Week of September 24 - 30, 2017

Highlights:

Spiritual
We had a good Sunday. Fast and testimony meeting was very inspiring, and Dee and I substituted in the nursery for the rest of the time. We had a quiet Sunday evening.

Cub Scout Pack meeting was good this week and our den received lots of awards for things we had been working on for months.

I got my letter mailed to Jessie at the Women's Prison. My visiting teachers came on Wednesday and our home teacher came on Thursday. I also texted my last visiting teaching sister in Flagstaff on Thursday and updated her on ward happenings, and she updated me on her life.

General Conference was great on Saturday. Dad attended priesthood session at our stake center.

I am in 3 Nephi 11 in the Book of Mormon.

I have indexed 29406 records so far this year.

Family

The Wilkins Family
The Wilkins had a great week. Josh started with a special event for him: "It's great to be Eight" and learned about his baptism coming up in December.

Grace also spoke at this special event and did a fabulous job!
The Ethan Rice Family
Ethan and Kaylee spent last Saturday building shelves for the basement. They came out really nice and he is continuing to make more.

I got to FaceTime and see how well Wadey walks and gets around, and also chat with Kaylee, watch her climbing and balancing skills, and watch her do her homework.
Wade got to have a dumdum after his spaghetti dinner.

The Doran Rice Family
We remembered Charles' on Monday. He celebrated his 10th angel birthday. Doran had a good week at work and even got a raise. The kids are doing well and Kooper is doing great in preschool.

Morgan
Morgan is working very hard at work. Christy helped us get some Humalog from a neighbor.

Kayty
Kayty is working hard at work and getting lots of overtime in.

Three lows this week, two major with seizures. I didn't think I was going to get her saved the second major low.

The Nathan Rice Family
Nathan continues doing well in school and working. He was asked to join an Engineering Honor Society, Tau Beta Pi. Jessica keeps her little girls happy and healthy and they get to see each other as often as they can.

Dad's Garden
He is readying to plant his starts, though the weather heated up this week. He did get seeds planted on Saturday: beets, turnips, carrots. Snow peas are starting to sprout up, so we covered them with bird netting.

Year of the House Part 2
Our stone was delivered and installed on Monday and it came out great. Dad termite treated the wall and then poured concrete to fill the drain area on Tuesday.

He hurt his back so the rest of the week was on hold. Next week, he will caulk the wall bases, sand the drywall tape, paint on a sealer called Red Guard, and hopefully have Wade Wallin come over to create the shower pan with cement.


Other highlights
Weather still cool in the morning, though the air conditioning had to come back on.

My annual check up marathon is done. Mamogram on Friday. All other tests came back good. My meds finally came late Friday night, delivered to the wrong house, as usual.

I made two batches of prickly pear jelly this week. Both jelled and all jars sealed, which is a minor miracle.

Shopped with Nano this week, or, rather, shopped for Nano. I drove to her house, got her list and money, drove back home to pick up frozen hamburgers I got her earlier in the week, shopped for her, returned to her house, put all things away, ran her car for about ten minutes to charge the battery, and then came home.

I got the Halloween decorations put up. I left some in the boxes, and when it's cooler, I might just donate the stuff I haven't used to Deseret Industries. I don't decorate the bathroom anymore and other places I put decorations are not available. Everything still looks good.

Thanksgiving plans have blossomed into a great time. Ethan, Cameo, Kaylee and Wade fly here the day before Thanksgiving. Nathan, Jessica, Annalee and Elisabeth fly in Thanksgiving Day. Dinner here is at 2 pm. We will have the meal, sand volleyball, the playground and lots of fun. We will have cake and ice cream for Wade's first birthday. Nathan and family will get Nano's car and return home late Saturday or Sunday. Ethan will vacation here all week, and will head to Las Vegas Friday to visit with Allison and family. We will drive up to Vegas Saturday morning, attend Josh's baptism, and then turn around and return home. Ethan and Cameo will also return to Phoenix Saturday. Sunday, they fly back to Atlanta.

