Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Another tiny house.  This one is for Hobbits.

We had 24 elk in our yard this morning and James had a photo shoot.  

We read 1Nephi 17:48-13:4 for our scripture study.  I always say our morning prayer, and James says the one at night.  I also studied two conference talks.

 

Molly learned how to ride her bike today.  Tricia posted a video on Facebook.  Congratulations Molly!

 

James had a doctors appointment with an ear specialist today.  We started a new book on the way to town.

This is book one in a series of three.

 

It was a beautiful day today with the high around 45.

I vacuumed and dusted today.

  This evening we had elk in our yard again.  They got spooked when my visiting teacher, Becky Skousen came by for a visit. 

 

James is congested so we sleep on the recliners tonight.

We watch a movie called "Jack's Family Adventure."

  I "see" a group of people in the entryway  Someone is holding an animal in their arms, it looks like a baby lamb, and the group is dressed in biblical clothes.  I can't go to sleep.  Not only am I seeing things but I am also thinking about my kids and grandkids and the challenges they have right now in their lives. 

 

Tuesday, January 26, 2016

One of the tiny houses I want James to build

This morning I got up and studied.  Here are some of the things I studied from: "A Witness and a Warning", President Benson's book about the Book of Mormon. I worked on my 2015 and 2016 Sunday journal, read from the January Ensign, read 1 Nephi 17:31-47 with James and listened to three conference talks.  

I also swept and mopped the floors in the kitchen, dining room, hall, hall bath and laundry room, entry, and our bathroom floor.

I colored my hair and fixed taquitos for dinner.  

Stacy took Michael shopping today and bought him new Sunday shoes and new jeans.  It was a bonding experience for them.  They need more of those.

This evening I visited Claire Mercado, who is Amy Reynolds daughter, with my partner Corrina Westbrook.  Corrina announced that they are moving to Washington state.  Her husband can't find work here.  He has been chopping and selling wood to pay the bills.

We will miss their family.  They have five kids, three girls, two who are in Young Women's and one who is in Primary with her two younger brothers.  Last week is was Elida Pope who announced she was moving.

Corrina and her kids on their way to church.

Her husband Joe is already working in Washington.

Macey, Blue (Traven), Joely, Kyah, and Stratton who you can't see.

After visiting with Claire I met James at Kip and Alicia Hunsaker's for home teaching.  We love their family and had a nice visit.  After our visit they demonstrated their "glow in the dark" floor.  The kids love it, you can tell.

A friend of our friends here in Vernon,

Cope and Amy Reynolds.  He is LDS.

Monday, January 25, 2016

Cathi gets ready to leave for California and we get ready to leave for home.  We wash all the sheets and towels and rugs before we leave and make sure the room and bathroom are clean.  We really do appreciate Cathi and Terry allowing us to stay with them.  They make us feel very welcome and we love their dogs.

We pack the vacuum and file cabinet into our car.  We have shakes, walnuts and bananas for breakfast.  James makes a Sonic run for Cathi and I before we leave.  

We stop at Bass Pro Shop and James spends $200 of his gift cards on various items.  I buy some sugar-cinnamon coated almonds while I am waiting for him.  

Is there really $200 worth of stuff in that bag?

By the time we got to Payson we were hungry so we stopped at Chili's for lunch.  I had a 6 oz. steak with a salad, cooked tomatoes, garlic and avocados.  It was delicious!  James has fish tacos but forgets to ask for corn tortillas.  

There is still lots of snow on the rim.

 We stopped at the bank and Show Low.  When we got to Vernon, Chuck was on Owen Peeler's tractor grading our road.  We do appreciate our good neighbor.  He stops to tell us that our garage door is open.  Oh dear...how many days have we been gone?

We put stuff away and I put the new bedspread on our bed.  I love it!

 This picture doesn't show how really purple it is.

This shows it a little better.

 We watched three movies tonight:

"Unleashing Mr. Darcy"

"The Apple Mortgage Cake"

(We loved this one!)

"Comeback Dad"

 

 

Sunday, January 24, 2016

The Chandler West Stake building on the corner of Galveston & Dobson.

We attended the Galveston 3rd ward today.  This is a pretty amazing ward.  They are one of the highest indexing wards in the church.  Here is a group of their indexers.

James's brother Terry and his wife Cathi are in this group.

Can you find them?  Chris Braddock is the youth on the left.

He is an amazing asset to the indexing team!

Ben blessed the sacrament for the very first time since becoming a priest in December.  Sheri said he shut the door to his room and practiced all morning.  He did a great job.  

Max was the youth speaker.  He is 12 and gave his first talk in sacrament meeting.  I can honestly say it was the best talk I have ever heard given by a youth.  People were amazed!  He told about losing his Uncle JD a year ago and how he was worried about seeing him again because he was cremated.  He told how is grandpa read Alma 7:11-13 to him, which tells how everyone will be resurrected and he was comforted.  He was assigned to talk on Sister Neil Marriott's conference address entitled: "Yielding Our Hearts to God."  In her talk Sister Marriott talks about her daughter who died in a bicycle accident while her family was serving a mission out of the country.  Their family theme is: "If you do your best, it will all work out."  It was difficult at first after their daughter died, but with an eternal perspective they realized that their motto could help strengthen them.  

