Tuesday, November 13, 2012

James and I took a trip to town today.  We stopped and had lunch at LaCasita.  I love their green chili burros enchilada style with green sauce!  We also went to Walgreen, Walmart, and stopped for gas and propane.  One the way home we noticed another prescribed burn.  Thank goodness this one is not as close to our house and the wind is blowing in the other direction.  James also noticed a herd of antelope alongside the highway close to Vernon.  He took me home and then got his camera and went back for some picture.  He got some awesome pictures!

This evening I went to a Relief Society dinner with Kathy Crane and Linda Price.  Linda and I both loved Alicia Hunsaker's rolls so we asked her for the receipe.  It was a fun evening.  I got to know some sisters I hadn't met before.  I sat by Jo (older, lives with her cat, has family in New York), Ruth Wallace, Ellen and her daughter Sherry who just moved here from Michigan with her husband and 12 rat terriers, Kathy, and April Allen, and Linda.  We had soup, rolls, and dessert and then we played Relief Society Scrabble.

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

My visiting teacher's were scheduled to come today so I made a couple of loaves of pumpkin bread to give them.  Linda Price ended up coming by herself.  I love Linda.  She is from Gilbert and is only up here part time.  Her husband had back surgery recently so he and James have alot in common.  The Price's have 7 children and 37 grandchildren.  James and I gave her a tour of the house and then Linda and I sat and talked while James went outside to visit with her husband and Chuck Crane.  Linda stayed for about an hour.  It was a nice way to spend my morning.
This evening I went to Young Women's early to have a presidency meeting with Shelly Applegate.  I prepared an agenda and gave her a notebook.  We met in the truck and I felt like it was a good meeting.  We discussed each of the girls, planned a class activity for December, and Shelly chose someone to be her secretary.
For mutual the Beehives were in charge.  We did yoga and then afterwards had cake and ice cream.  It was a fun activity and we had a girl come out that I have never seen before, Katelyn Brandt.  Trenda was assigned to invite her because she and Trenda are good friends.

Getting warmed up.

Someone is out of sync.

What is that on the ceiling?

Katelyn Brandt.

Kailee making sure everyone is on task.

Jordyn.

Lift that leg Shelly!

Hailey and Kilee.

Monday, November 12, 2012

We woke up this morning with no water, no heater in our bedroom, and a gas leak.  James had everything under control before the day was over.  That's what I love about him.  What would I do without him?

Ed, Debbie, Wes, Ann, Anden, and Catherine Miller all came over this morning.  The Miller's put the heater in and they thought they could figure out what was wrong.  They couldn't but I had a nice visit with Debbie and Ann while the kids watched TV.  Ed called Chuck Lewis and he had the heater fixed in 15 minutes and only charged us $80.  Kathy Crane says Chuck can fix anything.

The snow is starting to melt.  The high today was a sunny 43.  While the snow was melting, the bills were mounting. 

The highlight of the day was the herd of elk that ate dinner in our backyard.  There were about 25.

Sunday, November 11, 2012

4-6" of snow and the high was 35 today.  I am so glad I have my boots to wear to church.  Today was stake conference for all 95 stakes in Arizona.  It was a broadcast from Salt Lake City featuring: Cheryl A. Esplin, 2nd counselor in the General Primary, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles, and President Henry B. Eyring.  It was a great meeting.  Here are some of the highlights:
Sister Esplin - build your rock on a firm foundation. (Hel 5:12). Elder Holland - "Think deeply and prayerfully about missionary work.  We must be more prepared in regards to helping the missionaries in our ward."  President Eyring - "Prophets warned we would live in tuultous times.  We can be optimistic or pessimisstic about the future.  I recommend we become a wise optimist. The Church will be perfectly prepared for the Savior's Second Coming after it has passed through tribulation."

We were invited to dinner at our neighbor's, Chuck and Kathy Crane's this evening, along with Blaine and Diana Curtis.  Kathy made stew with vegetables from her garden and an apple pie with apples from George and Ruth Wallace's orchard.  It was all very delicious and was served on her Princess House dishes.  Kathy sold Princess House dishes for 20 years.  She's a tough act to follow.  It was nice to get to know Diana Curtis a little better.  Her husband just retired from the Mesa Police Department and they sold their home in Mesa and built a home here in Vernon.  They have five children.  It was an enjoyable evening.

Saturday, November 10, 2012

I cleaned up plenty of drywall dust this morning before going to breakfast at Mimi's with these friends:

Celebrating Christy's birthday with Christy, Drea, Adrienne, and Sheri.

What a fun and awesome group of girls.  I love them and look forward to them coming to the cabin again very soon!

Before leaving for home this afternoon these boxes had to be loaded into the truck:

Our trip home was pretty uneventful.  But when we got home it looked like this:

By the time it was finished we got about 4 inches of snow.

Snow on Mt. Vernon.

Nice and cozy by the fire.

The first snow of the season is always exciting! 

Friday, November 9, 2012

James finished the Boles job yesterday and today he started texturing the walls in our entryway and hallway.  After the first coat he sands and drywall dust goes everywhere.  It is my job to clean it up.  What a mess.

   I also worked downstairs in my office.  I packed about 12 boxes of books, etc. off my bookshelf and barely emptied 5 shelves out of 30.  

Joshua went to a play today at school about colors.  He came home and the first thing he said to me was "Grandma, did you know that red and blue make purple?"  He knows that my favorite color is purple. 

Joshua showing me some artwork he did at school while

watching SpongeBob on the television.

 Retake with Holly in the background.

We spent this evening with Darrel and Trina's family.  We had dinner at Chipotle and then afterwards we went back to their house. First Ruby and Addy did some trick and then we played Hedbanz  and watched Mary Poppins.

 Ruby's version of the splits.

Addy's cartwheel.

Ruby is spaghetti and meatballs.

Rowan's a penguin.

Yes Addy, you are a banana.

While James visited with Darrel and Trina I had a great time with the kids.  It was a fun evening.

Thursday, November 8, 2012

When James and I left for the valley this morning it looked like a storm was coming in.  It was cold, cloudy, and windy.  We started reading a new book by Mitch Albom called "The Time Keeper."  Our first stop in Chandler was Taco Bell for lunch.  James spent the afternoon finishing up at the Boles' while I hung out with Sheri.  Sheri took the afternoon off to spend with me.  Sheri gave me an early Christmas present, a new pair of glasses.  Thanks Sheri!  We watched a couple of episodes of The Mentalist and then picked the boys up from school.  Evan had some birthday money to spend so we went to our favorite store.  Can you guess?\

It was fun hanging out a Sheri's with her and her boys.  Here is a picture of Ben doing one of his favorite things - reading a Rick Riordan book.

This evening James and I had dinner at El Pollo Loco in Gilbert.  Right behind El Pollo is a Hobby Lobby.  I finished eating before James did so I went to do a little shopping for an idea I have for Young Women's.  I bought these flowers and vase.

No bouquet is complete unless every

Young Woman is present. 

In other exciting news today, Rowan won the kindergarten fun run last week.  This week he came in second.