Sunday, March 1st, 2020

Calgary, Alberta

140th operating temple

Dedicated: 28 Oct 2012

By: Thomas S. Monson

Jesus Christ, Judge

Isaiah 3:14

The Lord will enter into judgment with the ancients of his people, and the princes thereof: for ye have eaten up the vineyard; the spoil of the poor is in your houses.

Book of Mormon/"Come Follow Me"

Review 2 Nephi 26-30

Saints, Volume 2

Chapter 31

The Shattered Threads of Life

Oct 2019 GC

The Message, the Meaning, the Multitude

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

"As we minister to one another, or refine our Sabbath experience, or embrace a new program for children and youth, we will miss the real reason for these revelatory adjustments if we see them as disparate, unrelated elements rather than as an interrelated effort to help us build more firmly on the Rock of our Salvation."

We are fasting today for our grandchildren. It seems that several of them are struggling right now. We know the gospel could help them if they would only turn to their Savior and put their faith in Him.

We had elk in our field today. I always love it when they come to visit.

I usually blog in the mornings but today I focused on "Come Follow Me" and what we will be teaching this evening with our family. It's hard because we don't know how many of them will be there. I told James I felt like talking to Lola and just letting everyone else listen in. 

I felt compelled to bear my testimony today in our fast and testimony meeting. I bore testimony that I knew that the Lord wants all of His children to come unto Him. This is part of the "Come Follow Me" lesson for this week. I shared my feelings of being in the sealing room with Brother Adair and how the Lord provides the temple to help bring His children unto Him. I am not sure how my testimony was received but I knew I had to share it.

Pam Wood gave the lesson in Sunday School. It was great attending with James. We read scriptures about the Savior and then about Satan to compare. The Lord does nothing except it benefits His children. The Satan does nothing but try to trick and deceive, discourage, or distract us. 

I asked Sheri if we could postpone our lesson tonight until 6:30. She said yes as long as we start on time. I promised her we would.

We ate some lunch and then I rested for a few minutes before getting things together and ready to go. We left a little after 2:30.

It was almost three by the time we left the post office. James left a note for the postmistress about how we would be gone and wouldn't be picking up our mail until Wednesday. With all of the books I have been ordering I thought they might want to put them in a locker.

With not stops we arrived at Darrel's a little before six. We weren't sure we were in the right place because there was a black Chevy truck parked in the driveway. I guess Darrel's transmission went out on his car and he bought a truck. 

Darrel said they had just finished eating dinner and would we like some. We did. There was bbq chicken, coleslaw, corn, beans, and rolls. Thank you Darrel. We appreciate you.

Sheri and Evan arrived shortly after we got there. They were a little early. When it got to be 6:30 Sheri reminded me it was time to start, which we did. A few minutes after we started Kim and Brian arrived with a plate of brownies. They go nicely with the cookies Addy made.

I guess Paul's sister Tara is in town with her baby and she is staying with Stacy and Paul. That's why Stacy said they didn't come.

Max had homework and was grouchy so Sheri left him at home. I am glad she brought Evan.

We had a good discussion. Kim always read conference talks that go with the lesson and she shared her favorite quote about the Book of Mormon by Ezra Taft Benson, one of her favorite prophets. She shared several other quotes and Sheri shared a story from the comefollowmedaily site. It was really good. I was impressed with how much Addy knows about the Book of Mormon and the great answers she gave to several questions. Darrel says she read with him pretty much on a daily basis. I said, "Maybe she's going to save you Darrel."

Evan knew all of the answers to the crossword puzzle I gave out. You had to look up scriptures to answer the questions. Lola enjoyed coloring the "Jesus wants everyone to come unto Him" pictures. 

Ruby looks so cute in her braces. She is sad though because she can't eat popcorn, which is one of her favorite snacks.

Sheri left right at 6:30. She gets up at 4 to start her day so she likes to go to bed around 8 or 8:30. Kim stayed and visited with Addy, Rowan, and Ruby while I colored with Lola. Darrel and Brian had a nice visit. James started writing his letter to Ben.

It was a nice evening spent with family.

Sunday with Scarlett

Congratulations!

The Sabbath with Charlie:

Arizona Highways magazine

Teresa and Sandy

Our friend Sherry in the dark hair.

I thought this was a cool picture.

Darrel says in is only in one of these photos.

Lola loves Sheri

Sheri loves Lola

Saturday, June 8th, 2019

Buenos Aires, Argentina

39th operating temple

Dedicated: 17 Jan 1986 

By: Thomas S. Monson

Jesus Christ, Divine Sonship

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.

Book of Mormon

Alma 12:28-13:9

New Testament "Come Follow Me"

John 17

General Conference

Seeking Knowledge by the Spirit

Mathias Held

"We liked the emphasis on personal growth, on education, on hard work and self-reliance. We learned about the remarkable humanitarian program. And we were impressed by the general conferences, with the wonderful music and the profound spiritual principles shared there."

We left for our shift at the temple around 5:38 this morning, listening to the above talks on the way. 

Even though we had two bundt cakes we only took the almond poppy seed one into the temple to share. We left the other one in the car to take to the valley.

The Brimhall's presided over our preparation meeting. 

Before leaving for the temple this morning I got 3,000 steps. As I did my rounds today I had my phone in my pocket counting my steps. James does this every week we work. I did it today because I knew I was not going to have time today to do very much walking.

My schedule went something like this: Plan for the veil with Sister Reidhead, break, locker room, top of the stairs greeter, assistant veil director for the 8 am session. Initiatory, bapistry - they didn't need me, assistant veil director for the 9:30 session, waiting for the next veil with Sister Reidhead, and assistant veil director for the 11 am session. There were only six sisters in this session.

