Week of June 22 - 28, 2015

Highlights

Spiritual
Dad attended sessions at the temple on Wednesday and Friday late afternoons. He also spent his Tuesday evening home teaching and had great visits with his companion and the families.

Our Ensign magazine arrived and I am busy reading it. I have a goal to read each one cover to cover.
In my Book of Mormon reading, I am in 2 Nephi 25.
Dad's scripture study he is in Acts 3.

I worked on indexing the Freedman Records. It is so interesting! Indexing total for this year: 2770


Family
The Wilkins Family
Dad enjoyed the sweet message from Allison on Facebook on Monday. Totally made his day!

The Ethan Rice Family
It was another busy week for Ethan and Cameo. Their regular jobs were good, though Cameo had late work nights Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. Ethan was happy to have Monday and Wednesday nights off from pizza delivery. Kaylee missed her Mommy very much when she had to leave her at Grammy's and go to work. She is sleeping in a new big girl bed and likes it.

After Kaylee's swimming lessons on Saturday, they attended a birthday party for one of the children of Ethan's work associates and later, they all went to see the circus Cameo texted late Saturday that she liked the first part, but it was kind of long for a 2 year old, and wasn't as interested in the second part. She was a tired little kiddo by Saturday night. 

The Doran Rice Family
Doran and Amber had a rough week. Chloe, the dog Amber had for twelve years, had been feeling ill for awhile and suffered from congestive heart failure. The vet tried new medication after new medication. Chloe ended up passing away on Thursday.



Chloe was Kelsie's buddy for her whole life.  We are sorry for your loss and hope your days are full of happy memories of Chloe.

Morgan
Morgan and Kyle came by Thursday afternoon with a load of laundry (more like 3 loads of laundry) which they did, and ended up putting a couple more cactus pieces in the trash can.

Kayty
Kayty went to the dentist Monday and needs two root canals and a wisdom tooth removed. Fun times! Early Wednesday, she was at the endodontist for the for the beginning of her work.

She went on Tuesday evening and saw Jurassic World and said it was even better the second time.

Saturday morning, she went to the lake for a waterskiing cookout with her singles ward. It was a 6 am start, so that was NOT fun for Kayty. She did end up having a great time. There were some clouds throughout the morning and that made it so much more tolerable. After she got home, she emptied her car of trash (filled up TWO city trash cans - I hope they don't check the recycle can or they will find so much other stuff!) and TONS of clothing! At least three loads! She packed her suitcase for her Vegas trip in July and I am certain her car will get MUCH better mileage without so much stuff in it!

The Nathan Rice Family
Nate and Jess took a break from work/homework and stopped by for a visit on Tuesday to bring Dad the end mill they had ordered for him for Fathers' Day.  They used their gift cards from the shower to purchase a nice car seat and stroller on Monday evening. School is going well and the semester should be complete by near the end of July. Nate is also working on his truck. Stuff that works with Dad's truck he ends up trying out on his. He decided after Saturday that he also wants disc brakes, and he is locating some for his eight lug wheels. He wants to get it all running before Annalee is born, so they have a few months of testing out and working out any bugs.

He called Sunday to chat for a bit and said his next two weeks, he wouldn't be coming over much, since he is working MANY extra hours at work and doing homework. Lowe's and Home Depot are very busy this time of year!

Work
 Dad's Monday began with his computer unable to hook up to the system, so he worked with the Help Desk and some guy in India for five hours. The meeting, scheduled to AGAIN define his new temporary position was AGAIN postponed to next week. He spent Tuesday at the Engines site reviewing what is occurring. They are trying to reduce defects that end up stopping assembly of an engine. You wouldn't believe how many problems come at final assembly...due to mishandling at that end point. Parts are dropped, etc. Once dropped, all the work that has gone into them is useless. He is prepared for another meeting next week. Meanwhile, he finally gave up on his computer and traveled out to the Tempe plant on Friday to see the IT guys there. They are working on it all weekend and will let him know next week when he can come out and get it.

Kaylee and I celebrated Red, White and Blue. She ate star toast with red and blue sugar, ate a star peanut butter and jelly sandwich,  made a star wreath

a mosaic star, a Statue of Liberty puzzle and lacing (which she always calls a kite), played with the felt on fleece board

ate fruit and yogurt dip out of a star shaped plate, star toast, lots of carrots and dip-dip, and blueberry mini muffins with red sugar sprinkles

 Made tents and washed dishes (or, rather, the inside of Grammy's rubber gloves)

q-tip painted,

made a fuzzy stick flag

strung felt start to make a necklace

stamped fireworks with a cut toilet paper tube and glitter paint

had fun with glitter playdough

and swam every afternoon after rest time.

