Friday, April 24, 2015

Dallin and Joe performing at the MIM

with Alpin Hong.

 

James went above and beyond the call of duty today.  He went grocery shopping and catered to my every whim so I could work on my talk.  I actually felt great physically today because of the KC (steroid) shot I had yesterday.

 

While I was busy at the computer James went to Senor Tacos and brought me back a taco and some refried beans. 

 

 

This evening Stacy, James and I went to the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix to see Alpin Hong who is a concert pianist.  A few years ago he performed at the Chandler Center for the Arts at the invitation of Laurie Lyford the chorale director.  After his performance, one of Dallin's friends, Mario, invited Alpin to come to his house and listen to their band, Harrison Fjiord play.  They ended up playing together for over two hours and Alpin invited them to perform with him at his show. 

 

Mr. Hong and Laurie Lyford are good friends, so he also invited the Chandler Choir to perform with him.  The final number was a rousing rendition of "Hallelujah" with everyone on stage.  It was quite the night!

 

 Marvin and Mary, and Cody Miner were also there to see Dallin perform.  Amanda was there for Joe and so were Kim and Brian.

It was quite a night! 



I wish Joe would have stayed in his tux for the pictures.

Dallin and Cody.  Best friends forever.

Dallin wrote and sang one of the songs his band

performed tonight.

Alpin Hong was amazing!!

 

Tonight was our ward's fathers and sons outing.  Paul took Michael and Joshua.  They didn't spend the night because someone took Paul's sleeping bag out of our storage building.  They stayed for the campfire fireside and Joshua had fun gathering wood.





Michael

Joshua

 



Thursday, April 23, 2015

Paul posted this today on Facebook.

Michael got first place at the city meet today in the 800 race.  Stacy and I were on our way there but he ran a little early so we missed it.  Thank goodness Paul was there to see him.

Dallin and Joe both got to perform at the Musical Instrument Museum with world famous concert pianist Alpin Hong. 

We have tickets for tomorrow night.

I can hardly wait!

 

I got a sweet email from James this morning which is something he normally does when we are not together.  I am not sure he realizes how much they mean to me.  I have told him but words don't really convey how good they make me feel.

 

I went in to get my steroid shot this morning.  On the way home I stopped to get an "In n Out" Burger.  I took a nap when I got home and noticed I was feeling better than I had for awhile.  I think this shot is going to give me some much needed relief.

 

My talk, along with all the notes I took, was over 15 pages long.  I was feeling frustrated and then was prompted to go in an entirely different direction.  Now I have to start over.

 

I called James this afternoon only to have him tell me he was on his way home and he didn't have brakes on the trailer or the truck.  I asked him to please get them fixed before he came and to not go through Salt River, but he is very stubborn and doesn't always listen to my advice.  I told him if something happened that I was going to be quite upset with him.  He made it home safely and brought me a bean burro and a mixed burro from Burger House to appease me.  For some reason I just can't stay angry at him for very long.

 

I feel better tonight than I have in months.  I only wished James could feel well too!

 

 

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

 

James left for the cabin this morning but he didn't get too far.  He got to Gonzales Pass and noticed a tire on the trailer was really low so he turned around to go back to get the tire fixed.  When he got to the 202 and Higley, he had not one, but two blowouts.  He ordered two new tires at Discount and came home to wait for them. 

 

While he was here he went to Jersey Mike's and got us sandwiches for lunch.  He knew I wasn't feeling well and wanted to stay home and work on my talk.

 

Soon he was back on the road.  I tried to talk him into going through Payson because I don't like him going through Salt River when he's pulling equipment, but he insisted that he would be fine.  

 

Another thing he did while he was here was to call the Arizona Arthritis and Rheumatology Associates to tell them how miserable I was feeling.  They called me back and I am going in for a steroid shot tomorrow at 11.  Hopefully it will give me some relief.

 

Michael, Alex, and Joe all had seminary conference today.  Their assignment was to report on a conference talk.  Michael told Stacy that Joe gave the best talk and that he bore his testimony. 

  

 

Random pictures I liked on Facebook today:

 

 

Colorado

Love this!

 







Tuesday, April 21, 2015

This morning James and I attended the funeral services for my dear friend Jacque Hatch.  She was one of my counselors when I served as the stake Relief Society president over 15 years ago.  James is good friends with Greg Hatch, her son. 
Jacque was left a widow after only three years of marriage and raised her two boys on her own.  They lived in Tempe and the boys went to Curry school where I was a teacher.  Of course we didn't know each other back then. 

Jacque taught home economics at Westwood High for over 25 years.  She was an accomplished seamstress and musician.  Greg gave her life history and each of her 8 grandchildren had an endearing story to tell about her.  Her son David spoke about families and the plan of salvation. 

Jacque was a go getter, a positive person who never said no to an assignment and was such an example to me.  While serving her mission in West Virginia she was the ward Relief Society president and every month would visit all 84 sisters in her ward.  She was 11 years older than me and I often wondered where she got all of her energy.  She influenced so many people.  After we were released from the stake RS she served in her ward Young Women's program and helped all of the girls make pajama pants for camp.  This was when she was in her late 60's.

Here is a picture of Jacque with her grandkids on their yearly trip to Newport Beach, California.  Two of her granddaughters are married and their spouses are in the picture.



The blond in the front row is David's daughter Ulia.

She is adopted and is from Russia

 



Jacque's family

Hal & Jackie on their wedding day in 1960.

 

We saw several of our dear Chandler friends at the funeral: Martin & Suzanne Kempton, Cheryl Horne, President Heyman, Trudy Lamb, Barbara Keith, and Bishop and Annette Auxier.