Max

I forgot to get a picture of Max in his Sunday clothes.  This picture was taken the next day before he left for school.

James and I attended Brother Hirt's Sunday School class which we always enjoy.  Terry and Cathi left early because Cathi had a work emergency she needed to deal with at home.  

Gerry Price taught the Sunday School lesson on Elder Stanfill's talk: "Choose the Light."  A quote from the lesson:

"We must choose to heed prophetic counsel, recognize and act upon spiritual promptings, be obedient to God's commandments, and seek personal revelation."

I visited with Janny St. Onge who was blown away by Max's talk, and with Debbie Leib who came and sat by me.  

My shoes were killing me and I could barely make it to the car.  We went back to Cathi and Terry's and ate our sub sandwiches that I bought from Walmart yesterday.  We took a nap and when we got up Cathi was watching the end of the Broncos vs. Patriots game.  The Broncos won, 20-18 which means they will be in the Super Bowl next week.  Of course Cathi was happy because she is from Colorado.  I imagine Brian is pretty happy too.

Sheri invited us down for dinner.  She had steaks for everyone.  James grilled them for us.  We also had rolls, mashed potatoes, and asparagus.  It was a delicious meal.  

The guys had the Cardinals vs. Panters game on but it was kind of a blowout.  The Cardinals couldn't do anything.  The final score was 49-15.  Now that the Panthers are going to the Superbowl, I will be cheering for the Broncos.

Joshua roasting a marshmallow at Kim's house.  She had a day camp at her house yesterday and he is in her den.  Lucky kid.

Saturday, January 23, 2016

Happy 68th Birthday James!

James got up early to take the car to Erik so he could see if it needed new motor mounts.  Yes it does, but James thinks he can do it and save a little money.

I left with Sheri and her boys around 8am to go help clean the church.  Cathi, Terry, and Colin came too.  Max, Evan and I were assigned to empty the trashes throughout the church.  We had so many people working that we were done in less than an hour, just in time for the Cubscout Pinewood Derby.  Sheri invited Colin to stay but he had to leave early when his mom came to pick him up for a birthday party.  He was quite upset that he couldn't stay.  

James spent most of the Pinewood Derby time in a class room talking to Bill Valentic, but when I told Brooklyn Leib that it was Brother Lambson's birthday, she insisted on making him a card.

These two really love each other!

I know it's blurry, but I just had

to post this picture.

I love the smile and I love how

her outfit is color coordinated.

Back to the Pinewood Derby.  I couldn't help taking a picture of Evan in the winner's circle when no one was looking.  

This was before the races even started.

Seriously, Evan's car got most

realistic looking.  Thanks dad. (Ian)

After the Pinewood Derby Ian, Sheri, and Evan took James and I to Mimi's to eat.  I had the brioche french toast which was good, but next time I am going to get it stuffed with cream cheese.

Hi Evan!

Cathi went shopping at the Dress Barn this afternoon in preparation for her trip to L.A. on Monday.  She says she only goes clothes shopping once a year, and this is it.  She wants to look good when she goes to work at Mary's showroom.  I loved the outfits she got.  She will definitely look good!

Dave and Laura are in California this weekend visiting Kevin and his family.  It is Alena's birthday.  I am sure Dave and Laura had fun playing with Sofia and Lily.

James and I took a nap this afternoon before his party at Sheri's.  James went to pick up Adam who wanted to come but didn't have a way.  Everyone who lives in town was at the party except for Dallin and Jared Ammon.  

Sheri lighting up the cake.

James blowing out the candles

with Ruby and Addy looking on.

More of James's fans.

Costco cake and lots of ice cream.

There was not one drop of cake left when the party was over.

 Grampa giving Micheal some counsel.

Hi-fiving it with Lola and an unknown person.

It was so beautiful outside some of us went out in the backyard.  Ruby, Addy, and Grandpa played croquet for awhile.  Brian and Ben threw the football around.  It was a fun and relaxing party.

 Lola and Grandpa

Not so close grandpa!

Here, let me feed you one of your

Bass Pro cards.

James got over $285 in Bass Pro cards and Visa cards, including

a Bass Pro card from Terry & Cathi and a Visa card from

his mom and Dawn.

Darrel's family had to leave a little early because Addy is dancing at the Suns game tonight.  

Go Addy!

Kylie and Addy

After the party James and I went to visit with his mom and Dawn.  They had gifts for him and his mom had also made him an apricot pineapple pie, his favorite.  I don't know how it got started, but James, his mom, and Dawn were all telling Pete the crow stories.  I heard some things I had never heard before.  Dawn said one day he was being a nuisance when she and Rebecca and Carmen were getting ready for school so Rebecca hit him with a hammer.  They thought she had killed him because they never saw him again after that.  James also said he had several other friends who had baby ravens, Pete was really a raven, not a crow, but none of the others lived.  James fed Peter canned dogfood and he thrived on it.

