Week of June 23 - June 29. 2024

Spiritual

We had an unusually good Sacrament meeting. Stake speakers were great! We had Teaching in the Saviors Way teacher training during primary while our kids sang. Sunday was quiet and nice. 

We were able to attend the temple this week. 

My daily morning foundation of General Conference talk(s), prayer, scripture study and Come Follow Me study continues each day. 

I have indexed 35,799 records and reviewed 15,575 records so far this year.

Family

The Wilkins Family

Grace and Josh spent their week at FSY. Allison worked with her fellow lead teachers planning for the upcoming school year. 

The Ethan Rice Family

Ethan, Cameo and the kids are doing well. 

The Doran Rice Family

Doran and Amber are still waiting for news on Amber's new job. The kids are good. They dogsat for a friend that visited Japan and brought back treats and souvenirs...

Morgan

No news from Morgan and Cassie this week.

Kayty

Kayty had a good week at work. 

The Nathan Rice Family

Nathan called on Sunday sharing about a tragic shooting that happened in a nearby community. So sad that happens even in small towns. The family is doing well. He finally was able to get his huge property mowed and will do that every couple of weeks. He now has two working lawn mowers including a zero turn. They headed to the dump on Friday to get rid of lots of leafy branches he had trimmed. Summer is going well. 

Dad's Garden

I went out on a cloudy morning and pulled up the dead tomato plants and bagged them up. We are working hard to keep our chickens alive in this hot weather. 

 

Other highlights

Our air conditioner began glitching again last Saturday. (A/C compressor worked and cooled but when the compressor shut off, the fan ran and we could not turn it off. So we went from cold air blowing to warm air blowing. Dad had done a lot of research and calling companies since this had happened beginning in July last year. We ended up accidentally calling one company and they were great priced, great reviews on Yelp, licensed and reasonable. He came on Tuesday afternoon and spent the next six hours installing a new five ton Trane unit both outside on the ground and in the attic. 

Dad traveled for work to Cincinnati, Ohio Wednesday and Thursday. He met with a supplier on Thursday morning. 

A couple rainy mornings this week were a lovely pleasant surprise. 

Bulk trash pickup got all our tree trimmings. I went out and raked up all the remaining leaves etc and put them in the trash. 

So, since mid September 2023, we have had to purchase an entirely new roof (added six solar panels too), a new microwave oven, new tires for my vehicle, repaired the dryer, repaired the washing machine, and purchased an entirely new air conditioner. I am thankful Dad is still working full time.  

Week of June 16 - June 22, 2024

Spiritual

Sunday was good at church. The children sang well, we welcomed and enjoyed hearing from a recently returned missionary who had served in Mongolia, and learned of another young sister in our ward who will be leaving to serve in the Georgia Atlanta Spanish Speaking mission. Primary went well and the kids liked the lesson and might have learned something. 

Dee was able to attend the temple this week on Thursday evening. 

My daily morning foundation of General Conference talk(s), prayer, scripture study and Come Follow Me study continues each day. 

I have indexed 34,707 records and reviewed 14,951 records so far this year.

Family

The Wilkins Family

Allison Marco Polo'd me on Monday night. They had a busy couple of weeks! Its the summer time and all the medical, dental and eye check ups are going on. Josh will need five baby teeth pulled and he will have the same chain treatment that Ethan and Doran had to pull teeth down that are growing sideways. Grace is readying to register for her next year of college. She and Josh are also prepping for FSY next week. Adam has a job interview coming up and is looking forward to getting back to work. He had a great birthday and enjoyed milkshakes for his treat. Mike wanted a pretty low key Father's Day so they had Cafe Rio homemade and refrigerator cheesecake. They have been enjoying friday mornings at the temple. Allison has completed all her required testing and passed them well. She now waits to hear the paramaters of her student teaching. 

The Ethan Rice Family

This family enjoyed a great father's Day weekend of camping and fishing. Weather was very warm for them and so they enjoyed their travel trailer air conditioning. Summer is going well. 

The Doran Rice Family

Doran, Amber and the kids are doing well and having a great summer. Kooper got to help Mom at work over the weekend. 

Morgan

Morgan talked with Dad on Sunday. He continues to work temp jobs while Cassie works on housekeeping where they are staying. Her Dad has offered to help them with a new home if they will move out to Iowa near him. 

Kayty

Kayty had a good week at work. 

The Nathan Rice Family

This was a get back to normal week after weeks away. They are all doing well. 

Dad's Garden

We struggle still with roof rats who have now eaten two entire basil plants. Citrus are doing well. We have worked very hard to keep plenty of water and cool spaces available for the chickens and they are surviving the heat so far. 

