Week of November 19 - November 25, 2023

Spiritual

We had a good Sunday. Sacrament Meeting was wonderful as we heard from a very recently returned sister missionary who served in Washington Kennewick Mission. Primary went well and we have a new Primary presidency with a wonderful new primary president. Choir was lots of work. Cameo stopped by for a visit later. 

Dad was able to attend the temple this week on Friday. 

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

I have indexed 15,076 records and reviewed 22,598 records so far this year.

Family

The Wilkins Family

The Wilkins Family is busy and doing well. Allison has her big test coming up this week and she is busy studying and preparing for that. She also has a work evaluation to prepare for the next week. Mike has been picking up some extra work hours for Christmas. Adam's job is going well. Grace continues to be very busy. She enjoyed a fun Powder Puff Football game with other girls at her school. Joshua is working on a Potato Powered Science Project. He is in the research stages now. Sam is doing well. He showed me his beautiful bird house, or rather, bird mansion, that he created at activity days. He had a band mishap and needs a repair on his baritone. He showed me some of his basketball skills too. 

The Ethan Rice Family

We were so happy Cameo had some time to stop by for a visit before she flew back to Georgia on Monday. Her dad is still in intensive care but holding his own. 

Thanksgiving was very good. Kaylee made the cranberry marshmallow salad on her own for the first time. They had such a lovely meal and a good time. I found out on Saturday that Cameo's dad was released from ICU to a Critical Care Hospital on Monday. That is positive news. 

The Doran Rice Family

I forgot to include that last Sunday, Papa could go and watch Kooper in his Primary Program. He did a wonderful job and the program was excellent. We so enjoyed sharing Thanksgiving with Doran, Amber, Kelsie and Kooper. Doran made wonderful candied sweet potatoes!! Kooper and Kelsie got a plate together for Amber's sister who was ill and couldn't come. 

Morgan

No news from Morgan this week. 

Kayty

Kayty had only one day working on-site and two days working from home, which she enjoyed. She was a great help with Thanksgiving dinner prep. We have ricing 15 pounds of cooked potatoes down to an art. 

The Nathan Rice Family

Nathan shared his Thanksgiving good news: another deer! Congratulations Nathan!!

Thanksgiving was wonderful with a great hike, deer hunt, and Annie's Pecan and Ellie's pumpkin pies! They also were able to go fishing on Friday. Sadly, Ellie's glasses fell in the water and could not be found. 

I got a wonderful Facetime call from the girls right before bedtime. Their elf, Rosie,  had visited and brought them donuts that morning and they are so excited. Ornaments are being hung on their tree and decorations are being put up. They might even have snow in a couple of weeks. It is Christmas at the Rice's in Arkansas. 

Dad's Garden

Swiss Chard, collard greens, and lots of radishes are being harvested. Basil is still holding on, even in the colder weather. We got fewer key limes this year but Dad has been juicing the ones we pick up. Chickens are now laying eggs in the hen boxes. We now get four smaller eggs. 

 

Other highlights

Monday, I made the cheese ball, the peanut butter ball, the ranch dip, and pureed the cranberries and sugar, plus cut up Nano Carrot sticks and celery. The celery was rough to get enough for both some sticks and stuffing. On Tuesday, I baked Grandma's Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cake. We purchased a pumpkin, pecan pie, and rolls from Sam's Club. Wednesday, I roasted the largest turkey and Dad smoked a smaller one. Thursday was Thanksgiving. Lots of work, peeling and preparing 15 pounds of potatoes, and a smaller but still hungry crowd. All in all, it was a wonderful time with a wonderful family. 

Friday was clean up, packing up all the Thanksgiving decor... a sad day when pumpkins and fall colors are put away, and spent Friday and Saturday working on decorating the rest of the house. We also took a little drive Saturday evening to look at Christmas lights. 

Week of November 12 - November 18, 2023

Spiritual

Sunday was good at church. Great talks and primary went well. Cameo needed us to pick her up from the airport and deliver her to the hospital where her dad is, and we gladly did so. 

We were able to attend the temple this week. I attended an endowment session on Tuesday morning and Dad attended on Friday evening. 

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

I have indexed 14,741 records and reviewed 22,419 records so far this year.

