Friday, May 8, 2015

While I was watching Lola as Darrel went on a fieldtrip to Shamrock Farms with Rowan, and Trina went on a fieldtrip with Ruby to the children's museum in Mesa, James was helping Dave and Terry put in a sprinkler system in their mom's backyard.

This is what Lois wanted for mother's day.

Dave assessing the situation.

Lois loves to garden.

I thought maybe Dave was the only one on the job,

but there is Terry.

 

I got to look at this sweet  face today.

 

She tried some yogurt but really preferred the banana and

Nutrigrain bar.

Trina said to be sure and take her clothes off when I feed her,

so I did.

Lola loves music!

What a happy baby!

Grandpa came by for a visit after working at his mom's house.

Can you tell they love each other.

 

It was a beautiful day today with the high around 77, a perfect day for a trip to Shamrock Farms. 

Rowan got another date with his dad this evening when they went to see the new "Avengers" movie.  Reclining seats at the theater on Gilbert and Warner.



 Rowan enjoying the good life.

After Ruby and Kreed's fieldtrip they had a kindergarten mothers day program back at the school.  All the mothers got paper hats made by their kindergarteners.

Trina said sometimes you get just what you want!

 

Kim, Brian, Joe, and Alex drove to the cabin tonight.  I guess it's what Kim wanted to do for Mother's Day.











Thursday, May 7, 2015

We woke up to elk in our backyard this morning.

James was so happy!

I woke up with a major cramp in my right calf.  I had to take a couple of aspirin in order to get around.  I washed the sheets on all of the beds,  I cleaned out the refrigerator, wiped down all the counters, and swept and mopped the floors in the kitchen.  I swept the woods floors and dusted and cleaned the bathrooms.  It took me all day long.  I am slow and take lots of breaks.  I forgot my Sonic Duo so I couldn't clean or polish the wood floors and they really do need it. 

 

James gathered information for taxes and worked on repairing the broken railing outside.



My hardworking husband.

We left for Chandler around 5:15 and after making three stops, we arrived at 8:30.  We stopped at Burger House for burros for us and for Sheri.  She was most appreciative.  It rained on us between Miami and Superior.

Wednesday, May 6, 2015

Our taco Tuesday was a day late because we knew

we would be here today.  We can't seem to drive past

here without stopping. 

We each had a mixed green burro, a taco and a side of refried beans.

Oh, did I mention this is the famous Burger House in Miami, Arizona.  We were on our way to Vernon.  James is working on our taxes and there is some information we need at the cabin.  We are off to a good start with this delicious lunch!

 

Our first stop in Vernon is at the post office where I have a package waiting.  Carmen sent me some dahlia bulbs.  Oh dear, I guess she doesn't know I am in the valley right now.  Maybe I can plant them down there in a pot and bring them up here this summer.

 

The first thing James did when he got to the cabin was go check his outdoor cameras to see if he got any pictures of wildlife.  I settled down to watch the 10th anniversary edition of Dancing with the Stars.  I wanted to see Maks and Merle dance.  They were great!

 

James and I both watched "When Calls the Heart" our Canadian Mountie series about a little town in Canada back in the early 1900's called Coal Valley.  It's one of those Hallmark shows that we like so well.

Look who Max and Joshua met up with at Discovery Park.

It's baby Benjamin only he's not a baby anymore.

 

Evan making his pig faces.

 









Tuesday, May 5, 215

I love the Gilbert temple

 

Today is my brother Dennis's birthday.  I called and wished him a happy birthday and told him I loved him.  He is one of my favorite brothers!

 

I started taking things out of the pantry today.  I am going to paint and everything needs to be out. I only worked half the day because I thought I was going to the temple but things didn't work out for Kim so we didn't end up going. I also ran out of boxes. 

 

I know it's taco Tuesday but this week we are having our tacos on Wednesday instead.  I will explain further on tomorrow's post.

Today James made his delicious beef chunks.  Later we added gravy and biscuits, but I like to eat them just like this with a little ketchup.  Delicious!

Little morsels of goodness!

This afternoon I made a trip to Greg Hatch's office with James to pick up some plans for an airplane hanger someone wants to build.  Of course I had to take our book and read from it on the way there and back.

Morwenna Trelawny Penvenan,

or Lady Penvenan is pictured here.

 

I made a quick trip to Sam's Club for some boxes and a pizza before leaving for Addy's strings concert.  On the way I dropped Alex off at the church for his basketball game.  James went to the game while I went to the concert.

James was impressed with Alex's athletic ability.

I know this picture is blurry but I loved this action shot.

The priests played the teachers and of course the priests won.

(Alex is a priest.)

Addy is a violinist and a dancer.  I wonder if she

can do the both at the same time.

The cutest violinist in the 5th grade.

After the concert James and I came home and I cooked the pizza I got at Sam's Club for dinner.  He had to tell me all about the ball game.  He also watched Seth play for his ward.

James says that Seth is the best player on his team.













Monday, May 4, 2015

So sweet, yet very sad.

 

James and Bob put trim on the outside of this door this morning before 7am.  Lots of pounding.  Poor Dallin and Michael.





Where's the window?

