Thursday, June 11, 2015

Happy 11th Anniversary to Amelia and Erik!

 

Joel finished laying the tile in the laundry room yesterday and today he grouted it.  Now it's James's turn.  He's going to install a new counter and shelves.  It looks like a totally different room.

 

You can't really appreciate it unless you had seen it before!

James worked a long time putting up baseboard and the new cabinet.  Alex helped paint and walla, we have a new room.

 

These are some of my accomplishments for the day: I made James some scrambled eggs for breakfast.  I read to him from "A Revealed Heart" where the heroine has gone bald because she has alopecia, and I paid bills.  I have extreme pain in both of my hips.  I think it was from sitting in a hard chair at the computer for several hours.  James worked in the laundry room until after 10.

 

 

I called the arthritis office and left a complaint and my frustration with not being able to get some help.  The girl at the desk, Michelle, was very understanding and said she would have someone call me tomorrow.  I gave up on the day around 4pm and went to bed.  If I lie really still I can get some rest.

 

Tricia posted on Facebook today that Emmy left her purse at the Dollar Store where she was shopping for Anna and Molly.  When she went back to get it the purse was there but $187 of her birthday money was missing.  I immediately sent out a family email asking for donations to send her and got a great response.  We won't be able to cover the entire amount, but we will replace over $100.  I love my kids and how they care for each other!

 

Dallin was here playing his guitar today.  He has such a nice voice and I love to listen to him.

No, we weren't at the beach today.

 



 



Wednesday, June 10, 2015

This is our friend Wendy DeWitt from Vernon.

She is on a mission with her husband Collin in the

Carribean.

This is where she lives.  I am glad she won't have to

suffer too much!

 

Back here at home I am getting a little frustrated with all the projects going on at once and all of the messes both inside and outside.  Michael and Alex are both working today.  Michael was told by his dad that he had to help pay for getting the red car fixed.  Remember, he backed in to it the other night in the Montero.

 

Sheri invited me to lunch today at Serrano's with Adrienne, Drea, and Christy.  I didn't feel great, but maybe going out to lunch will get my mind off of my problems for awhile.  Anyway, I enjoyed the company and the food.  I had a chili relleno.  I had forgotten how good they are.

 

Summer fun and Legos!  Trina says this is a nightmare for

mom's with babies and mom's with feet because Legos

hurt when you step on them!

 

I have so much to do and I hurt so much I can't do anything.  I do read to James and we are really getting in to our book: "A Heart Revealed."  Today I also listened to Dallin Oaks's conference address: "The Parable of the Sower."  At one point he was talking about life being hard and shared a quote from Hugh Nibley: "That's where faith comes in...it's supposed to be hard."

 

The Noel's

Some of the first people we met when we moved to

Chandler.  He was my priesthood advisor when I was the Primary President.  They moved to Provo where he coached BYU baseball and she worked at the MTC.  When we took our boys to the MTC she was one of the first people to greet them.  We love and appreciate Bob and Darlene's righteous example.

 

 





Tuesday, June 9, 2015

Our friend, Yoshikazu Yoshimine, or Yoshi as

we called him, left us early this morning for a better place  He had been suffering from lung cancer for many months and we are

glad he is no longer in pain.  Till we meet again, Yoshi, you will be

in our thoughts and hearts!

(Thanks Laura for posting this)

 

We had scriptures and prayer before Alex came to work at 7am.  He and James cleaned everything out of the laundry room.  Now the washer and dryer and in the entryway.



The washer and dryer on vacation

Joel Kelly, a friend of Zaki's, is doing some work for us.  He drilled out the old floor in the laundry room today and started laying the new tile.  I am so grateful that James doesn't have to do this!

 

James had to make another trip to 108th Avenue.  I am not sure this job is ever officially going to start.  They don't even have plans yet, but we have made at least five trips across town to meet with subcontractors.  James told them today he wasn't doing anything else until he got plans so this will be our last trip for awhile.

We stopped and got Whataburgers on the way.   It rained today but not enough to really count.

 

Alex didn't want to paint today so he had a short day.  He mowed the lawn and then went home.

 

After our long ride across town James took a short nap and then worked on his talk he will give this Sunday at Alex Braddock's farewell. 

 

One of the conference talks I listened to today was by Sister Bonnie L. Oscarson, the General Young Women's President.  She said: "Aim for the idea, but plan for contingencies." Her talk was based on the family proclamation and how we need to become defenders of the family and that we can do this in three ways:

1.  Defend and protect marriage between a man and a woman.

2.  We need to elevate the divine roles of mothers and fathers.

3.  We need to protect the sanctity of the home which should be a place of order, learning, safety, and a refuge from the storms of life.

 

I am still suffering greatly from my arthritis.  By the time it is bedtime I can barely walk. 

  





Monday, June 8, 2015

Today is "Mountie Monday".

This is Jack, my favorite Mountie.

Seth is gone to EFY this week in Flagstaff.  Alex worked a full 8 hours today.  He painted and he hates to paint, but that is mainly what we need him to do. 

 

These kids got to go to Sunsplash today!

 

Joshua spent some time with his cousins today for

Zane's birthday.  The got to go to Hamilton pool.

Aaron and his family are in town too. 

 

 For lunch today it was a flatbread turkey sandwich from Quiznos with honey mustard dressing.  Another trip to 108th Avenue with James.  Today we started a new book, it's the one Jared got me for mother's day: "A Heart Revealed."

