Thursday, February 7, 2013

James's Dad passed away this morning.   He had been in the hospital for a few days but everyone thought he was doing well.  James spoke to his Uncle Delbert who said: "Don't come because you think your Dad isn't going to be around.  He will be here at least another year."  I guess everything happens for a reason and I think George was ready to go.  He had health problems that were plaguing him and  he was tired of dealing with them. Now he is at peace.

I picked up Kalynn and Kheli at the Hunsaker's and we headed for the valley.  We stopped in Globe at Taco Bell for lunch.  I took Kalynn to her home.  She lives off Chandler Heights and Ellsworth so we turned at the Florence Junction turnoff.  We went past Johnson Ranch where we had two houses before arriving at our destination.  Kheli slept most of the way but was excited to get out of the car at her home.  She is a cutie.
This is a picture of Kalynn and her siblings when she went through the temple to be sealed to her husband and Kheli.

 

I made it to Chandler in time to go to the meeting at Dave & Laura's about George's arrangements.  Others attending: Dawn, Rebecca, Cathi and Terry.  Laura had taken Lois to the doctor and they waited in the living room together. Here are some of the things decided:   Terrazas Mortuary in Demming will freeze the body and store it until next week.  A friend, Eli Nicoll, will transport the body to Ramah for burial.  Lee Lambson in Ramah will arrange for the grave to be dug.  The burial will be next Wednesday in Ramah at 1pm.  James will dedicate the grave.  After the burial we will go to the church for a memorial service which Dave will conduct.  Afterwards there will be a meal prepared by the Relief Society.  George did not want anything but a graveside service but I am sure that where he is now his perspective has changed.  Gail will be coming from Oregon to go to the service.  Cathi gave Carmen an airline voucher and she is flying out from Pennsylvania.  Connie will be coming from Texas.  It will be nice to see everyone but wish it were under more favorable circumstances.  Does someone have to die for this family to get together?

Sheri gave James a gift card to Red Lobster for his birthday.  That's where we went for dinner.

James spent several hours typing an invoice to Troy Andersen and then sending it to him via email so he can get paid tomorrow.

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

What do you do with a leftover spinach and arugula salad?  Make an omelet.

 Very tasty.

More salad for lunch.

I had a productive day.  This morning I fixed my vacuum.  I am pretty handy with a screwdriver.  While I was working I listened to my Christina Perri station on iHeart radio.  I heard four of my favorites: "A Thousand Years", "Bluebird", "Distance," and my all time favorite "Arms."

Natalie Soderquist came over for a presidency meeting this afternoon and brought the ingredients for the food we are making tonight as part of our young women's service project but she left early because her daughter Adalyn has a concussion.  I was on my own tonight with the girls as Kaeli Nicoll is out of town helping her husband with work.

I prepared some snacks for the girls to eat while we were fixing food for someone else.  They are always hungry.  There is a girl on pom and cheer who is going to be responsible for taking care of her 9 year old brother while her mother is working out of town for a few months.  That is who we are making the meals for.  We made mini-meatloafs which the girls sampled and said were very good, and sloppy joes.  It was a fun evening but we missed MaKenzi, Jordyn, and Natalie and Kaeli.  I was so busy working I didn't have a chance to take any pictures.

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

This is what my morning study area looks like:

I love studying the gospel!

I got a call from my neighbor Kathy Crane again this morning.  She and Ruth Wallace did family history work all day yesterday.  Today they sent their names with Brother Peeler to the temple to have cards made.  She wants to bring the cards over to me on Wednesday so I can take them to the temple on Saturday when the youth do baptisms for the dead.  She says that Ruth Wallace does family history all the time.  I admire that woman,  She has given us so many names to take to the temple!

Here are the books I am currently reading.  I think it is a pretty good mix.

I love to read all kinds of books.

James had a difficult day today.  He had to spend some time working in Troy Andersen's attic and then he came home to fix a broken waterline.  He was also able to start work on Zaki's today. 

Monday, February 4, 2013

Happy 63rd Birthday to my brother Harold.  He is a great guy.  He is always so willing to help and is such a good husband, father and grandpa.  Harold, I love you!

I actually packed lunch and dinner for James before he left this morning.  I made him a couple of tuna sandwiches, and put all the left over beans in a container so he could heat them up for dinner.  Also included in his care package: almond cookies, 2 cans of Dr. Pepper, and some honey and cinnamon to go with his herbal tea.

I got a call this morning from my neighbor Kathy Crane.  She told me to look outside and I would see a big herd of elk.  She told me to look out the north window.  It took me awhile to figure out which way was north but when I did this is what I saw:

I counted over 35 and there were still more.

This picture doesn't show you how beautiful they are, especially when they run.