 

Other highlights

Happy Fathers Day to Dad and to all my sons and son in law on Sunday. Dad had a great day! Dad enjoyed calls, texts, Marco Polos and his gifts. He ate his favorites and Kate took care of all the chickens. 

Dad traveled to South Bend Indiana for work on Monday 

and returned very very late Tuesday. 

I visited with Mom and paid her fees on Tuesday morning. She wasn't as happy as usual but everyone is entitled to have a not so good day.

Worked on the trees in the front yard since its bulk trash week/month. We trimmed the Palo Brea in the front yard and the big mesquite. I worked on Thursday trimming the Palo Brea in the back yard on Thursday. It was 111 degrees at the time but it was in the shade so it was okay. 

Air Conditioning began acting up again so we are looking for a new one. 

Week of June 9 - June 15, 2024

Spiritual

I substituted for our chorister in Sacrament Meeting on Sunday. Survived. Class went well and Sunday was quiet. 

My daily morning foundation of General Conference talk(s), prayer, scripture study and Come Follow Me study continues each day. 

I have indexed 33,423 records and reviewed 13,279 records so far this year.

Family

The Wilkins Family

Happy Birthday Adam on Sunday! Wilkins are enjoying a busy summer! Josh and Grace went to the temple early Friday morning to perform baptismal ordinances. 

The Ethan Rice Family

Ethan and Cameo had a datenight with friends from McDonough. 

 

The Doran Rice Family

Doran, Amber, Kelsie and Kooper are doing well at work and are having a good summer.

Morgan

Morgan and Cassie are finally enjoying a cool summer and enjoying their work. 

Kayty

Kayty had a good work week. 

The Nathan Rice Family

The girls were finally well enough to come visit on Tuesday morning. I will admit I was a bit nervous. Not sure if they would have fun here. But my concerns were crazy. They had a great time. We played legos, games, built and played with the toy kitchen. Annie is so tall! and Ellie looks so much older. Emma enjoyed opening her birthday gift and was all full of hugs and snuggles for papa and I. And Eve warmed up after she got to know us a bit. 

We shared ice cream sundaes as they came over to visit with Doran, Amber and Kooper on Thursday evening. 

Nathan flew in town in the middle of the night Thursday and we got to visit with him for a bit on Friday. They flew home on Saturday. 

Dad's Garden

Final pickings of tomatoes are happening as the weather heats up. Basil is looking great. 

 

Other highlights

Grandchild visits are always the best and this week was no exception. So glad Jessica and the girls recovered from a nasty virus and could come and spend some time with us. 

Week of June 2 - June 8, 2024

Spiritual

We had a good  Fast and Testimony meeting at church today. Primary...well, I had a well planned and what I thought was inspired...but the best of plans can crash and burn when it comes to three and four year olds. Well, better luck next time. The rest of our day was quiet.  

Dee was able to attend the temple this week. 

My daily morning foundation of General Conference talk(s), prayer, scripture study and Come Follow Me study continues each day. 

I have indexed 31,611 records and reviewed 13,190 records so far this year.

Family

The Wilkins Family

Allison shared:

It's one of my favorite Sundays of the year: memory box day!

All year I throw everything they bring home from school in a box. One Sunday after school ends, I pull out this box. Each kid has one file box (with a file for each grade). They can keep whatever goes in that file for that grade. The rest is trashed.

It is SO much fun to go through their boxes and reminisce. It's especially fun this year because Grace just finished her box and died going through her cute kindergarten stuff.

The last week of school was full of ups and downs!!

On of the uppiest ups: Joshua graduated 8th grade and is now a high school student!

Grace and Allison suffered with tonsillitis. Allison even needed antibiotics for the first time in many years. All are doing better now and Allison has completed another year of teaching. The upcoming week will be full of a teachers conference for Allison while Grace keeps the boys happy with swimming and games.

The Ethan Rice Family

This family has been trying some daily hikes.

The Doran Rice Family

Doran, Amber, Kelsie and Kooper are doing well and had a good week. 

Morgan

Morgan and Cassie are doing well. They are living at a vacation site with guest cabins. Cassie cleans and Morgan in the maintenance man and they have totally free rent etc for staying there. They are enjoying a cook summer!

Kayty

Kayty had taken her car in for transmission fluid change last weekend. She came out of work on Tuesday and found a puddle of fluid under her car. She worked from home, got the car to the dealer on Thursday after work, and had further repairs. Seem another plug had broken and transmission fluid leaked out. She wasn't charged but repeat repairs have happened before. 

