Sunday, July 26, 2015

Week of July 20 - 26, 2015

Highlights

Spiritual
Dad attended a very sparse temple session on Wednesday evening (five women, eight men) and Thursday evening (about a dozen men and a dozen women) enjoyed his time there.

Dad and I substituted for the nursery leaders on Sunday. It was pretty good fun, though we had a few crying kiddos, since we weren't the regulars there. I got the Baptismal Program typed for Saturday (preliminary) and he spoke with three of the four baptismal candidate parents.

I indexed passport applications from the 1800s and Freedmen Records. I have indexed 3722 records so far this year.

In our scripture study, I am in Alma 37 in the Book of Mormon, and in the New Testament, Dad is reading in Revelation and will complete it tonight.

Family

The Wilkins Family
School preparations are beginning. Last week, lunch boxes and a new backpack for kindergartener Josh were acquired. On Friday, I received a beautiful letter from Gracie (yes, it took Aunt Kayty this long to get in out of her suitcase)

and then I received the following wonderful email on Saturday:

Merry Christmas in July Grammy. guess what. I broke my pinkie finger. I have a splint. It hurts. i tell you how it happened. Adam and I were having a hop on one foot contest and we fell on each other. i have to sleep in it. Adam is fine and Josh is to. there all talking now. I will sing you the song I made up. It goes like this. I do a lot of fun things at Christmas. I look at Christmas lights I carol I have so much fun that I forget what Christmas is about. what is the true meaning of Christmas? some people think its about spending time with your family it is but its also meant for someone who was born on this day his name is Jesus Christ. Do know why it is spelled like this
c-h-r-i-s-t-m-a-s because CHRIST WAS BORN ON THIS DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!    
On Sunday morning, I received this reply:

Sam is well too. what was your fun thing this week? I just read your reply. who's baptism are you in charge of? We are having christmas In July tomorrow. because we went to see the fireworks at the pioneer day carnival we didnt do any fun things there. just watch fireworks wich was horrifying.

Much love,
Grace


 I love it when my sweet grandkids send me such awesome messages!!!

The Ethan Rice Family
Ethan came and got Kaylee on Monday and she went to a birthday party, and he surprised us Tuesday being able to pick her up again! Kaylee and I did get to swim and she worked and practiced some of her swimming lesson skills.  Cam and Kaylee went out to see Cam's sister, Jade, on Wednesday and celebrate her new job she will begin in August. The ice cream cake was really good, according to Kaylee. Cam picked up some retro clothes from Kayty on Friday night for a Spirit Week event next week at work. Cam had to go in extra on Saturday for a work all day training/team building event, so Ethan spent Saturday with Kaylee at swimming lessons and having a good day together. I received a text from Cameo late Saturday night: they were on their way up for a night of camping! I had said Kaylee needs to go when it's not raining, so she can experience camping fun and a campfire etc. Cam worked all day Saturday, and wanted a break...so they headed up toward the Mogollon Rim. Kaylee talked a lot about mud on the way. I bet she was surprised!!

The Doran Rice Family
On the weekend, Doran attended a Man Campout for work, and so Amber took Kooper for a haircut...
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and then stopped by. We had fun, Kelsie swam and had some burgers. It was such a nice surprise!!

Kooper explored EVERYTHING!!! Love this guy!!



Morgan
No news from Morgan this week.

Kayty
Kayty wore a blonde wig to work on Monday, but gave in and colored her beloved pink hair red on Monday night. She came home Tuesday with bags full of goodies to make her traditional Bachelorette/Bachelor goodie bags for the final show next week. She worked for days at work, opening shoe boxes and lacing mens' shoes. She was only at an hourly rate for work anyway, so it was good, though some shoes did hurt her hands. She is sure glad that is done. She attended the Union Hills Singles Ward on Sunday, and went to a pot luck, with a can of olives and a can of kidney beans in her hands. It was a taco bar pot luck.

The Nathan Rice Family
Nathan and Jess were busy all week studying and completing projects for their final exams. Nate also worked on his truck: buying padding for insulating the interior and seeing Nano at JoAnn's. Jessica had a great doctors appointment. All is going well. And Nate came by on Friday night to let us know school is done...and he accomplished all A's, and so did Jessica!! Now for all of us who have taken any college online classes, that is quite the accomplishment!!! We had a great visit with Nate on Friday evening and could just literally feel the relief of a burden lifted. He will be working more full time hours, fixing his truck to get it home to Idaho, and preparing for Annalee's birth. And Jessica, her two cousins and Nate came by, when Amber and family were here, to swim and have some burgers too. Nate worked on loading some bullets with the bullets he cast, and preparing the mesquite wood Morgan had from a job to make a cradle for Annalee.

