Saturday, April 28, 2012

Today we attended this little girl's baptism.  Her name is Kaylena Thomas and she used to be a member of our ward.  Her parents are Kendall and Kristy Thomas.  James was their bishop and they asked him to speak at the baptism.  He gave a wonderful talk on the Holy Ghost.  When Kaylena was in our ward she was too shy to come to Primary.  We are very proud of her for having the courage to be baptized. 

Our friends Sheila and Duane Young are friends of the Thomas's.  Sheila is actually the Primary President.  After the baptism we all went to the Young's for a party.  Duane loves to cook and he had some wonderful food prepared for us.  The kids swam and we visited with Sheila and Duane.  They are great people!  Sheila and I grew up in the same ward in Show Low and they were members of our ward when they first got married about 17 years ago. 

Tonight we attended the Del Rio 2nd ward's Mystery Dinner.  It was like a dinner theater and the mystery was the theft of some jewels worth 1.5 million dollars.  This is a picture of Alex Tolman and his girlfirend Dianne Hess.  Alex played the part of Inspector Closseux and he played the part perfectly, with a french accent and great animation.  It was such a fun night.  Others who were in the play: Rebecca and Tony Silva who played the Hardy's.  It was Rebecca's jewels that were stolen.  The suspects: Karin Gonda as the glamorous model Christy Brink; Jeff Chubbs as Mrs. Hardy's former gilted boyfriend, Claude Bankrupt; Christy Wanlass as the sister Claudette Covett; and Kim Hazelwood as the neighbor Molly Mormahn.  The thief ended up being Mr Hardy.  It seems he was jealous of the jewels because they were occupying so much of his wife's time. 
Judy Pargetter and Michelle Thompson prepared the meal: lasagna, salad, and french bread.  Desserts were brought by various members of the ward.  My favorite was Hillary Whalen's coconut cake.  It was yumdelicious!  We had a wonderful time.  Thanks Diana Dowdle for suggesting this activity and doing most of the preparation.  The tables were beautifully decorated by Paula Casto.  When I thought to get a picture they had already been taken down. 

Friday, April 27, 2012

James had to buy a new battery for my Lexus today.  It cost him $113.00.

For lunch we wanted to go to Rudy's and use our 20 dollars worth of BBQ Bucks but when we got there the line was out the door so we went to Chili's instead.  I had this wonderful shrimp salad.  It's called the caribbean salad.  You can get it with either chicken or shrimp.  I have been eating it with chicken for years but lately I've liked the shrimp.  The dressing is divine too.

This evening we attended the temple with other members of the Del Rio 2nd ward who were there for Geoffrey Dowdle who went through for his own endowments.  He is leaving for his mission to Guatemala on May 9th.  Again, James had no recommend and had to have someone from the recorders office check the status of his recommend.  Val Peterson, our stake patriarch was the recorder.  Here are some other members of the Del Rio 2nd ward who were are the temple.  The Dowdle's, Diana and Jared and Diana's mother.  Jason and Drea Boles, Christy and Eric Wanlass, Keith and Leesa Farr, Holly Johansen, Karin Gonda, and Adrienne Ellsworth.  In the celestial room we saw Val Gale, Jr.  He was going through with his daughter who is getting married next week. 

Thursday, April 26, 2012

I read this sobering thought during my gospel study this morning. 
"We are one generation removed from apostacy.  All we need to do to slide back into the Dark Ages is to refrain from teaching the gospel to the rising generation.  All that is necessary for us to raise up a group of Latter-day Saints who are fully humanistic in character - who trust in their own genius and accomplishments - is to fail to teach Jesus Christ and him crucified."

It rained today for a short time.  Just enough to give James some grief on his concrete pour at Dobson Ranch.  I started trimming the bushes by the pool and got the big one done before the rain got here.  These bushes attract bees and we don't want that while the kids are swimming this summer.

We were supposed to go to the temple with Geoffrey Dowdle this evening but for some reason they postponed his session until tomorrow evening.  It worked out for us because we were then able to go to Alex and Michael's track meet.  Alex ran hurdles and both of them ran in the 4x400.  Michael also ran the 800 and won. 

James is still working on trying to get the pool back to normal.  It has algae.

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Today I went to lunch with my friend Karen Schneider.  James has been using my car on the Dobson Ranch job because his truck is at Chandler Auto Body getting some body work done.  Karen picked me up.  We went to one of our favorite restaurants, Firebirds.  We love their sour dough bread, coconut shrimp and ice cream with hot fudge sauce.  Afterwards we did a little shopping at Barnes and Nobles.  Karen watched this series on PBS called "Downton Abbey" that she says is fabulous and I must watch.  I had heard about it from Christy Wanlass and Katy Glemser so I was game.  Also it takes place in England on a big estate and that's right up my alley.  I bought season one and two.  The third season hasn't come out yet.  I also bought a cupcake puzzle for Stacy.  Karen is such a good friend and we had a wonderful time together. I felt guilty all afternoon for spending money. 

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Tonite we attended a program at Addy's school.  It was the story of "Tikki Tikki Tembo".  Addy sang and she also had a speaking part.  She said it so quickly I didn't have time to take her picture. 

There was also some guy in front of me who kept standing up too.  Addy is in the second grade at Val Vista Lakes Elementary School. 
After the program we went to Ocean Blue for yogurt.  It was such a fun evening.  Ruby kept racing down the sidewalk and then coming back to me and saying: "Do it again?"  Soon Rowan and Addy were joining in the fun.  We also played hide and go seek. 
When Darrel's family went home James and I had dinner at Costa Vida.  Yummy!  It was such a fun evening.

Before going to Addy's play this evening I went shopping at Costco.  It's Dallin's girlfriends birthday and she want a huge teddy bear at Costco.  Since Stacy doesn't have a Costco card, I was elected to go get it.  I am so sorry I didn't get a picture.  This bear is 54" tall  and is huge.  Evan and Joshua giggled and laughed and rolled around on it when I brought it home.  It's bigger than Dallin but I guess he will take it to school tomorrow to give it to Laura.

Monday, April 23, 2012

I love these two boys, Joshua and Evan.  That had so much fun playing together today.  Joshua built a "Snake Castle" with the blocks.  In the next picture they are watching Ninjago season one on the computer.

The problem with going back and forth between two houses is you forget what you have where.  This morning James informed me that we were out of toilet paper.  I also noticed we had no ketchup but I have three huge bottles at the cabin so I refused to buy anymore. No one should ever be without either of these things.

I wanted to wash my car today at Sam's Club but their car wash wasn't working.  I ended up at Cobblestone and spent over $25 which included getting my mats shampooed.  My car looks beautiful!

We heard the news that Jen and Michael Baxter are moving.  They had there house on the market two days and got 32 offers.  They are moving to the Val Vista and Riggs area.  Michael was a ward clerk when James was the bishop. 

We had dinner at Black Angus this evening because we had a coupon that expired today.  We still spent $50.

Paid property taxes today.

Sunday, April 22, 2012

We attended the Vernon ward today and then had a meeting with Bishop Ron Hall in the afternoon.  He seems like such a nice guy.  I am a little nervous about attending a new ward.  This is the first time that I've moved in over 40 years. 
Even though it wasn't fast Sunday James and I fasted for family members.  We may fast every Sunday. 
We finished our Victoria Holt book "Snare of Serpents" and then I made an apple cobbler.  It was delicious.  We were a little sad to come back to Chandler just because it was so beautiful this afternoon.  The clouds were beautiful and it looked like it was going to rain.