Monday, July 2, 2012

All the talk these days is about Obamacare and how it passed in the supreme court last week.  I felt some relief when I listened to a political prediction by Wayne Allen who says he is known for the correctness of his political predictions.  He says that Romney will win the election by a landslide.
  I am a little concerned by the attitude of one of my friends who says she can't vote for Romney and will only vote for Ron Paul.  Don't people realize that conservative have to unite in order to beat Obama?  If he is re-elected I am afraid it will be the beginning of the end.
James took the boys in to town this afternoon.  Thank goodness they took the many bags of garbage with them.  James thinks we need to get a trash compactor but I'm not sure anything could compact the amount of trash this family produces. 
Trina fixed a delicious pork roast for dinner. 
After dinner I had FHE with Darrel and Trina's family.  I told the pioneer story of the crickets and the seagulls.  Darrel talked about America gaining independence from England and Trina read from the Book of Mormon about Captain Moroni and the Title of Liberty.
James had FHE with the older boys.  They talked about the importance of making and keeping covenants.
James and Alex spent some time getting ready for the Black River fishing trip tomorrow.

Here they are getting the fishing equipment out and making sure they have the right spinners.

Hey guys, go to bed.  You are getting up at 3am.

Sunday, July 1, 2012

James and I are fasting for help with our finances.  We told the boys we were staying for the entire block and that we had to leave early because we had a meeting before church with a member of the bishopric.  We met with Brother Wes Smith before fast and testimony meeting.  He called me to be the first counselor in the Young Women's organization.  I told him I wasn't young and he said that didn't matter.  A couple of weeks ago the YW's president came up to me and introduced herself (Natalie Soderquist) and said she had been waiting for me to get here, so I wasn't completely surprised by the calling.  I was sustained in sacrament meeting.  I attended YW's today and was surprised by the frankness of the Sister Soderquist in speaking with the girls about dressing modestly.  Wow! I hope I am able to be a good example and love the girls and teach them the things they need to know.  After the block James and I went in to the bishop's office and Brother Wes Smith set me apart.  It was a very nice setting apart. 
As we went to the car James told me that the boys, Joe, Alex, Michael, and Dallin had ditched priesthood.  I was very disappointed.  I told them that in YW the lesson was on the priesthood and how important it is for young men and young women to honor the priesthood.  I told the boys I didn't feel like they had honored their priesthood today. 
When we returned to the cabin James's Dad and his wife Alisha were sitting on our front porch.  They are returning home from the Lambson reunion and stopped by for a visit.  Ruby especially liked Alisha. 
After we broke our fast we had a nice roast dinner with biscuits, asparagus, corn, and salad.  Alex was especially hungry.  He at 10 biscuits and 20 asparagus spears.

Saturday, June 30, 2012

I woke up at 3:15 am and could not go back to sleep so I got up and took a shower and got ready for my trip to the valley for Colee Tolman's wedding which I thought was at 10 am.  I arrived at home before nine only to find out that the wedding isn't until noon.  James and I had breakfast at Wildflower.  I had an egg sandwich that was delicious!
We arrived at the temple at 11:30 and gathered in the chapel.  I was happy to have Drea and Adrienne come and sit with us.  We also sat with Bishop and Sherilyn Barney.  I love temple weddings because it always reminds me of the important covenants we make when we are sealed for time and all eternity.  Colee looked beautiful and Troy seemed so happy.  He is a Geiger from Snowflake.  I love that Colee's favorite color is purple.

This afternoon I took Max on his birthday date.  I gave him $50 to spend.  He wanted to go to Target.  This is what he bought.  

After shopping we had some pizza.  Max will be nine years old on Sunday. Doesn't he look awesome?

Joe and Alex drove back to the cabin with me this evening. James had Michael and Dallin with him.  My CD player doesn't work but it didn't matter because Joe and Alex love to sing.  They serenaded me and kept me awake.  It was a fun trip.  It was almost 10pm when we arrived.  James had arrived earlier. 

