Monday, March 7, 2016

The best part of the morning.

I studied the Sunday School lesson covering chapters 31-33 in 2nd Nephi.  The purpose of the lesson is to help class members understand "the doctrine of Christ."  I love reading these chapters because it outlines in a nutshell what we need to do to return to Heavenly Father.  I especially love 2 Nephi 31:20:

"Wherefore ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all en  Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life."

I moved five boxes from the garage and labeled them. James moved them upstairs for them where they will be in storage until I have a chance to unload them.  The goal right now is to get them out of the garage.  I still have lots of pictures to hang too.

James and I made a trip to town today.  On the way home we finished our book, "Refuge at Highland Hall."  What to read next? Jared recommends "The Chronicles of Narnia".  Maybe I will order them off of Amazon this week.  

We had lunch at Grumpy Jake's.  I had my usual green chili cheeseburger and fries and James had a chicken pot pie.  I can never finish my meal, but James is always there to help.

I did some shopping at Walmart while James went to Home Depot, the gas station, and to Sonic to get me a drink.  I got some new pants and shoes.  Walmart definitely is a one stop shopping experience, at least for me. 

Show Low Walmart sign.

This afternoon James cleaned up the branches he cut on Friday.  Now my view off my bedroom deck is restored.

Hello little bird.

I watched "Chopped Junior" while I was working on my Primary lesson this evening.  These kids can really cook!

James and I watched a show we had seen before, although James says he has never seen it, called, "Loving Leah".  It's about a Jewish rabbi who dies and his brother, who is not a practicing Jew, is obligated to marry his widow or deny his brother's existence.  It is a heart-warming story and now it is one of our favorites.

 

 

Sunday, March 6, 2016

How true.

We had a very spiritual fast and testimony meeting today.  I don't necessarily think my testimony added to that, but I did feel prompted to bear it.  I talked about how Enos prayed for his enemies the Lamanites and his example made me stop and think if I had anyone I would consider an enemy, or anyone whose relationship with me was not quite right.  I thought of someone, and reached out via messenger on Facebook.  We corresponded back and forth, and now I feel like we are in a good place.  I am grateful for Enos's example and the Savior's Atonement.

Some of the other testimonies that I especially enjoyed: Sean Hunsaker's, Chuck and Kathy Crane's, Dave Westbrook's, Blain Curtis's, and Trenda Wilhelm's.  

This is Trenda's last week in the Vernon ward.  She is moving to the valley to live with her grandpa's x-girlfriend and go to school.  She will be going to Grand Canyon University and her classes starts in August.  She will be going down this week to get settled in and to find a job.  She wants to be a physician's assistant.
Trenda came in to Primary Sharing Time to help her little sister Ruthie give a talk.  It was so cute when Trenda left, Ruthie 'hearted' her with her hands.  I love these two!

I will bet that is the sucker Ruthie got after Primary today.

Our lesson in Primary today was on King Benjamin.  We talked about taking the name of Christ upon us and the importance of a good name and honoring our family name.

We broke our fast when we got home from church.  I actually fasted 24 hours.  We had a very important reason for our fast.

Around 3:30 today we took Rick and Pam Giles up to see the falls at Buckelew Springs. We learned that Rick is from Flint, Michigan and Pam is from Chicago, but both have lived in Arizona for over 20 years.

We didn't stay long at the falls but I took several pictures.

 

Why do we get so excited about these falls and the running water?  Because most of the time it is so just a dry wash.
It doesn't seem like much when you compare them to these falls:

Oh well, we will take what we can get and be grateful.

We really enjoyed spending time with Rick and Pam and hope we can have them over for a bbq sometime.

This evening we watched this week's episode of "When Calls the Heart."  We both love this series. 

Nancy Reagan passed away today.  She was 94 years old and died of congestive heart failure.  

 

Saturday, March 5, 2016

Two of our favorite friends from Chandler.

How can we miss this party?

