Wednesday, March 25, 2015

 

"The Atonement of Christ provides a way for God to be at the same time both just and merciful.  Since Christ and I are one in the gospel covenant, and since in a covenant partnership it doesn't matter which partner does what, Christ can answer the demands of justice for me, and I can then receive the benefits of mercy from him.  This is an arrangement that satisfies both justice and mercy."

-Stephen E. Robinson

 

I couldn't bend my knee when I got up this morning.  But I can sit, and so it didn't stop me from doing my gospel study and preparation this morning.  Instead of doing any cleaning though, I went with James to Jerod Bowen's job.  Of course I read to him both coming and going.  I am getting pretty darn good at reading in the car. 

We stopped at Sonic to get something to eat and since I am counting calories, I looked up the nutritional information for their burgers and cheese burgers online.  Yikes!  A cheeseburger has 710 calories and 43 grams of fat.  I don't think I will ever be able to eat another one.  A hamburger has 640 calories and 37 grams of fat, which is not much better.  We settled on grilled chicken sandwiches with 450 calories and 17 grams of fat. 

 

When I got home from our trip I took a couple of aspirin and laid down for awhile.  My knee was much better when I got up. 

 

I picked up Joshua and Max from school while Sheri took Ben and Evan to appointments. 

 

I sent Addy a text this afternoon.  She is performing at the Suns game tonight during half time and I wanted to wish her luck.  I hope Darrel takes some pictures.

 

We spent the evening at home in our room.  I paid bills and James worked on preparing information for income taxes.

Good choice for a best friend

Kaytlynn!





Tuesday, March 24, 2015

"The Atonement of Jesus Christ 'is the most important single thing that has ever occurred in the entire history of created things; it is the rock foundation upon which the gospel and all other things rest."'

-Bruce R. McConkie

 

James helped me clean the kitchen today.  He reached back into the corner behind the stove where I couldn't reach.  He took off the fan cover which was covered in grease so I could clean it.  He also took down the shutters so I could clean them and wash the windows.  I think that cleaning helps you to love where you live.

It's so nice to have a man around the house, especially one who

helps with the cleaning.

 

Today being Taco Tuesday we headed out to a Mexican restaurant.  We chose Guedo's.  In all the 40+ years of living in Chandler I can only remember going there once.  Now I remember why.  They only take cash, and excuse me for saying so, but I think the place is a little creepy.  We settle for a family favorite, Serrano's instead.  This is what I got:

I only wanted the enchilada and the refried beans but James made me order the taco because it's Taco Tuesday.  Every thing was good, but not nearly as good as LaCasita in Show Low.  Next week James gets to choose where we go.

 

This afternoon I went to Target to get marshmallows, cardstock and ribbon for my visiting teaching handouts.  The messages this year are focusing on the attributes of Christ and this month it's patience and long-suffering.  My handout has a quote from the lesson on patience and a story about an experiment done in the 60's regarding children and marshmallows and the ability to patiently endure.



The treat is a carton of marshmallows that look like strawberries.

The marshmallow experiment



Since Bunny was late getting home from work I went to visit Gerry Price by myself.  We had a nice visit.  I found out that Bob Layton is her cousin and that he has Parkinson's disease.  He and Dianne are some of the nicest people I have been privileged to know.

 

Bunny and I visited Karen Payne.  They are both doing the Medi-fast diet so we talked about dieting and mechanics and broken down cars, and a sister Karen visit teaches who read some anti-Mormon literature and doesn't want to come to church anymore. 

 

James finished putting the cover on the fan in the bathroom and matched the paint on the ceiling quite well. 

 

Before bed James rubbed heat rub on my right knee.  It is swollen and very painful.  I am concerned because it hasn't even been three weeks since I had my Remicade infusion.







Monday, March 23, 2015

The Tree of Life

 

"Every attempt to reflect upon the Atonement, to study it, to

embrace it, to express appreciation for it,

however small or feeble it may be,

will kindle the fires of faith and work its miracle towards

a more Christlike life."

-Tad R. Callister

Dallin told Michael and I all about his trip to California.  It sounds like he had a lot of fun. 

I cleaned the family room fan before leaving for my doctor's appointment at Dr. Allen's. When they took my blood pressure it was 110/78 and that was after not taking any blood pressure medicine this morning.  I did have to have more bloodwork done to test my hormone levels.  On the way home I stopped at Costco for some frozen burros and wound up getting burros, chimichangas, apples, and Panko bread chicken.  It is so easy to overbuy at Costco.

