Friday, November 25, 2022: Luna in the bkyrd, J ties steel at Bartels, Leftovers, Christmas tree & wreaths, Lights, light, more lights, ASU loses to UofA, World Cup, "Disenchanted"

 

Helsinki, Finland

124th operating temple

Dedicated: 22 Oct 2006

By: Gordon B. Hinckley

(His last one)

Jesus Christ, Son of man

Luke 9:58

And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.

Book of Mormon

Mormon 6:6-22

"Come Follow Me"

Micah 6:1-8 "What doth the Lord require of thee?" Micah 5-6.

OctGenCon

The Answer Is Jesus

Elder Ryan K. Olsen

Of the Seventy

In our relationship with the Savior, He looks on the heart and is "no respecter of persons." Consider how He chose His Apostles. He didn't pay attention to status or wealth. He invites us to follow Him, and I believe He reassures us that we belong with Him.

5:45 I guess it's a holiday weekend and we are allowed to sleep in.

Luna is in the backyard relaxing, lying in the dirt, looking like she is sun bathing. Kim and I thought it was quite funny. When she got tired of sun bathing, she got up and began munching on the grass. I am grateful she didn't fertilize it. James has the gate open because he has been bringing firewood in and that's how she got in. This evening I was looking out the window and Luna saw me. She walked over and began whinnying, telling me it was time for her dinner.

James finished tying all the steel by himself today at Barbara's. No one has helped him all week. Greg has been doing things around his house to help Kim get ready for the big Thanksgiving crowd coming to their place. They are expecting 27.

We had lots of leftovers for lunch, another feast day. I ate way too many carbs. 

While Kim worked on getting the lights ready to put on the tree, Brian watched UofA beat ASU. It wasn't pretty. He also watched England and the USA play in the World Cup. They tied, 0 to 0.

Kim had asked before she came up if we could watch "Disenchanted" on the Disney Plus channel because they don't have it at their house. We watched but we were really quite disenchanted. It was not nearly as good as the first one!

I watched a couple of Christmas movies while working in my bedroom. "When I Think of Christmas" starring Shenae Grimes and Nial Matter. "My Southern Family Christmas" starring Jacey Elliot and Ryan Rottman. They were both very good. Hallmark is really outdoing Great American Family with the quality of their Christmas movies.

Let the decorating begin

Randa Hall and her very large friend

 

Thursday, November 24th, 2022: Happy Thanksgiving! Vance's dogs gift to James, Turkey, Sweet Potatoes, Mashed potatoes, green beans, stuffing, gravy, K&B here, Stacy broke her foot, Catherine in hospital, Brian's mom

 

Sacramento, California

123rd operating temple

Dedicated: 3 Sep 2006

By: Gordon B. Hinckley

Jesus Christ, Son of man

Luke 9:56

For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. And they went to another village.

Book of Mormon

Mormon 5:13-6:5

"Come Follow Me"

Micah 4:11-13; 5:8-15; 7:5-7 Jesus Christ quoted the writings of Micah. Micah 3-4.

OctGenCon

Legacy of Encouragement

President Henry B. Eyring

Second Counselor in the First Presidency

I encourage you to continue striving to qualify to return to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Wherever you are on the covenant path, you will find a struggle against the physical trials of mortality and the opposition of Satan.

3:57 became 4:46. Good intentions. 

I got the turkey in the roaster oven by 8 a.m.  I felt like I really accomplished something. James got rid of the giblets and neck. 

Next the sweet potatoes and the mashed potatoes. 

I got a call from Kim. Brian is feeling better and they are leaving around 9:30 to come up here. They should get here sometime between 12:30 and 1 if they don't stop. I had just finished preparing the green beans, stuffing, and gravy and gone into the bedroom to get ready when Kim and Brian drove up. I hurried to get ready but James came in before I had hair done or makeup on and said they were ready to eat. What should I do, hair or makeup, I don't have time for both. I chose makeup. Needless to say I didn't look my best. 

James said the blessing on the food and we had a nice meal together. Kim and Brian brought a Honey-baked ham so we had ham and turkey. I prefer ham myself. My rolls were small but they tasted okay, especially warmed up in the microwave. Brian also bought a big pecan pie from Costco. They also brought two containers of cranberry celebration. They know how much we love it so that's why they brought two containers.

After dinner James picked all the meat off the turkey and put it in baggies in the frig and then he got rid of the turkey carcass, then he left to go back outside and cut and haul more wood. I cleaned out the roaster oven and Brian put it away for me. It goes in the high cupboard over the built-in microwave. Kim and I went in the family room and watched the semi-final of DWTS She loved Charlie and Mark's Viennese waltz as much as I did. After this episode was over we went back in the kitchen and did the dishes and cleaned the kitchen and put all of the leftover food away. Kim then began making pumpkin delight dessert. It takes over an hour to make. When it was in the oven cooking we turned on the DWTS finale. Brian joined us in watching it. James dug in to the pumpkin delight as soon as it came out of the oven, not waiting for it to cool. I had a piece to. It was delicious.

