Saturday, December 29, 2012

I made the same breakfast casserole I made for Christmas for breakfast this morning.  Before it got out of the oven Jared & Tricia had to leave for breakfast to pick up our (mine& James's) Christmas present.  They had an appointment at Bowman Studio in Snowflake.  They came back with this:

I love this picture!

The picture is signed by the artist, David Bowman.  Someone posted this picture on the internet after the tragedy in Connecticut at Sandy Hook Elementary and David Bowman got over a million hits.  Jared and Tricia are so thoughtful to give this to us.  Thank you so much!

The boys played lots of Rockband while they were here.

James trying out the guitar.

Michael loves playing the drums and that's Joe on the other guitar.

James took the girls, Anna, Emmy, and Molly outside for a "walk."  It turned out to be a Ranger ride, and a Cat ride and burning brush.  The burning of the brush scared Molly so Anna brought her in.  Emmy stayed out and helped James for another hour or so.

This evening Jared's family and James and I went to Bill & Rita Solomon's for dinner.  Rita is my cousin and Jared met her son Ricky when he lived in Frisco, Texas.  They were in the same ward and the two families became good friends.  Jared moved into the ward while Tricia and the kids were still in Arizona.  When he introduced himself and said he was from Arizona, Rick came up to him and said he was from Show Low, Arizona.  Jared said, my great grandpa lived in Show Low.  Rick said, "Oh, what was his name?"  Jared said, "Arlee Maxwell."  Rick replied, "He's my great grandfather too."  That's how the friendship started.  Both families became good friends.  

Jared and Rick both served missions in Ecuador.

Friday, December 28, 2012

It was a sunny day today and the snow is already melting.  It makes me sad.  I rotated between studying, working, and watching TV most of the day.  I vacuumed, mopped, cleaned the kitchen and put clean sheets on the beds upstairs. 
Tricia left El Paso around noon and she said Jared and Anna were about 30 minutes behind her.  James left the valley with Alex, Joe, and Michael around 3pm.  Tricia arrived a little after dark.  Emmy somehow got herself stuck in her seatbelt and had to be cut out.  We waited for Jared to get here to do it because Tricia really didn't want to cut the seatbelt in her new van. 
James really enjoyed going to Alex Tolman's wedding.  An old friend from our early days in Chandler, Bob Layton was the sealer.  I wanted to go but felt I needed to get home to prepare for our company.
Jared's family, and Grandpa James opened their Christmas presents. I opened a gift from Jared & Tricia.  It was a picture book of their family with a history of the things they have done in the past year.  These are the best kinds of gifts!

Anna, Molly, and Emmy.

Molly loved her baby doll.

Molly in her Woody P.J.'s.

Although Jared's family spent Christmas in a cabin at Cloud Croft, New Mexico, where it snowed, they were so excited to be here and see the snow.  It is going to be a fun day tomorrow!

Thursday, December 27, 2012

The Weather Channel says it's suppose to snow in Vernon today so I wanted to get an early start home.  I went to Sam's Club and bought Alex Tolman a wedding gift and then went to Sheri's to wrap it.  While I was there Evan showed me his latest Lego project.

One of the sweetest boys on the planet.

The world of Legos is amazing.

I left town around 11 am.  No snow until I got to the top of the Rim and then there was quite a bit.  I stopped in Show Low at Walgreen's to fill a prescription and then on to Walmart to get groceries for the week.  Jared and Tricia will be here tomorrow.

It was snowing from Show Low in to Vernon.  I had no problems until I tried to go up the hill into our place.  My tires just kept spinning.  I called James and he said to back up and get a running start.  That didn't help.

Finally I called my neighbors the Crane's and they came to my rescue.  Chuck tried to drive my car but he had the same problem I did, no traction.  He got he four-wheeler and bladed the road but that didn't help either.  Finally Chuck got Kathy's Suburban and pulled me out.  Kathy and Chuck helped me unload my car and Chuck helped me turn on the water out at the pump house.  It is so wonderful to have such good neighbors!

Coming in to Payson.

Lots of clouds.

The road is covered with snow.

On the Rim.

Stuck at the bottom of the hill.

Chuck comes to the rescue.

The view from inside my car.

In spite of the cold, and the problem with getting stuck.  I still love the snow!  Thank goodness I had my new boots and a blanket in the car with me.  I told Tricia about getting stuck and she decided not to come until tomorrow. 

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

James parked his truck on 108th way because he had tools in the back so I took him to get it early this morning.  I came back to the hotel and paid bills.  At 9am I had an appointment at Chandler Family Practice with Lois.  My blood pressure was 118/20.  Hurray!  This was a routine appointment so I can get a refill on my blood pressure meds.  They also did bloodwork.