I also went to Deseret Book to return the garments I bought for Sheri in exchange for some for myself.  Susan Barker waited on me and told me I looked the same as I did 30 years ago.  Thanks Susan, you made my day! 

My last stop was two stops were at the bank and then to Walmart to pick up prescriptions. 

When I got home James was drilling so loudly to remove the family room window that you couldn't hear yourself think.  I had to give Stacy some earplugs.  She was working on a poster for Joshua.  He is the star student in his class this week. 

 

James worked for about an hour and then stopped.  We went to dinner at Jersey Mike's. 

 

For FHE we helped Stacy find pictures of Joshua to put on his poster.  I think it turned out pretty well.



 

 

I wanted to post this thank you note from Trina.  She is always

so very thoughtful.

 

 







Sunday, March 22, 2015

He is the light of the world.

He carries me through my toughest days, inspire me to be a better person, helps me make the right choices and keeps me on the strait and narrow path.  He lights the way.

Because of Him I have hope and eternal life and joy and love.  He is my Savior, my King, my hero.  Because of Him I have understanding about this life, why I am here and a glimpse of heaven and the future where all my tears will be wiped away.

 

I was up at 5am, an hour late, to prepare for the day.  Today our Primary lesson is on the gift of the Holy Ghost.  I came to the conclusion that I need to do more work earlier in the week. 

 

I packed my Primary bag with: cookies, Playdough, plastic eggs, pictures, my computer for music and a video, plus the lesson outline. 

 

The theme for sacrament meeting today was Young Women's Personal Progress.  The youth speakers was Ciarra Armijo who spoke on Individual Worth.  "I am of infinite worth with my own divine missin, which I will strive to fulfill."

Cammie Soderquist - Virtue - "I will prepare to enter the temple and remain pure and worth.  My thoughtsand actions will be based on high moral standards.

Robyn Rogers - Divine Nature - I have inherited divine qualities, which I will striv to develop.  Only through Jesus Christ can we reach our divine potential.

 

The Sunbeam teacher, Nancy Tolman, was absent today and Sister Casto asked if her three Sunbeams could come with us.  Since we only had six of our children here today we thought we could handle it so I said yes. 

Before getting into the lesson on The Holy Ghost we talked about spring time and how new things are born in the spring.  We showed bird eggs and baby birds and talked about how Heavenly Father blesses our lives.  Later, after the lesson, the kids made nests with their Playdough.  Shade is not pictured here.  He was having a bad day and needed to be with his mom.





Brooklyn

Brooklyn with her mama bird

Taylor

Brielle

Ivy

Isaiah

Sunbeam class:

Riley

Liam

Nelson

 

James and I always come home from church exhausted.  He left immediately with Dave to go home teaching to the Bingham's.  I fixed some lunch: leftover bbq beef and a Chinese ginger sesame salad.  I worked on my blog, took a short nap and then had interviews with Ben and Max about the Book of Mormon.

 

James came home, ate, and laid down for a looooong nap.  I finally had to get him up after 6pm. 

 

My interviews, so far, with Alex, Ben, and Max regarding the Book of Mormon have gone very well.  Last week I interviewed Alex and he shared one of his favorite scriptures: Mosiah 4: 19-26.



Alex

Ben's favorite scripture was

Alma 7:14

Ben

Max's favorite scripture:

2 Nephi 31:20

Max

I am so proud of these boys!

 

After dinner I recorded the Relief Society lesson on Sustaining the Prophet in my Sunday journal.  I also read from Jesus the Christ by James E. Talmage.  Here is what I had for dinner:

 

I read to James, per his request, from our book:

 



 







Saturday, March 21, 2015

 

"The very beauty of the word repentance is the promise of escaping old problems and old habits and old sorrows and old sins.  It is among the most hopeful and encouraging - and yes, most peaceful - words in the gospel vocabulary."

-Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

 

Today is the second day of my "diet", which is mainly keeping track of what I eat and limiting my calories. 

 

James asked me again today to go with him to Jared Bowen's office.  We read from our new book "A Lady's Honor" on the way there and back.  We are both excited about this new book and how it captured our interest right from the beginning.  It is interesting how you become familiar with an author's style of writing and start trying to predict who is going to do what based on the last book you read.

