Week of June 21 - 27, 2020

Highlights:

Spiritual

Sunday morning was filled with Music and the Spoken Word and a couple of General Conference and BYU devotionals. 

Sunday was Father's Day and it was wonderful for Dad. Visits, phone calls, gifts and lots of love for a great Dad! 

He enjoyed talking to Ethan and family and loved his new grill light

He also enjoyed a great Marco Polo from Allison and family. 

Daily General Conference Talks and Book of Mormon reading and study of Come Follow Me continue.

I have indexed 10,882 records and reviewed 52,213 records so far this year. 

Family

The Wilkins Family

The Wilkins family is busy and doing well. He completed one class and work is good, plus he is also having to check the church building regularly since they have found people living in some of the church buildings. He had a good Father's Day. For dinner, he requested Chicken Fried Steak (which everyone seemed to love, Gravy, Cole Slaw, Corn, Cantaloup and the requested Pineapple Upside Down Cake. Allison continues to work six hours a night at the temple, preparing for its limited opening in early July. Adam's knee is very, very bruised, but the swelling is somewhat down. He will go next week to get his stitches removed. His sleep schedule has been turned upside down, and often sleeps during the day and is awake at night. This also interferes with his eating, since he can't prepare his own meals. Josh has been so good to fetch him a sandwich or hot pocket when he needs to eat at night. Grace is doing well and helps out a lot with getting Sam to bed and cleaning up the house while Allison is at work. She has been watching a movie called "Love, Kennedy". Josh is busy helping out and reading this Summer. He loves Diary of a Wimpy Kid and is working on reading The Wizard of Oz. Sam completed his First Grade Kahn Academy Summer math work so he got a new Pokemon Game, a booster pack, and a Nestle Crunch Bar. 

They have neighbors that are lighting tons of fireworks day and night that they get from the Indian reservation (the illegal ones). Grace got burned from the ash since they often fire them towards Allison and Mike's house, and their poor cat, Elle, is terrified. 

The Ethan Rice Family

It was an interesting week for this family. Wade apparently decided to taste a coin, which led to unspeakable gloved searches in the potty, and after a night of pain, a trip, and Xrays at Urgent Care. All ended up well and he is doing fine and is as spunky as ever. We are so thankful!!

The Doran Rice Family

Doran and Amber and family had a good and busy week. All are well. There was a brush fire near their old house that began Friday evening (their old neighborhood was evacuated) and they experienced some ash in their pool at their current home. 

Morgan

Morgan dropped by on Sunday morning for a quick Father's Day hello and to pick up something he left here. He had a busy Sunday of auto work ahead of him. 

Kayty

Kayty is doing well and had a good week at work, Since she hates wearing face masks, she was asked by her employer if she wanted to continue to work from home or return to work in the Fall, and she said if masks were required, she would rather stay home. 

The Nathan Rice Family

We enjoyed a Father's Day visit from Nathan and family and had a good time tasting the new very spicy hot sauce they gave him for Father's Day. 

Emma started feeling poorly on Sunday and ended up struggling with fever for a few days. They had planned a Monday night Family History Family Night, but that was postponed due to Emma's struggles and their lack of sleep. Nathan was very very ill beginning very early Tuesday morning and lasting all week. Dad squeezed some orange juice for the girlies and we left the juice and treats at their door on Wednesday. Friday night, they hoped to rest since the girls seemed tired, however, not to long after bedtime, mayhem ensued. 

Saturday, Nathan started not feeling worse, but Jessica started feeling worse. 

Dad's Garden

Tomatoes are toast. 728 tomatoes were the final tally. Basil is still doing well and Dad is squeezing the last juice from a few oranges. 

Other highlights

On Monday, I got a call from the dentist that someone had canceled their cleaning appointment, so I was able to go on Wednesday and had a good check-up, with no cavities! Always such a relief and a blessing. No more appointments in 2020. 

I contacted all my ministering sisters this week, just to make sure they know I am thinking about them. 

Nano continues to struggle with what is apparently a urinary tract infection. She refuses to drink anything but soda, which is not helping her urine output at all right now, plus her current doctor was awful in their office response, so Sharynn and I sat on the phone and she got a new primary care physician for mom, who Elizabeth suggested. Scott ended up dropping off an antibiotic for her and got to visit for a few minutes, but her spirits are still pretty low. 

Thursday was a shopping day. I went to Sam's Club to stock up and then headed to Trader Joes for the first time since last year. I restocked the shelf-stable whipping cream stash. I also finally got to go to Hobby Lobby, and what did I find???

The Pumpkin Wall of Happiness!

Such a fun time!

Dad worked all week creating more food storage space. 

