Week of October 6 - October 12, 2024

Many days spent in getting Nano's things squared away. Monday included a three hour meeting at the mortuary. Funeral director is wonderful. Lots of paperwork. Lots of phone calls. 

Spiritual

General Conference was wonderful, beginning to end. 

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

My daily morning foundation of General Conference talk(s), prayer, scripture study and Come Follow Me study continues each day. I was so excited when the talks finally uploaded individually on the Church website. I spent Thursday and Friday reading all the talks. 

I have indexed 53,114 records and reviewed 19,366 records so far this year.

Family

The Wilkins Family

It was so good to hear from the Wilkins family via Marco Polo. They visited as they finished playing a game of Monopoly. Allison is busy at work and competing her masters degree. Classes still are being taken and papers are being written. Mike is doing well at work and decided to return to college to complete another Bachelors Degree in Warehousing and Logistics. Adam is doing well at work and visits his sweetheart when he gets off. Grace is doing well in school and finally completed all the preliminaries so now she works at a Day Care. Josh is liking seminary and doing well in school. And Sam had more money than anyone and likes school! 

The Ethan Rice Family

Ethan and Cameo are busy decorating their house for Halloween. Kaylee had her first band concert this week. The trumpet section sounded awesome!!! It was a real memory to hear "Hot Cross Buns"! 

Spoke with Kaylee, Ethan and Cameo via FaceTime on Saturday evening. Wade had a really good showing at his lacrosse game earlier that day and was at a teammates house spending the night. Kaylee was working on her Halloween costume and then gave me a tour of their skeleton collection inside their home. All are doing very well. 

The Doran Rice Family

Happy Anniversary Doran and Amber on Friday. They celebrated with a trip to Nashville.

Morgan

No news from Morgan and Cassie this week. 

Kayty

Kayty had a good week at work. 

The Nathan Rice Family

Spoke with Nathan and Jessica as she was making some sour dough bread. Nathan said her first loaves were a bit hard but the second loaf came out excellent! They had a fun Saturday. The drove two hours and listened to General Conference, then toured a farm tool exhibit where they saw a cotton gin and the worlds largest bale of cotton west of the Mississippi River. Then they drove the two hours home and listened to the next session of General Conference. All are doing well. 

The girls called via FaceTime on Friday and shared their new family members: two puppies. Their names are Whitney/  and Cookie. The girls take turns walking them and they are totally smitten. Eve struggled earlier in the week with croup but is much much better. 

Dad's Garden

Harvesting romaine already. Still struggling with small creatures eating our seedlings. We still are keeping our chickens alive in this never ending heat. 

 

Week of September 29 - October 5, 2024

Spiritual

Nano passed away on Tuesday, October 1, 2024 early in the morning. This week has included much talking and planning. She lived a wonderful life and had many wonderful things happen to her and loved her family. I could only think of the great reunion on the other side of the veil as she and my dad were reunited as well as her other beloved relatives. 

Sunday was good. We began practicing our primary program.

Dee was able to attend the temple this week on Wednesday.  

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

I have indexed 51,626 records and reviewed 19,366 records so far this year.

Family

The Wilkins Family

The Wilkins Family continues to do well at work and at school. 

The Ethan Rice Family

Kaylee had her first sixth grade chorus concert this week. 

In her rare spare time, she loves drawing...

And Wade's LaCrosse team participated in a fun parade. Coach Dad got to ride on the float with Wade!

Kaylee is doing well at cross country. She is now running in varied terrain and she is working hard to adjust. Wade played very hard at his Saturday laCrosse game.

The Doran Rice Family

Doran called and spoke with me. They are doing well and enjoying their cool Fall. Work is going well, the kids are doing well at school and they are making new friends in their new home. 

Morgan

Morgan has been very very busy at work. Cassie is healing and is awaiting her next step.

Kayty

Kayty had a good week at work. 

The Nathan Rice Family

Nathan has been working hard preparing for hunting season for weeks. He is excited that animals are already walking in the paths he established. Work is going well and he will be traveling soon for work. Jessica and the girls are busy with school and friends. 

Dad's Garden

I ate some of the first romaine lettuce in a salad this week. Garden is doing pretty well. The heat is still a struggle and we work very hard to keep our chickens alive. 

 

Other highlights

Long week. So glad to sit and listen to General Conference on Saturday. 

Week of September 22 - September 28, 2024

Spiritual

We enjoyed High Council speakers on Sunday and had a good time in primary.  Sunday was quiet. No phone visits but a nice day. 

Dee was  able to attend the temple on Tuesday afternoon. I tried to get into the Tuesday morning session but there were no available seats. It is good news that the temple is full. Perhaps they will open up afternoon sessions. 

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

I have indexed 50,605 records and reviewed 19,312 records so far this year.

