Week of March 7 - 13, 2016

Highlights:

Spiritual
I started my Wednesday at the Phoenix Temple in a session. Dad attended a session that same evening, and Thursday evening as well.On Saturday, we were able to attend the temple with Nano and Kathy seal some families for eternity. It was a joyous day, especially for Nano!

We had a wonderful Sacrament meeting...again! The highlight was a sweet 9 year old named Bella who sang a solo of a primary song. So beautiful!!!

I sent the current newsletter and a message to the visiting teaching sister I always write to. Dee kept in contact with the Blake family throughout the week, and it turned out that Tatiana had a non functional gall bladder that needed removal, and that took place on  Friday morning. Hopefully, this child will finally have relief! He home taught the Bartons and Burrow's on Sunday.

In the scriptures, I am in Mormon 8 in the Book of Mormon. I have indexed 3291 records so far this year.

Family

The Wilkins Family
Adam was busy memorizing the Preamble to the Constitution this week. So glad they still do that! They spent Sunday adjusting to Daylight Savings Time. Hope all went well!

The Ethan Rice Family
Ethan, Cameo and Kaylee had a busy week. Cameo worked long hours since her employer is hiring and training new employees. They had a good time Friday at the lake, and went to Cottonwood on Saturday for a family gathering and baby shower

,
and enjoyed a carnival in Anthem on the way home.




 




They got their photo IDs for Wet N Wild and stopped by on Sunday with a bucket of garden fertilizer (fish heads). They have a lovely new trailer perhaps in their future. For this family who loves to camp, it will be well used (and the hunters in the family will sleep in warm comfort every hunting trip!) Dad expressed an interest in purchasing their tent trailer, which has received great approval from ME!

The Doran Rice Family
 Doran and Amber went out for date night on Friday

And I recognized these two little minions watching Minions with their Aunt Nicole


And perhaps Kooper is thinking of a job...

maybe at Discount Tire???

Morgan
Morgan and Christy enjoyed their day at the Desert Botanical Garden here in Phoenix.





He and Christy came by on Thursday evening and brought two chicks to us that ended up giving Christy terrible allergies. At first, I was going to name them after One Direction dudes, but that offended Kayty, so we haven't decided yet. They also came Friday. Morgan thought a swim was in order. Christy was NOT in agreement! It was a nice visit and we had lots of good laughs about Morgan's childhood. I had no idea you kids tried to sneak out and open a Christmas gift early, but that parquet flooring in the entryway squeaked and dad's eagle hearing would have caught you all! They visited on Saturday to get some veggies, and we headed to their house on Sunday for a dinner invite.
Christy has a beautiful apartment! Morgan had all the stuff prepped and cut and they both put together the three best Chinese dishes I have eaten in years!!! Thank you so much, Morgan and Christy!!!

Kayty
Kayty had Monday and Tuesday off, worked Wednesday till late, had a twelve hour day on Thursday,and a shorter but early Friday so she could attend the birthday party of a friend on Friday night.She had a good time. Work Saturday and off Sunday.

The Nathan Rice Family
Annalee got better and better, and Jessica struggled with getting over the virus in her turn. Nate had a good school week, and their warmer weather turned cool as he sent me a picture of a snow covered landscape.Both he and Jess got signed up for their next semester. Both have heavy class loads. They hope Annalee realizes this and decides sleeping all night is good. They face timed on Sunday and we enjoyed watching Annalee talk and eat bananas, saw their beautiful cloudy weather outdoors and had a great visit.

Work
Dad is on the final week of this years' project phase one. There were lots of meetings but they didn't go as late in the day on Monday. The goal for his group was to locate Four million dollars in potential savings, and by Friday, they had located over Eight million dollars worth. Now for the next phases that put these forecasts into reality.


Monday was a very busy one for me. I decided the living room shelf paint had cured enough (not quite 3 weeks but almost) so I refilled them with the photos and things that haven't been there since September (I remove everything around the time I decorate for October and don't replace till after Christmas).

That took awhile since I thought I was done, but knew something was missing, and had to return to the music room to get another case of frames.

Living room completed!

 I cleaned, dusted, did more baptismal laundry (there was more at the stake center when we returned the stuff from Saturday), finished prepping the income taxes and delivered them to Meikle Financial, got my phone all working at Sprint, did a LOT of cub scout prep for the meeting this week, cleaned the washing machine filter and door/liner.The rest of my week included lots of preparations for my cub scout duties. They are doing an archaeology activity which required creating their own dinosaur dig. I had bags of sand and plaster of paris premixed and Sister Day and I added water, mixed and they boys created a dig. We also made fossils. They had a good time just running around the room at the end. There was plenty of peas to pick, carrots to pull and chop, laundry to do, beds to make, floors to mop and vacuum, etc. to keep me very busy and exhausted by days end.I did Kayty's taxes on Friday and finally got the kitchen floor mopped.


Dad's Garden
Snow peas are going like crazy! I picked this variety of carrots on Friday.

Tomato plants are getting bigger and bigger. The grape vines are starting to get their leaves.We cut up more lettuce and chard for dad's salads wthi week.

Dad's Truck
No truck work this week.

Year of the House
I also got the ceiling painted in the Master bathroom, got it emptied, scrubbed, and reput back together.

 

In the kids' bathroom I did some paint tests on the cabinet. I need to decide between colors. I am pretty set on a taupe color for the walls, and I will probably paint that on my next week off.

I also finished the trim painting of the front porch.

The master bedroom painting is complete...until we install new doors.

Other highlights
Dad's dental appointment on Thursday ended up being three fillings, rather than the crown and root canal he had feared.

Dad, Ethan, Cameo and Kaylee headed to Lake Pleasant for a fishing trip Friday night. They had a good time and did well.





 

 

 Family Fish Tally So Far in 2016

Late Sunday night, Dad got a treat. Dad is a favorite with a lot of the kids in the ward since he shares Smarties candy with them. He has some "regulars" that he gives every Sunday, and some are TJ Perkins (Nate's Friend and former Young Men's Leader and Boss) kids. They brought him by some warm cherry pie to thank him...

Thank you TJ, Jeanette, Gage, Talia, and Evie Perkins!!!


Not so highlights
We are healthy and thankful all our family is healthy too. We learned on Sunday that another friend has been challenged with cancer, and since they had to enroll in Obamacare in January, they have no chemotherapy coverage.

Thanks, Obamacare. These are two older college professors, one a former Arizona Republic Reporter. These are not lazy losers...Employed, even in their later years, and hard working.