Friday, September 12, 2014

"Education is the difference between wishing you could help other people and being able to help them."

-Elder Russell M. Nelson

 I forgot to mention that yesterday when I was shopping at Target I saw the newest flavor of Oreos.

 Just in time for Halloween

Kim is still working as an aide at Bright Beginning's but now she only works half days.  She gets off at 11:45.  She picked me up and we went to lunch at Kneader's.  I had the turkey cranberry croissant sandwich and she had the french dip.  For dessert I bought a small loaf of pumpkin bread, and two of each of their brownies: cheesecake, double fudge, mint, and german chocolate.  Kim and I tried the cheesecake and loved it.  It's always fun to spend time with one of your daughter's doing something enjoyable!

I saw this one Facebook today.  What a great way to repurpose an old rake.

After school this afternoon I had a date with Rowan at Deseret Book to get his scriptures and journal.  I am so frustrated that I didn't get a picture!  I took brownies and pumpkin bread to Trina and the kids.  The kids loved the pumpkin bread!

I made another run to Target this evening and got a card and cash for James Hayden.  His birthday is on Monday.  He will turn 14 and be advanced in the priesthood to the office of a teacher.

At home James and I spent some time together watching an episode of Sue Thomas on the computer.  Erik brought my car to the house.  Such service!

 

Thursday, September 11, 2014

Twin Towers before 911

I made an egg casserole for breakfast this morning.  It had eggs, of course, corn, green chili, onions, sausage and cheese.  It was quite tasty.

As I was getting ready to go to the valley I got a call from Dr. Douglas's office.  Dr. Douglas is our dentist and James and I both had appointments scheduled at 2pm to get our teeth cleaned.  Chris, from Dr. Douglas's office said she called our dental insurance and found that it had been cancelled.  As it turns out we had Cobra and it expired the end of July.  The cancellation notice was lost in the mail, having been sent to Chandler.  I was a little relieved because now I didn't have to rush to get to the valley.  I couldn't leave until my blood pressure meds were ready at Walmart.  I finally got the text that they were ready to pick up around 10am.  

I had time for a nap and a relaxing bath before leaving.  I picked up my prescriptions and stopped for a cheeseburger and diet coke at Sonic.  I made it all the way to the valley without stopping for candy.  

Today is throwback Thursday on Facebook and Sheri posted this picture taken sometime in the early months of 1979.

 Aren't family portraits fun!

The first place I went when I got to Chandler was to Target to spend the gift card Lois and Dawn gave me for my birthday.  I bought a new toaster.  The one we have is one that cost $12 that I got to put in the travel trailer we used to have.  Here is the new one!

 My new birthday toaster!

James and I made it to Tempe Toyota just before it closed at 7.  We rented a silver late model Corolla and drove to Erik's to drop my car off.  He is putting in a new timing belt and doing some general maintenance tomorrow.  

We had dinner at Pei Wei because I was craving their lettuce wraps and spicy chicken salad.  I was not disappointed!

Joshua gave me such a big hug when I got to the house!

Jared posted these pictures of Molly on Facebook today:

 She matches!

 Go Molly!

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

"The whole duty of man is to fear God 

and keep His commandments."

-Ecclesiastes 12:13

Lola, one of my greatest blessings!

I am grateful that I am getting to spend some time with Lola's daddy, Darrel.  We get to have breakfast together every Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday before he goes to work at the CVS in Show Low.

I listened to one of the best BYU devotionals I have ever heard this morning.  It is my habit to listen to the days readings in the Old Testament and two conference talks on my phone while I am working on my blog.  Next I try to listen to two BYU devotionals.

 This particular address was given by Richard Draper a professor at BYU.  The title: "Light, Truth, and Grace: Three Interrelated Necessities for Exaltation."  Let me share some quotes, although some are fragmented.  I am going to have to go to byu.org and download the talk:

"It is God's glory that allows Him to be all seeing."  

"Light is power."

"Light expands to receive truth."

"Obedience-Light-Truth."

"Truth is the basis for glorification."

-D&C 93:30

I picked up Kilee before our board meeting and class presidency meeting this afternoon at 5:30.  I noticed during the meeting she was looking at her phone and wasn't really paying attention.  Later during Mutual while we were working on Personal Progress she left the room several times and was again looking at her phone.  She forgot to bring her Personal Progress book.  I was so frustrated, especially after my talk with her last night.  She was given several assignments and hopefully she will follow up on them.

We talked about Integrity value experiences 1 & 2.  We talked about Job, and moral values such as language, media, etc. I talked about Moroni 10:32.  I have to ask myself this question:

"Do my actions represent the integrity of my intent?"

We got into some good discussions with the girls.  There seems to be a real problem at the high school with bad language and couples making out in the hallways.  This kids have so much to deal with!

I had to call Dr. Moffat on his cell phone today to tell him I was still waiting for his approval on some prescription refills I placed at Walmart on Monday.  His response: "Oh, yeah I have about a hundred of those and I'm way behind.  I will call that in tomorrow morning."  Someone died in the CVS drive-thru last Monday.  I hope he wasn't one of Dr. Moffat's patients waiting for a refill that was very late.  Can I use the term: 'Country Doctor.'

This little girl turned one today.

Happy Birthday

Natalie Nicoll.

Natalie's mom is my good friend Kaeli Nicoll.  We worked in Young Women's together and now she is the Relief Society president.  Kaeli  just turned 26 and she's only been a member three years but she has an awesome testimony!