Week of June 14 - 20, 2020

Highlights:

Spiritual

We had a very enjoyable Sunday that included our traditional Tabernacle Choir Broadcast and two talks by Apostles on BYU tv. We spent time studying Come Follow Me and then Grandma came for a visit. After we partook of the Sacrament, we continued reading and dad contacted some of his Ministering families on the phone. 

I continue listening to a General Conference Talk every morning and studying in the Book of Mormon after jogging. 

I have indexed 10490 records and reviewed 50809 records so far this year. 

Family

The Wilkins Family

The Wilkins Family is doing well while constantly adjusting to new situations. Michael continues to work for Amazon, complete his studies, and apply for jobs. Allison returned to working at the temple at night this week too. Adam is slowly getting better. He had a rough initial recovery, especially dealing with pain meds. It was better when the outer bandages could be removed and ice could be more directly applied. 

He did finally feel like celebrating his birthday with a delicious Texas Sheet Cake. 

Grace was so excited to get signed up for classes at high school. They finally contacted a friend who helped get her in touch with those who could help. She picked some great classes. It was odd though, since she wanted to sign up for French class but that language was not offered. 

Josh has been enjoying hikes with Dad. He practices his piano and loves to go to the park and earn money for Beefy Fritos Burritos from Taco Bell. 

Sam caught 20 pokemon last week. He also likes to do Pokemon Yoga and demonstrated the Lizard Charmander Pose. 

The Ethan Rice Family

Ethan and Cameo had a busy and good week at work, and I enjoyed visiting with Kaylee for a bit on Friday afternoon. They are busy as ever. Kaylee said it was hot outside so they try to stay indoors as much as they can. They are looking forward to a fun Independence Day camping trip.

The Doran Rice Family

Doran and Amber had a good work week. Rooms have been switched and Kelsie is busy decorating her new room. Painting in Amber's new office is delayed till water damage from a rain is repaired. Doran worked some long hot days this week but work is good. We enjoyed a fun visit from them Saturday morning. 

Morgan

Morgan has been busy working on auto repair jobs. He is doing well and had a brief fishing trip last weekend. 

Kayty

Kayty is well and doing well at work. She continues to watch movies and tv series during work. No news on a return day. 

The Nathan Rice Family

We enjoyed a visit on Monday night while Dad and Nathan looked at a tool on Offer Up. The rest of us had a fun time in the playroom. They also came over Thursday morning for a swim. 

Dad's Garden

Final tomatoes were picked this week. The final total was 702 tomatoes. I also picked a lot of basil that became pesto. 

Other highlights

My walks and jogs were full of unusual events this week: seven gunshots in rapid sequence by a 22 caliber gun sent me onto the next street and back home Monday, two strange young men on a walk Tuesday sent me in reverse on Tuesday, and some strange cars stopping behind me scared me to death on Thursday. Hopefully, it's just kids bored with Summer already. 

I talked to Nano and her caregiver, Elizabeth, a few times this week. Mom continues to have pain problems in her back and they did Xrays as well as urine tests to see if they could discover the problem. 

Dad emptied his music room more and has been selling his old vinyl albums and 45's. 

Made 5 recipes of pesto on Thursday that will become 15 meals. 

Maricopa County decided to require mask-wearing at all times while in public on Friday. I was opposed to this decision. They are not effective in preventing virus transmission and are terribly uncomfortable and restricting in this heat. I wrote to our city leaders as well as the governor last week. I have learned through all this that you do all that you can do, and then you let go of what you can do nothing about. 

Baked five loaves of bread on Saturday and they came out very well.

Week of June 7 - 13, 2020

Highlights:

Spiritual

We had another typical Sunday, though this is the first Fast Sunday without ward testimonies bein audio shared. We had a quiet morning of Music and the Spoken Word, two wonderful BYU devotional talks, and our own study of the scriptures Come Follow Me, and talks from our church leaders. A few phone calls, a visit with Nathan, Jessica, and the girls (including some kite flying and playing outdoors on a rare cool June evening), and Marco Polos with the Wilkins Family ended our day. 

No temple again this week. I was able to attend a Zoom Relief Society Presentation on Thursday evening. Five sisters spoke and gave some pretty good talks. I'm thankful for the inspiration to select all these sisters because I am sure each of the 31 of us participating were strengthened by one message or another. 

I continue daily General Conference talk listening, and began my fourth time through this week. I also enjoy my Come Follow Me Book of Mormon studies as well as my studies on my own. 

I have indexed 10119 records and reviewed 50143 records so far this year. 