James left this morning before six to go with the youth to the temple.  The turnout was rather disappointing.  The three Hunsaker girls, Hailey, Holly, and LeeAnn, and only Hailey and Holly did baptisms.  Also, our ward did not have enough priesthood there.  I don't think that has ever happened before.  

Of course James stopped at El Cupido's and was nice enough to call me and ask me what I would like him to bring back.  I ask for a breakfast burrito with potatoes, eggs, bacon and cheese.  It was yummy.  I was only going to eat half but it was so good I had to eat it all!

I looked out the window of our bedroom as I do every morning to enjoy the view and noticed branches laying all over the ground.  Not only did James level some ground but he trimmed some trees.  I wonder if he forgot how upset I get when he just leaves the branches lying on the ground!

Cleanup time Monday morning.
 

One of the Hunsaker girls posted a picture of her family visiting the falls at Buckelew Springs.  They are running!  It's hard to believe because we haven't had any moisture since February 1st.  I guess there is alot of runoff from the snow in the high country.  

 I love the sound of rushing water.

James and I started our fast this afternoon around one o'clock, so we did not have any dinner tonight.  We both worked on our lessons for awhile and then watched another movie we had seen before.  This one is called "Straight from the Heart" starring Teri Polo, one of my favorite Hallmark actresses.  She is a photographer from New York and goes to Wyoming to meet a cowboy.  The scenery, and horses and story line were great.  It was a good one.

Michael had his first track meet today at Corona Del Sol high school in Tempe.  Here are some picture taken by Paul:

You look good in blue Michael!

 Make it count Michael.

Friday, March 4, 2016

Grateful for the morning sunrise.

Today James and I read 2 Nephi 25.  I have three favorite verses in this chapter, 23, 26, and 29.  

I just played James in a game of ping pong and he beat me 15-8.  The difference is, he has a mean serve and my serve is slow and lousy.  I do pretty well when we are just hitting the ball back and forth to each other.  We had some pretty good volleys.  

I wanted to go to town today but James encouraged me to wait until tomorrow.  I think I am getting a little cabin fever.  

James did a little work out on the tractor today, leveling a spot for the storage building.  He came back in after a little while and said the tractor wasn't running very well. It's heating up.  

We spent a nice quiet  evening at home reading from our book and watching a couple of Hallmark movies.  

We watched "Expecting Miracles" starring Jason Priestly and Teri Polo, and "Chasing Leprechauns."  This movie had me believing in the little people.

Here are some of the happenings in Chandler.

Every team needs a secret weapon

  Is that Joshua or Indian Jones and

why does Michael have a Seton shirt on?

I really like this storage building.  I ask James if he could build us one like this.

 

Thursday, March 3, 2016

Morning sunrise in Vernon

I told myself before I left for Licanos to have lunch with my brothers and their wives, don't forget to take a picture.  Guess what I forgot to do?  Take a picture!  So here is a generic picture of the outside of the building.

Licano's is known for their Mexican and American dishes.

James and I arrived a little early for our lunch date at 11:30.  James was going to have his muffler fixed at Speedy Automotive so I followed him in so he could drop off his truck.  When he heard their price, he decided to get it fixed in the valley next week instead.  We arrived at Licano's around 11:20.

We had a nice lunch with Harold, Vickie, and Dennis to celebrate Harold's birthday.  Denise had to work today so she couldn't be with us.  She has the day off tomorrow, but Harold will be at a track meet in Queen Creek tomorrow.

I was going to get an enchilada and a taco but Vickie told me how delicious the tamales were, so I ordered a beef tamale with red sauce and she was right, delicious!!

On our way out we were introduced to the owner of Licano's, Richard Walpole.  He has been a friend of Harold and Vickie's for a very long time.  

When I got home I settled down in my recliner for a nap.  After my nap I did some work on the computer and finished paying some bills. 

James went upstairs to his office to work on his Marvel Masonry bid.  

Happy Birthday!

