Week of August 16 - 22, 2020

Highlights:

Spiritual

Sunday was good. We enjoyed Music and the Spoken Word, and two BYU Devotional Talks by D. Todd Christofferson and Neil L. Anderson. We studied Come Follow Me overview for the week, read scriptures, partook of the Sacrament when Kayty woke up, and had a visit from President Baird, delivering our signed temple recommends. 

Temples in our area remain closed except for Phase 1 sealings. 

Daily study continues with General Conference talks, which I completed my fifth time through and began my sixth time and  in Come Follow Me in the Book of Mormon.

I have indexed 11857 records and reviewed 58709 records so far this year. 

Family

The Wilkins Family

The Wilkins family is busy preparing for school or attending school at home. Mike is working extra shifts when he can get them, taking classes, and can start applying for permanent positions next week. Allison keeps up with her work even with a concern that a co-worker has COVID in her home, and Allison doesn't want to miss work hours. Adam picked up his Chromebook from school on Friday. He has been reading a non-fiction book called Double Speak by William Lutz and is learning quite a bit about how words are used to lead and to mislead the audience. He is becoming quite a critical thinker. His knee still hurts if he overdoes on activities such as Nerf Wars. He finds physical therapy rather boring. Grace picked up her Chromebook from her high school a few days after Adam. She is excited for her last week of Summer break and hopes to do some shopping. She is also looking forward to her birthday coming in a few days and is planning her birthday meals. Joshua got a professional haircut before online classes began last week. He likes his teacher and enjoyed the Zoom get to know you games his class played. Sometimes, waiting for a class to begin gets tedious.

He went to a neurologist on Friday for an evaluation. He is registered for soccer already, since his last season was cancelled. His favorites are chicken ramen noodles, slim jims, pistachios, York peppermint patties and Olive garden salad dressing. Sam got a haircut also and looks so great. He had a rough week, getting a bite from possibly a Hornet. He likes his new teacher, Mrs. Loyd. He is also registered for soccer. 

The Ethan Rice Family

Grandma Liz arrived for a visit and is staying for couple of weeks, which is so nice for this family! Kaylee surprised me when I was out running on Monday morning. Apparently, she was so excited about her first day of school that she could not sleep, so she texted me. It was so much fun to be able to share in her excitement so far away.

 She was absolutely exhausted Monday night but seemed to have a good day. 

The Doran Rice Family

School began this week for Kelsie and Kooper.

 Since schools are all remote, the best one can get is to be in a group class setting at school with a few adults to help. That worked well for Kelsie but did not help Kooper at all with all the sign-ins and passwords. He now is at home, sitting right by Amber so she can help as needed while she works. 

I am not sure if Shelby helps with sign on, but she is there for lots of encouragement. The week was busy with work for Doran and Amber but went well and things are adjusting. Kelsie is loving her school set up right now. 

Morgan

Morgan and Cassie came by on Friday night to borrow the canoe. They headed to Blue Ridge Reservoir to celebrate Cassie's 30th Birthday. Morgan had an interview last week to work at Sportsman's Warehouse. 

Kayty

Kayty had a good week. Her boss is strongly encouraging them to use up their vacation days, so she took off Friday and Monday next week. She listened to her last hockey game for a couple of months as her Blackhawks lost their playoff series. 

Two minor saves this week. 

The Nathan Rice Family

Nathan and Jessica had a busy week. Tuesday, the planned to surprise the girls with new beds, so the girls came to play here while they set them up. They really loved their new room set up and the new beds when they returned home!

Dad's Garden

Dad waters the basil and the date palms while I try to keep the pine tree out front alive. 

Other highlights

I spent some time on Tuesday cleaning out the island cupboards and scrubbing the insides and doors. I got the drawers cleaned up a bit too. 

I took a trip to Target on Tuesday and Walmart and Dollar Tree on Thursday. Got some pumpkins, some birthday stuff for Ellie, and Christmas stocking stuff. 

On Thursday, I was a saint and made sausage, biscuits, and gravy on a 113-degree day.

Yes, the heat boils on. Nearly every single day this week was over 112...many were 115. It is crazy to be 100 by 9 am and 110 by noon. Record after record was set. We did have two dust storms this week which took the nighttime temperatures down to under 100 by 10 pm. I ran in 93 - 96-degree weather all week. I am so done with this heat!

Thursday night, it finally rained! It was glorious!!! This brought lower temperatures on Friday...our back porch hit 103. It was in the mid 80s when I jogged! So nice!

Saturday was clean up and grocery day. I spoke with Nano and plan to mask up and go visit her on her birthday next Saturday. 

Not so highlights