Family

The Wilkins Family

Sunday was the official first day of Fall, and thus the Wilkins Family celebrated! A Toast To Fall!

This family is doing well. Work and school are going great. Everyone is healthy and happy. 

The Ethan Rice Family

Lots of rain from Hurricane Helene at the end of their week, but no winds. They are all well and Ethan and Wade spent their Saturday evening cheering for their Georgia Bulldogs who were playing against the Alabama Crimson tide. 

The Doran Rice Family

Thinking of Charles on Wednesday.

Morgan

Morgan called during the week. Cassie is doing better and they will come to town next week for a medical recheck. 

Kayty

Kayty had a good week at work. 

The Nathan Rice Family

Nathan, Jessica and the girls are well. Nathan is doing well at work and has been busily preparing for upcoming hunting. There is a lot involved in hunting in Arkansas. Kids are well and all is going great. 

Dad's Garden

Garden is surviving this heatwave. Dad has had to replant due to small rodent theivery but the plants are surviving. We are increasing our chicken watering again due to the heat. 

 

Other highlights

Heat was awful this week. One morning it was 96 degrees when I returned from my jog at 2 am! 

Week of September 15 - September 21, 2024

Spiritual

Sunday went well. Dee taught a lesson to my class about Samuel the Lamanite. He later went to stake priesthood meeting. I visited with grandkids and enjoyed a great Sunday. 

We were not 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 50,290 records and reviewed 19,308 records so far this year.

Family

The Wilkins Family

The Wilkins family continues to do well at work and at school. 

The Ethan Rice Family

It was Fall Break for the kids this week, which meant a week of fun for the family. They went camping with their dear friends. They went to the Chatanooga Aquarium and had a fun time. 

Kaylee also attended a fun activity with friends. 

While fishing at their nearby lake on Saturday, Ethan had an unfriendly encounter with a watersnake

The Doran Rice Family

Doran and Amber are doing well and enjoying getting used to driving country roads rather than city streets. 

Morgan

Cassie came to Phoenix on Tuesday and I took her to see a facial surgeon. He had a good plan for her treatment but then told us Cassie's insurance only covered her initial evaluation and that she would need to pay $9800 for her treatment. We left and Cassie contacted other resources. She decided she wanted to go to the emergency room so we took her to Banner University Hospital (the old Good Samaritan Hospital) so she was admitted to the hospital and spent her week there with surgery on Friday morning. 

The surgery went well and they returned home with their four dogs on Saturday afternoon. 

Kayty

Kayty had a good work week. 

The Nathan Rice Family

I facetimed with Ellie a couple of times this week. She is liking school and her co op group and is looking forward to a cooking class on Monday.

Happy Birthday Annie on Wednesday!!

Dad's Garden

Dad planted lettuce, collards, swiss chard, carrots, radishes and cabbage this week. 

Other highlights

Dad and I again spent the week doing lots and lots of yard work. I trimmed trees out in the front yard and filled the bulk trash pile with more branches. Dad and I filled two large boxes with the dead prickly pear cactus from the front island. We also picked up a small limb chipper of Facebook Marketplace. With the new bulk trash schedule and rules, it will help us keep our pile smaller. We will now have to make an appointment to get our trash picked up. We are limited on pile size. We get four pick ups a year, but if our pile exceeds the size, we lose a future pile pickup. 

Week of September 8 - September 14, 2024

Spiritual

We had a good Sacrament Meeting. Two of our youth spoke and then Vivian Bellison shared about her one year family history mission. Dad helped me in Primary on Sunday. Class went well. We spent the rest of the day quietly reading, studying and Dad visited with Grandma on the phone. 

We were able to attend the temple this week on Wednesday evening and perform sealing ordinances.

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

I have indexed 49, 210 records and reviewed 19,308 records so far this year.

Family

The Wilkins Family

No other news this week from the Wilkins family. 

The Ethan Rice Family

No news from this family. 

The Doran Rice Family

No news from this family.

Morgan

On Saturday, Cassie was involved in a serious accident on her ebike. Morgan took her to Flagstaff Hospital where they found both her upper and lower jaws are broken and surgery was necessary. However there were no surgeons available so he got her some meds, they stitched up her chin, and returned home to come back hopefully tomorrow. 

Kayty

Kayty had a good week at work. 

The Nathan Rice Family

Annie called me on Friday to complete a school assignment. She then read aloud to me a chapter of Harry Potter. What an amazing reader she has become!! They had a wonderful trip to the Arkansas Railroad Museum. 

Dad's Garden

Someone gave us her chicken manure (five large feedbags full) so dad has been working that into every garden bed. The weather will finally be below 100 next week so he will begin planting: lettuce, cabbage, collards, snow and snap peas and his root vegetables. 