Not so highlights
Kayty's glucose lows are so scary. I am praying for Dad, since he will be the guy in charge for a week while I travel to Idaho to visit Nathan and Jessica. Please remember Kayty in your prayers.


This blog will not publish next Saturday, since I will not be in town, but hopefully will publish on the next Tuesday or Wednesday. 

Week of September 17 - 23, 2017

Highlights:

Spiritual
Sunday was our Primary Children's Program in Sacrament meeting. Lots of music and wise words from young children. We all learned a lot! I attended choir practice before church and we even started a Christmas song: a lovely lullaby by Sally DeFord. The rest of our church meetings went well. We were told that two wards in the stake were being realigned next week, and wards meeting in other stake's buildings will relocate to the two buildings in our stake. Thus, our already small two ward building that became a stake center a year ago will become a three ward building on October 8th with two of the largest wards in the stake meeting in our building. Parking will be challenging and I am not sure where I will have room to have cub scouts. All will work out in due time.

Dad home taught two of his three families Sunday evening.

Dad and I attended a session at the temple on Wednesday evening, since scouts was cancelled for Fall Break.

I enjoyed the Saturday evening Womens General Conference Broadcast. I took lots of notes and cannot wait for the talks to be available to print later next week.

I am in Helaman 14 in the Book of Mormon.

I have indexed 28821 records so far this year.

Family

The Wilkins Family
Kayty visited this family on Sunday and had a great time! They had a great week of school and work, and Allison and Grace enjoyed the Women's General Conference Broadcast on Saturday night.

The Ethan Rice Family
Ethan, Cameo and Family took a weekend camping trip to High Falls State Park.

The Doran Rice Family
Poor little Kooper. Seems he came down with Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease on Sunday. He seems to have healed up and was ready to start preschool on Thursday.

We had planned to watch the kids on Friday night so Doran and Amber could grab a bite to eat, but Kooper started running a fever again. Poor guy! He felt better on Saturday, but just took it easy for the day.

Morgan
Morgan is working a temporary job and fishing when he gets a chance. Doing well.

Kayty
Kayty started her week in Vegas. She had a great time and added to her insulin supply. She had a good week at work, though her hours were odd. She got a reasonable ticket to a Niall Horan singing event next year in San Diego, and decided she would let us come camp at the KOA and help her get to and from the concert. At least we will get some time out of town together and that will be fun. She also sold an old concert ticket so all was even.

Kayty seemed low a couple of mornings, but all was well and, even with getting up all night, she made it without any saves.

The Nathan Rice Family
Happy Second Birthday, Annalee on Monday. She woke to a room full of balloons, opened gifts, and later spent the day at their local zoo.

Nathan is kept very busy with school, work, labs, and rushing home to get a few minutes with "his girls" before he returns to school. Jessica is keeping on top of things with a two year old and a newborn. Nathan just missed some elk on Saturday, and wanted to go back out for an evening hunt, but had homework and a test to complete. They invested in Styrofoam to place in the windows to keep the girls nice and warm in their rooms. Jessica and the girls spent the evening watching the Womens Session of General Conference and may have started a new tradition.

Dad's Garden
Dad's seedlings are doing well.

Year of the House Part 2
This was a great Year of the House 2 Week! We ordered our stone from a stone finisher who will create our countertop, and give us the extra to perhaps make a countertop for the other bathroom sometime. Wade Wallin came over Thursday and helped Dad install the drain and get the drywall taped up. He was a great inspiration. Dad, meanwhile, took evenings to sand the bathroom cabinet and stain it a much darker color. I didn't want black, but as dark a brown as I could...Verathane Kona was the choice.

Dee had been working on the cabinet, sanding and staining the doors. We got a call from the stone guy on Saturday morning and he will deliver on Monday morning, so Dee devoted the entire day to sanding, staining, varnishing and putting a cabinet back together.