We had some good news and some bad news today. The good news is that Trenda has her baby boy. He was born on the 22nd and wasn't due until December 7th. Here is a picture that Sandra sent me:

Elden Ethan Ellsworth

Here are some pictures Trenda posted:

Emmett giving Elden a kiss

The bad news: Catherine Halcomb fainted and Kerri had to take her to the hospital. She is diabetic and Kerri thought she had a low blood sugar. I guess it was actually high but the final conclusion is she is low on sodium, just like Donna Peeler was when she went to the hospital recently. She is going to be okay and will come home tomorrow. She and Kerri will be driving to the valley for a family reunion on Saturday.

After dinner Brian got a call from his dad. His mom had to be taken to the emergency room and she cancelled Thanksgiving dinner at her house. She was given some medicine and was sent home. She will be all right.

I got a text from Stacy at 6:25 p.m.: Hope your Thanksgiving was better than mine. I am in the ER with I think a couple of fractures in my foot. I ran into the wall in the middle of the night. Had one of my vivid dreams that someone was there to kill me. I put a hole the size of an orange in the drywall. I am bruised in the face as well. 

Me: Oh Stacy, I am so sorry. That is terrible. I have night terror like that but so far I haven't hit a wall. This is so sad! What can I do for you? I wonder if Tramadol is doing this to us.

Stacy: I didn't take any. These types of dreams are a syndrome. I forgot what it is called. I gave the Tramadol to Paul. 

Are you in the hospital now?

Yes. It could be high blood sugar. I see things. That's the first time I moved. 

I see things too. Are you staying overnight?

No. Medications can exacerbate it. I am on an antipsychotic for manic depression. That can trigger it. I am waiting to get an x-ray. Thankfully Paul and Gus did Thanksgiving.

I am so sorry. Please let me know when you get home.

Ok. I'm fine. My foot just hurts really bad. I just feel bad that I am not at home with my kids. My foot is broken in two places.

Is this the foot you were going to have surgery on?

Yes. I'm an idiot.

No you aren't. Those dreams seem so real and you can't blame yourself.

Thank you. I wonder if the dreaming thing is hereditary?

I'm wondering that too.

They are worse when I have anxiety and worry about my kids.

Isn't that most of the time? It is for me.

True.

All in all, except for Stacy, it was a good Thanksgiving for us. We have so many things and people to be grateful for!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Laura, Teresa, Dave, Jack

The Allen Family

Logan, Jon, Jamie, Lexy 

The Maxwell's and friend

The Phiel's, Dennis & Denise 

& Denise's mom

Scarlett & Charlie

The Cotswolds in England

So glad I got to go to England in 2009

Wednesday, November 23, 2022: Studied the Abrahamic Covenant and felt sad, Turkey takes a bath, wood floors, New chainsaw, Netflix movies

 

Newport Beach, California

122nd operating temple

Dedicated: 28 Aug 2005

By: Gordon B. Hinckley

Jesus Christ, Son of man

Luke 6:22

Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake.

Book of Mormon

Mormon 5:1-12

"Come Follow Me"

Jonah 1; 3-4 "All of God's children need to hear the gospel." 

Micah 1-2

OctGenCon

Overcome The World And Find Rest

President Russell M. Nelson

President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

 My dear brothers and sisters, so many wonderful things are ahead. In coming days, we will see the greatest manifestations of the Savior's power that the world has ever seen. Between now and the time He returns "with power and great glory," He will bestow countless privileges, blessings, and miracles upon the faithful.

Up at 3:55 ahead of the game by five minutes! After doing my planning and prayer journal I studied a talk given my Kent P. Jackson called, "The Abrahamic Covenant." I thought about our posterity and passing the gospel covenant down and it made me sad because none of our grandchildren are getting married or passing the gospel covenant to the next generation except Autumn and Palmer. There is hope for the younger ones though and there is hope that the older ones can change.

After scriptures and prayers James left for work at Barbara's. He forgot to put the turkey in the sink so I lugged him in for a cold bath. I started the rolls rising. I also swept, cleaned and polished the wood floor today. It looks beautiful and will stay that way until someone walks on it. 

James came home for lunch, corndogs and tacos and a nap. I guess I didn't let the rolls rise long enough because they did not get as big and soft as I would have liked. They look like they belong in the Hard Rock Cafe. I started a new book today by Robert Millet called "When a Child Wanders." I wanted to listen to "Rescuing Wayward Children" but the only audio they had was in Spanish. I wonder why.

James came home early because he wanted to go into town to get a chainsaw. We are out of cut wood and he wants to cut some more but his chainsaw is kaput.  He asked me to go with him and since Kim and Brian aren't coming until tomorrow because Brian is sick, I said yes. While James was in Ace Hardware getting the chainsaw I ordered two Slingers and a cherry limeade from Sonic. James said the woman who waited on him said that the chainsaw had to be started before he could leave. She called a guy over and he couldn't start it so she called another guy over and he couldn't start it either. She was a little frustrated by this time and she took the chainsaw, gave a couple of pulls on the chain, and it started right up. James thought this was pretty funny. I told him he should have gotten her phone number in case he couldn't start it when he got home. Girl Power!

Sheri says they are having Thanksgiving at Ian's parents because John, Ian's dad, can barely walk. She says it is very sad and Betty is upset about it. 

James indexed this evening while I watched a Netflix movie, "Falling for Christmas" starring Lindsey Lohan. What started out to be lame turned out to be a pretty good movie with a good message.

A teenaged Dallin