Thursday, January 24, 2013

I was up at 5am to take my shower and get ready to leave for the valley.  I didn't completely winterize but went outside to turn the pump and water off.  I left the house at 6am.  I stopped in Show Low for gas and to run my car through the carwash.  I stopped at the Circle K in Star Valley for a drink and to put some air in my tires.  I arrived at Dr. Douglas's office in Chandler for my 10am appointment exactly at 10am.  It was exactly 200 miles from our place to her office. 

Today I am having a filling put in and they are doing the prep work for a crown  It was a two hour appointment and I had my mouth open most of the time while they poked, prodded, drilled and ground on my teeth.  You would think this kind of torture would discourage me from eating sweets, etc., but no such luck. 

It was rainy and cool today.  The perfect day for doing some yardwork.  Everything in our once beautiful yard is dead and overgrown.  It looks terrible.  I worked for a couple of hours and cut back one lantana bush and cleaned up all of the dead growth around it.  There are only about 20 more bushes to go!

My Motorola Xoom tablet that I ordered last week arrived.  I do not have the slightest idea how to even turn it on so I went over to Dave & Laura's for a lesson.  Dave has a projector he attaches to his Xoom and he can show church videos on the wall.  He uses it for his calling as a high councilman. He taught me alot but now I realize I am going to have to go to Verizon and order a data package because we do not have wi-fi at home.  I am going to look in to getting satellite internet.

James and I had dinner at Applebee's this evening.  I had tomato basil soup and the spinach shrimp salad which is delicious.  We spent the evening at Sheri's typing up an invoice for Troy Andersen so James can collect some money tomorrow.  I watched the godfather episode of Modern Family with Max. 

Evan asleep on the couch.

Max carrying Evan to bed.

Max in disguise.

Wednesday, January 23, 2012

Happy 65th Birthday James!  In his own words he is "officially old."  He is the love of my life and has done more for me than anyone else in the world.  He has such a desire to please me and make me happy and I am here to report that he does just that.  I love you Honey!  I will see you tomorrow and then we will party at Trina and Darrel's Friday night.

I read one of President Eyring's conference talks from the last general conference about a family journal he keeps.  He calls it "The Small Plates."  In it he records the personal successes and services rendered by family members.  I love that idea and would like to do something similar for our family.

This evening for Mutual we had six girls attend: Kilee and LeeAnn Hunsaker, Jordyn and Shelly Applegate, and Arizona Hill and Ashley Daniels.  While Kaeli Nicoll was talking about family history and indexing I noticed that Ashley was missing.  I told Brother Soderquist who came by to bring a laptop computer and he and Brother Smith went out looking for her.  Arizona's brother Keegan was missing from the young men's group.  I believe Ashley and Keegan were somewhere together.  She came back and a few minutes later said she needed to go outside and talk to her grandmother who was waiting in her car.  Brother Smith followed her out and she was back just a few minutes later.  Her grandmother was not outside in her car because after our meeting was over she needed a ride home with Sister Nicoll.  This girl was sent up here to live with her grandmother because she got in trouble at home.  Now she is looking for trouble up here.  I wonder if there is something we can do to help her.  

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Today I went visiting teaching to Linda Diewald.  She had a birthday this month so I took here a treat and a journal.  My partner, Eileen Duggins met me there.  We went a little early and didn't stay too long because Eileen's husband Phil is having surgery on his right shoulder today.  He was a truck driver for years and has some bone spurs that need to be removed from all of his "shifting" days.  The doctor says it will be about 3 months recovery time.  It's a good thing Eileen is so independent and can do just about anything.  She ran her own construction company for years.

This afternoon I visited Hailey and Hope Lootans with Natalie Soderquist.  Hailey is a Mia Maid and Hope is a Beehive.  Since they don't usually come on Sunday's I took them my candle handout and gave them a little object lesson.  We are concerned about Hailey because she seems to like girls instead of boys, something  we probably need to make the bishop aware of.  Hailey and Hope have 4 dogs, 3 dachsunds and a larger mutt.  The "mutt" nipped my heel on the way in and again on the way out.  No one else noticed and I refrained from screaming out because I didn't want to make a scene.  It hurt.  Luckily he didn't break the skin.

Visiting in Vernon requires a lot of gas.  Most people live at least 5 miles away or more.  Today was no exception.

Monday, January 21, 2013

Inauguration Day.  Enough said.

James is always sad when he leaves for the valley and I stay here.  I stay so I can go to Mutual Wednesday nights  I am going down on Thursday and coming home Saturday.  I will be doing this for at least the next month while we try to get our house in Chandler ready to sell.  Our goal is to put a sign up on March 1st.

Natalie Soderquist called today and filled me in on the ward happenings I missed yesterday.  The big news is that Collin and Wendy DeWitt are the newest members of our ward.  I knew Collin many years ago growing up in Phoenix.  He was in my ward and I had a crush on him.  Sadly, he doesn't remember me.  Collin is the fire chief in Gilbert and filled in as city manager in Gilbert until they just recently hired a new one.
Wendy is a food storage guru.  I have a food storage notebook entitled "The DeWitt System."  I also have a video she made that I bought at Deseret Book.  She has traveled all over the Church teaching classes on food storage.  She has taught many classes at the Mesa Cannery and I have seen here on BYU-TV.  We definitely want her in Young Women's and Natalie thinks our chances are good!

Today I studied, cleaned, and made a handout for Young Women's.  I bought each girl a candle and took off the store labels and replaced them with the First Article of Faith.  The candle represents Heavenly Father, the burning wick is the Savior, and the Holy Ghost is the oxygen.  We can't see the Holy Ghost but he has a powerful affect on us and our testimonies of Christ.

 The light of the world.

