Monday, November 2, 2015

Three earthquake tremors were felt in the Phoenix area last night.  The center was near Black Canyon City and the largest measured about 3.2 on the richter scale.  Sheri didn't feel it because she was asleep, but Ian did and so did Darrel and Trina.  

Lots of these jokes on Facebook

James heard an elk answer him this morning so he went out with the Razr to look.  I stayed home and listened to conference talks and my scriptures.  I listened to Elder Christofferson, Brother Durrant (ponderize), Elder Keetch, and Sister Stephens.  

I keep wondering why James is gone so long.  He finally gets back and reports that he saw 29 elk.  Elk fever lives on!

  He has a broken tine

Today I started to clean out the entry closet we store cleaning supplies in while James unloads the truck and trailer.

My work set up

Around noon James and I left for town.  I told him we needed to get a card and gift card for Jared's birthday.  We listen to our scriptures on the way and finish our book, "Bonds of Loyalty".

We were both hungry so we stopped at Persnikkity's for lunch.

A yummy place for breakfast or lunch

James loved the philly cheesesteak sandwich he had last week and wanted another one.  I decided to try it to.

This time he had it on toasted wheat bread

Mine was delicious, especially with a little

catsup on the side.  The side salads were good too

with the jalapeno ranch dressing.

On to Walmart to get Jared's card and giftcard.  We signed the card and headed to the Show Low post office.  James took the card in and made sure we had enough postage and that it was properly sealed.  The giftcards were a little bulky so the attendant made sure the card was going to fit through their mail slot.  It barely did.

The evening we watched the cutest Christmas movie on the Up channel.  It was called "Angel in the House".  The little boy who played the angel reminded me so much of Evan.  He was adorable.  James makes me a most delicious drink while we watch our movie.  He uses Pero, stevia to sweeten it, and then adds some powdered hot chocolate mix.  It is very tasty and I look forward to it and my movie every evening.

 

Sunday, November 1, 2015

One of my favorite months!

Sheri's quote:

Elder Holland in his talk "Lord I Believe" says,

"When problems come and questions arise, do not start your quest for faith by saying how much you do not have, leading as it were with your 'unbelief.'  That is like trying to stuff a turkey through the beak!  Let me be clear on this point: I am not asking you to pretend to faith you do not have.  I am asking you to be true to the faith you do have.  Sometimes we act as if an honest declaration of doubt is a higher manifestation of moral courage than is an honest declaration of faith.  It is not!"

I was up at 4:30 this morning to finish preparing my lesson.  It is about Cornelius and Peter and taking the gospel to the Gentiles and all the world as the Lord commanded.  I felt like I was prepared.

James helped me put on my new shoes.  They do hurt my feet a little but I checked and I can't get them in a wider size so I will just grin and bear it.  

An announcement was made in sacrament meeting today regarding the refugees coming into Europe.  We were encouraged to donate to the humanitarian fund to help these refugees.  I saw this on Facebook:

 

I loved Brother Scott's testimony today.  He talked about how the refugee's from Syria fleeing to Europe could now be taught the gospel.  He also bore testimony of the Savior!

 I am grateful to belong to the this church!

 Everyone in my Primary class, except Zemira, bore their testimonies in sacrament meeting.  I told them in class it was important to remember to bear testimony of the Savior.  Hopefully they will remember.  

I am not sure if it was the Halloween candy or what but our class was very rowdy today.  It didn't help that today was Joely's birthday and Isabelle was there to celebrate with her.  Joely brought a bean bag and begged me to let them play a game, so after class  they played hide the beanbag.  They were rude to Braylin who tries to get attention by saying rude things.  When he was out of the room I told them they needed to practice being more kind to him.  

Zemira did give an answer regarding Peter's symbolic dream of seeing unclean animals and how it applied to the Gentiles.  I was proud of him.  I don't think he has ever answered a question in class before today.

Ashten is excited that her brother, Kendall is coming home from his mission on Wednesday.  She really didn't want to read scriptures today but I talked her in to it.  Talena was the best in class and was the most reverent.

Denice Hall did singing time today.  I think Alicia went to visit her mom in Utah who is dying of cancer.  It was lots of fun songs and Denice made it even more fun.  

Lannie Gillespie did sharing time.  She told the story of the Good Samaritan and then gave the kids an assignment to do 5 acts of service before our next Primary in two weeks.  It's a contest and the class who does the most acts of service gets a prize.  The kids were pretty excited!

We came home from church and watched a movie, "The Wishing Tree", before breaking our fast.  

I also worked on my blog, read scriptures and listened to several conference talks.  My favorite was the one by Pres. Eyring on the Holy Ghost.  James took an extra long nap.  

We watched two more Christmas movies: "The Best Party Ever", and "The Ultimate Life."

Kim took family pictures today for the Trezise's.  I love this one of the boys:

So handsome and lovable,

all of them!

Saturday, October 31, 2015

It's President Uchtdorf if you please!

Happy Halloween!

Reporting in from Texas,

James, Emmy, Anna, and Molly

The following are not my grandchildren, but I

thought they were pretty darn cute!

Such a cute idea for twins!

