Monday, May 18, 2015

Our friends from Vernon, Collin and Wendy DeWitt are leaving for their mission to the Carribean this week.  They posted this picture of all their children and grandchildren on Facebook and said it would be the last time they would all be together for two years.

We will miss them in Vernon but know they are doing what the Lord would want them to do.  We will add them to our list of missionaries to pray for.

 

We got an entire page of coupons from Peter Piper Pizza for Lambson Construction and we decided to use one of them today, buy one lunch buffet and get the second one free.  It cost us around $8 for two lunches and a drink.  Not bad. They need to build a Peter Piper in Show Low!

This evening was Joe's last performance as part of the Chandler High School choir. 

 



Combined men's and women's choir

There is a Women's Choir, a women's group called the Treblemakers, a Men's Choir, the Advanced Women's Choir, Chamber Choir, and Chorale which includes men and women.

They are all so good but I think my favorite was the men's choir and the chamber choir.  Joe is in both.  You have to be chosen to be in the chamber choir, which is quite an honor.  It was a very relaxing and enjoyable evening.  We sat with Kim and Brian and Chelsea Pace and her two boys, Carter and Cash.

Joe

Joe with his fans, Carter and Cash

 



Sunday, May 17, 2015

One more picture from yesterday's trip to the Black River.

 

How true!

 

Zach and Julie Turvey spoke in sacrament meeting today.  They are probably in their late 20's and he has an awesome English accent.  They spoke about testimony and continuing revelation.  Both are returned missionaries and they both have deep and abiding testimonies based on the Book of Mormon.  Zach read the Book of Mormon 18 times while he was on his mission and each time when he was finished he would kneel down and pray to know if it was true.  He said he received a confirmation every time.  It is refreshing to see young people with such powerful testimonies of the gospel.  They are Ben's Sunday School teachers.  Lucky Ben.

 

We only had four children attend our Primary class today: Ryder, Brooklyn, Taylor and Callie.  Shade was there but he was in one of his "moods" and refused to come to class. 

This is Taylor she told us all about her pet owl.  When I asked her dad about it he said:  "You can't really believe everything she says."

She has quite an imagination.

After church we came home and had beans for lunch and then took a nap.  

Evan came down to play with Joshua but he had to read his scriptures first.  While Joshua was reading from the Book of Mormon, Evan read from The Friend.



 At 5:30 we attended the Chandler Stake seminary graduation.  We sat by Kim, Brian and Joe.  We are proud of Joe for filling all the requirements to graduate from seminary.  It was a very nice program and their were 44 youth that graduated, including E.J. Castillo.  Mitch Jones came down and spoke to us which made James feel really good.  They went to college together and were on the same wrestling team at MCC for a year. 

The highlight of the program was a musical number entitled" Until He Comes."  It was a duet and the girl, Moira Leon, had an absolutely beautiful voice.  Joe says she is in choir and he is friends with her. 

 

Afterwards we drove to the Galveston stake center and attended our stakes seminary graduation.  We had five youth graduate from our ward, which was nice, but we were really there for Seth.

Erik, Aaron, Seth, Kit, and Kit with his best buddy, Alex.

Our stake is quite a bit smaller than the Chandler stake.  We only had 22 graduates.  I am proud of Michael, Ben, and Joe and Alex.  They all read the D&C this year which was the assigned text for the year.

Addy posted this picture of Lola on Instagram and I thought it was so cute I had to post it here.



  Lola the ballerina











Saturday, May 16, 2015

Snow in the White Mountains and in other areas of the state.

This picture was taken by a friend of ours, Cope Reynolds.

James failed to take any pictures of the snow.

 

Joshua and Evan missed their soccer game today.  (It may have been too wet to play anyway)  They are going to a birthday party for their friend Bryce.  Evan asked me to wrap his gift since his mom had to work this morning.

Evan says it's exciting to get a wrapped present.

 

While James with at the Black River with the boys, I was at Addy and Kayla's tumbling recital. 

Addy, striking a pose.

Back flip, or a bridge

Oh yes, Ruby was there too.

