Week of August 22-28, 2021

Highlights:

Spiritual

Sunday was good. We had a missionary farewell for our bishop's son who will serve in Uraguay. Primary was good and my co-teacher shared her last message before she leaves to return to BYU. Dad attended our ward Sacrament Meeting and then attended the ward conference meetings in Sierra Verde Ward in our stake. 

I was not able to attend the temple this week but Dad attended a session on Wednesday and Thursday nights. 

My daily morning foundation of General Conference talk(s), prayer, scripture study and Come Follow Me study continues each day. 

I have indexed 12,497 records and reviewed 80,689 records so far this year.

Family

The Wilkins Family

The Wilkins Family had a busy week and got their home ready and listed for sale. 

The Ethan Rice Family

On Tuesday, Cameo shared some pics of the baby shower she and some friends put on. It was truly a family affair, and Ethan used their Cricket machine to create letters on the gift bags. He also made buttercream icing using Nathan's recipe.

The Doran Rice Family

Doran continues to recover from his surgery. His splint was removed on Thursday and the doctor shared the Xrays. Doran was surprised to see the size of the hole drilled into his bone and the number of pins he now has as part of his arm. He has pain and limited movement, but he is slowly improving. The kids had a good week and Amber is keeping up with long work hours and caring for a home. They visited us on Saturday and Kooper enjoyed a swim with Papa in the pool. 

Morgan

Morgan had a good week and he and Cassie went fishing on Friday night. 

Kayty

Kayty had a good work week (three days worth) and burned-up vacation time. She purchased an actual desk and desk chair and assembled those. 

The Nathan Rice Family

We visited Nathan on Sunday afternoon and had such a good visit. On Tuesday, they called and let us know they are now the coaches of The Pretzels, Anna and Ellie's soccer team! Happy Birthday Ellie on Friday included a fun pancake breakfast and we brought her a gift and tried some of her wonderful birthday cake created by Nathan. 

Dad's Garden

It was HOT this week, but basil and oregano are fine. Our trees have citrus on them and the grass has never been greener, thanks to weeks of rain. That does come with tons of weeds, which dad walks and pulls by the score each day. 

Other highlights

I had access to my car this week! Visited Hobby Lobby, Trader Joes, and a few Target Dollar Spots, though the word "dollar" is truly misleading. 

Dad was able to substitute school on Tuesday and Friday and he seemed to like it.

Dad had "vacation time" all week, but he ended up attending a meeting and solving a problem for a supplier on Monday, was gone late at night at another quality engineer's supplier late Tuesday night.

Dad and Grandma went to lunch on Wednesday. 

I visited Nano on Thursday for a birthday visit (birthday is Sunday the 29th). I got her a couple of new tops and some Lorna Doone cookies. She is healthy but her mental state declines each time I see her. 

Dad spent hours in 110 degree weather fixing a broken water pipe. Amazing how difficult a pinhole is to fix in a pipe directly after the meter box. 

Week of August 15-21, 2021

Highlights:

Spiritual

We had a good Sacrament Meeting. Dad attended a ward conference in another ward in our stake. Primary would have gone well, except another teacher decided to combine classes and took most of the time for his part of the lesson. It's okay. We had a quiet typical Sunday with studying Come Follow Me 

I was able to attend the temple on Tuesday Morning.  

My daily morning foundation of General Conference talk(s), prayer, scripture study and Come Follow Me study continues each day.  I completed my fifth time through General Conference talks on Sunday and began the sixth time on Monday. 

I have indexed 12,133 records and reviewed 78,316 records so far this year.

Family

The Wilkins Family

The Wilkins family is doing well as they work, go to school, and prepare to get their home up for sale. They have selected a realtor and now only need to clean the carpet. Their cars are holding their own. Adam is done working at Cowabunga Bay and began work at an Auto Lube shop this week. Grace had a good week at school! She enjoyed starting on time and going to seminary and school. She also joined the tennis team and got her uniform and had her first game. She is loving singing in Madrigals!! She also is performing baptismal ordinances in the temple this week. She is again serving on the Stake Youth Committee for another year. Josh got back to school, and aside from a few adjustments, is doing well. He loves playing dodgeball there. They have all adjusted to the driveline situation too. Josh will begin soccer practice this week. Sam was on time for school every day last week. He loves school, including the computer classes and making paper airplanes. His favorite books are "Henry and Mudge". He is busy planning a fantastic birthday party for his friend Pegasis this Saturday. 

