliding until I hit the embankment on the opposite side of the Vernon Rd.  It's a good thing no one was coming or there would have been a collision.  I revved up my engine and got out of the ditch and considered myself lucky as I headed towards town.  I soon noticed that my car was making a terrible noise.  I stopped at the church and saw that I had a flat tire on the front driver's side.  I immediately called James. 

James was eating lunch at Jersey Mike's but he said he would call Chuck Crane for me. Chuck was at the church within 15 minutes.

 

Chuck Crane is another one of my heroes.  He proceeds to get the spare out from under my car and changes my tire even though he has a bad back and a bad knee.

 

Not necessarily Chuck's best side but nonetheless the position of a real hero at work.  I am so grateful for good friends and neighbors!

 

Today was a gorgeous sun shiny day with the high around 46 degrees.  I had planned on going to Show Low to get a salad after going to the post office but went straight home and had a hot dog with pork & beans instead.  I watched a couple of Hallmark movies, did some more cleaning and paying bills, and took a call from the arthritis center.  I have an infusion appointment and an appointment with Tiffany on Friday starting at 8:30. 

I am in so much pain that I take six methotrexates instead of four.

 

James exchanged James Hayden's boot that we got him for Christmas for size 10 1/2's.  I think he needed a reason to go to Bass Pro Shop to spend his Christmas gift cards.

 

 

 

 





Sunday, January 4, 2015

 

The Book of Mormon teaches,

"For it is expedient that an atonement should be made..., or else all mankind must unavoidably perish; yea, all are hardened; yea, all are fallen and are lost, and must perish except it be through the atonement...an infinite and eternal sacrifice."

- Alma 34:9-10

 

I gave James a haircut before church this morning.  We are also fasting and praying for Laura. 

We had to leave a little early for sacrament meeting to meet with Brother John Wilhelm.  He released me from my calling as 1st counselor in the Young Women's presidency.  Stefani Hunsaker will be the new counselor and Kathy Crane is the new Laurel advisor.

 

Our fast and testimony meeting was wonderful, and Kim and Brian were so impressed, especially with the youth who bore their testimonies.  Jackson Allen, Tyler Hunsaker, Shelly Applegate, and Trenda Wilhelm were included in that group.  James also bore his testimony and told everyone this would be our last Sunday here for about six months.  I was impressd with Chuck Crane's simple and beautiful testimony of the restored gospel.

 

I said goodbye to some of my young women before leaving church, but didn't attend Young Women's because I didn't want to be a distraction.

 

After church Kim and Brian shared their lunch with us, chili and hotdogs and then they began getting ready to go home.  Kim did a good clean of the hall bathroom which was pretty messy after a house full of boys using it all week.

 

We said our goodbyes and took some pictures:

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was inside keeping warm while James took the pictures.  I would have insisted that he take one of the whole group together. 

 

 

After everyone was gone we took a nap and then got up to clean.  James took the Christmas tree down and went to home teach the Hunsaker's and the Wilhelm's.  He took birthday gifts to Tyler, Holly, and Talon.  When he returned I was in a serious conversation with Kathy Crane.  She brought me over some homemade bread and chicken soup because I have been sick.  She told me about her daughter who is suffering from depression because of her ex-husband and some of the things he has done and she tried to commit suicide over the Christmas holiday. 

 

This evening James and I studied our scriptures together.  We read 5 1/2 pages from the Book of Mormon and also read from the New Testament.