Saturday, March 24, 2012

This is a picture of my dear sister-in-law Cathi with her sisters Pam and Lynne taken at their mother, Evelyn Mae Curtis's, funeral in Chandler at the Del Rio building. One of the things I will always remember about the funeral is that my phone began "reading scriptures" in the middle of Pres. Randall Jones's talk and I panicked and it took me a few seconds to get it turned off. How embarrassing!

Jared sent me these pictures today from Texas. This is James at his baseball game, Anna playing volleyball and Molly cheering them on. Soon I will also have pictures of Emmy playing softball.

Dallin and Jared both had track meets today but I am sorry to say that I missed both of them. I was helping with the funeral luncheon for Cathi's family and then James and I helped clean the Church. (We did it for Cathi and Terry as it was their turn).

After our big day James and I came home and took naps then we went out to eat. We were going to go to Chandler's Bbq fest at A.J. Chandler Park but it cost $10 to get in so we went to Famous Dave's instead. Their brisket was very tasty. It was a relaxing way to end the day.

Friday, March 23, 2012

Here is a picture of what James has been working on at the San Carlos School administration building. He calls it a monument.Grr, I just lost everything I posted, now I have to do it again.
I went to the temple this morning by myself. I could tell it was a busy day so I didn't even try to find a spot in the temple parking lot. I went straight to the church lot across the street. I love walking up to the front door this time of year because the flowers are so beautiful! I missed the 10 o'clock session so I sat in the assembly room and read several chapters from the Book of Mormon. I sat towards the back next to the wall in a totally packed session. I am ashamed to say I was a bobble head. I slept all through the film. After the session as I was folding my clothes in the dressing room I saw Hillary Brady Whalen and her family but she didn't see me. Her brother is getting married today. I had some vegetable soup and an egg salad sandwich in the temple cafeteria before leaving. As I came in to the foyer the first person I saw was little 5 year old Eden Whalen in a white dress holding a bouquet of flowers. She said, "Hey I know you. Are you here for the wedding?" I said, "No, I am just visiting the temple." I introduced myself to Hillary's mom and she said she had heard of the Lambson's and what a wonderful family we are. I told her I thought her family was pretty wonderful too.
Got my car washed at Cobblestone today. The best it's looked in a long time. I will be picking up Lois for the funeral tomorrow and I wanted it to be nice for her.
Stacy and Paul went to watch Dallin run in the Chandler Rotary Track meet today. He ran the mile in 4.49 and got 4th place out of about 50 runners. Way to go Dallin! Now he's on his way to the Fun Concert in Tucson with Kim, Brian, Joe, and Cody. Sheri, Ian, and Ben are also going.
James just got back from San Carlos. He stopped at Burger House and brought me a green chili burro so I am going to eat it right now!

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Today my friend Karen Schneider planned a "Bon Voyage" luncheon for me at Olive Garden. She invited friends that I have made throughout my years in Chandler. Here are some of the people who came: Diana Dowdle, Adrienne Ellsworth, Drea Boles, Jean Lamoreaux, Jacque Hatch, Terry Farnsworth and her Mom Marcia Lambson, Jackie Hall, Charlotte Mattice, Karen Schneider, and Sheri. Cathi was invited but didn't come because she is planning her Mom's funeral. Laura is out of town and Cid Elmer is helping Cathi plan her Mom's funeral. Karen had a cupcake cake that said Bon Voyage and a basket of goodies and a book by Ardeth Kapp. Jacque Hatch brought me red tulips and Drea took pictures of me with everyone to put in a book that everyone signed. Karen went around the table and made everyone say something about me. Although I don't like being the center of attention, I was touched and it was alot of fun. I do appreciate Karen and her grand ideas! Drea had to take lots of extra photos because I kept closing my eyes. Those darn camera flashed do it to me every time.
Sheri and I had a heart to heart with Stacy about moving this afternoon. James worked in San Carlos today and this evening he went on visits with the stake as part of our ward conference.

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

I know my days of walking to Walmart are coming to an end so I am going to enjoy them while I can. I bought some 'shock it' and threw it in the pool when I got back home because it was starting to look a little green. With James leaving before daybreak and getting back late he hasn't had time to do the pool.
I had visiting teaching appointments today with Christy Wanlass and Bev Hermann. I said goodbye to Bev and told her this would be my last visit before moving. She seemed sad and gave me a hug. I have really enjoyed getting to know her. Christy made me cupcakes! I gave Christy a hug too but I am pretty sure I will see her again. She and Sheri are good friends, in fact they are hiking Camelback Mountain together this afternoon. I invited her to the cabin and told her I would give her a Ranger ride down Christmas Tree Trail.
I got a call from Laura today who is in Utah. She said that Evelyn, Cathi's mother passed away this morning. I talked to Cathi who was crying and told her I wanted to come and see her as soon as she got home. Adrienne Ellsworth and I went over at 3 pm and stayed well over an hour. We helped Cathi figure out when and where the funeral would be and Cathi called President Randall Jones and asked him to conduct. He was Evelyn's first bishop. The funeral will be Saturday morning while Cathi's sisters are in town. I guess I will have to postpone my garage sale a week. I am going to my last Relief Society Presidency meeting this evening to train Drea Boles who is going to be the new education counselor. I love Drea. Robyn Rogers will be the secretary.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