The Ethan Rice Family

Ethan, Cameo, Kaylee and Wade struggled through the week with sickness but by the end they were starting to feel better. Not much else going on but keeping hydrated and doing what work could be done. Saturday was a good day and they are feeling more like normal. Wade can return to preschool Monday and Kaylee can return to school Tuesday. 

The Doran Rice Family

Doran had his bicep repaired on Thursday. He is doing well and everyone is adjusting to Dad being home full time. We visited on Saturday afternoon and brought them some chili burro fixings. Amber has a lot of illness in her office so she is running things single handedly. Doran is doing well at home...singlehanded as it is. Kelsie is liking school and Kooper shared all his rocks with Papa. 

Morgan

Morgan had a good work week and purchased tires and installed a hitch on our old jetski trailer and he is using it this weekend to take Crissy on a fishing and camping trip for her birthday. 

Kayty

Kayty had a good week and got some overtime hours in too. 

The Nathan Rice Family

Nathan and family took an amazing cake to Doran on Sunday and then brought us a very large piece. Delicious every time! He had a scary situation as a driver hit him on his bicycle. All seemed to be all right but he was sure mad and a bit sore. Annie enjoyed school this week, and Ellie and Emma are becoming excellent partners in crime. Friday was full of family fevers. They ended up going up on the Mogollon Rim on Saturday for some fresh air. 

Dad's Garden

With all the lovely rain, everything is growing...including tons of weeds. Dad walks around numerous times a  day and digs up weeds. 

Other highlights

On my Monday morning jog, I saw something in a driveway out of the corner of my eye. It was a full-grown owl, sitting/standing right there. He was camera shy and flew off. During the week, I was entertained by two groups of howling coyotes as I was out. The weather was much cooler than normal and very wonderful!

We were able to hike Thunderbird Park a couple of times while the weather was still cool and Dad and I made it to the top! The way down was treacherous since it was very dark and we had no light. 

Week of August 8-14, 2021

Highlights:

Spiritual

Sunday was good. We enjoyed a wonderful talk by another young man ready to serve a mission. This is a great young man who really had decided against serving a mission, and then shared the experiences and the process to bring him to the decision to serve. 

Dad and I were unable to get any temple appointments for this week. The schedule is all full. 

My daily morning foundation of General Conference talk(s), prayer, scripture study and Come Follow Me study continues each day. 

I have indexed 11,645 records and reviewed 77,214 records so far this year.

Family

The Wilkins Family

School began on Monday for the Wilkins family. So Sunday, they had their back-to-school feast, father's blessings, read "The Kissing Hand" book, and eat kissing hand cookies. They came out so wonderful and what a great tradition. Sadly, Grace has a tummy bug and had to leave church before young women. Grace had a wonderful time with her friend, Katelyn's family in St. George last week. She saw "Beauty and the Beast" at Tuacon (sp?) and had a fun time and lots of good food. Grace is so excited for school this year and has everything squared away in her schedule. Adam had a long night at work once this week, so he had to take the bus until Allison could get off and pick him up. Adam has worked a lot of hours and will be attending an orientation to work at Valvoline this week. He is now a part of adult Sunday school and Elder's quorum and is enduring some of the comments "grown" adults make. They had back-to-school night and got to see Sam's teacher and where he will be sitting. They also met all of Josh's teachers as he will be changing classes according to the subject this year. Allison really likes his social studies teacher. I did get to hear from Josh some of his fun experiences at camp that didn't involve any illness. He had a good time hatchet throwing and enjoyed the trampoline. (Word has it that there were two fifteen-year-old girls jumping at the same time that were quite taken with Josh's whit and sense of humor.) He also enjoyed Capture the Flag with water balloons (like a color war with white shirts and colored water) and he won the scavenger hunt (second place). He really enjoyed the seafood boil.  This week, the family went to the pool a couple of times, bought shoes and clothing for school. Josh also got to go to the temple and perform baptismal ordinances.  Their little red car is having some random troubles with dying. They cleaned out the other car so it's so nice for everyone to drive in. They nearly completed their summer bucket list, except for bowling. Sam's Town early morning bowling deals are no more. They got back to school haircuts and Josh's looked really nice! They keep a record of his haircut on file.