Dad's Garden
Tomatoes have slowed down and my half hour picking per day has gone down to a few minutes every few days. The grape vines look awful! Basil and other herbs are still hanging in there, and the peppers are doing great, though he discovered that the plants he thought were Ghost Peppers were in fact Scotch Bonnets, a milder (but still very hot) pepper. He wrote a letter to the seed company he purchased them from and asked for a refund due to them sending bad seeds. Dad plans on beginning to tear out the old plants and vines soon. I saw that there was a bag of frozen tomatoes that we had missed on our last roast, so we roasted them in the hot pizza oven Saturday night and got a final batch of sauce.

Tomato Count total for this season: 1442

Dad's Truck
Dad went to Ethan's on Monday evening to do some welding for the floor of the truck. He worked on grit blasting and some painting, and also worked to make a misting/cooling system for the garage to be able to get more work done.

 Saturday, Nathan came by AFTER he had worked very early with Doran to paint at Doran's mother in law's house (they have hung drywall, taped, textured, and now they are finishing the job). He helped Dad a TON to get a lot of work complete on the truck. Morgan and Kyle came by later in the day and also helped. The projects that needed more than one man to help were accomplished!

Installing disc brakes

Dad rigged up a mister that operated behind the huge fan Wade Wallin gave him...made the garage and the work SO much cooler.

The engine had to be lifted with the engine hoist...for the fifth time...positioned more to the rear, holes drilled, and reset. Now the tunnel ram and two carburetors fit under the hood. This was a huge project that could not have been completed without the help of Nathan and later Morgan. 

Other highlights
I tried a new pizza crust recipe and it seems to be a good one. My old one was getting hard to work with and this one was much better. I will include the recipe later after we try it again. We had invited Dad's friend, Randy Greeson, for dinner a couple of weeks ago for pizza and Dad was going to help him on his resume, but since he needed help earlier, I guess he thought dinner was off. We did have the pizza, which was good

Late Saturday afternoon/early evening, we had noticed dust storm warnings on the news. Dad and I decided to to remove the top of the "sand tent" and no sooner had we done this, and I was walking to store it in my hut, than a dust storm hit. It wasn't huge, but was enough to make the pool pretty messy, and stir up all sorts of stuff.

One good thing from that dust storm is that it blew many of the old pine needles out of the tree. I was taking out trash and noticed the needles were blown on the driveway and in one part of the yard. So, I got my wheelbarrow and rake and filled up a load of pine needles for the pine needle can (we save the needles and use them in the pizza oven.) It was not as hot, and now I don't have to rake two yards this week! Score!!!

I spent hours selecting, preparing, and then loading Nano's birthday party invitations to each invitation website I could find. Cam helped me with Costco, though it was hard to find one I liked for an 80th birthday. Everyone's regular price was so high and I knew Mom would not like my spending tons on invites. Walgreens came out with a 40 percent off coupon, and I chose them! Ordered finally!

I have worked and worked, embroidering on trips to and from Vegas, and every nap Kaylee takes, and Annalee's Grammy Stocking should be complete next week. I am finishing the sequins and all I will need to do is sew it.

Sharynn and I have talked over the last few days about Nano's birthday party. She is coming, and Becca and Kimmy are flying down. She said she is taking two vehicles down to Phoenix. They are working on the decorations. It was good to talk to her in between her busy nursing class schedule. 

Not so highlights
I was a bit out of sorts over Dad's friend not coming for dinner. I had spent the day preparing and I didn't go anywhere else so I could clean up the little messes that arise from others' projects. It wasn't a huge deal, but I could have done other things.

Week of June 15 - June 21, 2015

Highlights:

Spiritual
I attended the early morning session at the temple on Tuesday and Wednesday. Dad attended an evening session Thursday.