I
Other highlights
Running this week was heaven! I got to take the longer Temple run on Monday since I didn't need to check Kayty (I never am more than 15 minutes away from home now when I run unless she is out of town.) Mornings in the 70s, and in the 60s on Saturday. Heaven!

I had my annual check up...all went well! Thank goodness for another year.

Took Nano shopping and for bloodwork on Thursday.

Not so highlights
Friday night, when we were putting the hens in their pen, we noticed two were missing: Nipper and Brownie. We looked everywhere and could find not a spot or feather of evidence as to where they were. Maybe a hawk, but we are not sure...

Week of Sepember 10 - 16, 2017

Highlights:

Spiritual
My Sunday was good. I had a Cub Scout Committee Meeting and went right to choir practice. I won't be in town when they sing "Master, The Tempest Is Raging" but I am enjoying singing it till then.

Cub Scouts went well on Wednesday and we completed a few Adventures. Dad attended the temple Wednesday evening, and he went to perform some baptismal ordinances on Friday.

I am in Alma 57 in my Book of Mormon reading.

I have indexed 28258 records so far this year.

Family

The Wilkins Family
Sunday was the Primary Program. Here are some pics from Dad

Allison made this lovely dress for Grace. What a talent she has!!

The Ethan Rice Family
Hurricane Irma troubled this family early in the week. It had downgraded by the time it came to them, but there were strong winds and rain, and power was out.

Kaylee was home from school for three days. Ethan ended up being able to fly out to Indiana for work on Tuesday and returned on Thursday. While Cameo busily caught up work hours for the ones missed on Monday, the kids satisfied hunger...

Oops!

Their ward had planned a campout for Friday. The campground cancelled reservations and then reopened within a few hours, so Ethan and Cameo decided to camp anyway. 

The Doran Rice Family
Doran and Amber had a good work week. Doran and Kelsie attended our ward's Father Daughter campout near Flagstaff on Friday and Saturday. They arrived at the cabin compound owned by a member of our bishopric late Friday and got settled even though everyone was already asleep.
They enjoyed the lava tubes, though Kelsie hurt her ankle way into the tube and Doran had to carry her out and up over those terrible rocks, and then men in the ward carried her back to the start.

Morgan
Morgan worked at a temp job all week. He was able to help Kayty get some of her meds on Monday (he was the buff protector as Kayty went to an apartment to purchase her meds.)

Kayty
Kayty had a good work week, and made arrangements to meet last weekends lady in Vegas to get another two months worth of insulin. She headed up after work on Saturday.

Total Saves this week: One major with seizures on Sunday

The Nathan Rice Family
School resumed for Nathan this week. That means he has three classes each day of the week, three later in the day labs, works 20 hours and is on call at his job to program machinery. He got one of those calls early this week. Elisabeth seems to be doing well...

We were able to FaceTime as Annalee opened her birthday card. She was totally uninterested in her birthday check, but really liked the stickers! Ellie looked good and is gaining weight and growing strong. Nate had a busy week of adjustment to college and working, plus helping out Jessica with the kids.
They celebrated Annalee's second birthday on Saturday. She woke up to a room filled with balloons. She opened her gifts, went shopping and got cook pink boots with her money from us,  had a fun day with her mom, dad and sister at the zoo, and then ate pizza. A special birthday cake of brownie cake, strawberries, and whipped cream ended her special day.

I got to visit with them on Saturday and even talked a little with Ellie. She is more and more alert and you can see her focusing on people. She sure knows who her mommy is.

Dad's Garden
Dads seedlings are doing well, but the snow pea seeds he planted struggled in the heat. Dad might need to replant. Dates are still being harvested.

Year of the House Part 2
No work on the house this week.

Other highlights
I was blessed with jogs in the 70's on Friday and Saturday. 

Not so highlights
Jogging at 4 am...at 89 degrees. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, though Wednesday was a chilly 88. Weather tied a record high Wednesday of 110. Now, this summer has been pretty tolerable, so I hesitate to complain too much, but I am kind of tired of coming home a drippy hot mess.