The Ethan Rice Family

Ethan headed out to Pennsylvania again early Monday morning. It was a challenging week as they were told Wade was exposed to the corona virus at preschool the week before. He started a fever and tested positive. Kaylee thus stayed home and she tested positive on Friday. The kids both ran fevers and have a cough but seem to feel well enough to have some fun. Kaylee sent me some pictures of dress up play. 

Cameo started the fever on Thursday and tested positive, and Ethan arrived from Pennsylvania to come home and take care of everyone. So far all are doing pretty good. Fevers were nearly gone and coughs were the only lingering symptom. Kaylee was excited to get a new Chromebook to do schoolwork on. 

The Doran Rice Family

Doran had yet another MRI to try to diagnose and plan his bicep repair. On Thursday, he was able to see a surgeon. It is a 90 percent separation of the bicep from the bone so he will have surgery next week, as soon as Workman's Comp does all it needs to do. Doran is going a bit crazy but is keeping the kids school work and housework caught up and cooking some fantastic meals... one-handed. 

Morgan

Happy Birthday Morgan on Sunday. He spent the day at the lake fishing and had a good week at work. He came over on Saturday and worked on his boat and making dad's jet ski trailer able to haul other things. 

Kayty

Kayty had a good week and enjoying the casual work dress afforded from being at home. She completed some projects to decorate her room she had been working on.

The Nathan Rice Family

Nathan, Jessica and the girls had a good week. School is much better and Annie was so excited to go to art class on Friday. They have so enjoyed having Jessica's grandma in town and have had some fun visits there. We played together on Friday while Nate and Jessica had a little date night. Nathan has been working on building his own kiln to cure his lumber. They are getting a few things done around the house for an inspection to refinance without PMI so that has taken a bit of time. Nathan's garden pumpkins were doing well until our huge rainstorm blew the vines all over the place. They are still hoping all works out well. The girls begin soccer in a few weeks. Annie and Ellie will play on the same team: The Peanut Butter Cups! 

Dad's Garden

Basil and oregano still thriving. Pepper plants are surviving the summer, though it has been a lovely one. Citrus continues to look good. 

Other highlights

Dad's extra work assignment has been going very well. He has been able to assist in many areas and they have expressed gratitude for his knowledge of the parts as well as suppliers that might be able to fill the immediate need. His only challenge is keeping up with both assignments. 

Dad mowed the lawn Monday morning while I went through completely dried raisins. The weather ended up cooler later in the morning than when I jogged.

Judy Pulver came by for a ministering visit on Monday. She had not visited in quite a while so we had a nice chat. I chatted by email with our families we minister to.

I jogged in drizzle on Tuesday morning and on Thursday, after carefully checking both my weather and radar aps before heading out on my jog, I was drenched in a downpour and jogged/swam home the last 3/4 mile. Nice and cool but quite a surprise. I woke up Saturday to pouring rain. I never could get my run in and our rain gage measured nearly 3 inches of rain. Our yard and pool love it!

Thursday was cool and cloudy: perfect baking weather. I baked three loaves of bread using the mesquite flour dad had ground up (about 1/4 of the flour was mesquite) and made some cranberry banana coffee cake. 

Dad and I took a few hikes this week too at Thunderbird Park. It was later in the day so we could only go part way but it was nice. The pic below expresses my displeasure at folks taking pictures of every single thing they do.

Not so highlights

Dad went to help at the local food rescue and distribution and found that the roof of the building had collapsed in the rain, breaking a pipe and flooding the facility. No food distribution now or in the near future. This was a small non profit so it was so sad. 

Week of August 1-7, 2021

Highlights:

Spiritual

We enjoyed a wonderful Fast and Testimony Meeting on Sunday. I never tire of the wonderful young men who prepare, bless, and pass the Sacrament for us. Primary went pretty well. 

We feel so blessed to be able to attend sessions at the temple this week. I attended a session on Tuesday Morning and Dad attended a session on Thursday evening. I tried to make another appointment as soon as I got home, but there are no available times for two weeks. Dad has to wait till the end of the month for his next opportunity to serve in the temple. 