We had a wonderful Sacrament Meeting for Fathers' Day. We are so blessed to have such spiritual giants in our ward, and two men, former bishops, talked about Heavenly Father and Christ being our Father, and of the important meaning and symbolism of the Sacrament and repentance and the Atonement. I watched our deacons pass the Sacrament, and thought about Adam performing this sacred ordinance for the first time today. We learned in Sunday School about spending Sunday in study and preparation for partaking of the Sacrament. In Relief Society, we were reminded of the importance of following the prophet. It was such a wonderful day of learning. I don't know if it's because we are so blessed to have the temple right by our building or what, but the Spirit bears witness to me each and every Sunday of the truthfulness of the Lord's Gospel and that there is so much to learn!

I finished my visiting teaching for the month. I spoke with one sister on the phone, trying to get an appointment, but she had a jam packed week and so we just visited for a bit. I also wrote my letter to our sister who only wants mail contact.

I indexed 50 names on Monday after my housework was done. Then it was announced that Freedmen Records from the 1860s were released, and I have been working on those. These are contracts written in handwriting on notebook style paper with freed slaves and their former owners, for work, pay and living quarters and food. They are very interesting!!! So many former slaves indicated no last name, could not write, women could not sign but their husbands did.

Total records indexed so far 2523

I completed reading the Book of Mormon and started reading it again. I am in 1 Nephi 15. Dad is reading in the New Testament and is in Mark 11.

Family
The Wilkins Family
They have had a busy start to their "Oh, The Things We Can Do" Summer! Swimming lessons and water polo were to start this week. Allison also has math books to go over with the older kids so they can keep their skills sharp. They are looking for constellations this week, too. They also enjoyed a special night at the dollar theater viewing "Cinderella". I may just have to see this movie, since everyone I know raves about it!

The Ethan Rice Family
They had a good week. Kaylee had a great time and Grampy Wally and Grandma Liza's house. She got to go to the mall and ride the train and carousel with them on Friday.

The Doran Rice Family
Doran and Amber's family friend and long time pet, Chloe, has been suffering with congestive heart failure. This little girl has been part of Amber's life since before Kelsie was born...and thus all of Kelsie's life. New medications were tried to see if her fluids could be relieved, and, as of Sunday evening, she is holding her own. They are looking forward to their vacation in two weeks. They are flying into Detroit, Michigan and visiting family there, and then traveling to Ohio to see Amber's dad.

Morgan
Morgan and Kyle worked here on Monday afternoon, poisoning weeds, cleaning up debris. On Tuesday, for their day job, they had to cut up a mesquite tree. They cut it into smaller usable logs and Nathan graciously went with Dad to help pick that up. The got quite the trailer full! On Wednesday, they came by and sawed up our fallen saguaro

and moved the fountain left in our yard by a friend years ago into the lower courtyard.

Kayty
Kayty went to the dentist on Monday, and begins her series of work next Monday. She shopped and bought her favorite One Direction shoes

Saw Jurassic Park World, which she loved, went to Bachelorette, worked, and hung pretty things on her wall.

The Nathan Rice Family
We found out Thursday morning that Nate was named Employee of the Month at his Lowe's location! So awesome! He has been so busy doing homework! He tried his hardest, but had to miss the Rice Man Fishing Trip. We know it's a worthwhile sacrifice, though.

Jessica's baby shower was such fun! Her sister in law, Cynthia, went to so much work planning and decorating. I made chicken salad for croissants and rolls, Nano made a vegetable tray, Grandma made bowls of fresh grapes and watermelon, and Cameo made yummy homemade salsa and onion dip to go with chips. Lorrie Hudson got the cutest cupcakes and I hear they were awesome!

Lorrie Hudson made an adorable diaper cake

Even with being the only dude there, Kooper had a good time.

We were asked to dress as though we were pregnant. Balloon baby bumps were available.

Kaylee really loved the cupcake!

Nate came by late Saturday evening and started working on a cradle for Annalee.

(I thought I typed this already, but since I cannot find it now, I may be repeating...)

Work
Dad went to the Engines facility on Monday and was able to discover at least four things that need to be addressed. He spent Tuesday and Wednesday running to special assignments from his old boss. It must be crazy for him to figure out WHO he is doing What for!

His biggest problem has been that, last Wednesday, Honeywell forced him to download a new version (special version for Honeywell) of Microsoft Office called Office365. It STILL is messing up his computer and he cannot be in contact with anyone at work, nor attend any online meeting. The help desk hasn't helped at all, and their supervisor yells at them for spending so much time trying to help Dad's computer. (pigs...)

Update: Thursday, he was sent an email that invited him to a meeting on Monday to let them know what they are supposed to be doing in this job!