There must have been 200 girls, and a few younger boys who participated in this recital.  The girls were all ages and abilities.  This is Addy and Kayla's first year and they did a great job!

 

Ruby is so proud that she lost a tooth.

Rowan sat next to me.  He did hand shadows on the ground to

entertain himself.  As you can see, Trina's mom got to sit by the babies. (Tristan was there with Rhia and of course Lola).

Rowan and I stole Lola for a picture at the end of the program.

 

 

Here are some pictures that James sent me from the Black River.  When I asked where Adam was he said he got cold and wet and walked back to the truck to read his book.  He did catch 5 fish.

Alex caught 86 fish.

 

 

Seth caught 80, and James caught 70. 

Seth says it's the most fun that he's ever had!

That makes the trip all worthwhile.

James Hayden helping with a service project at his ward's fathers and sons outing.  That's him in the red sweatshirt.  Jared says he wears it everywhere.

 

In other exciting news today two of the young men we know got their mission calls.  First, Weston Hall from Vernon received his call to serve in the Argentina Buenos Aires South mission and he reports September 23rd.  Weston's brother, Kendall is serving in Argentina and will be home in November.  Their dad, our former bishop, Ron Hall also served in Argentina.  Congratulations!

 

Here in Chandler Alex Braddock opened his mission call this evening.  He is going to the Chile Orsono mission and reports July 1st.  Congratulations Alex!

 



 

 







Friday, May 15, 2015

When did Max's feet grow as long as Sheri's?

 

James, Alex, Seth, and Adam all left for the cabin early this morning.  Of course James had to call and tell me that they stopped for a breakfast burrito at Burger House.  That's okay, I stopped at Chipotle after Addy's talent show this afternoon and got a carnitas burro.  It was delicious. 

 

James got the boys to help him unload the wood and fix the railing he needed help with last week.  Tomorrow they are all goingfishing on the Black River.  I am a little nervous because it is supposed to rain tomorrow.  Oh well, we will see what happens.

 

I went to Addy's performance at her school's talent show this afternoon.  I got to see this cutie:



 

So relaxed and comfy munching on her cracker.

Addy and her friend Trinity danced to the song

"Wings."  They did their own choreography and it was great.  Trinity ran off before I could get her picture.

 

This is how the sky looked when we came out of the talent show.

The rain hit Chandler just as Joshua, Max, and Evan got out of school.  They walk to the park behind the school where Sheri waits for them, it is quite a little walk, and I guess they got soaked.

 





Joe was over at our house this afternoon and I couldn't help posting this picture of him with his bff, Amanda's dog.

Joe was the one that told me that Michael has been selected to be on the seminary council next year.  Of course I told Michael how proud I was of him and what an honor it is to be chosen for such a position.

I spent most of the late afternoon and evening in my room working on ideas for our Primary lesson and finishing up lecture 4 of the constitution class I am taking.  I got 100% on the quiz!

 

It was raining hard when I went to bed tonight.





Thursday, May 14, 2015

Brian sent me new flowers because the first ones were

beginning to wilt and die.  These are beginning to open and are beautiful!  Thanks again Brian.

 

I started to work in the pantry, to finish cleaning and preparing for painting when James came in and asked me to go on errands with him.  He did the same thing yesterday.  I am not sure if it's my company that he likes or the fact that I read to him while we are driving.  Today we went to Bingham Equipment in Mesa, Central Arizona Plumbing, and back to the Home Depot on Gilbert and Germann.  Along the way we stopped at Schlotsky's for lunch.  I had the smoked turkey sandwich and James had the beef and cheddar.  We shared.  I forgot how delicious their sandwiches are.  I love the bread!  (Maybe I should write a food blog).

 

Speaking of food, here is a picture of Joshua devouring his afternoon snack.  It's an almond poppyseed muffin from Winco.

 It's gargantuan.  His mom was only going to give him half but he insisted that he wanted it all.

He ate the whole muffin!