My daily morning foundation of General Conference talk(s), prayer, scripture study and Come Follow Me study continues each day.

I have indexed 11,357 records and reviewed 75,380 records so far this year.

Family

The Wilkins Family

The Wilkins family is doing well and is busy working and getting ready for a new school year. 

The Ethan Rice Family

Ethan was able to spend another week working at home. It was a busy one. Kaylee spent the night with a friend and enjoyed doing make-up and creating a new pillow. 

Kaylee and Wade each had Meet the Teacher Night and both started school. 

The Doran Rice Family

Kelsie and Kooper started school this week. 

Doran, unfortunately, was injured on Monday and spent his week with MRIs, doctor and surgeon appointments.  They were hoping to get the correct MRI location by Friday so the surgeon could get a better picture of the work needed to be done. 

Morgan

Morgan is doing well and enjoys work. 

Kayty

Kayty got her oil changed at the dealership on Saturday last week, and Dad noticed the oil was leaking out, so the dealership sent a tow truck on Monday and brought it back to repair. Tuesday Kayty worked on-site and then was told to work remotely until further notice. 

The Nathan Rice Family

Annie started kindergarten on Monday and made it through her first week of school. It had its ups and downs but all in all she loves school! Ellie and Emma have become new partners, sometimes in crime. Jessica has figured out pick-up line timing and Nathan is doing well at work. 

Dad's Garden

Dad is readying the garden for fall. Our naughty chickens won't eat anything that resembles a fruit or vegetable...unless it's a pumpkin plant from Nathan. Basil and oregano are well. We lost a limb full of fruit on one of our smaller tangerine trees. 

Other highlights

I saw Orion on Monday morning. I always check at the beginning of August to see my first sign that Fall will be here soon. I woke early Sunday to take my meds but it was too early for Orion, but Monday morning did not disappoint. 

I ground up ten pounds of chicken breast into chickenburger and then packaged it up. I also filled a container with our own raisins dried in the sun and got another batch under the tarps. 

Dad's workweek was up and down. We are just continuing in prayer for guidance and direction. 

Sadly, I received a text that choir practice that I had so looked forward to and had so missed is cancelled indefinitely. Now, mind you, since day three of this virus/non-virus thing over a year ago, I never could have believed the step-by-step process that would happen in the name of fear. Instead of living in hope and positive, I steel myself to lose things again, since so many people are willing to give up privacy, respect for others rights, and individual freedom. It is a time I could never have even imagined. I am not sad over the loss of things I personally enjoyed, because I personally have to create enjoyment in things like cleaning the toilets and drying grapes. Life often doesn't turn out the way we hope, and as I get older and look ahead, I just try not to think to much...because I don't see much to hope for when people are so willing to give up everything to comply. So no choir. Very little temple service. But my toilets are very clean. 

Week of July 25-31, 2021

Highlights:

Spiritual

We enjoyed attending Sacrament Meeting and Primary this week. Dad helped out in another primary class. 

All temple sessions were full so I could not get an appointment for endowment ordinances this week but Dad was able to attend on Wednesday. 

My daily morning foundation of General Conference talk(s), prayer, scripture study and Come Follow Me study continues each day.   

I have indexed 10,978 records and reviewed 72,533 records so far this year.

Family

The Wilkins Family

The Wilkins family is well and Marco Polo-d me as they were making the yummiest looking jalapeno poppers! They cook them in the air fryer and they came out wonderful!! They had a rough Saturday. The power went out...only in their house. It was brutally hot, so they spent the day at the air-conditioned church building. An electrician friend came over who discovered the electric company was not sending enough power to their home. So they are on what I call electric power box bypass. Car is also having more troubles that they have diagnosed and need to repair so the car can be registered and inspected. On a good note, they got some discount tickets to a trampoline park and had a great time jumping there for 90 minutes and then had some yummy shaved ice. Butter Beer flavor was popular. They finished another Harry Potter Book and then watched the movie, which according to Sam was so creepy! They also enjoyed the park and the library. School starts in two weeks so prep is underway. She has also contacted NAU about their Master's Degree Program. I even saw Adam, which is rare these days with this busy guy. He did like camp except his phone was misplaced on the second day, but was so thankful to locate it in his things when he returned home. He has applied for a job as an auto tech/lube tech. Grace gave a camp report talk at church and gave a good talk. Grace is so excited and was asked to be in Madrigal Choir at school so she meets next Thursday at the school and they are discussing a potential trip to Disneyland. She went to the orthodontist last week and now only wears the retainer at night. Josh also gave a camp report talk also. Sam introduced me to his stuffed friend, Pegasus, who has had three birthdays already this year. Short life span. She is kind of sassy but accompanies the Wilkins everywhere they go. She has quite the birthday gift list as well. Sam showed me his new backpack for school. It is awesome!! It has Pikachu and lots of other Pokemon characters on it, plus a water bottle, a pokemon ice pack, and a lunch box. They plan to go early morning bowling, to Cowabunga Bay, and make moon sand for their final activities of Summer.