Family

The Wilkins Family

The Wilkins week went well, until Adam got injured on his skateboard. Allison has a good week ahead as she gets to return to working in the temple in Las Vegas. Entrance for patrons is extremely limited (I miss being in the temple so much!) but she will have the opportunity to be there and feel that amazing Spirit. I enjoyed walking with the family as they updated the week. Grace got her braces adjusted with lilac and green rubber bands. She and Josh are great runners and took me and the phone camera on a nauseating, but thankfully short jog. Adam found out on Monday that part of his 17th birthday celebration on Tuesday would include knee surgery. 

Later that evening, Allison shared:

Surgery is done and he is home. There was more damage than anticipated (large piece of femur chipped off, meniscus tear) but his amazing ortho surgeon took care of it. Recovery was rough. Really rough. He was in a lot of pain and had extreme anxiety even after multiple doses of drugs. They were about to send him to the ER because of the amount of pain he was in, but the anesthesiologist was able to administer a nerve block which made him feel much better. 😀 He is pretty exhausted so we are going to have a birthday re-do in a few days. Thanks for all the prayers and well wishes!

Later in the week, Allison shared pics of a new front door resident at the Wilkins

A hummingbird is minding a nest right by their front door and window.

The Ethan Rice Family

It was a busy week for this family. They added a new family member last weekend...

New to them. Their Tacoma was getting such poor gas mileage when pulling their travel trailer that they decided to try something new. 

Kaylee had an exciting visit...from the tooth fairy!

They tested out their new vehicle by traveling to Chattanooga State Park for a fun family trip. 

The Doran Rice Family

Both Doran and Amber had a great work week. They have been doing some room switching in hopes of giving Amber a quiet office to work from. Kids had a good week too. I neglected to share Kooper's birthday party attire last week. He is ready for anything.

Morgan

Morgan came by for a visit on Saturday afternoon. He borrowed the canoe for an upcoming trip. 

He is doing well. 

Kayty

Kayty had a good work week. She has been giving instructions as to what she will have to have to return to work. They will give her two weeks warning. She forced us to watch Lord of the Rings 1 and 2 for hours and hours. 

The Nathan Rice Family

Nathan and Jessica had a good week. We enjoyed a couple of visits and playing with the girls...

We played Friday night while they had a date night. We enjoyed ice cream cones and some fresh orange juice. 

Dad's Garden

I still get tomatoes every few days. I used the little cherry tomatoes to put on a salad I took when we delivered dinner to a family in our ward whose father had brain surgery last week. They are nice because it's easier for kids to pick out cherry tomatoes! I also made two batches of pesto, which put six packages in the freezer for future meals. 

Tomato count: 663

Other highlights

We celebrated Grandma's Birthday on Monday night by having her come and enjoy a meal of Mexican Cheese Casserole, Layered Bean Dip, Homemade Salsa, salad, and her favorite BlueBell ice cream.

Dad also found out on Monday during a meeting with a supplier that the next layoff will be at the end of June. We are pondering whether to volunteer this time or at the end of September. Our stock had nearly returned to pre quarantine levels, but lost quite a bit again this week. We are trying to find out about insurance.

Dad did a lot of work repairing the ductwork in our house this week. He is putting styrofoam insulation on the actual air handler too. 

We had to figure a way to replace the car battery that had died in my jeep last week. WalMart was not open in the automotive center. We tried to contact the manager and corporate. Dad ended up just returning it to customer service. 

Week of May 31 - June 6, 2020

Highlights:

Spiritual

Sunday began earlier than I like. Dad saw some news on his phone. I choose to not add that to my life before I listen to General Conference and read my scriptures, so that is what I did. I heard some wonderful talks and enjoyed Music and the Spoken Word. Dad attended a stake Sunday school presidency meeting. We had a quiet day of reading. 

No temple attendance now or in the foreseeable future. I have not even seen anything happening there. 

I continue my daily Book of Mormon reading and study in Come Follow Me and on my own. I also enjoy at least one General Conference Talk each morning. 

I have indexed 9707 records and reviewed 49082 records so far this year. 

Family

The Wilkins Family

We had a wonderful Marco Polo visit on Sunday. First, this family took a brief and wonderful family trip to the Coral Pink Sand Dunes in Kanab, Utah. They rented a vehicle and an Air BnB with an awesome jacuzzi. They had so much fun climbing up the dunes and then coming down. Poor Josh was so excited about their trip that he didn't get much sleep the night before and was exhausted but he still managed to get around on those sandy dunes. Sam actually rolled down! Everyone was covered head to foot with lovely pink sand and they had an awesome time. On their way back, they stopped at Zion National Park, drove through the amazing tunnel through the mountains, stopped in St. George for a rest and played at an all-abilities park, and headed back home. 

