Week of April 18 - 24, 2021

Highlights:

Spiritual

We returned to regular Sacrament Meeting and it was announced that we are returning to two hours of church the first Sunday in May. Sunday included lots of Come Follow Me studies. 

We are still not permitted to attend the temple, but it will open for limited use recommends for baptisms next week. 

I completed reading all the General Conference talks this week. My daily morning foundation of General Conference talk(s), prayer, scripture study and Come Follow Me study continues each day. 

I have indexed 5914 records and reviewed 44671 records so far this year. 

Family

The Wilkins Family

Mike and Allison are busy and well. They had a few car troubles with battery and then alternator troubles. They had a nearby place that fixed it in a day and now they are on the road going to work, soccer practice, school and everything. Their yard is looking great. Tree trimmers came and got the limbs cut that were harming their roof. The yard was filled with branches. The men did a great job and were so fast. Their credit card number was hacked and they found $500 purchases of cologne and watches from Nieman Marcus and Nike. They think things are taken care of. Adam does get an official high school graduation. With Covid, they are limited to four tickets each so they are not even sure Sam can come. Allison is going to take some pics of him in the downtown area and then make graduation announcements. He had a pretty good week. There is a joint school project so a few elementary school kids are writing a book for Adam, and Adam and a friend are writing a book for a student named Wyatt. Adam is also growing microgreens, basil, and mint. Grace is doing well. She is starting a business: cookie decorating kits. Great idea! She sewed a cute denim backpack this past week. She has been doing a lot of babysitting lately. Her school is undergoing extensive renovations and it's always a new adventure seeing what they have done. She enjoyed Stake Youth Committee Meeting and is looking forward to Youth Conference in a few weeks. Josh had a great soccer game on Saturday and they won by a lot! He is looking forward to getting a limited-use temple recommend so they can do baptisms for the dead. Josh also had a dental appointment. The family also got a stunt kite that they are having a great time flying. They are looking forward to attending Whispering Pines Covered Wagon Camp as a youth group this Summer. Sam is making a painting of Van Gough's Starry Night at school. He really loves reading! He had a crispy chicken sandwich on Wednesday and pizza on Thursday at school. 

The Ethan Rice Family

Happy Anniversary to Ethan and Cameo on Thursday. 

Ethan headed out to Pennsylvania early Monday and returned Thursday night. They had a good week that included tball games for Wadey. 

The Doran Rice Family

Amber and Doran were busy working. Kooper and I took Kelsie to see the doctor on Thursday afternoon.

Morgan

No news from Morgan this week. 

Kayty

Kayty worked a little overtime this week and put together a hall cupboard to store stuff right outside her room. She loved sleeping in on the weekend. 

The Nathan Rice Family

Nathan, Jessica and the girls had a good week. They enjoyed soccer practice and game, visits with grandparents and a trip to the Waterpark. They visited on Wednesday, brought Dad some chicks for his birthday and brought homemade cinnamon rolls for him to enjoy. 

Dad's Garden

Dad's garden is good. The winter garden is mostly done, and he will pick the last two cabbages soon to complete that. Now there are lots of dead and dying things to clean up. Tomatoes are good, though we are most certain that the seeds he purchased were NOT celebrity tomato seeds. 

Family History

Other highlights

Dad enjoyed a wonderful birthday on Wednesday with calls, cards and gifts that he enjoyed throughout the week. 

I completed my US History class this week. My piano practice continues daily. 

Lots of yard work and garden work. 

Happy 41st wedding anniversary to Dad and Mom on Saturday. 

Week of April 11 - 17, 2021

Highlights:

Spiritual

We enjoyed a wonderful Virtual Stake Conference on Sunday morning. 

Temples remain closed for work for the dead. 

I continue my morning foundation of General Conference talk, Book of Mormon chapter, Prayer and Come Follow Me study. 

I have indexed 5585 records and reviewed 42326 records so far this year. 

Family

The Wilkins Family

We were so blessed to be able to watch Adam and Josh speak in Sacrament Meeting via a link on the internet. That is the best part of Covid! 