 

Other highlights

As the months go on, I am so thankful Mom prepared financially so that we could afford this nice place for her to live in. I have learned so much about retirement, savings, and the costs we don't know about. Mom's monthly care is $4500 a month. That is reasonable from my research. She has the money from her house sale as well as savings from her many years working. Her monthly social security amounts to $2000 and since she is on hospice, she encounters no costs for medicare. Had she not made these preparations, Sharynn Scott and I would have had to find the money on our own to pay for her nicer level of care. The other option is to have placed her in a facility that accepts medicare assignment once all her savings and resources were gone. Those places are not as nice, though follow laws. 

Dad and I have learned a lot as we delve into social security and medicare. Dad will get $3000 per month. Out of that will come medicare costs...and yes medicare costs and if you don't get on a prescription plan you are penalized financially. I do not qualify for full social security since I didn't have a job. So when I am at the retirement age (for dad that was 66.5 and for me it's 67) I can get half of what his social security is, $1500. Dad will get a retirement monthly but not much money. So we have lived frugally and saved for many years so we will never be a burden to our kids. Now that everyone lives far away, we have to do things by ourselves and we are frugal in our expenses. We hope that the proposed tax on unrealized gain proposed and supported by Kamala Harris will not come into being. We paid 85,000 for our home and it's now worth over 700,000 and the taxes on that will force us to sell. 

Just so you all know we are trying our best to not burden you. We keep on and don't share much. My hearing is not what it used to be and I miss much in phone conversations. Dad's phone has bad reception and so while his ears are good, his phone is not. And once he leaves Honeywell we will be sharing my phone. We are in good health and try our best to eat well, stay away from doctors and vaccines of any sort, and keep active. 

With weather a bit cooler, our yard work has ramped up. Goal this Winter is to cut concrete sidewalk and dig to locate a broken pressure reducer that has kept our individual plants in both the front and back yard from getting any water other than by hose. 

We set out on Wednesday to get the brittle brush bushes in control. The first one was the one near the pool. I clipped and pulled and dad raked and bagged. We found inside that bush two baseballs, a kick ball and a soccer ball. We completed hauling out to the front pile the next morning. Back and arms ached but the view out the kitchen window looks happier to me. Next job is to remove the brittle bush on the hill. Next day Dad chopped up one on the back hill. We got that picked up and out to the pile. Dad also had to prune back the rosemary in the lower courtyard. The pool needed a lot of attention so he spent time cleaning out filters while I skimmed off leaves. Saturday we removed three more bushes. It was a bit scary for a moment when dad was hauling a wheelbarrow down the backyard hill backwards, and ended up falling backwards. We were blessed to have him fall in a bush that cushioned his fall. 

Week of September 1 - September 7, 2024

Spiritual

Sunday was another good Sabbath. Good classes and testimonies at church. Quiet rest of the day. 

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 48,053 records and reviewed 19,308 records so far this year.

Family

The Wilkins Family

Wilkins Family continues to do well. Work is going great for Mike and he is nearly completed repairing some electrical troubles in their vehicle so they will be back to two cars. Allison is enjoying teaching. Adam has nearly all the paperwork done for a new job. Grace is so enjoying institute classes. Joshua is getting used to high school and seems like it. Joshua is doing great and got a call back for his school musical audition...and he got the part!! He is Dwarf! Congratulations Sam!

The Ethan Rice Family

This family has been busy with work, school and the kids sports. They enjoyed camping over labor day with friends and have another trip planned during Fall Break. 

The Doran Rice Family

Happy Birthday, Kelsie on Monday! She had a wonderful celebration as Nathan, Jessica and the girls came, brought a delicious cake and celebrated with her. 

And they attended a local fair on Saturday...

Morgan

Morgan and Cassie are busy working and enjoying Flagstaff's lovely Fall weather. 

Kayty

Kayty had a good week at work. She took off Friday for our Woods Canyon Lake boat excursion. 

The Nathan Rice Family

Nathan and Jessica and the girls are doing well and are very busy. I spoke with Nathan as he was again working preparing deer hunting locations for the hunt next month. I never realized how much work was involved in preparing an area for a hunt. Work is good. Home schooling is good. Their weather is getting better and better. 

Dad's Garden

Seedlings are doing well. I hope we have retreived our final load of horse manure to enrich the garden plots. We are now getting up to five eggs per day from the chickens. 

 

Other highlights

Dad went over to Grandmas on Monday evening to visit with his cousin Clay Chester Jordan who is here seeing family. He had a good time. 

We tested our boat skills at Woods Canyon Lake for a few hours on Friday. 

It was our turn to clean the church building early Saturday morning. It was so organized and, while the work was hard, we were done in a little over an hour.