 

After the funeral was over we went home and changed our clothes and headed to Rio Rico for taco Tuesday. 



We like the food better than Tia Rosa's but it's

still not as good as Elmer's or Senor Tacos.

 

James was going to take a piece of equipment to the cabin this afternoon but he decided to wait until tomorrow.

 

Of course we took a nap this afternoon and read from our book,

"Lady Emma's Campaign."

 

I had two appointments to go visiting teaching this afternoon with my partner Bunny Miner.  One of our appointments, Gerry Price, cancelled and indicated she was fine without a visit.  Bunny and I met at Karen Payne's and had a nice visit with her.  The lesson was on being without guile, as the Savior was.  We talked about what being without guile meant to us and we discussed how little children are without guile.  I showed them the picture of our Primary class that I posted on Sunday.  It was a good visit.

 

I am still feeling very miserable and I think it's about time to call the arthritis center for some help.  I am living on about 8 aspirin a day and I know that's not good for my stomach.  I will call tomorrow morning and see if there is something they can do for me.  I am speaking in stake conference Saturday night and I want to be able to walk to the stand.

 

 

 





Monday, April 20, 2015

 

"When we live righteously and have

received the ordinances of the temple,

everything else is in the hands of the Lord."

-Richard G. Scott

 

I was full of aches and pains this morning.  To cheer me up James offered to take me to lunch at Brio Tuscany Grill in the San Tan Mall. 

A nice restaurant and the food was delicious!

James had crab cakes and roasted vegetables and I

had pesto pasta, which was amazing!  I liked it better than my chicken pesto dish at Cheesecake Factory.

 

The food was a distraction for awhile but I definitely needed a nap when I got home.  I hurt more than I have since I first got rheumatoid arthritis back in 1984. 

 

We are a little frustrated about our kitchen cabinet doors.  We either need to get new ones or we need to have the ones we have re-finished.  James asked for a price from Home Depot a couple of weeks ago and they have never gotten back with him.  He also called Dan Taylor for a price to get them re-finished but he hasn't called back yet either.  Meanwhile, the clock is ticking. 

 

For FHE tonight we listened to Elder Christofferson's talk: "Why Marriage, Why Family." 

 

James took a picture of his mom the other day when we were over there visiting.  She had made a box of Barbie doll dresses for Connie and her granddaughter's.  Lois is amazing!  These dresses are absolutely gorgeous!

Such a talented woman!

 

In other news, I found this picture of our ward Primary president and her daughter on Facebook.  I thought it was so cute that I wanted to keep it to remember her by.





Paula Casto is on the right.  She is our ward Primary president.

She and her daughter Tanae went to a sockhop at some place in Scottsdale and had a great time.!  Paula reminds me of Tinkerbell!

 



Sunday, April 19, 2015

Happy 19th Anniversary to

Sheri & Ian!

 

I felt so miserable this morning I had decided I wasn't going to church.  After getting up to study I took a couple of aspirin and went back to bed for over an hour.  I got up and felt better so I started getting last minute details ready for our Primary class on the Word of Wisdom. 

I am so grateful that I made the decision to go to church today.  This young man is leaving for the MTC this week.  He is serving a mission in Melbourne, Australia.  His dad is from Australia, and his dad served a mission in Australia.  I was touched when Hunter said how much he loved his brother Trevor and that Trevor was his best friend.  Trevor is two years younger and will be gone on his mission when Hunter returns.  It will be four years before they will see each other again.

Hunter has a wonderful testimony and will make an

awesome missionary!

 

If I had missed church today I would have missed these little cuties:



Brooklyn, Callie, Ryder, Malachi,

Shade, Isaiah, Ivy, Taylor

I love these kids!

Thanks Sheri for your help today!

 

After church it was nice to go home, have some lunch, take some aspirin and take a long nap. 

 



Thanks Addy for posting

pictures of Lola!

Oh how I love that face! 



 

 

 



Saturday, April 18, 2015

The day started out with a soccer game and ended with a

prom photo shoot.

 

While I was at the soccer game James and Bob were at home putting in the rest of our new windows. 

 

It felt lonely not having Darrel's family at the soccer game, but here is what they did today while Darrel was at work:



They went paddle boarding with Bryce's family.

Addy said she had a blast!

Rowan

Ruby

 

I signed up for a free 10 week online course on the constitution at Hillsdale College.  Before I could start I had to go to Staples and get a notebook and some pens.  I listened to my first lecture today and now I have lots of reading to do before lecture #2 which will be available next week. 

 

I was craving harvest nut and grain pancakes today so James took me to IHOP for lunch.  I got the steak omelet which was huge and a side of the pancakes.  James helped me devour the pancakes.  I took most of the omelet home with me and will eat it for breakfast in the morning.  I was so miserable at the restaurant I was wishing I had taken some aspirin before leaving home.  I went home, took some aspirin and laid down to take a nap.

 

This evening around 6:30 I went with Stacy to the San Marcos where Kim was taking pictures of Joe, Amanda, Michael, Alexis, and Connor before prom. Here are some of the pictures I took:

Joe, Amanda, Connor, Pineapple Princess,

Alexis, and Michael.

Connor broke up with his girlfriend before prom.  He already bought a ticket that he didn't want to go to waste, so he brought a pineapple as his date.

Joe and Amanda

Michael and Alexis

Connor and his Pineapple Princess

The three boys

 

The group went to Brio for dinner which just so happens to be Alexis's favorite restaurant.  Alexis's parents hired a driving to chauffeur them to the prom which was in Phoenix.  Afterwards they all went bowling.  Michael said it was a great night.