Sam is Kid of the Week this week. Kid of the week gets to check the mail, make the special extra decisions, gets to choose the pizza sauce for the weekly pizzas, gets a special date with Mom and Dad, and doesn't get any meal scheduled for the week they don't like. 

They are working on a flower bed and it looks amazing! Lots of soil, installing a paver border and then lots of beautiful flowers! They have done so much work in the yard and it is looking so beautiful! Mike is doing well (I actually saw him on the Marco Polo!) and he has a job interview this week. Everyone is back in school now, at least part-time. Adam and Josh spent time taking care of a friend's seven tortoises, ferral cats, and water their plants. Josh will be getting his leg braces and insoles rechecked this week. When he wears them, they give him great pain relief. Grace had a good week and is nearly done with her braces. She also has CRT tests coming up. Josh had soccer practices and his first game this week. Sam is really reading well. He read a book to me and I so enjoyed it. He is also learning to make his own breakfast. Sam has been assigned a country report for school this month and he plans to report on England. muffin 

The Ethan Rice Family

On the weekend, this family went and had fun picking strawberries. 

Ethan traveled again this week. Wade also had his first tball game too.

Ethan was away in Pennsylvania all week but was able to see Wadeys game on Friday evening and Saturday morning. 

We spoke with them via FaceTime on Friday night. They all look tired but well. Saturday, they went fishing with their friends, the Adairs. 

The Doran Rice Family

I had no idea these last weeks had been so trying for this family! (Dad thought I heard the speaker phone call) The business Amber worked for decided to sell and the new company let many people go. She learned the other day that they would be keeping her on and they are thankful. Everyone else seems well.

Morgan

No news from Morgan this week. 

Kayty

Kayty worked overtime this week and had a good week. 

The Nathan Rice Family

This week was a good week. The days were spent working, weeding the yard, rebuilding Nathan's engine, weeding, soccer practices and games. 

Dad's Garden

Dad has been dehydrating lots of the remaining spinach, collard and beet greens, plus the beets and carrots and then grinding them up into a powder. Doran's crazy nutrition powders, we call them. Heck, it's organic, no pesticide, and non gmo so it might be a good thing. Even with our windy year, we still have many citrus blossoms turning to fruit on the trees. Tomatoes are doing well as are squash. 

Family History

More things from my Dad's military memorabilia

Other papers 

My Dad earned his Bachelor's Degree from Arizona State College. 

More military stuff

Other highlights

Dad worked on the jeep again this week. Brakes, more fuel injectors. Still unsure if it will pass emissions. 

Daily piano practice and US History course studies continue. 

The nicest thing happened on Saturday evening. We were heading out to Walmart and someone drove into our driveway. He said he loved our flags flying in the back yard along Happy Valley Road and noticed our American flag was a little tattered, so he brought us a new one. An embroidered, sewn, not merely printed on the fabric new one! Let me give you a little background. A large flag stand in a truck came into being during the Trump presidential campaign. They carried many various flags and a huge assortment of Trump flags. They set up shop on 99th avenue North or South of Happy Valley Road. We stopped by on the way to a Trump Train rally. They continue selling flags there and now have conservative speakers and singers perform on the weekends. He also gave us a police flag and an Arizona, Dont Tread On Me flag. That was just the kindest thing! That has been the most wonderful thing in the campaign and post campaign that I have seen: meeting the most wonderful and good people who love their country. 

Week of April 4 - 10, 2021

Highlights:

Spiritual

We so enjoyed listening to General Conference on Sunday and learned so much. I am already reading talks daily. President Nelson also announced the construction of twenty new temples around the world. Twenty! Stake Conference meetings were good on Saturday for us. Dad attended leadership meeting in person and we watched the adult session at home. 

Temples remain closed for work for the dead. 

I continue my morning foundation of General Conference talk, Book of Mormon chapter, Prayer and Come Follow Me study. 

I have indexed 5216 records and reviewed 38927 records so far this year. 