The Nathan Rice Family

Happy Birthday Emma on Thursday!

Jessica and the girls drove across country and arrived at Jess's parents house late Monday night. Jessica got hit with a massive stomach bug on Tuesday. Other illesses and bugs plagued the girls through the week. Nathan misses all his lovely ladies but is keeping busy removing trees and building shelves on his property. He called Saturday as he was working repairing the a/c in their Expedition. 

Dad's Garden

Picking tomatoes but 112 degrees is a game changer for tomatoes. I am picking them early at times so they dont have to bake in the heat. Citrus is doing well and we should have loads in the winter. Chickens, older chicks, and baby chick are surviving the heat. 

 

Other highlights

Big mess on Tuesday. I have run an Affresh washing machine cleaner tablet every month since Nathan was working for Lowes delivering appliances and told me how important it was. Every month. No problem. Unless...you get on auto pilot and fill the soap dispenser with laundry soap as well. I checked after it has been running for a long time...and the machine was filled with suds and the cycle wouldn't advance. No suds were escaping a la Bobby Brady and Brady Bunch. And an internet searched proved no one else had done something quite as dumb as this. I just stopped the cycle and let it sit till all the bubbles went away, wiped it down as much as I could, added a cup of vinegar, and ran a rinse cycle. 

Went to Costco on Thursday. Shell Shock! I don't go very often and when I do it is for very particular things: coconut oil, olive oil, feta cheese, plus I got some canned chicken and balsamic vinegar. $128.00! 

Dad worked polishing rocks this week in his spare time after work. 

Happy Birthday Grandma on Saturday. Dad repaired some collectibles for her and gave her flowers. We had a good visit. 

Week of May 26 - June 1, 2024

Spiritual

We had a great Sacrament Meeting. One of our young men who was as crazy a primary kid and youth as you could imagine spoke as he readies to leave to serve a mission in Germany. Boy, he is either the best actor ever or BYU is a place of miracles. Anyway he gave a great talk, primary went well and we had a quiet Sunday. 

Temple continues on shut down this week. 

My daily morning foundation of General Conference talk(s), prayer, scripture study and Come Follow Me study continues each day. 

I have indexed 29,737 records and reviewed 12,951 records so far this year.

Family

The Wilkins Family

Happy Birthday Mike on Friday!!! 

Wilkins family had a good first week of Summer vacation. Grace spent some time with some friends. 

The Ethan Rice Family

Fun Memorial Day Camping Trip with friends.

The Doran Rice Family

Doran, Amber, Kelsie and Kooper had a great holiday camping trip with some friends from church. They had a good first week of Summer too. 

Morgan

No news from Morgan and Cassie.

Kayty

Kayty had a good work week. Her car started leaking some fluid during the week so she spent Saturday at a car dealership getting repairs. 

Two major saves this week.

The Nathan Rice Family

Nathan, Jessica, Grammy Lorrie and the girls headed to a fruit farm on Monday and picked many delicious blueberries and blackberries. Ellie just couldn't stop eating them! So good. They have been enjoying a great visit from Grammy Lorrie. Nathan and Jessica celebrated their anniversary with a little getaway trip. They had a good time. 

Nathan, with some help from Jessica, created this wonderful birthday cake for Miss Emma's fifth birthday celebration

Yes, those are truly edible squishmallows! 

Dad's Garden

Harvesting tomatoes continues. They are smaller but sure are tasty. We planted a new basil plant but another rodent came in the night and ate every single bit of it. So we purchased another plant and I made dad one caprese salad before he planted in a more secure cage. At least he has eaten some and he got one caprese salad!

 

Other highlights

First thing in the morning on Memorial Day, Dad and I set out to replace the emergency shut off on our air conditioner. It took over an hour and a half but we got it done. 

Dad cleaned up the back patio and got some more rocks put on the back of the fireplace each day.   It is still nice enough outdoors when the sun goes down to get work done. We ran out and needed to locate another riverbottom to pick out some more. Finished up on Friday and cleaned the rock with an acid wash on Saturday. 

I got the outside refrigerator unplugged and scrubbed out. All nice and clean with cups of baking soda in each compartment. Since we don't have big parties at Thanksgiving and Christmas any more, it won't have to come on unless I get a great deal on produce. 

We got the front yard all cleaned up and raked up from the big mesquite tree's first load of pollen and needles. Next come the beans. Yuck!

I also finished installing the final pieces of molding and the corner piece in the entryway. I am getting pretty good using the radial arm saw and still have all my fingers.