And he mowed our lawn! Thank you so much, Nathan!!

Work
On Monday, Dad's Boss B (we will refer to one year assignment, et al, with the letter B from now on. I get confused myself with what he is doing for whom) spent quite a bit of time on the phone, directing on what data should be collected, which Dad demonstrated had already been collected with a system in place for that collection. Boss B's comment: "We will meet on Thursday". Looks like another job description revision. He received calls for "emergency" situations from Boss A, and solved those problems, most of the time with a phone call directly to the companies involved. Dad ended up not hearing any different, but did work to get some parts delivered on time that no one was aware were going to be late. He was thanked by his bosses, bosses, bosses boss.


Kaylee and I continued our Summer Celebration, with fish, sharks, starfish, and Watermelon Wednesday.



We did dot pictures,


painted a ceramic fish

celebrated Shark Day (yes, I am way late on Shark anything, but that's how I roll)



celebrated Watermelon Wednesday


made orange juice...and pancakes...


Starfish Thursday, which also gave me the opportunity to Christmas in July by decorating sugar cookies. I sure wanted to snitch, but I have been a pretty good low carb doo-bee.


washed dishes
and celebrated Pioneer Day on Friday. 
making cornbread



We swam too, which is nice because it is too hot to go outdoors most of the day, and this little girl goes a bit crazy when she can't go outside!

Dad's Truck
On Monday, Dad spent over three hours in the hot garage machining an aluminum     that keeps the fan away from the radiator, etc. safely apart from each other, while still fitting in the engine compartment. He ordered a battery box and worked to grit blast and straighten the part he has. When it arrives, he will have to weld the parts together. He has a friend that came by on Friday to help him install the tunnel ram though that friend discouraged him from doing it till the engine was totally rebuilt...so Dad decided to do it himself. This friend used to work on race cars and heavy trucks at Sanderson Ford, so everything has to be ready for heavy duty and high performance in his mind. We have neither the time nor the money for such. He worked and worked and got his shifter all installed. 






Saturday, before any more progress was made, he felt he should call his old friend, John Scott. and ask about the issue. He said that dad needed to install a new cam, which means new gaskets, and a new cam! Dad was pretty well depressed, so it was good everyone came over and got his mind on other things. Everything put on the front of the engine, i.e. fan, belts, etc has to be removed, the front of the engine has to be removed, a new cam installed and then reput back on.

Another setback.Not fun! Thus, his list for last week is gone...and he has a new list for next week.

With all things, there is a lesson, though. While it is not fun to have to redo some things, it is always better to do it right away, rather than take a chance and hope things work out. It is much easier to take a step back and make things right!

I will keep telling Dad this!


Dad's Garden
Peppers are still being harvested, dehydrated, and ground up into pepper powder. Chickens continue to lay eggs. Basil plants are still producing, though not in any record number.

Christmas In July
Basing Christmas ornament (25 now have the base paint, and I am tracing the design to paint) plus I have selected the scripture I will include on the back of the ornament, reading my book, and decorating those cookies.

I came into the bedroom Saturday evening after I was ready for bed, and there was a super old version of "A Christmas Carol" or "Scrooge" on. I saw it from when Scrooge came to his senses and tried to make amends for his wrong ideas. It was great! Plus, Grace's awesome Christmas song!!

I am also completing stocking stuffer boxes. I have complete most grandkid boxes...except Sam! One more left for that guy). I am still working on stockings for the adults. Any hints or suggestions are greatly appreciated!!

We are also open to requests for Christmas gifts. I have money saved up for everyone, and if you want anything special - either purchased or constructed - or you see something you dream of getting and don't want money/gift card, please let me know!

Other Highlights
We hadn't had many yardsales to see, but Saturday, we did pretty well. I saw one of those tricycles with a pushing handle on it. We have a little tricycle, but no handle, and it is literally backbreaking to push littles around the playground. I get three rounds usually before I am crippled. Anyway, the bike looked good, and when we asked, it was 5 dollars. Five dollars?  Sold! Dad also picked up a composter on a stand that someone was getting rid of...again, five dollars! He really never has enough compost.