He also got a call from his bosses' bosses' bosses' boss thanking him for his work getting so many parts off the Honeywell top ten. ( Sure made the crazy email easier to take).

He recommended his old friend, Randy Greason, for a position in his old/current job, and he spent time helping him with his resume and doing some training. 

Dad's Garden
The heat is getting to the tomatoes. While they have a shade cover, it's been 114 degrees, which seems to just be telling the plants to give up. I picked a one pound seven ounce "Church" variety tomato on Wednesday night, and a one pound four ounce one Thursday morning.

As of today, total tomato count is 1391.

Herbs are doing well, thanks to the sunshade a friend made for us. We have plenty of oregano, thyme and sage. Basil is more in the sun and is doing well too. 

Peppers are still going like crazy, though who could even eat one! He also got some pequin peppers from a bush in the oval garden. He had someone come over and even buy some peppers!

Zucchini gave up the ghost and was pulled up (no more zucchini weeks). We have cut off the remaining grapes and bagged them to toss. It seems that, when the vines lose all their leaves in January, we have to cut back all the vines,  gather all that stuff and burn it and hope the mildew is gone.


Dad's Truck
He worked on installing disc brakes. It went well, except that the jack moved without them knowing and now he has to replace the tie rod since it is bent to the oil pan. :( The heat is really hard to work through, though after the sun begins to set, it isn't half bad outside.

Other Highlights
Though the weather was HOT, it was dry and before sunrise, and after the sun went down, so I pruned and raked and hauled. Indoors was nice and cool, so I dusted and vacuumed, mopped and sealed more flooring. By Tuesday, I had most of the high traffic areas done. Later in the week, I got all the weeds, needles, and a bunch of mesquite beans all raked up and in the trashcan.

I went for my annual check up at the doctor. Took five tubes of blood. Glad that's done for a year!

I packaged up extra truck parts for sale on Ebay. Now, Dad can list them and they are ready to ship!

We started what might be a Fathers' Day Tradition. Dad, Ethan, and Doran (Morgan had to work and Nate had too much homework left) headed to Woods' Canyon Lake for a fishing trip. Woods Canyon Lake was way busy, so after Dad got a fish,

Small mouth bass caught by dad...one of seven caught

 



 
  they headed out and found Willow Springs Lake, with a perfect campground for our campout in July!

















 

 They came home late in the evening and had a great time! Sounds like a tradition!!!

Fathers Day was great for dad. Kayty started early and brought him a new white shirt, gold tie and pocket square for his suit, which she proceeded to tell the different ways of folding and of her favorite. That girl has learned so much at work!!!

On Sunday, he, enjoyed funny facebook messages, cards, non-chocolate candy and jerky,  had homemade biscuits and sausage gravy for breakfast (I even gave the leftover re-roll biscuit to Beau...never a dad but a pretty good dog around the grandkids).

Nate and Jess surprised him and came to church with us! He and dad both enjoyed the Fathers' Day pie that the Relief Society prepares for them after priesthood meeting. Doran called in the early evening. And Ethan, Cameo and Kaylee stopped by and brought Papa a cute frame with a pic of Kaylee, and we had a fun visit.

Not so Highlights
While I was picking tomatoes Thursday morning, I lifted one tomato cage, as I always do, searching for tomatoes on the underside...and what do I see....A SNAKE!!!! I screamed so loud I am surprised the subdivision next to us didn't call the police. (Beau was out there nearby, but our "trusted protector" made no move toward anything! ) When Dee woke up, I took him out...and there were TWO, not one, snakes. Dad said they were gopher snakes and not dangerous (in my opinion, all snakes must die!),

 so he proceeded to cut the one out of the bird netting he was tangled in.

The other one, which I was supposed to be watching, but, from my vantage point up two steps on the ladder, I lost track, seemed to get away. The big one wrapped itself around another tomato plant, like a boa constrictor.

Needless to say, my tomato picking days are OVER!

Later, I walked into the kitchen to see this....

Yes...Mr. "Nice Guy Snake Lover Slytherin Housed Parseltongue" was helping this creature get the rest of the bird netting off his neck. Really???

We walked outside Sunday evening for a final tomato check for the weekend. I picked up a piece of bird netting and....I SCREAMED!!!! There is was! That doggone snake again. However, this time, the thing had died while caught in the netting. Hooray!!!!