Week of March 6 - 12, 2017

Highlights:

Spiritual
Dad and I attended the 4:30 pm temple sessions...him in Ogden and me in Phoenix. Both were wonderful sessions, though mine was a bit better attended than his was. I also attended the 6 am Wednesday morning session at the temple. It was lovely to be greeted by President Driscoll and all the workers that said, "So good to see you! We haven't seen you in awhile." Dad was able to do some Initiatory Work at the Bountiful Utah temple on his way to the airport.

I wrote a visiting teaching letter to Tracey on my route and included a message, a handout, and the Relief Society newsletter. I was emailed on Thursday that Visiting Teaching assignments are changing, and though I have the same route, I have a new companion. I am already friends with her, though we won't be able to do much together since she works during the day and will be moving to Idaho in a couple of months. I have one sister that can only be visited late mornings. Next month, she can write the letter to the sister and I guess that will be all we can do.

Dad went home teaching with his companion Sunday night and got one family visited.

I am in Alma 32 in my Book of Mormon reading

I have indexed 7528 records so far this year.

Family

The Wilkins Family
Kayty kept the Wilkins entertained on Monday night with a new version of The Game of Life. I enjoyed the videos of the kids doing various challenges. I was very glad that Kayty's ballet moves were far better than Adam's.

Grace's school basketball team played in playoff games Monday and Tuesday, though they lost a game Tuesday night.



School and activities kept them busy throughout the week. Allison shared a pic of the kids having fun, Adam on his new bike from Grampa and Grandma Wilkins, and Grace on her skates.

 Allison shared on Facebook...
 When you're in the middle of scrubbing a toilet and you hear your kids yell, "Mom, we're going outside to pull a Napoleon Dynamite," it probably means they're doing this and not out earning money for college or helping get a friend elected president. ;) #atthisratetheywontbealiveforcollege

The Ethan Rice Family
Kaylee was here Monday

and Thursday

and Friday

Grammy's kitty sculpture. Not to bad for playdough! It looked great until the head fell off the next morning.

Kaylee's poster. Daddy is the king in the center with the big smile. She created clouds. I created bats. I also created bolts of lightning, but she didn't like that, so I turned them into banana trees.

On Saturday, they had a busy day, with photos, birthday parties and dinner with friends









 



 


The Doran Rice Family
This family spent Saturday out at the Chandler Ostrich Festival. Looks like a good time was had by all!


The Morgan Rice Family
No news this week.

Kayty
Kayty had fun in Vegas. She went swimming with sharks and rays on Wednesday



She said it was awesome! They chummed the water and she was able to fed the rays as well as touch them.

She cleaned out old clothing Saturday night, and made plans for job hunting, new driver's license, eye exam with new contacts, etc. 

The Nathan Rice Family
Nathan and Jessica had a busy week, working, school and Jessica's mom was in the hospital for tests. She went home Saturday but nothing has been determined as to what is wrong, so keep her in your prayers. Nathan worked long hours on homework and the Vegas project. Annalee has been well and is talking so much!!

Work
Dad had a busy day full of meetings and then left very early Tuesday morning for a business trip to Ogden. Hotel room was amazing. Food was awful!

His Thurday was nearly 15 hours of torture, demands, report after report, call after call, and even remembering something that hadn't been completed that got him up at midnight to finish and send off. He used a vacation day Friday to teach 4th grade, and that alone took the weight off his shoulders so he can face it all again on Monday.

I dusted, vacuumed, scrubbed toilets, mopped, fed chickens, picked peas, hauled out trash, cleaned out a kitty litter box, hauled back trash cans, filled trash can with room demo debris, dug weeds, laundered, and did it all again and again.


Dad's Garden
Kaylee and I picked two pounds of snow peas on Monday, and I picked I don't know how many snow peas while Dad was in Utah.


Year of the House Part 2
Dad worked on prepareing and pouring the base wall. Most use three 2x4 boards stacked up, but he is going to pour it. He drilled holes in the concrete and will set all thread into the holes so the base and thus the wall will be anchored to the floor. Jessica's dad was so kind to allow us to use his ROC number to purchase some marble for the countertops. We also ordered tile to complete the decorative strip around the shower...when it is put in.

Other highlights
 
I hiked on Tuesday morning. The wildflowers were absolutely gorgeous!

I hiked on Wednesday after my temple session, but it was sunnier and warmer but still beautiful. So, I ran longer runs by the temple on Monday, Thursday and Friday and was able to hike twice. Quite a treasure!

Not so highlights
My sister and I were talking on the phone last week. The subject led to dreams, hopes, things we thought we worked hard for, and disappointments. She said it was like we put each experience and the tender feelings that accompany it, and put it in a box, stored on a shelf. Most of the time, the box and those feelings are forgotten. It is often when someone else experiences the joy we missed that the ol' box opens up and those feelings of sadness, of "it will never happen in my lifetime" come pouring out, and almost envelope us. For me, it took a walk or two, and a lot of tears, to get those feelings back into their boxes and stored away. I do know that the "never" has become "not in this earthly life, but perhaps later" and that has given me the strength to put that box away. Hidden. Not forgotten. I hope the future openings and the feelings that flood out will be more endurable next time. It has been a long couple of days.