I got up early Saturday and raked all the needles in the yard that greeted us last weekend. Two wheelbarrows full...but it looks so nice! What doesn't look nice is the other trees with millions of mesquite beans all under them. Task next week is one bag picked up and in the curb pile each day.


Not so Highlights
On Tuesday evening, my crown that I have been nursing along for years finally gave away, and so I am going to have to make arrangements for a partial. Next week I go to the dentist after the temple on Wednesday morning.

Wednesday was a wild day. Dad was grilling hamburgers when I heard a "boom". Dad ran out, I poured water on the propane tank, trying to get the fire out. All was good, and dad just has to figure out what went bad. Anyway, he ended up frying his burgers (bad memories of our childhoods...that is why I hated hamburgers: I never knew what they tasted like on a grill!), and he had to hurry to catch an online work meeting, so he ran to the freezer to get ice for his orange juice...yep, it spilled all over the floor! I had to mop and mop and mop and finally steam mop to get the mess cleaned up. Now, I know this wasn't a huge tragedy, but it is usually all I can do to make it through a day of playing with a two year old, without adding additional work!

Sunday, July 19, 2015

Week of July 13 - 19, 2015

Highlights:

Spiritual:
I planned on attending the temple Tuesday morning, but got times mixed up and missed the first session. Epic fail! I attended a beautiful session Wednesday morning. I am so blessed to be there and serve and to witness kind service given. A younger sister and a sister who seems to suffer from arthritis, regularly come. They don't know each other, but when one sister needed help, I saw this beautiful young sister help, even kneeling on the floor to help with shoes. I was so amazed. The temple is a place of love and service. Dee and I decided to go to a session  Wednesday late afternoon, which was amazing as well.

In scripture reading, I am in Alma 15. Dee is reading in First Timothy.

I indexed more Freedmen Records and a couple of Ship Passenger Manifests. As of this point, I have indexed over 3514 names.

Family:

The Wilkins Family
Adam and Grace were pushing up and sitting up on Monday. Kayty treated Adam to a Las Vegas Buffet. Twelve years of age has its privileges. 
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Adam is still working hard on the Water Polo team, and the other kids seem to enjoy waiting for him. They went to a park with Kayty one evening, and rode Joshy's scooter thingy down a hill. Mike was cool and collected, but my daughter who can jump off the Stratosphere was screaming like a baby!
She showed me pics of the kids exercising, singing, playing, and Sam totally enjoying a balloon. The Wilkins family was supposed to have a Stake   but they have been deluged with rain, so it became a movie night.

The Ethan Rice Family
Cameo texted me earlier in the week and updated our fish count. Last Saturday night, they went out on Lake Pleasant and Cameo caught 6, Ethan caught one. They had a good time, though the boat was acting up. That boat! We are grateful Ethan keeps such good care of it! The week was spent planning for the family campout. We picked Cam and Kaylee up on Friday morning, and her dad, Wade, drove behind us, helping haul and set up. More info in other highlights area of blog.They spent time driving around Payson, drove to Pine, and decided the weather was too wonderful NOT to stay and enjoy, so they found a Motel 6 and enjoyed a cool evening rain while they slept dry. They also took Kaylee to her first theater movie, and she really liked "Minions".

The Doran Rice Family
Doran and Amber got back into the swing of things after their wonderful Michigan/Ohio vacation. They joined us on Saturday morning on the campout.

 Kelsie had brand new shoes and a great attitude! She was ready to fish!! More in Other highlights.

Morgan
Morgan and Kyle shared dinner with Amber and Doran on Friday night. Morgan had a job interview Friday and couldn't come to the campout on Saturday. He stopped by briefly on Sunday too.

Kayty
Kayty's time in Vegas improved as she received her glasses and contacs from home I had mailed on Saturday. Still she needed FOUR more pairs of shoes! She had a great time staying with Allison and Mike, torturing nephews and a niece, spent a couple of nights in the Rio Hotel (jumping on the bed, enjoying king sized heaven, cooling off by the hotel pool,shopping...

She had a relaxing week of just enjoying sister time, with niece, nephews, and brother in law included, all day rides at the Stratosphere,



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and fun.