The author is LDS on this one

I took two Tramadol's this afternoon.  It doesn't get rid of the pain but it takes the edge off and makes it bearable. 

 

Stacy finished all of her laundry today.  We will be without a washer and a dryer for a few days as they lay tile in the laundry room.  I did our laundry on Saturday.  





Sunday, June 7, 2015

The new Payson Utah temple was dedicated today.

 

I felt pretty good when I got up this morning.  James and I prepared our lesson today which is on the Holy Ghost.  I really do enjoy having a calling that I can share with my hubby.

 

Dallin came to church today.  I always wonder what he is thinking and how he feels.  It was a good meeting for him to come to because many of the young men bore their testimonies on the power of the priesthood.  They just returned from a High Adventure trip where their leaders were called upon to use their priesthood to bless Grady, a member of the priests quorum who took a 40 foot fall.  Stacy also bore her testimony and shared her testimony of the Book of Mormon and told the story of Bowington that Jared told from his mission when he was here in March.  I know she wanted Dallin to hear it. It was a good meeting. even though Bishop Lewis was out of town.

 

I like how everything in the church is co-ordinated.  The theme for June in Primary is on the Holy Ghost and that is what our lesson is on this week in our class. 

Last week we were impressed because we found out that Malachi could do puzzles very quickly. We were even more impressed this week when we found out he could read.  This is a boy who just turned five and licks the wall in the hallway on his way to class.

 

I was tired and achy when I got home from church.  We broke our fast and James fixed me a nice lunch.

A yummy salad, chicken, mushrooms, and onions,

and stuffed bell peppers.  Delicious!

I am so blessed.

We took a nap and then we finished reading our book "The Heiress of Winterwood."  You can tell when we really like a book.  It doesn't take us long to read it. 

 

Paul and Michael made it home safely from New Mexico.



 

 

 



Saturday, June 6, 2015

When all else fails, post a picture of this cutie!

 

I made James scrambled eggs this morning as per his request.  Let me just say that he has never before in our marriage requested me to make scrambled eggs for him.  He loves my new "recipe."

 

Evan worked for James with Alex this morning cleaning the old flowers out from under the mailbox and planting the new ones.  No pictures are available at this time.  I haven't gone outside very much lately.  The new flowers are vinka's which do very well in the heat.  Our beautiful African daisies were wilting and dying in the heat.

James paid him $10 and he was so happy!

 

James had to make another trip to 108th Avenue so of course I went with him to read from "Heiress of Winterwood."  We stopped at Jason's Deli on the way out of town to pick up some sandwiches. 

 

Michael had this to say about his race this evening:  " We drove eight hours in a car to run a two minute race and then didn't even have Arizona shirts for us to wear.  We represented the state of Washington because that's all the shirts they had left. 

 

 

Connor, Michael, and ?

Gabby too!

Back at home Joshua bonded with Holly while Michael was gone:

 

Our friends from Vernon, Bishop Ron Hall and his wife Denice went through the temple with their son Weston who just got his mission call to the Argentina Buenos Aires South mission.

The Hall's in front of the Snowflake temple

 











Friday, June 5, 2015

It rained today and made it a gorgeous day!

We have not had measureable rain here in June since 2002!

Sad news today.  Our friend Thomas Gale was taken in a

motorcycle accident last night.  Thomas's mother Ruth is in Utah attending her brother's funeral.  Thomas was our neighbor for awhile.  He's a little younger than Darrel.  One morning he came down early, around 6 or 7 and said: "I want to play with anybody."

 

Today was Elder L. Tom Perry's funeral.

His booming voice and radiant smile will be missed.

 

Paul and a van full of teenagers left this morning for the Southwest track meet in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  Here they are stopping for lunch at the Golden Corral in Gallup.



They look happy.  I hope that food helps them race faster tomorrow.

 

With Paul and Michael gone, to keep from getting lonely Joshua had a play date with his friend Bryce.

Taking it easy with Skittles.

Watching a movie with Bryce and his sister Brooklyn

at Bryce's house.

 

I had a doctor's appointment with Tiffany and Dr. Caldron today regarding what to do about my arthritis pain.  I can either go on another drug called Actemra or be part of a research study to test a new drug.  I am going to go with whichever one I can do the quickest.  Tiffany is going to contact Medicare regarding Actemra.  Hopefully it won't take too long to get it approved. 

 

After my appointment James took Lexy to Sears to have the oil changed and the tires rotated.  He dropped me off at the mall and then he joined me and we had lunch at Kona Grill.  I had the macadamian crusted chicken salad with honey mustard dressing.  It was delicious!  I could hardly walk so I took three aspirins while I was there and after finishing lunch we made our way to Barnes & Noble for brownies.  Their triple chocolate brownies are my favorite.  James carried my purse all through the mall for me so I could walk easier.  What a guy!

 

When we got home Stacy said her friend Elska, (Bryce's mom), was interested in buying our house and would look at it next week.  That would be wonderful if she bought it and we didn't have to put it on the market.

 

Seth opened his mission call this evening.  I was hurting so I didn't go, but James did went because Seth told him he wanted him there.

He's going to Bogota, Colombia

and reports on October 21st!

Congratulations Seth!

 

Evan came down this evening and we had a nice chat.  He came to see Joshua but Joshua was still at Bryce's.  He showed me what Lego set he wanted and then asked me if I had any work for him.  I told him I bet grandpa could find something for him to do.  He is coming down in the morning to help plant new flowers by the mail box.