 

 

Tuesday, September 9, 2014

James left early this morning for the valley.  I am worried about his back and chest pains.  I tried to make an appointment with Dr. Memon but James said to never mind because he no longer had the chest pains.  

This afternoon I picked up Kilee Hunsaker from school and took her to get something to eat at Aliberto's. Afterwards we went to get ice cream at Dairy Queen.  Kilee is the Mia Maids class president and I wanted to talk to her about being an example and working on her Personal Progress.  We had a nice visit and I learned some things I needed to know about one of the other girls in our class who has been having some problems.  

I am calling today 2ferTuesday:

The piglet twins lost their parents.

They were found hiding behind a pillow on 

the loveseat.  I guess they needed a little vacation.

 Elder Allen and his companion in Mexico.

 Two lovebirds in their love nest.

 Two more love birds,

Alexus and Michael.

Oh, sorry, Michael says they are just friends.

 

Two bundles of joy:

Ivy and Lola

Before and After.

Monday, September 8, 2014

Six Things the Happiest Families 

all have in common:

1.)  They create a family mission statement

- What it means to be a part of the family

-What are our family values?

2.  They share their family history

-This is the #1 predictor of a child's emotional well-being

- Role models that show your family values in practice.

3. Hold weekly family meetings

- Ask 3 questions: What worked weel this week, what didn't, and what do we want to work on this week.

4.  Learn how to solve conflicts.

- Separate, Negotiate, Unite

5.  Have family dinner together, any time of day.

6.  Just try

 - "The Secrets of Happy Families"

Bruce Feiler

  This day will go down in history in the Valley of the Sun.  James cancelled concrete because of rain.  Just as we were leaving for our Razr ride, Stacy called to tell James not to come down.  It has been raining hard all night and the neighborhood is flooded.  Emergency vehicles are parked on Willis Rd. and they aren't letting anyone in.

This is what the neighborhood looked like:

In front of our house.

Lake front property

Chandler Eyecare's parking lot
The closed for the day as did
Chandler High and PayPal,
just to name a few places.

The I-10 west of downtown Phoenix

James was planning on leaving around 11am today but now he is staying home.  We got clouds here, but no rain.  I think the storm headed into Nevada and Utah after it left Phoenix.

We did get a rainbow

James and I had to run in to town to get some ink for the printer.  we stopped for lunch at Burger King because James was hungry for their mushroom burger.  I prefer Sonic burgers myself.

I read from our book "The Kiss of a Stranger" on the way into town and back home again.  We also took a nap and watched Sue Thomas F.B.Eye and had a very enjoyable day together.

Sunday, September 7, 2014

The Key to Spirituality:

"Arise early, pray intently, hungering and thirsting for the influence of the Spirit to fill you body,  until it does."

-Brother Ray Smith

This is what the sky looks like when you "arise early."

James went to our ward's bishopric meeting this morning at 6am.  He is now the high councilman over our ward. I was asked to attend the 7am ward council meeting with the priesthood and other auxiliary presidencies this morning and got to sit by James.  We were trained by Brother Applegate the Sunday School president on how to access church videos, etc. on lds.org.  He encouraged us to download them onto a thumb drive.

Bishop Miller talked about reaching the one and helping people to accept responsibility.  

James got some homemade cough drops from Stefani Hunsaker today that really helped his laringitis.  He smelled strongly of cloves for the rest of the day.

I missed Sunday School to setup for my Young Women's lesson.  The main topic of my lesson is to be "In the World but not of the World."  I am using a video of a talk by Sister Elaine Dalton for the main part of my lesson. 

This is Trenda Wilhelm, our Laurel class president.  She is one of the most outstanding young women I have ever met.  Sometimes she seems more like an adult than a young woman.

After the block I had an interview with Bishop Miller regarding my Personal Progress and Young Women's award.  I passed and he signed my book.  It feels pretty good for this old woman to be getting a young woman's award.

James had to break into the house again.  His keys are on his truck key chain and he's driving a rental car.  He added veggies to the roast I put on this morning.  We broke our fast and enjoyed a nice meal together.

We spent a quiet, peaceful Sunday afternoon together.  It is one of my favorite times of the week.  James is speaking in Cibeque next week so he worked on his talk a little.  Tyler Hunsaker, a 17 year old young man in our ward, is going to be his speaking companion.

 Can't wait for fall to hit the mountains here!

 

 

Saturday, September 6, 2014

Gilbert temple

"When we obey Satan we give him power.  When we obey God, 
He gives us power.  Real power to become like God is obtained
through obedience."
-Elder Paul V. Johnson

Elk were bugling in our yard this morning, so James went out and bugled back.  He got dressed and followed them for about two miles.  It's an exciting time of year for him!

The back end of a bull elk.

When James got back from his hike he cooked us ham and eggs for breakfast.  Afterwards I delivered the muffins and cookies to Collin Dewitt at the church where he was waiting for youth who needed rides to show up.  They are going to an animal rescue shelter to do service.  This 70 year old woman rescues all sorts of animals and she takes care of them.  She won't allow anyone to adopt because she really doesn't trust people.  I just wonder what's going to happen to the animals when she dies.

We made a trip to town around lunch time to mail bills and have lunch at Licano's.  I had a chicken chimi with green sauce and refried beans.  James had the prime rib carne asada special which was quite delicious.  

Back at home we started our fast and took a nap and then I gave James a haircut and settled down to prepare the Young Women's lesson for tomorrow.  I learned how to download church vides onto a thumb drive!

 Two cows and a bull in our backyard.