Of course I had to call James and tell him.  He wanted to know how many bulls there were.  Darned if I know.  After talking with him on the phone I looked outside and there was no trace of the herd.

I exercised on my rebounder today while watching the Pioneer Woman cooking show.  She gave some really good ideas for 16 minute meals that I am definitely going to try.

This afternoon I paid bills.  Boy is it ever expensive to be alive.  In order to get me through this ordeal I watched some Hallmark movies.  There are some good ones out there.  My favorite today was: "Notes from the Heart Healer."

I got a call from James this evening.  He seems pretty discouraged because his back is really hurting and on top of working hard all day he has to come home to Chandler and fix a broken waterline.  I told him I loved him and that he should get a good nights sleep and things would look better in the morning.

Sunday, February 3, 2013

It was overcast and even rained a little today.  I am sad because most all of the snow is melted.  When the snow melts and the sun comes out, we live in a mud bog.

During Shelly Applegates (Mia Maid) testimony in sacrament meeting, Brother Sayer, a member of our ward slumped down and passed out.  Brother Applegate, and several other men ran back to help him and carried him out in to the foyer.  We have several firemen in our ward and most of them were the ones who moved in to action, including Collin DeWitt who is the fire chief in Gilbert.  Brother Sayer has a bad heart and he is on medication for it but he has a difficult time sitting straight up in the church pews.  He is going to be okay.

Today in Young Women Tina Allen gave a lesson on dealing with adversity.  Before the lesson started I handed out these journals for the girls to take notes in:

 Stand in Holy Places is the 

2013 Mutual theme

At home we fasted until around 4pm and then we ate dinner  After dinner and cleanup we read our scriptures and had family home evening.  Since the youth are learning about the plan of salvation this month we studied that section of Preach My Gospel.  We got about half way finished because we read all of the accompanying scriptures.  Afterwards we watched my favorite TV show, Downton Abbey.  

Oh yes, the Ravens beat the 49ers in the Superbowl.  We didn't watch but I guess the power went out for about 34 minutes. 

Saturday, February 2, 2013

Joshua wanted to know if the groundhog saw his shadow today so we checked the weather in York, Pennsylvania.  Since it was snowing we figured the groundhog did not see his shadow and that meant we would have an early spring.  He was happy with that answer.

I worked in the yard this morning picking up all the piles of leaves I left yesterday.  Dallin and Michael came out to help me and Michael made two trips to the dump with James.  If feels good to have so much of the cleanup done but I am so sad that everything in the yard is dead. 

Around 11 am I went in to Big Two Toyota to co-sign on a car loan for Jared Ammon.  I am confident he will make the payments but he just doesn't have any credit yet.  He is working two jobs and his payment is only $200 a month. 

I stopped at Chik-fil-a and got some nuggets and strips to take to Max's football game.  Since James didn't make it to the game I shared the nuggets with Sheri, Ian and her friend Kahuea and her boys.  I saved James some strips.  Max's team lost.

Evanism: As he and his Mom drive past In n Out Burger Evan says: " Man, I love that place.  It makes my taste buds burst."

On the way home to Vernon I picked up KayLynn Hunsaker Riley and her daughter Cali.  They are riding home with me.  KayLynn is babysitting for her parents while they go to The World of Concrete show in Las Vegas.  She is a cute girl and I enjoyed visiting with her.  We got home around 6 pm. 

When I walked in the door at home James had a cup of hot peppermint tea for me.  He had a fire in the fireplace and he unloaded my car for me.  Such service.  Oh yes, he also bought me a green chile burro from Burger House which I had for dinner.  After settling in we sat down to watch some TV.  We watched two of James's favorite shows: "Person of Interest" and "Elementary."  I am afraid I fell asleep.

Friday, February 1, 2013

We survived another month!  Thank goodness for a hardworking husband.  His back is really bothering him right now.  He has been crawling around in Troy Andersen's attic which certainly doesn't help.

James and I were able to have scriptures together this morning.  We have each been using our scripture apps on our phones to keep up but it's nice to sit down and actually read together. 

It was a nice sunny day here in Chandler with the high in the low 70's.  I worked outside in the yard.  Stacy and Paul used my car to go to a special program at Joshua's school where he was awarded student of the month in his class.  When Josh came home from school he told us all about groundhog day.  Here he is with his groundhog hat on:

I love this kid!

I had to stop my working in the yard, go in and take a shower and pick up a check at Bob Horne's and take it to the bank.  I didn't mind because the check was for over $12,000.  

When I went back to work in the yard Paul and his boys came out to help.  When they were finished there was a huge pile of dead branches in the middle of the yard.  I raked leaves out of the planters but had to quit early because I was hurting.  I will have to finish in the morning.

Trina got another tortoise for Rowan today.  His name is Leo II.