I had an appointment for my arthritis today.  Thank goodness!

Dr. Caldron and Tiffany consulted together and decided I needed to continue on the Remicade, 8 methotrexate, and they added Tramadol for pain because they said it is less harsh on organs than Ibuprofen or aspirin. They think some of my pain is caused from previous flare-up and probably from some osteoarthritis. 

 

It took two hours after seeing the doctor for my infusion so I was there for a total of 3 hours.

 

I drove back to Chandler and went to Jersey Mike's for lunch with James and Dallin.

 

At 2pm I drove to Darrel's to watch Lola while he had a meeting at Fry's.  She was asleep when I first got there and when she woke up and saw me she seemed puzzled and surprised.  We got along fine and when the kids got home from school she was very happy to see them.  Rowan wanted me to play chess with him.

Rowan told me I could go first but I told him I couldn't remember how to play.  Ruby was giving me instructions.  Thank goodness Darrel came home before we could actually play.

 

Back in Chandler James, Seth, Alex, and Ben finished cleaning up most of the mess from the storage shed.  Brent and his assistant are still working on the sprinkler system.  At least we are making some progress.

 

I  had a pulled pork sandwich from Boston Market for dinner.  It was quite tasty.  For FHE we listened to Elder Renlund's conference address: "Latter-day Saints Keep on Trying."  We both enjoyed it.  He has a very soothing voice.

 

I felt good when I went to bed this evening.  Here is hoping it lasts.





Sunday, May 3, 2015

A storm that we were not expecting hit the

Valley of the Sun during Sunday night.

 

James and I spent the morning getting ready for our Primary lesson.  I loaded up on Ibuprofen before leaving for church.

 

 

My favorite testimonies today were Michael Ellsworth's and Chris Braddock's.  Chris is a young man that was in our Primary class a few years back.  He has grow into a fine young man and his testimony of prayer was both powerful and sincere.  I am so proud of him!

 

Sister Evan's did an awesome demonstration of the wise man building his house upon the rock and the foolish man building his house upon the sand for Primary sharing time today.  The kids loved it and so did this teacher!

Sister McAfee let some of the kids wear butterfly wings during singing time.  This one was the cutest.



 

Our lesson today was on how Joseph Smith received the gold plates from the angel Moroni and a history of the Book of Mormon.  At one point we had all the kids sit on the floor and James showed them pictures and told them stories from the Book of Mormon.  It was my favorite part of the lesson!

I love how he is down on the floor with them.

I could never do that.

Hi Ryder.

 

When we returned home from church we kneeled by our bed and closed our fast.  For lunch we had pesto flatbread with tomato and cheese cooked under the broiler.  Delicious!

 

Today as we were leaving church Dave asked us to go home and do indexing, so we did.  I haven't indexed since December 2013, so I needed a little help.  I worked on Ohio obituaries and had to call Cathi to ask her a few questions but I got my batch done.  James had a difficult time downloading the index app so he gave up and took a nap.  When he got up from his nap he managed to get the app downloaded and did two batches. 

 

I made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies with walnuts for dinner.

 

We did not read from our novel today.  I told James I didn't think it was an appropriate Sabbath day activity.

 

Stacy read to me from "Return from Tomorrow" by George Richie this evening.  He had some incredible out of body experiences and he tells about meeting the Savior and seeing his life flash before him and being reminded of certain choices he had made.  He said he felt nothing but unconditional love from the Savior.  I wish everyone could understand how much we need the Savior and how much he truly loves and cares for us.

 





Saturday, May 2, 2015

 

What can I say?

Adorable!

 

This morning I went to Peixoto Coffee Shop in downtown Chandler for breakfast.  I brought back three chocolate croissants, one for James, Sheri, and myself.  Sheri loved hers.  James wasn't a big fan, and I thought they needed more chocolate.  The croissants were made by Proof Bread and I follow them on Instagram.

 

This boy had a football game today.  He made two tackles!

Max is awesome!

Joshua and Evan had a soccer game:

 

Joshua throws in the ball

Evan controls the ball

Joshua getting ready to kick.

Quick before it goes out of bounds!

 

While the boys were out getting some exercise, this is what Holly was doing.



Living the good life,

sleeping and T.V.

 

I felt bad for James this morning.  He was tackling the storage shed by himself.  Alex and Seth were supposed to help but they went camping and fishing instead.  I went out to help him for a couple of hours until Stacy and Paul's family came to the rescue.  This is such a big job I doubt that they will finish today. 

 

James also put a new outside door on the carport entrance.  This was has no window and it is so different from the other one that it is going to take some time to get use to.

 

This afternoon around 2pm James and I started our fast.  We are fasting for family needs.  Sometimes it's hard to fast on Saturday afternoon and evening but tomorrow as soon as we get home from church we will break our fast and eat. 

 

This afternoon and evening I listened to lecture two of my Constitution 101 class and did some catchup reading.  I also did some preparation for tomorrow's Primary lesson. 

 

Jared Ammon was here most of the late afternoon and evening.  It's always nice to see him.   

 

James worked hard all day long and was exhausted this evening.  I read him a bedtime story before going to bed.