 

For lunch we went to the drive-thru Panda Express and I got my teriyaki chicken bowl only this time I also got a side of beef and broccoli.  James ate the beef and I ate the broccoli.  We also picked up an orange chicken bowl with noodles for Stacy per her request.

 

I needed to go shopping this afternoon and decided I would go to Winco instead of Walmart.  When I got home I realized the reason I needed to go to Walmart was to pick up my prescriptions.  Duh!  I guess I will have to wait until Monday. 



Winco has the finest display of Little Debbie cakes that

I have ever seen.  It reminds me of my good friend Kay who had Little Debbie cakes just about every day.

 

James picked up the new windows for the house today and realized that two of them were wrong so he had to take them back.  He was not happy either with himself or with the guy from Lowe's who he placed the order with.  They are low-e double insulated windows.

 

Dallin and his Harrison Fjiord band friends made a trip to California this weekend to practice with the piano player they are performing with at the instrument museum in Phoenix.

 

 

 

We missed Max's first tackle football game today.  He came home just as we were leaving for Michael's track meet to tell me he finished reading the Book of Mormon.  I gave him his $50 and told him he would need to come back tomorrow to share his favorite scripture with me.  He agreed. 

 

Chandler Rotary is the biggest track meet in all of Arizona.  With schools competing from all over the southwest.  Michael did very well in his event, which is the 800 race.  He got 11th out of 40-60 participants and was 2nd in Arizona.  Alexis got 5th, so we are confident they will both go to state. 

Two super nice and talented kids.

It was a beautiful night to be outside and was so fun to watch Michael run.  James and I took Joshua with us and brought him home so Stacy and Paul could stay a little longer.



Friday, March 20, 2015

 

"A soft heart has nothing to do with being a coward.  In fact, the bravest people I've ever known have had the softest hearts.  I've known of situations in which the Lord's servants have put their lives in jeopardy because of their love for God and his children."

-Henry B. Eyring

 

The Chandler Rotary track meet starts today.  It is the biggest track meet in the state of Arizona.  Participants come from Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Utah, Nevada, California, and Arizona.  After playing a little soccer and Batman on the X-Box, Michael spent the day at the track meet, even though he's not running until tomorrow. 

 

Jon and Jamie are here from Boise.  Jamie's parents are having their 50th wedding anniversary. 

 

James started Jared Bowen's job today.  He took Seth and Alex with him this morning to work. 

 

I started tracking what I eat today and limiting my calories to 1600 a day.  I need to feel like I am exercising some control in this area of my life.

 

Kim wanted to go to the temple today so we went to do initiatories.  Stacy took Joshua on a little date to the Dollar Store and McDonald's.  Spring break will be over soon and she wanted to spend some time with him. 

Thanks to Jared for preparing all of these

family names for us to do.

 This evening we went to a Navajo taco dinner at Kendall and Kristy Thomas's.  It was a fundraiser for their son Edward for his mission.  While there we also saw Sarah and Alea Cruz and Walt Turley's wife Rosalie.  The Navajo tacos were delicious!  I am so glad we went.

 

Kim took a picture of the sunrise this evening.

This picture was posted on the channel 12 website:

 





Thursday, March 19, 2015



One of the books I am reading right now.

 

Stacy wasn't feeling very well today so we did not do initiatories as we had planned.  Maybe tomorrow. 

 

I worked in the kitchen today.  I removed things from the counter and scrubbed it with Softscrub.  I also wiped down the backsplash on the walls.  There is still lots to do, but at least I got a start. 

 

For lunch I was craving Chik-fila chicken strips with honey mustard sauce, so that's what I got.  When James returned from the cabin, which was nearer dinner time, he brought me a mixed burro.  I lost control of my eating today and I don't want to do that anymore.  Tomorrow I am going to start keeping track of what I eat and the amount of calories I consume.  I would like to lose at least 25 lbs. by my birthday which is five months from now.

 

James had to go to Jared Bowen's physical therapy office in east Mesa where he is starting a little remodel job tomorrow.  He asked me to ride over there with him so I did.  We started reading from a new book:

Another Laurie Alice Eakes book.

 

As I was waiting in the car for James I rolled the window down.  It is so beautiful in the evenings this time of year.  There are lots of Brazilian Palo Verde trees in Jared Bowen's parking lot.  I love them with their green trunks and branches and yellow flowers.