We left for the valley from Snowflake, going through Heber and Payson. We stopped in Payson at Culver's to eat. I had a salad and a sundae and James had the fish dinner. He said it was delicious.

When we arrived in Mesa we went straight to Highland High School where Ruby and Lola's dance recital was being held. 

Two of the first people we saw upon arriving were Darrel and Trina. Darrel bought our tickets and then went to buy flowers for the girls while James and I saved seats. Trina stayed outside waiting for her parents. All six of us sat together.

The name of the dance company that Ruby and Lola belong to is: Rhythm and Motion Dance Center. The name of the program was Danceopoly and the dances were all based around games. 

There were 28 numbers. Lola's was #6, Pieface. They danced to the song Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch with tap shoes on.  I especially loved it when they blew kisses. It was so cute.

Ruby's dance was #27 and was called, "Fortnite." It was a hiphop dance. They did the "floss" at the end so when it was over I made Ruby do the floss for me.

Such cuties!

Darrel didn't want to spend another $15 a piece for Rowan and Addy to come so they each went to a friends house during the concert. 

James and I walked after the concert and back at Darrel and Trina's. He went outside and I stayed inside.

 Arizona Highways

Lake Powell

Friday, April 19th, 2019

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

152nd operating temple

Dedicated: 18 Sept 2016

By: Henry B. Eyring

Jesus Christ, Divine Sonship

Alma 33:14, 22
14 Now behold, my brethren, I would ask if ye have read the scriptures? If ye have, how can ye disbelieve on the Son of God?
22 If so, wo shall come upon you; but if not so, then cast about your eyes and begin to believe in the Son of God, that he will come to redeem his people, and that he shall suffer and die to atone for their sins; and that he shall rise again from the dead, which shall bring to pass the resurrection, that all men shall stand before him, to be judged at the last and judgment day, according to their works.
Book of Mormon
Mosiah 11:16-29
New Testament "Come Follow Me"
Matthew 26; 27:1-61

General Conference

Abound with Blessing

Dale G. Renlund

"Most blessings that God desires to give us require action on our part - action based on our faith in Jesus Christ."

We left the house at 11 this morning, right on schedule. Just as we turned on to the Green's Peak road Sheri texted and asked if we wanted to go to the temple with her tomorrow afternoon. Of course the answer was yes so we turned around and went back to get our temple clothes. We are missing the Morrison's sealing by going to the valley this weekend. I wrote a text to Laurann and told her we had a family tradition of getting together on Easter weekend. I hope she understood.

When we got to Show Low James had to go back Empire Cat to give them an invoice. It just took a couple of minutes. Our next stop was to get gas and to wash the car. A huge bird pooped on the corner of the front window on my side and I didn't relish the thought of looking at that all the way to the valley. While James was attending to the car I walked to McDonald's and ordered us a couple of Quarter Pounders to eat on the way. So messy and greasy. Not a good idea. We should have waited until Burger House.

The poppies in Miami are beautiful. Quite a contrast to the old deserted buildings. We zipped right through. I waved as we passed Burger House.

We did not stop at Darrel and Trina's but went straight to Sheri's for egg coloring. Those who were there: Max, Evan, Sheri, Kim, Brian, Michael, Joshua, Stacy, and Alex. Those who actually stepped away from video games and colored eggs: Everyone except Max and Michael. James went to collect more money from Mario Chacon. He did come back and color three eggs. Alex and Evan like to color eggs because they are artistic like Ian. I guess Max is not interested. It was nice that Brian was there. He and Ollie love each other. He holds Ollie on his shoulder like a baby and Ollie loves it. 

 Alex, Joshua, Max and Michael

The ladder is in the entry because Sheri and Ian have been painting.

 Stacy telling Kim about her new job. 

Proof of egg coloring. Why didn't I actually take a

picture of someone coloring eggs. I'm not sure what 

Sheri is doing. 

This evening James worked at Kim and Brian's putting drywall back in the laundry room while I visited with Kim and Brian. I also worked on my blog while we watched Hallmark movies. Brian went to Crumbl Bakery and got us some cookies. He got Nutella cookies for Kim, Joe, James and himself. I wanted a sugar cookie but I guess they were out so I ate the snickerdoodle which was warm and divine. These are the biggest, thickest cookies I have ever seen. 

 So thick and creamy

James only got to eat half of his.

BTW how many cookie stores are there in the tri-city area?

 My eggs for tomorrow's egg hunt. I casually mentioned that

I was hungry for Harkin's movie popcorn. When Brian went to get

the cookies he brought me back my own bag!

So thoughtful.

Kim giving Bob a belly rub while we were watching

our Hallmark movies. I guess she does this several

times a day.

James and I got back to Darrel and Trina's around 10 but went straight to the grocery store to get what we needed to fix Easter beans and green bean casserole. Thank goodness Fry's stays open until 11. Back home we were locked out of the house. Darrel and Rowan were gone to the Father's and Son's outing. Trina was in bed because she goes to work early in the morning. Thank goodness Addy was awake and let us in.

Addy had a track meet today and then went wakeboarding with a friend. She was a little sun burnt but had a great time. Rowan was asked at the Father's and Son's to get up and talk about service just spur of the moment and Darrel said he did a great job.

I asked Trina if we could take the girls with us to color eggs but she was taking them to get pedicures. That sounds like more fun. 

It was a fun day. It was 77 in Vernon and about 102 when we arrived in the valley. Oh well, we just stayed indoors most of the time. We did walk after we put groceries away at 11 p.m. around the green belt in from of Darrel and Trina's it makes a nice walking track.

Posting this because Jared asks for it almost every Easter. 

I can understand why, because it is delicious.

Lois's recipe.

 Little Miss Sunshine