Mike had a productive work week but found out that his site is not converting employees to permanent at this time, so they are looking into their options. He had a good birthday on Sunday (Happy Birthday Mike!) and enjoyed Southwestern Beef Wraps for dinner. His requested French Silk Pie didn't work out the first time, so he had a sweet treat thanks to Josh and they will make another pie attempt next week. Allison was excited to learn that she would return to some work hours at the temple. She has a dear friend and co-worker that she hasn't seen in such a long time. 

Adam spent last Saturday shopping at the outlet mall with a friend, (21,000 Fitbit steps!) and got a new Nickelboard Skateboard for his birthday. Grace is doing well. On their trip, Grace and Allison, who love to hike, hoped to be able to hike a trail or two in the area, but ended up exhausted hiking in that Utah sand - two steps forward and one step back. Josh has been such a great help to Allison. He has the gift of empathy and is always the first to jump in and help out. While Allison typed, Josh mopped the floors and did the laundry! Same is still a big Pokemon fan and loves to earn time to play. Their family scripture study will include Kahoot questions that Adam and Grace are putting together. New haircuts this week too!

Friday night was not so good for Adam. Allison shared, "Poor buddy dislocated his kneecap while skateboarding... and then fell on top of it, which caused it to fracture. After several attempts, the doctors couldn't get it back into place completely because of the swelling. 😪 He is in a lot of pain but pretty goofy because of the painkillers. We will see what the ortho says on Monday. 😕 Praying he doesn't need surgery.

The Ethan Rice Family

Ethan and Cameo and the kids sure enjoyed their Florida getaway last weekend!

They had a good and busy work week. Kaylee and I visited for quite a while via FaceTime on Thursday night as she played in her room, ate dinner, and talked about everything! Wade is now potty trained...Hooray!!! They spend time during the day playing with their toys and watching shows and enjoy pool time after work. They had a good Saturday and got to take a little drive. Haircuts were also in order. 

The Doran Rice Family

There have been many protests here regarding an incident in Minnesota involving a bad police officer. This has spread to neighborhoods everywhere. Monday night, it truly came home to our family. Kooper and Kelsie were out riding bikes in their neighborhood when all of a sudden, a car with four young adult black men began chasing them and yelling threats at them. Kelsie was absolutely amazing and kept Kooper going until they safely arrived home. Amber called the police right away, and Doran arrived home from work soon after. The police arrived and were absolutely wonderful! They calmed the kids and Kooper's dream came true as he sat in the police car, ran the sirens, and used the loudspeaker! So grateful for all the good officers that protect us. 

Morgan

Morgan is doing well. He and Dad got away to cool weather and fished on Thursday night and Friday. 

Kayty

Kayty had a good work week. She was told to take more vacation days now so she is trying to decide what days she would like to sleep. Not much to do elsewhere. 

The Nathan Rice Family

Last Saturday, Nathan, Jessica, Anna, Ellie, and Emma went up to Williams with Jessica's parents and got to enjoy the cool weather and visit BearZona. They had such a wonderful time! We visited with them briefly on Sunday afternoon after they had visited Grandma Dorrie. The girls came to play for a little bit while Jessica hurried to Walmart. (with the civil unrest continuing, our area Walmart now closes at 5 pm, so there is no way for Nathan to get off work in time to get groceries). We had a fun time! 

Happy First Birthday Emma on Saturday! 

We had fun celebrating on Saturday night! My phone died, so the video didn't take, but I did get a few pictures. 

Dad's Garden

More canning this week. This should be the last batch for the year. 

Not sure why it's upside down, but it is what it is. 

Still getting a few tomatoes, lots of basil, and some key limes. 

Other highlights

The SpaceX Dragon docked with the International Space Station on Sunday morning. 

After weeks and weeks, hours and hours of laying on the ground in heat and multiple failures,and many many prayers,  Dad was able to get his jeep repaired. Jesse Springston (yes our old neighbor) was able to help dad get started, and then YouTube took him to the next step. Thank goodness for a good machinist and a lathe that still works. This was NOT an easy job, and there were many times we were just ready to have it hauled off, but the repair is good. Not perfect, but very good, and he is back driving his car. Many thanks to Ethan for continuing to answer the phone day and night when Dad had questions, and for the willingness of sons to come help. 

We were blessed and found a car to replace my failing vehicle by a couple in our ward. It took hours on Saturday to get it titled and emissions tested, but it is now ours. 

Not so highlights

The violence and protests continue this week, every single night. We have a curfew from 8 pm to 5 am and we abide by that, although I do get to jog, though I am very careful.