This reminded me of the year Sheri was Raggedy Ann

and Jared was Raggedy Andy.

 James went down to the breakfast buffet here at the Springhill Marriott this morning and he brought me back three different breakfasts.  The first was a cinnamon sugar muffin with strawberries and whipped cream.  The second was biscuits and gravy, and the third a blueberry waffle.  I ate a little bit of all of them.  This food is much better than what we had at the Comfort Inn! 

James went to work this morning while I stayed at the hotel and worked on my Primary lesson.  We left a little before 11am, which 

was the checkout time.  James dropped me off at Sheri's and I went to the soccer game with Ian, Sheri, and Evan.   Alex went with James to clean out our unit at Central Self-Storage and load everything into our truck and trailer.  

The boys lost the soccer game but I won with Lola! Sheri was holding her and she held out her hands for me!  I sat between Sheri and Stacy.

Rowan comes home with us.  We stopped at Winco to shop and see if they had anymore one cent pumpkins left.  They didn't.  I got James some chocolate covered almonds.  

James drove up at Sheri's just as we go home from Winco.  I gave Rowan and Evan a hug and James and I headed for home.  We read our scriptures and from our book on the way home.  Of course we stopped at Burger House for tacos and burros.  

We stopped at the post office before going home and I was surprised to see the new shoes I ordered were already here!

They fit, I just wish they were a little wider.

James unloaded the suitcases and our personal items but will wait until Monday for the rest of the load.  We watched a really good Hallmark movie called "Freshman Father" before having our fasting prayer and going to bed.  It is hard to believe that tomorrow is November first.

Happy Halloween!

Trick or Treaters

The Hall's.  The witch, Ashten, is in my

Primary class.

Jon, Logan, and Lexy

Christina and her family

 

Friday, October 30, 2015

No pinion picking today,

we are headed to the valley!

Sheri's thoughtful text:

"Casual prayer won't be enough  Reading a few verses of scripture won't be enough.  Doing the minimum of what the Lord asks us won't be enough.  Hoping that we will have the Atonement work in our llives and that we will perhaps sometimes feel the influence of the Holy Ghost won't be enough.  Only a steady ever-increasing effort will allow the Lord to take us to higher ground."

-Pres. Henry B. Eyring

We wanted to leave for the valley by 7am.  It was a little after 7 when we left the first time.  We went back for the book "Rough Stone Rolling", and to turn the water off.  We are off again.  Two miles down the road we have to go back for checks.  Finally we are on our way with no turnarounds!

On the way to Show Low we listen to our scriptures from the New Testament and the Book of Mormon.  We stop in Show Low at Burger King for a potty break and some breakfast.  Back on the road we listen to Cleon Skousen's talk from 1980 on The Atonement.  It is so good!  Sheri recommended it.

 Sheri posted this on Facebook

 As we arrive in the valley we get off on Power Rd. to pick up thyroid pills at Dr. Allen's.  On to Chandler where I drop James off at the job and then I go to the mall for a snack.  I got James a brownie at Barnes and Noble and then I get a cinnamon sugar pretzel at Wetzel Pretzel.  James calls for me to pick him up.

We drive from the jobsite to Security Title to pick up our check from the sale of the house.  Immediately we drive to the bank and deposit it. 

James drops me off at Sheri's where I wait for her and Kim.  We are going for a late lunch.  Sheri decides she can't go to lunch so she leaves to do errands.  It's about 2:30 when Kim picks me up.  We go to Zupa's for lunch.  We both feel so much better after we eat!

Kim drops me off at the Springhill Marriott which is just across the street from Zupa's and the mall.  James has already checked in to room 113.  

James and I both take a nap until a little before five when we start getting ready to pick up Evan and Joshua for the Trunk or Treat in Rowan's ward.

Trina's brother Westley and his wife Lacy and their three little girls went to the Trunk of Treat too.  

Evan's costume was the most fun to put on.  

Baemax strikes again!

I loved Addy's costume.  She wanted to be the Queen of Hearts so Trina told her to look on Pinterest for costume ideas.  Trina came up with this:

The cutest Queen of Hearts

I've ever seen!

 Ruby as Cinderella in the Halloween

Parade at her school.

Rowan as a storm trooper and

Joshua as Master Chief.

 Tinkerbell was afraid her mom

was going to leave her I think.

This was by far the best Trunk or Treat any of us had ever been to.

I think Trina and Darrel belong to the Emerald Bay ward in Gilbert.

They had a bounce house, an inflatable slide, popcorn, and cotton candy, as well as hot chocolate, chili, cornbread and hotdogs.

They had carnival games with cookies and cupcakes for prizes.  After the carnival aspect of the night, the kids got to go around Trunk or Treating.  Here are some pictures:

Lola, Gpa, and Joshua

The cutest couple at the 

Trunk or Treat!

Lola's dinner was a bun,

eaten on the run.

 Lola loves grandpa and he loves her!

Lola making a getaway.

The dance floor was a big hit.

They even had a limbo contest.

Thursday, October 29, 2015

55 Bald Eagles.

Not sure where this picture was taken.  James says the ones that don't have white heads and the young ones.