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These two sisters have always amazed me! Since the moment Kayty was born, they were the BEST of friends. Always. Allison was always so patient with that little sister. She rarely complained about anything Kayty did. They shared a room and shared everything...and they are still close, though they live miles apart! Two beautiful sisters!!!

She got home Sunday after a wonderful week and then spending the night at some friend's house!! I spent the next hours helping her find a locations for her new "Shoe Children". It's really nice to have her home!She was assigned to a different Singles' Ward and found some of her old group of friends. She went to a movie night Sunday evening.


The Nathan Rice Family
Nate and cleaned up and painted a weight bench/set last weekend, and he ended up selling it on Monday! Made some money too! He worked on truck parts when he could, and he spent a lot of time finishing up semester work and preparing for finals. Nate and Jess had more last minute school work than they thought, so they weren't able to attend our outing. Hopefully, they can come to town next year!!!They stopped by Sunday evening for a visit and we had a good time. They have a busy finals week ahead and they are in our prayers.

Work
Dad spent Monday morning in meeting...after meeting...after meeting. He did some training at the Deer Valley plant and made some progress in solving one of the top ten parts issues. He did this on two consecutive days and most were very interested and wanted to learn more. He also was dealing with a supplier for a co-worker out of town.Next week, he is working for a different co-worker who is away, in addition to his regular work. I sometimes think all his bosses just want to make him crazy!

Dad's garden
It's pretty done, though the herbs and peppers are still surviving. He even planted a plant given to him that is supposed to truly be a Trinidad Scorpion. There is so much deceit in the very hot pepper world. I am not sure what drives someone to sell fake seeds, or erroneous seeds, but it happens...and you don't know what you have planted until you harvest, as Dad found out! He has been busy drying and grinding all week!

Dad's truck
With Nathan's great help, Dad's steering column and box is totally installed. He got the lines hooked up, new seals in the power steering box, and the lines all connected. He got the power steering/ a/c bracket all cleaned up and painted. He also installed the belts, and now is preparing to machine a specialized part so he can install the fan.








Other highlights
I jogged on Monday, though my hip started bugging me, so it was a two mile run and a one mile walk. I go the pool brushed, the house cleaned and vacuumed, some stuff into the attic from Kayty's room, and made a pioneer bonnet. I also did yard work, raking up needles and clipping off some pesky mesquite beans before they fell to the ground.

I worked on the bathroom floor, cleaning that white grout. I found a recipe that was just a mix of baking soda and peroxide. Make a paste, put it on the grout, leave it for an hour, wipe up. It was working, though I didn't have enough time to do it all this week.

I finished what I could and sealed that.

I baked sugar cookies. I love sugar cookies (though with my new eating lifestyle, I didn't eat any) and they still smell good. I don't have time at Christmas to do it, so I baked loads of star shaped cookies.

I ground up ten pounds of chicken breast and packaged that for future use.

Kayty had an ice berg attached to the back of her fridge...so I carefully put insulin in boxes and set out. Two days later, it was gone! New insulin is happy (And Cigna was also contacted. They either send Nate's medicine to us...or our medicine to him. I hope they are straight now.)

I found more evidence of termites, so cousin Eric came out, drilled holes in the concrete (I had to clean up the cement dust before he pumped the poison in). It was nice to see him.

We came home from shopping to find our letter carrier delivering mail...and a gentleman who was looking for water. (I am not sure how he managed to walk over two miles past many houses and come down the dirt road to get to ours.) We filled a sack with water bottles, granola bars, fruit snacks, an apple and $5 to help out. He wanted a ride to the next town, which we thought might be Prescott, but we had no time, and really felt pretty bad about doing that. Hope what little we did helped!

Christmas in July included working on my ornaments, reading more of my Christmas Story book, making cookies
First Annual Rice Family Campout
Dad and I dropped Beau at Grandma's house and then went to Cameo's to pick her and Kaylee up.

Cam's dad, Wade, was kind enough to help get Cameo and Ethan's stuff up to camp and help with us. I told him he was an honorary Rice, since he did so much to make the trip a success! We were also surprised that, after working in the morning, Ethan's boss let him off work, and he beat us up to camping, which was such a blessing, since he warned us early of a traffic slow down due to a trailer roll over accident on the way there,


An older gentleman and his wife were driving, pulling a trailer. It appeared that he hit the side guardrail, overcorrected, spun around and their full size camping trailer rolled over. No one was hurt, thankfully, but I am sure it was heartbreaking for them.