 

James cleaned up the mess from the mulberry tree and loaded all the firewood in the back of his truck.  He is going to the cabin tomorrow.  I spend an hour or so working in the pantry.  I still have some contact paper to remove.  I also worked on my blog and finished up lecture #3 on the constitution. 

 

James and I were reading in the bedroom when there was a knock on the door.  It was Max and Evan.  They were playing catch with Max's football and it got stuck on their roof.  They wanted to know if Max could get it down for them.  Of course.  Max said a little later he was worried when grandpa's feet started sliding.  I said a little prayer.

 

James had to do some shopping this evening but before he went he made steak and a salad for dinner.  I appreciate him so much. 

 

Trina posted this on Facebook and I am happy to share it here.

These girls all received Golden Scholar awards at their school.

Trina took her kids to celebrate at Lolo's chicken and waffles.

She realized they may have had too many carbs before bedtime so she made them all run laps.  Trina you are too funny!

 





Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Happy 45th Birthday Monte!

Monte with his daughters Kaytlynn and Madison.

 

I made it to the temple today.  I decided I was going once a week either with someone else or by myself.  Today it was by myself.  I did an endowment session for Mary Strickland. I saw several friends from Chandler: Tammy Cluff Montgomery, Edra Cobb, Carol Dana, and Gerry Price.  Randy Knorr was also in my session.  I went to the 9:15 session and was home by 11:30. 

 

Kim picked me up for lunch a little after noon.  We went to the Zupa's here in Chandler over by the Chandler mall. 



Everything is made fresh and seems so healthy!

Their menu is a work of art and I can recommend the

pulled pork sandwich and the chicken tortilla soup.

Kim had a salad and loved it too.

Thank you Kim for a delicious lunch!

The company was great too!

Kayla and Addy

These two girls dance, tumble, and go to school together.

They are best friends!

 

Michael got to run in the Meet of Champions tonight.  Only the top 8 in state were invited.  He said it was time for "redemption" for him.  The meet was held at Brophy High School in Phoenix and it was after 8pm when he ran.  I wanted to go but James was just too tired.  Paul went and texted us the results.  Michael came in 2nd and got a personal best official time of 1:57:24.  Woohoo!  He honored his friend Marcus by wearing a black and orange arm band, Corona's school colors.



Michael's medal

Still not satisfied.  He wanted to be first.

Jordan Gardner from Snowflake beat him.





 

 



 



Tuesday, May 12, 2015

This is Peg Curry.  She lives in Hohenwald, Tennessee.  She is 79 years old and here she is zip lining 920 feet in the air over Honduras.

I know Peg because she is the mother of my sister-in-law Denise.  We were traveling companions a few years back when she and I and Dennis and Denise all went to New York City together.  She is in great shape for her age and loves to travel and seek adventure.  She is one of my heroes!

James and I had lunch today at Cheesecake Factory.  We used on of the giftcards I got for mother's day.  We shared crab bites, the French country salad, and Chicken Bellagio.  It was all very tasty.  I also got a piece of lemon meringue cheesecake to take home.  It was delicious and is my new favorite cheesecake.

My old favorite cheesecake.

 

A sad thing happened today.  A senior at Corona Del Sol, Marcus Wheeler committed suicide.  I first heard about it when Dallin posted about it on Facebook.  When James and I got home from Cheesecake Factory, Dallin, Michael, Paul, and Stacy were all seated in the family room and it was very quiet.  I guess Marcus had gone to Chandler and was a runner on both the cross country and track team.  He was a good friend of Michael's and they still talked from time to time.  He has been over here many times.  Jared Ammon and Dallin also knew him but Michael was the closest to him.  Michael went downstairs and just wanted to be alone.

   Everyone is concerned about Marcus's dad.  They lived alone together.  I guess Marcus lost a full-ride scholarship and his girlfriend broke up with him and it was more than he could handle.  Yesterday on Twitter he posted: "Help."  He took a gun and shot himself at the school.  Luckily none of the students saw him. 

 

I feel so sad for Michael.  He says if he had been a better friend this might not have happened.  Kim told Joseph: "This is why you are always kind and nice to everyone.  You never know what is going on in some one else's life."