Friday, June 29, 2012

Rowan has been asking to go fishing since Monday when they got here.  James left for the valley early this morning and of course Darrel is at work so that means it's up to Trina and I to take the kids fishing.
I had a visiting teaching appointment at 10 am and we planned on leaving after I returned home.  I met Eileen Duggins at the church a little before 10 and we drove across the street to Lannie Gillespie's only to find that she wasn't home. How embarrassing for me because I am the one that made the appointment.  We left a card with our names and phone numbers on it.  So for visiting teaching this month I am one for three.  I'm not off to a very good start in my new ward.
Again Trina packed us a lunch and we drove to Springerville where she stopped at the Western Drug to get a fishing license because James told her she needed one if Rowan was going to fish. (Later we found out she didn't need a fishing license for the kids to fish!)  When we got to Greer the creek was closed and we didn't want to fish below the bridge because we figured it was private property.
We decided to drive to drive to Sheep's Crossing but a couple of miles in a road closed sign was posted.  By this time the kids were pretty sick of being in the car but we still had a long ways to go. We decided to go to Show Low Lake.  The spot we picked was next to the boat dock and was very rocky.  Let's just say the only thing that was hooked was my finger, but I wasn't hurt.  We used power bait without sinkers which is a boo boo according to one of the teenage boys who helped us.  The trip home the kids were pretty quiet and I must say they were good sports for as long as they were in the car.  Rowan says it wasn't a total loss because they saw a water snake.

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Today Trina and I took the kids to the lavender fields in Concho.  They are out in the middle of no where, the land of desolation, and it was warm.  It cost Trina and I $5 each to get in.  The kids wanted to pick some lavender and it cost them $5 each.  It was expensive but the lavender cookies were good except Addy didn't like the coconut in them.  Trina, Ruby and I liked them.  We had packed a picnic lunch which we ate out on the lawn and then we packed up and left.

This afternoon after a nice rest from our morning activities we went on a nature hike.  It was cool because the sun was behind a cloud.  

Ruby loved picking up sticks and saying: "I found some wood."

We climbed up to the fort.  Addy said the rules for the fort were: "Have fun and don't hurt anyone.

We all enjoyed our nature hike and we even found some elk droppings.

The End.

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

The well went off this morning.  Thank goodness James was here.  He pushed the reset button and we waited about 45 minutes and walla, there was water again.  He said the pump had been off for some time and we were using water from the storage tank which finally emptied.
We got our social security checks today.  They were much needed after all the bills I paid yesterday.
I went visiting teaching this morning with my new partner Eileen Duggins.  We visited Linda Diewald.  They are both women about my age and we talked about illness and medicine and all those things that are part o life but not very uplifting.  The message was on the importance of visiting teaching and we did have a good discussion.
When I got home we all went in to town.  James and I in our car and Trina and the kids behind us in their Jeep.  We met Darrel at La Casita for lunch.  Of course I had a green chili burro.  Darrel and Trina paid for our lunch before we even realized it.  After lunch Darrel went back to work and Trina, James and I took the kids to the go cart track in Lakeside.  Addy was my partner, Rowan was with James and Ruby and Trina were together.  After we got started and James and Rowan passed us Addy was wishing Grandpa James was her partner.  It was alot of fun but quite expensive and again, Trina paid.  The discussion at dinner this evening was who gets to be grandpa's partner next time at the Go Cart track.  I think it will be Addy.

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

I spent much of the day paying bills, both personal and Lambson Construction. 
Trina took all of the kids on a Ranger ride this morning and then Rowan wanted to go on another one, so off they went.  The girls stayed at the cabin with James and I.  James and I were eating lunch when it started to rain.  We were concerned about Trina and Rowan so James took off in the truck to look for him.  They were already most of the way home.  It had started raining and hailing on them up on the road to Green's Peak earlier than it rained here.  They were soaked and shivering.  Trina went upstairs to take a hot shower and we put Rowan in our bath tub.  He loved having the jets on and stayed a long time. 
James made a delicious dinner for us using things we have in our food storage.  He used canned chicken, green chilies and green chili enchilada sauce, corn tortillas and cheese to make us some delicious tacos.  Trina made a salad using James's "receipe" which includes fresh lemon zest.  Everything was delicious and quite healthy too! 
Trina made smores for the kids in the microwave.
I forgot to mention earlier that Darrel got me a new cover for my phone.  It is purple and I love it!  It is like having a new phone.  Thank you Darrel!