James left early for San Carlos this morning with Drea and Lado. I studied and prayed, went for my walk to Walmart, did some yardwork and then cleaned baseboard and walls in the hall way and the floor and cabinets in the bathroom. This was all done before noon.
This afternoon I went around looking for books to sell at the garage sale I plan on having this weekend. I decided I can't part with any of my church books but I can part with just about all of my diet books. This evening I had a temple recommend interview with the stake. My interview was with our former bishop, Randall Jones. He is one of my favorite ex-bishops with the last name of Jones.
Kim and Brian had a stressful day at the cabin. Because of the snow the propane truck got stuck in one of the ditches James dug to drain the water off the road. He couldn't get out and finally ended up calling a tow truck. Consequently he did not deliver any propane. He said he would come back tomorrow when the ground was frozen. Kim said there is no gas left and they will either freeze or starve tonite. I told her to get all the space heaters and set up camp in our bedroom. She said she has no bread so pbj's are out and the can opener doesn't work so they will be having cereal for dinner. Hopefully they will survive until tomorrow.

Monday, March 19, 2012

Omni 1:26
"And now, my beloved brethren, I would that ye should come unto Christ, who is the Holy One of Israel, and partake of his salvation, and the power of his redemption. Yea, come unto him, and offer your whole souls as an offering unto him, and continue in fasting and praying, and endure to the end; and as the Lord liveth ye will be saved." This is one of my favorite scriptures from the Book of Mormon. Here are some thoughts on sacrifice:
"Sacrifice is an amazing principle. As we willingl give our time and talents and all that we possess, it becomes one of our truest forms of worship. It can develop within us a profound love for each other and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Through sacrifice our hearts can be changed; we live closer to the Spirit and have less of an appetite for things of the world." (Carol B. Thomas, "Sacrifice: An Eternal Investment." Ensign, May 2001, 63).
The high today was 55 degrees. James got a call on his way to San Carlos from the superintendent telling him not to come because it is too muddy to work. He came home and instead of going for my walk he convinced me to go lay day for awhile. It wasn't too hard to convince me since I have been awake since 2:30 am. Today was the day I was going to take my dolls to the cabin but there is just too much snow. Also, I found out that highway 87 to Payson was closed.
This morning at 4:47 a fire truck and a paramedics truck stopped in front of Cathi and Terry's. They think Evelyn might have a blood clot in her leg so they are taking her to the hospital. Usually Dave and Laura are up but they missed this one. Laura was upset that she heard about it from Jackie Hall instead of me. Dave and Laura are leaving for Utah and Idaho tomorrow so I went over to say goodbye to Laura this afternoon. We will probably be moved when they get back.
James cooked us yummy steaks from Costco today. They were better than the ones we had at Black Angus the other night and half as cheap.
I cleaned out my sock drawer today. One person should not have this many socks. Wow all shapes, sizes and colors. I got rid of about half of them.

Sunday, March 18, 2012

One of the reasons I get up so early in the morning (4 am) is because I love spending quiet time to think, ponder, study and pray. Today I listened to it rain in the background. I didn't mind the interruption at all.

James had an early meeting so he took his truck to Church. I got a text from Sheri asking me if I would take her boys because she wasn't feeling well. I was hoping it would be all four of them but I guess Evan slept late and had just gotten up. I love Alex, Ben and Max. I asked Ben and Alex how they did on their 30 mile hike. They said it was alot of fun but they got really cold the first night. Funny, James said the same thing about his campout.

Just when I got to Church James grabbed me and said the bishop wanted to see us in his office. I knew it was coming but I'm not sure I was ready for it, at least not today. Bishop Wilson thanked us for our service and then released James as the 1st counselor in the Young Men's presidency and he released me as 1st counselor in the Relief Society. That's it. The last callings we will have in this ward. I am a little sad. No one has been called yet to take our places.

Halle Wilson was the youth speaker in sacrament meeting and Rachel and Greg Hill were the main speakers. The theme was "The Living Christ."

During Brother Chubbs's Book of Mormon lesson in Sunday School I sat by Karen Schneider and we looked up the scripture readings on our iphones. Have I mentioned how much I love my new phone. I think James is jealous. I want to get him one too.

Julie Johansen gave the lesson in Relief Society on sustaining our leaders. It was a good lesson to have right before stake and general conference.

While we were in Relief Society it hailed really hard outside. The only indication I saw of it was a picture Janet Anderson posted on Fasebook and Stacy telling me that the ground was covered in white. Brian sent me a picture of the snow at the cabin. Kim says it's been snowing 13 hours straight and shows no signs of stopping. Hope they don't run out of propane and get snowed in.