 Watched Downton Abbey this evening.  I think it is my favorite show!  I love the scenery, the costumes, the accents and the story. 

Sunday, January 20, 2013

I was up around 5:30 to type James's talk for him.  It's from a talk given by Elder Dallin H. Oaks in 2001 on Priorities and Focus.  We left for Cibique around 820.  It's 70 miles away and their meetings start at 10am.
We got there and couldn't find the church so we ask for directions.  When we arrived Alan Frost was waiting outside for us.  He is the branch president and a former friend from Snowflake High School.

James and President Frost in front of the church.

Some of the members after the meeting.

The Cibique branch only meets for two hours.  First they have an opening exercises and then they split for Relief Society and Priesthood.  I think Alan's wife Delsi took the few Primary children into the bishop's office for Primary.  Sacrament meeting is last.  I was the first speaker.  I spoke on Faith in Christ.  James thought I took a little too much of his time.  Sorry honey.  Maybe next time you will want to get someone else.  Cibique is on the Apache indian reservation and James says you have to be Apache to live there.  The sister who taught Relief Society lives in Linden and her daughter lives in Vernon.  I know her.  Her name is Sandra Kuper.  It was a good experience and I am glad I went.  

James drove the 70 miles back to Vernon and I am afraid I wasn't very good company because I kept falling asleep.  Back in Vernon we missed two things; Our ward conference and hearing the DeWitt's membership read in to our ward.  How exciting!!

Saturday, January 19 2013

Jared fixed a yummy breakfast this morning.  There was some kind of biscuit bread in a casserole dish that was divine!!  Also there was eggs, and mushrooms with meat and onions. 

Tricia went to a Relief Society, Young Women basketball tournament at the stake center this morning.  Jared and James went outside to work on the swing set and Jared ask me if I would supervise the three older kids doing their chores.  Did I mention that Anna has discovered the show "Psych?"  She loves it!

When Tricia got back from her tournament she and I took Molly to her dance class.  Before we could leave Molly had to show us some tricks:

 A snack before dance class.

A running start.

Did I miss it?

The landing was a little rough this time.

Nice!

Tricia and I went to Sprouts while Molly was at dance.  I got some beautiful avocados.  The ones in Show Low are terrible!

Back at home the guys were making progress on the swing set:

James and Jared at work.

Jared's only Saturday off in six weeks and this is what he does.

James Hayden is the painter.

Emmy was upset that Molly is the only one that got to swing!

Sorry we didn't have time to finish Emmy.

Some interesting facts about James Hayden:  He loves to play the piano.  He likes the Beatles.  He kept singing "Hey Jude."  He is reading the Book of Mormon and reads about two chapters a day.  He is an honor student at school and he takes his priesthood responsibilities very seriously.  He is a great kid!

Things I know about Emmy:  She loves mac & cheese and could eat it everyday.  She loves math games and likes to play on the Ipad.  She loves to play outdoors and is learning how to shoot her bow.  Sometimes she practices with her dad.  She is a very interesting girl and I love her!

Anna had a party this afternoon.  She had four of her friends come over and Tricia was going to take them to the mall.  Some interesting facts about Anna:  She loves Snow White and has loved her as long as I can remember.  She also loves Justin Bieber.  She is great with kids, especially Molly.  She loves to shop and likes her Mom's clothes and can wear some of them.  She loves to watch Psych!  I love Anna!

We left for home around 4:30, stopping for a Whataburger in a little town called Bayard.  We arrived home around 9:30, ready to go to bed.

Friday, January 18, 2013

We were late leaving this morning, 6 instead of 5, because I decided to order my Xoom tablet online and it took longer than I expected.  James was very patient with me. Texas here we come!

This is going to be a slow trip because we are pulling a trailer filled with pieces of a swingset.  Our first stop is at the Walmart in Silver City, New Mexico.  I needed to get some batteries and kleenex.  I must say it was one of the nicest Walmart's I have ever been to.  The shelves were full, it was clean, and it wasn't crowded.  There was a Subway inside so I got James and I a breakfast sandwich to share.

Our next stop was in Demming for a short visit with James's Dad.  He always wants to meet us at Denny's.  Since we had already eaten we met in the parking lot.

James and his Dad.

George is quite feeble.  He says that the "bushes" James gave him in December saved his life.  They are soldier berry bushes that grow around Vernon.  George uses them to make tea.  If you need any further details you will need to talk to George.

Next stop was for gas and then on to Jared & Tricia's.  The kids were all there to greet us when we arrived.

I brought Anna and Emmy each one of my porcelain dolls.  Anna has had her eye on Snow White for several years now.  Emmy chose Jill from the Jack & Jill set so she got Jack as an added bonus.  Molly did not feel left out because she says she already has a doll.

Molly with her gumballs.

We got Anna a few small gifts which she opened.  A light desk with patterns to trace, a manicure set, and a small notebook to write and draw in.  

Since Jared was at work James and Tricia helped James unload the trailer.  James and Tricia had to make a trip to Home Depot for replacement parts

This evening we all went to Golden Corral for Anna's birthday dinner.  The best story of the evening is about Anna and Molly.  Molly refused to eat so Anna took her through the line and let her pick whatever she wanted.  She picked some broccoli and other assorted veggies which Anna proceeded to feed her.  Molly was so happy because now she could get dessert.  Thank you Anna for making Molly so happy!

The Birthday Girl.

Molly reading a book with me.

In spite of the look on Anna's face she really did love

Golden Corral.

Anna feeding Molly her veggies.

 Dessert #1.

One bite.  She doesn't like the ice cream.

Vanilla ice cream cone.  

Much better than peach flavored.

Ice cream beard.

Cotton candy on the way out the door.