This evening we watched the movie "Mending Fences."  Angie Dickinson played the grandma who owns a ranch and is going blind.  It was a fun movie and we enjoyed it.

Wednesday, March 2, 2016

I love this picture of my nephew Monte's and his wife Tasha's kids on my Nannie's 1952 Chevy truck.  This picture was taken at Harold and Vickie's and was given to Tasha as her Christmas present.

Happy 15th Anniversary to Jon & Jamie!

Great pictures!
 

 I love this quote by Elder Haynes from the last General Conference:  "It matter not what sins we have committed or how deep we have sunk into that proverbial pit.  "....What does matter is that Christ is pleading our case before the Father.....That is what really matters and what should give all of us renewed hope and a determination to try one more time, because He has not forgotten us.   I testify that the Savior will never turn away from us when we humbly seek Him in order to repent, will never consider us to be a lost cause; will never say, 'Oh no, not you again'; will never reject us because of a failure to understand how hard it is to avoid sin.  He understands it all perfectly.  Repentance...has the power to lift burdens and replace them with hope."

One more quote, this one from Sister Neill F. Marriott in her talk "Yielding Our Hearts to God."  "When we open ourselves to the Spirit, we learn God's way and feel His will.  During the sacrament, which I call the heart of the Sabbath, I have found that after I pray for forgiveness of sins, it is instructive for me to ask Heavenly Father, 'Father, is there more?'  When we are yielded and still, our minds can be directed to something more we may need to change - something that is limiting our capacity to receive spiritual guidance or even healing and help."

I made a most delicious lunch today using the Pioneer Woman's recipe for pot roast.  James and I both loved it!

The spices on top are thyme and rosemary

This is our storage building decision.  Instead of building a larger one right now that will hold all of James's equipment we can only afford to build a small one for his tools and saws.  The one he looked at cost $9,600.  He says he can build it for $1,500 and claims he can have it done by the end of March.  I say go for it!!

We watched a movie tonight called, "You've Got a Friend".  This one was about an orphaned boy who goes to live with his aunt and uncle and his uncle doesn't understand he desire to build a soap box car so he seeks the help of a former champion who is now a recluse played by John Schneider.  This one was a good one for families.

Maybe James and I should become astronauts!

 

Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Today was Super Tuesday

Here are the results for the Republican candidates:

Oh dear, it's not going to be like this is it?

This can't be happening!

I read Elder Ballard's conference talk today, "God is at the Helm".  I also worked on the Book of Mormon gospel doctrine Sunday School lesson, "My Soul Delighteth in the Words of Isaiah."

I sent out a group text inviting the family to an Easter egg hunt and picnic at Sheri's on March 26th.  So far I've only heard from Sheri and Stacy. 

Today is the birthday of one of my favorite young women, Trenda Wilhelm.  Here is what her mother wrote about her on Facebook and then a picture of Sandra, Trenda's mom, and Trenda.

Sandra and Trenda, two of my favorite people.

Tomorrow is Sandra's birthday and she is just as awesome as Trenda!

James's bid for the Arizona Rehab group is due today.  He wrote it out and I typed most of it for him.  He got it in in time and Jerod Bowen wrote the other members of the group that he felt like the bid should go to Lambson Construction.  It made James feel good.'

Today I want to address the issue, 'Why I watch Hallmark movies.'

One of my grandsons shared with his mother that he was having horrible nightmares about someone trying to kill him.  Her response to him was: "Everything we see, read, and hear has an effect on us."  That's why I watch Hallmark movies.  There is no violence, no bad language and no sex.  I use to watch the show "Person of Interest" with James and it started to effect me in a negative way so I had to stop.  Bring on the cheesy movies!

Speaking of cheese, here are the movies I watched today: 

"Love Again"

"Hello, It's Me"

"Mystery Woman Books: The Game"

Okay, I will admit Mystery Woman Books usually has a murder, but there is nothing graphic or gory.  

What do you do when you give someone else advice and it comes back to bite you in the behind.  Is love really, always the answer?