Family

The Wilkins Family

Allison got her new crown put in this week. She is very happy with it and now the pain she was going through is gone. This week was Spring Break and each person took a day to be in charge of the activities. Monday, Allison and Mike were in charge and they went to the Flamingo and saw flamingos, turtles, ducks and lots of hummingbirds. They ate chicken wings at a park. Tuesday was Grace's day. They went to Mt. Charleston. They did walk for about an hour along the road, since the trails are still closed for the Winter. They had a snowball fight, went to the meadow area which is sometimes used as a sledding area. They had a picnic lunch, hot cocoa. The day ended with Young Men and Young Women, and Josh's soccer practice. Wednesday was Josh's day - Circle Day - and they went to the park and played kickball. He had planned to do a stunt kite activity but it didn't arrive till Saturday. They also went to Circle K and then ate pizza. Thursday was Adam's day, and they went to Home Depot for the pipe and parts to make marshmallow guns and later they made homemade ice cream plus they went to see vintage pinball machines at a Pinball Museum. They completed reading Harry Potter and then watched the movie. Friday was Sam's Day and they went to a place called Pop... a Soda and Sugar Cookie shop. Allison discovered a Dirty Diet Coke and loved it. They also did the mentos in the diet Coke experiment. They watched Moana. Sam wanted popcorn chicken and instead got dinosaur nuggets. They also had homemade Cafe Rio. Adam and Josh were asked to pet and plant sit for their former bishop. They had a General Conference Pizza Cookoff, now a semi-annual event. Allison won with an alfredo pesto mixed pasta with onion, sausage, and mozzarella. Josh buttered his crust which made it puffy and very tasty. Josh, Adam, and Mike enjoyed Priesthood Session at home. They also enjoyed General Conference Cinnamon rolls. They hunted eggs and shared a fun Easter Basket. School has been enjoyed, the few times Adam and Grace have been able to attend. 

The Ethan Rice Family

Ethan and Cameo had a good weekend with family and friends celebrating Easter. 

Ethan again traveled to and from Pennsylvania all week. Kaylee had Spring Break and just had fun being around the house and doing what she wanted to do. The family is well and I spoke with them via FaceTime on Friday. Their garden is starting to grow and this weekend was spent catching up on some things that needed to be done. 

The Doran Rice Family

Doran, Amber, Kelsie, and Kooper are doing well and keeping up working and schooling either remotely or in person. Kelsie went on a hike with her ward at Thunderbird Park on Saturday. Kooper continues to enjoy karate.

Morgan

Morgan is doing well. 

Kayty

Kayty worked a lot of overtime this week. Eleven hours each day and five hours on Saturday. 

The Nathan Rice Family

Nathan, Jessica, Anna, Ellie and Emma are doing well. Work keeps Nathan very busy and he continues to complete projects at home. They enjoyed soccer practices and game on Saturday, had dinner out while the girls played here on Friday night, and went to the waterpark Saturday afternoon for a fun family date. 

Here is the picture of Ellie's poppies that she grew from seed. 

Dad's Garden

Weather is warm and the winter garden is bolting, so we have gotten snow pea seeds and dad has dried various leafy vegetables and ground to powder for a healthy addition to soups. I picked a few small tomatoes and the plants are looking good. 

Family History
More Korean War memorabilia from my dad. This included pictures of him and personal things like where he slept. 

Other highlights

Dad spent the week working on his car trying to get it running well, weeding in the back yard, and trying to get the company to figure out what is wrong with our six-month-old freeze dryer. 

I continue to practice piano and study United States History. I went through World War 1, the roaring twenties, the Great Depression, and World War 2 this week. 

I had wanted a unit under the tv in the family room that functioned rather than just be a table with cords hanging behind it. We found a china cabinet and the bottom of it fit perfectly there. I haven't decided whether to paint it or not. We ended up selling the table that was there for $30 so the cabinet cost $20. 

Nano is well and enjoyed Scott taking her to Easter Dinner at his mother-in-law's house.