We had rain this morning here in Vernon.  It went from unseasonably warm to cold in two days.  

I made pumpkin bread to take to the sisters I visit teach.

I made another one for Jean Howard.

These are for Elida Pope and Hailey Chafin.

We took the truck and James drove me to the Chafin's where we shared the message about attributes of the Savior, love and charity, with Hailey and her baby Huntley.  

I tried to call Elida Pope but she never answered.  We decided to drive out anyway and leave the bread.  Thank goodness for James and his truck, I would have never found my way and we had to use four wheel drive a couple of times because of the mud.  

Later I got a thank you text from Elida saying they were planning on having the bread tonight with their hot chocolate.
On our way home we stopped at Stanford Store and picked up a couple of sandwiches. 

I did something exciting today, I paid our tithing online!  How convenient. 

We watched a Hallmark movie we had seen before called, "Three Weeks, Three Kids."  It had a good message and we enjoyed it just as much as we did the first time we saw it.

Kim had a pumpkin carving event at her house this evening.  This is something we always did with our kids and I am glad to see she is carrying on the tradition.

Michael, Cash and Carter Pace, Joe, Adam, and Alex.

Michael and his Bum pumpkin.

I got a text from Stacy tonight that made me really sad.  It went like this:

"Joshua is so distraught.  He has been crying for 45 minutes about the house.  He is so upset about his grandpa selling it.  I have explained but he just keeps saying he shouldn't have sold it and his whole life was there and grandpa built it.  I have tried everything.  Paul is talking to him now.  

Still crying.  I just don't now what to do.  He says he hates this house and he is mad at us for not buying grandpas house.  I try to explain but it doesn't matter.  Mom, he is just heartbroken.  He is lonely and misses the neighborhood.  Nothing I say seems to work."

This broke my heart.  I hope we can talk to him and help him to feel better when we come down.

  

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

I'm still trying to learn this.

Since I took the day off yesterday I had lots to do today.  I started out by cancelling our accounts at SRP, Southwest Gas, and the City of Chandler.  I updated both the business and the personal checking accounts and paid bills.  I also unloaded five boxes from the garage. 

 For lunch we had leftover chili with chips and Kathy Crane's homemade green salsa.

This afternoon I worked on my blog.  I just can't seem to catchup.

James started putting together the shelves he got from the storage shed in Chandler.  He is putting our gallon jars from the cannery on them.

It almost looks like a store.

For dinner I shredded the roasted chicken I bought at Walmart yesterday and made chicken tacos for dinner.  I also cooked some cauliflower as a side dish which made James happy.

In Chandler Joshua attended his last pack meeting in the Galveston 3rd ward with his friend and cousin Evan.

 Love these boys!

I wish Rowan was here too.

Joshua in character.

James's niece Christina Tibbetts Hoose had a baby boy just before midnight.  She was induced early and if she had waited a week longer the baby would have died, according to her doctor. I am not sure what was wrong, but here is a picture of Ander Orion Hoose.

He is adorable!

His sister Eden is adorable dressed as a bunny

for Halloween.

Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Canada in the Fall

Sheri's Thought:

I listened to a talk by L. Tom Perry where he powerfully spoke about obedience.  He admonished, "Disobedience to the Lord's commandments will always deprive us of His blessings.  The world changes constantly and dramatically, but God, His commandments, and promised blessings do not change.  They are immutable and unchanging.  Men and women receive their agency as a gift from God, but their liberty and, in turn, their eternal happiness come from obedience to His laws.  As Alma counseled his errant son Corianton, "Wickedness never was happiness." (Alma 41:10)

 I slept in this morning.  It was difficult to get out of bed because my feet hurt.  I took some Tramadol and settled into my place on the couch to watch last night's episode of "Dancing with the Stars."

As I was getting ready for our lunch date with Dennis, Denise, Harold, and Vickie, my visiting teaching companion, Lorraine Tieman called and said she had appointments for today starting at 11 am.  I reminded her that I couldn't go this morning so she said she would try to change them to Thursday.  She can't go tomorrow.  

We met my brothers and their wives at Persnikkity's around 11 am.  We so enjoyed our lunch and visit with them. James said his Philly cheesesteak was the best he's ever had! I am so frustrated that I didn't take a picture!  James brought the big picture of my dad roping a calf with Mr. Yellowhair, painted by Yellowhair.  James wanted to give it to Harold or Dennis.  Dennis ended up taking it.  He thought Kyle might like it or he would find a place for it in his house.  We said our goodbye's and headed for home.  I saw Gail Butler as we were leaving and she gave me a hug.  She is someone I knew in high school and is married to Gary Butler.  She is also Chris Butler's mother.  Chris is married to Janny St. Onge.
While we were in town we went to the bank and then to Walmart to pick up a few groceries.

Back at home James works on his lesson while I watch more TV and rest.  It is a gorgeous day, with the high around 72.  
I got a text this afternoon from our realtor, Jen MacLay.  The house closed today, a day early!  It really is happening.  I am happy and a little sad at the same time.

I really needed this relaxing down day!
A Hallmark movie this evening with James.