Wednesday, March 9, 2016

James brought this tree home one year for our Christmas tree.

No one liked it, so he planted it in the corner of our orchard.  This is what it looks like today.

James said he would take me to IHop for breakfast.  While I was getting ready to go he went out to try and pick the lock on the truck.  This is what I saw when I went outside.

We finally went to Home Depot and got something similar to a slim jim and he was able to get it unlocked.  In the meantime, we took Terry's truck to IHop.

I got my most favorite breakfast at IHop.  

Scrambled eggs, hashbrowns, bacon, and a side of buttermilk pancakes.

Something funny happened while we were enjoying our breakfast.  I heard a song on the radio that I haven't heard in over 50 years and frankly a song that I never thought I would hear again because it wasn't even popular 50 years ago.  The song is, "Pineapple Princess" by Annette Funicello.  Annette was not a very good singer but because I liked her I owned all of her records.  I played Pineapple Princess over and over again in my bedroom but I don't ever remember hearing it on the radio even back in the 60's.

 This is the cover of the album that I had.

Talk about a step back in time.  This took me back to my bedroom in Show Low as a teenager when I would play records by the hour.

This afternoon I used Terry's truck again to go to Walmart to pick up my prescription.  We also took James's truck to Cactus Radiator to get his muffler fixed.  We went by Sam's Club on the way home and filled Terry's truck with gas.  It is so very kind of him to let us use it.

When we picked James's truck up from the muffler shop it was as loud as ever.  The guy only replaced the pipe and not the muffler.  I guess we will have to take it back in again tomorrow.  No wonder it only cost $100.  It will cost another $100 to replace the muffler but that is still cheaper than the $320 they quoted us in Show Low.

This evening we went to dinner at BJ's in Mesa with Darrel and his family.  Ruby got an Awesome Achiever award at school and she earned a free dinner.  She kept saying, "Dinner is on me."

Way to go Ruby!

We had to wait a few minutes outside for a table.  Lola was having fun visiting with the other people waiting for tables and playing peek-a-boo with the sign.

Peek-a-boo

Darrel had some important business to attend to on his phone. Rowan and Addy waiting for their food.  Trina was probably taking care of Lola.

It was a fun evening.  For dessert I ordered the three kids, Addy, Rowan, and Ruby a pazookie to share.

We went back to Darrel and Trina's and looked at some of the things Trina built with the two saws she got for Christmas.  She had a coffee table, and several nice wooden frames.  She is getting quite good!

Oh, by the way, Happy Birthday Patrick!

 

Tuesday, March 8, 2016

In honor of International Women's Day

James left for the valley around 9:30 this morning, which leaves me to winterize the place.  Since the temperatures aren't going to dip below freezing at least I don't have to drain all the pipes.  All I have to do is go to the well house and turn off the pump and water valve.

I was finally ready to go a little after 2 p.m.  I went out to the well house and flipped the pump switch to off.  When I went over to turn the water valve off there was a paper with a green, what I thought to be liquid, substance on it.  I tried to kick it away with my foot but it ended up sticking to the bottom of my shoe.  I had a terrible time trying to get it off and got this powerful stick goo all over my hands.  I guess James was using it to trap a rat.  No rats were harmed by this substance but a wife was terribly agitated.

I had to abandon my shoes and leave them at the back door.  I washed my hands about five times with hand soap and then rubbed them with hand sanitzer, but there was still a sticky residue.  For some reason, don't ask me why, I had some baby oil in our bathroom medicine cabinet. I rubbed it one my hands and the stickiness disappeared.  It worked as good as WD-40 and smelled alot better.  

I stopped in Show Low to wash my car and get a drink and a corndog at Sonic and then I was on my way.  James went the Salt River way and had to wait 35 minutes for blasting on the highway where they are working near Superior.  If he had read the sign leaving Show Low he would have gone the Payson way like I did.  

My trip was pretty uneventful.  I made my usual stop at the Circle K in Star Valley for a potty break and a Big Hunk.  

The desert looks beautiful right now.  There are little yellow flowers blooming everywhere. I should have stopped and taken a picture.

I drove into Cathi and Terry's driveway where James was waiting to carry in my things for me around 6:30.   We dropped off my load of castoffs at Goodwill and then went to the Golden Coin Chinese place for dinner.  We both ordered entrees when we should have shared one.  They were huge!  Oh well, now we will have leftovers for lunch tomorrow.  

James forgot his phone so we went back to the house to get it and then we were going to take my car to Erik's.  In his frustration of looking for his phone he locked his keys in his truck, and still no phone.  The only think he could think of was that it must have fallen into one of the boxes we dropped off at Goodwill.  We went back and sure enough he and one of the attendants heard the phone ringing when James used my phone  to call his number.  It took them awhile to find it, but they finally did, in the garbage.  I would say we got lucky!

We had to borrow Terry's truck to drop my car off at Erik's.  He said we needed to drop it off tonight so the engine would be cool when he looked at it in the morning.

Back at Cathi and Terry's I asked them to explain what they do at the Records Operations Center where they are serving their mission.  They explained that there are five things they do and all of them are to prepare online information in newspapers and other information sources for online indexing.  Terry said there are 15 billion names to be indexed in the granite vaults in Utah.  It is exciting to see this work move forward in preparation for the Millenium.

Cathi and Terry are in charge of 65 other service missionaries called to work at the center. Here is their "crew".  Can you find Cathi & Terry? (Hint: They are in the back row).  Each missionary is holding up an activities tracker sheet on things they accomplished in preparing for a zone conference.

 They are so perfect for this job.  They both are patient and kind,  good with people, and have amazing computer skills.  I am so proud of them and so grateful for their example to James and me.

Bridget, relaxing in her basket on the counter.

We also got to see Patrick and his two little boys Hunter and Cameron.  Tomorrow Patrick will be 34 years old.  I remember the day he was brought home from the hospital.  Jonathan got out a pair of shoes for him and told his mom he wanted Patrick to go outside and play.

 Patrick and Heather with their children,

Cameron, Raelynn Rose, and Hunter.

This next picture is of a couple I have known all of my life.  Peggy Butler was our very best customer when I worked in my mom and dad's store, Double M Market.  Her two boys, Gary and Greg worked for us and were my mom's favorites.  It is hard for me to imagine that they are celebrating their 71st wedding anniversary!

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.