The Ethan Rice Family

Ethan was finally able to spend a week home and not in Pennsylvania and the family enjoyed it so much!! Grandma Liza came out to visit and the kids have enjoyed having her there. 

The Doran Rice Family

Doran, Amber and the kids had a busy week. Dad was able to help out by taking Kelsie and Kooper to the orthodontist while he was between suppliers in the area. Friday was full of dental appointments that Amber took the day off work for. They are doing well. 

Morgan

Morgan continues to work his regular position at work and gets extra work on the weekends. He and Cassie got a new boat they can take fishing and did so on Friday night, though a storm sent them home early. 

Kayty

Kayty took three vacation days this week which she used to reorganize her room. She worked from home Friday. She works on site normally Monday through Wednesday and then Thursday and Friday from home, when she takes a home fake virus test and has it picked up and tested to see if she can work on site the next week. Total silliness. Here are some pictures from the ballgame she attended a few weeks ago.

This week, the Cubs traded off most of her favorite players to other teams. Sports is crazy!

The Nathan Rice Family

Nathan and Jessica and the girls had a good week! Ellie struggled with a small tummy bug but she recovered in 24 hours. Annie had Meet the Teacher night on Wednesday and had a fun time while Ellie and Emma came here to play. Thursday was a very big day: the big ultrasound! And, the new baby is A Girl! We are so excited!! Nathan got some topsoil on sale to work into his garden. They also made a huge batch of delicious cherry jam.

Dad's Garden

Dad also got some topsoil to work into his garden. The rain has helped the basil come back and the oregano is even surviving the Summer. 

Other highlights

I had my final dental appointment to fill the root canal and fix a couple of spots on Monday. Since there was no pain involved, no novocaine was needed. Those shots are the worst so I was thankful! 

A produce company here offers cash and carry sales for produce. This week, they offered a case of cherries for $5, plus avocados and peaches by the case. We got a case of cherries that became a yummy snack plus 24 quarts of cherries in a light syrup which we canned on Saturday. I also went through cases of grapes and got them washed and stemmed and then out in the sun to dry into raisins. I picked some of that new basil and made pesto that ended up in dinner Friday as well as four batches frozen for future meals. Dad made lots of guacamole from those avocados which we ate and freeze-dried. 

Dad had his mid-year work review...and it was the worst he has ever gotten in his 42 years at Honeywell. He was told the excessive vacation days he took (he has taken 11 days this whole year) have hurt his suppliers. Dad works extra with his suppliers before he takes time off to prepare, leaves information with those filling in in case an emergency comes up (which rarely happens) and then works extra when he gets back. So this was totally untrue. He was faulted for companies not producing good parts, which he has no control of. He inspects parts. He is not in charge of production and while he would love to work with the supplier to help them improve processes, he is not permitted by his boss to do so. He was upset, but then as we pondered, we realized that one coworker may have been feeding the boss false information. (This is reminiscent of what Mike went through with a coworker that led to his losing his job) Dad doesn't have that much time left to work, and why work in such a toxic place. Dad NEVER can get time off work. He never misses, has done extra on Saturdays. One other coworker quit two weeks ago. Dad has already spoken with someone from another company who wants him to be their Quality Manager and he is going to talk to HR about retirement from Honeywell this week. He can then work at another company for the years he desires to. While he still aches from the false accusations, the Lord has often had to kick us hard to get us to make a change. 

Monsoon raindrops fell late Friday and early Saturday. I got to put on my hat and rain jacket and run in that lovely rain. Such a blessing!!!