 Finally we got back to Terry and Cathi's and had a nice visit with them and the doggies before going to bed.  It was a great day!

 

Friday, January 22, 2016

My favorite picture of Kim

Cathi and Terry are gone on Friday's to the R.O.C. in Mesa for their family history mission.  We miss them.

James and I went to breakfast at I.H.O.P. this morning.  I had bacon, scrambled eggs, hashbrowns and all you can eat pancakes.  I couldn't even eat two.  James had ham and fried eggs, hasbrowns, and harvest nut and grain pancakes.

After breakfast we went to pick up our vacuum at Oreck and dropped off James's suits to be dry cleaned.  We then went home so I could take my pain pills and a nap.  

When I woke from my nap it was time to get ready to go to the temple.  James was in the shower when I left to get gas at Sam's Club.  When I got there I realized I had changed purses and left my Sam's card in my other purse.  I decided to go to Quiktrip instead.  It took longer than it should have because of the construction.  When I got there I only had time to get $10 worth of gas.  James was already walking to the corner of Arizona Avenue and Willis to meet me.  I picked him up and we headed for Kim's house to pick her up.  We made it to the one o'clock session.  Sharon and Mike Lynn's son Skyler was getting sealed and his wedding party was waiting outside when we got there.  

We saw Carolyn Tanquary and her mom in our session.  My dad's cousin, Norman Fish took me through the veil and Brother Long from the Chandler West Stake took James through.  

After the temple we went to Costco to get a chocolate cake for James's party tomorrow.  Sheri tried to get it at the Chandler Costco but they were out.  I didn't have my Costco card with me so Kim had to pay for the cake.  I did pay her back.

After we dropped Kim off James and I went to the Filiberto's by her house to get some lunch.  I got two beef tacos.  We took our food back to Cathi and Terry's to eat and to our surprise they were already home from the center and they had Colin with them.  Kylie's friend Brandon Rop, had graduated from the police academy this afternoon so they left the center early and picked up Colin to attend.  Colin had an important message to tell Brandon.  At Christmas he had told Brandon he wanted Santa Claus arrested because he didn't want to sit on his lap.  Well today he told Brandon he did not want Santa Claus arrested because he was a nice guy.

James went down to Sheri's this evening and per Alex's request made steak, gravy and biscuits for Alex and the family.  While he was busy I went to Walmart to go shopping for James's birthday.  I bought him a suitcase and some clothes and got a couple of pizza's for the boys who don't like steak and gravy.  

We visited with Cathi and Terry this evening.  Cathi is getting ready to go to the LA show on Monday.

I almost forgot to mention Evan and his anomaly book.  Here are a couple of posts from Facebook and Instagram that Sheri and Ian made.

 I like the "advice" part

This kid is so creative!

Thursday, January 21, 2016

My absolute favorite picture of Lola!

James found a 1986 journal with the following entry:

"We discussed family rules and consequences tonight at FHE.
Some people cried, (Stacy, Jared, and Darrel).
James thought this was hilarious!

We read our scriptures and said our prayers before getting ready to leave for the valley.  I ironed five blouses,  and by the time we ate leftover stew for lunch and finished getting ready it was 1 pm before we left.  James has to turn off the water, etc. and that takes about 15 minutes.  
We stopped at the carwash in Show Low and then James said we could go whichever way I wanted.  Of course I chose Payson. 
I read to James for awhile and then I took a nap.  

We were late getting to Darrel's and they were already gone to soccer practice, so we joined them there, at Power and Guadalupe.  When we get there Sheri, Trina, Addy, and Lola were just getting ready to walk to Quiktrip, so I joined them.  We got some snacks and then James showed up in the car and said it was time for us to go.  We are going to Cheesecake Factory with Kim and Brian for James's birthday.  Addy came with us!

Cheesecake Factory was busy and we had to wait 20 minutes just to be seated.  I ordered the herb crusted chicken with mashed potatoes and green beans.  It was delicious with three pieces of chicken.  I ate one piece and James at the other two plus most of my mashed potatoes.  He ordered the steak medallions off the skinnylicious menu.  He said they were delicious, but the portion size was quite small.  Addy got spaghetti with three huge meatballs.  She didn't touch the meatballs and ate very little of her spaghetti, because she said there wasn't enough sauce.  She ended up taking it home along with her piece of 30th anniversary cheesecake.  
We also got three pieces of the salted caramel cheesecake to go, one for Kim, Cathi, and me.  Thank you Kim and Brian!

We took Addy back home and then James and Darrel loaded up the black filing cabinet that James left for Trina and that she has been trying to give back to us.  

We finally got to Cathi and Terry's and Cathi and I sampled our cheesecake and visited a little while before going off to bed.