After my doctor's appointment I went to Sheri's.  She told me if I came over this morning she would vacuum out my car, which she did.  She was also taking Alex to Cabellas to get a new fishing rod.  The one he got for Christmas doesn't work right.  I also stopped at Stacy's and sprayed the mud off the undercarriage of my car.  It took much longer than I thought and I had to clean up the mess off the driveway.  Afterwards I picked up a spicy chicken salad from Pei Wei and took it back to the hotel to eat.  I also took a nap and had a little down time.

At 4:30 James and I had an appointment at Grand Canyon title in Gilbert to sign papers for Zaki's lot. 
Our next stop was Sears to get my tires rotated, a lube and oil change.  On the way down on Monday my car was shaking when I went over 65.  The guy at Sears said my tires were so bad it wouldn't do me any good to rotate them.  They did the lube and oil change and James said we could get tires when I came back on the 7th.  We used one of Chili's gift cards for dinner.  I had the carribean salad with grilled shrimp.  It was yummy.  James had the fajita trio.  Stopped by Deseret Book and bought 3 books with my gift card, one for Kim, Stacy, and myself.

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

We all gathered at Sheri's house this morning for breakfast and then to open our gifts from each other.  Terry and Dave donated venison meat and James made venison and gravy with biscuits.  I made a potato, ham, egg, cheese casserole and we had orange juice and milk to drink.  We missed Jared's family and Stacy who wasn't feeling well.  It was a fun morning but I am sad and regretful about one thing....we did not read from Luke 2 which has always been our tradition.

Sheri & Ian's beautiful tree.

 Evan playing with his new Nintendo3DS.

The madness begins.  Dallin loved the

Miami Dolphins watch we got him.

Dallin wearing his watch.

Paul in an awkward position.

Evan and Ruby setting up Evan's new train track.

Evan, Max, and Joshua.

Grandpa helping with the train.

The engine keeps jumping the track.

Max and Ruby love each other!

Got these from Kim & Brian.

They are my new favorite treat!

Purple snow boots from Kim & Brian.

James got a Cabellas gift card, we both got Chili's cards, and a Deseret Book card, and James got a strap to sharpen knives and scissors.  We love our children and grand children so much!

This afternoon Kim and Brian took us to see the move "Les Miserable".  I got to sit by Joe.  We really enjoyed the movie.  I love Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway.  

We also went over to Darrel's and played with his kids for awhile and saw their Christmas presents.

This evening we went to visit Lois.  We wanted to see Dawn too, but she wasn't there.  Of course she fed us.  On the way home we were still a little hungry so we went to Filiberto's.  I ordered a green chili burro and ate it back in room 214 at the San Marcos.

Monday, December 24, 2012

James left early this morning for the valley.  I wasn't ready to go until about 10am.  I had to do the winterizing, which is the pits.  I need to appreciate James a little more who always takes care of these things for me.
 Here are a few pictures of how our house looked for Christmas:

Before presents.

After presents.

James had asked Brian if he would go online and find us a motel room on priceline.com.  Brian did and when James asked him how much it was so he could pay for it, Brian said, "Merry Christmas."  We are staying at the Crowne Plaza San Marcos.  I am so excited!!

James, Sheri, Alex, and I went shopping at Sam's Club and then Sheri and I went to Target and to Harkins to get movie tickets.  

I was tired by the time we got to our motel room.  We are staying in room 214.  Here is a picture:

A most comfy bed.

We need to be at Sheri's by 7am so we went to bed quite early. 

Sunday, December 23, 2012

James attended sacrament meeting with me and then went homMye for a couple of hours.  Later in the afternoon he attended the Park Place ward in Show Low.  He has been assigned to work with the High Priests and Elders in this ward.  The High Priest Group Leader is an old friend from high school, Danny Seymore.
My Young Women lesson went quite well, but the electrical outlet in our room didn't work so  the new speakers I bought didn't work.  That extra trip into town yesterday was for naught.  The girls seemed to love their Christmas gifts.
James made it back from Show Low in time to go to tithing settlement with me.  After tithing settlement we went by and dropped off a gift to Alex Jones, one of the young women who doesn't come to church.  Later, Kilee Hunsaker came over for a visit and she showed us were Katelyn Brandt lives and we took a gift to her too.  Kilee stayed for awhile and watched a Christmas movie with us while I finished wrapping gifts.
Kim, Sheri, and Darrel visited James's mom this evening.  Here is a picture of her with the kids.

 8 of our 17 grandchildren.