Thankfully, Kayty slept through it all.

and found our original destination was full, so he located us the best area! Free, no crowds, huge camping area...only problem was no potty, but it was a few miles away, and we will certainly set our own up in the future.  We located each other, and began setting up camp.





 Camp was barely set up, and it started to rain...and rain...and pour and rain!





 We enjoyed hot cocoa and some lunch.


Hail!


 It was cold and wet!
 After over an hour of rain, we headed to our cars to wait it out.
We decided to head down to Woods Canyon Lake to check things out, since everything was so wet. At first, it was very dry near the Lake, which surprised us! We got there, the men set up and began to fish...and the skies opened and it poured and rained and poured. 




We headed back to camp, where it had rained more. To be honest, I was soaked from head to toe, and since normal rain at Woods Canyon is once a day, and pretty minimal, I brought no other pants, socks or shoes for dad and I. Cameo, however, just kept plugging on, getting stuff cleaned up, people changed into dry clothing. Wade help mop up their tent, which had become a river when we were gone. I made taco soup, and then smores and apple cobbler. With warm, happy tummies, we all headed to our homes for the night: Ethan, Cam, Kaylee and Wade to their tent, and Dad and I to the back of the jeep. Believe me, it WAS NOT Comfy! But it was warmer than being soaking wet and outside. My feet were sopped...and so cold. Dad worked forever to get them warmed up. He was a hero!! We had a long, fitfull night, but we managed to get some sleep.

In the morning, Dad cooked pancakes, and we tried to reach Amber and Doran to see if they were coming, but there was absolutely no phone reception. It was so cloudy, so it was decided to tear down camp before any more rain came and then head to the lake. We were blessed to meet Amber and Doran and family on the way to the lake, and we all sat down and enjoyed our time fishing.





 Papa and Kaylee threw rocks in the water tank right next to our car




We had tried and tried to get ahold of Amber and Doran, but couldn't. We weren't even sure they were coming. So, we headed to the lake...finally heard from them on the way, and met up to have a fun day fishing!

Kaylee fishing with BOTH of her grandpas! Grammy Wally and Papa!


Ethan caught the first fish

Kaylee was not quite IN to touching it





Kooper had a BLAST exploring. He loved looking and touching everything!


















Kooper saw some dogs, getting ready to canoe and swim, with life vests and all. He saw them run into the lake, and he followed! Grammy rescued once, and Kelsie rescued the rest of the time.

Finally, poor Kooper explored too near the water, and fell head and face first into the lake. All he wanted was his daddy!


Everyone caught at least one fish








 Cameo brought chips and other great snacks down to the lake...
 I brought a bag filled with sandwich makings, so we had a lakeside buffet...






Kaylee wanted to "sweep" so Uncle Doran cut her a new fern branch (to replace the dead one she found that began her work) and she was sweeping the shore...and people too. Dip and sweep.

Kooper didn't fish, but he sure had fun with any pole someone would leave sitting.

It had been a long day and the fishing had slowed, so we decided to pack up and each go our separate ways.
 Final Fish Catch Count
Dad = 5
Ethan = 2
Cameo = 4
Doran = 1
Kelsie = 2
Wade Wallin = 2
(Cameo has the official tally but I haven't received the text from her yet)

We did stop once, right along the Mogollon Rim, for some pictures...




We had clouds nearly all the way home, and we had wind while we were gone (pine needles a plenty on the ground!) Dad went to pick up Beau (thank you Dorrie) while I did laundry and cleaned. He then cleaned and fried six trout...and boy were they ever delicious!!


We went out to WalMart later and refilled the Grub Box with needs and stuff we had used, and waited for Kayty...who decided to stop at a friends and spend the night.

We fed the missionaries Sunday evening: Burgers, fries, salad, limeade.

Not so highlights
I was driving in my jeep to Costco, and the a/c blower kept shutting off. Thus, we had to take Dad's jeep on the campout. Not as comfortable, but the a/c is great.

When Morgan and Kyle were doing last minute party prep last week, some of the guys truck parts got moved (we had stated that the porch was a truck part zone, but Dad walked out on the porch and stuff was already moved without his knowledge.) We are still trying to locate some of Nate's truck parts, and it set him back a bit. Note to self: pizza parties ONLY for family, and not until the porch truck stuff is done.