Family

The Wilkins Family

Happy Birthday, Allison, at 1:02 am on November 12th. The weeks have been full of school, work, church responsibilities, and life in general. Mike is doing well at work, though he had a rough setback when someone stole his car from their home. He was able to locate it through towing company records but is still fighting the insurance company. Allison enjoys work and continues working on completing her Master's Degree. She has a big test coming up that she is preparing for. Adam is doing well at his job. Grace is fully busy nearly every moment of every day with classes, homework, church responsibilities, and helping a lot around the home. Josh is doing great and recovering nicely. And Sam is enjoying school and doing great. 

The Ethan Rice Family

Cameo traveled to Arizona Sunday to be with her dad, who was suddenly very ill. She could work while she was here and still spend a lot of time with him. So far, he is holding his own. Ethan was able to keep up working from home and Kaylee and Wade were super helpers. 

The Doran Rice Family

Doran and Amber needed help taking their beloved dog, Tod, to the Emergency Vet, so I picked him up, and went to two veterinary hospitals to find the help he needed. After long waits, he was determined to be very very ill with a poor prognosis so he passed away. All are devastated and have spent the week working, in school, and feeling sad. 

Morgan

Morgan and Cassie made a surprise visit to town on Thursday. They brought us yummy spring water. 

They are doing well and busy working most of the time. 

Kayty

Kayty had a good work week. She took some time off on Friday. 

One major low this week; first in a long time. 

The Nathan Rice Family

Annie messaged me a happy greeting on Saturday. They had plans to play at a park and she was looking forward to it. 

Dad's Garden

Lots of basil made for a great Sam Chicken dinner this week, plus some to give away. Still harvesting radishes daily. 

Other highlights

Gravy Day dawned rainy this year. Rain was the first test of our new roof installed two months ago. So far, so good. Made gravy and froze it, and also made the cranberry sauce. 

Week of November 5-11, 2023

Spiritual

We had a wonderful Fast and Testimony Meeting this Sunday. No more talk of their ward or our ward and there were many inspiring words shared. Primary was back to normal class time and all went well. The rest of the day was quiet as usual. 

We were not able to attend the temple this week due to six month shut down. 

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

I have indexed 14,610 records and reviewed 22,218 records so far this year.

Family

The Wilkins Family

The Wilkins Family is doing well. They had a typical week of work and school and enjoyed a Friday school break for Veteran's Day. Grace and Joshua were able to travel on their day off to St. George Utah to visit the temple open house. 

The Ethan Rice Family

Kaylee and Wade Marco Polo'd me before school on Thursday morning. They were all ready to go and were so sweet to send me a happy morning message. On Friday, there was a wonderful Veteran's Day Celebration at school. Kaylee's choir performed and the kids had an awesome time. 

Cameo's Dad, Wade, celebrated his birthday this week, though it was sadly in the hospital. He is struggling with some health issues and he is in our prayers. 

The Doran Rice Family

Amber spent time training in town and in Tucson. She is more needed locally so her trip to Nevada was called off. Doran is working longer hours at work now and the kids are doing well in school. 

Morgan

No news from Morgan this week. 

Kayty

Kayty had a really good work week and had some good bracelet sales. 

The Nathan Rice Family

Annie messaged me on their way home from co-op on Friday. She shared a science experiment they had worked on.  Nathan helped the girls Facetime on Friday night. I got to talk to Eve and see her entire cute face! Annie is doing well and got a pretty ring from one of her friends. Ellie has not lost a tooth for quite a while. She likes school and reading. They also enjoy learning gymnastics and going to a new part that just reopened. They are doing well and very busy.

Dad's Garden

Lots of radishes, collards, chard, and basil were picked this week. 

 

Other highlights

I spent the week getting the Christmas tree up and decorated. Again this year, more strings of lights were no longer working. I love the shape and fullness of my tree though, so next year I ordered new lights to put on as I put the tree up. That way they won't show like they kind of do now. I do love putting up the tree and I enjoy each and every ornament and the memories they bring. 

Sadly, an animal got in our yard Thursday and we lost Red Robin, our oldest hen. So very very sad. 

The mesquite tree out in front again lost another limb in the wind. Dee had trimmed quite a bit of weight off it in September and we were hoping that was the last limb loss. We have a trailer filled with branches that we will take off to the dump, with more parts of the diseased saguaro and dead barrel cacti. Nathan always loved that tree, and it sure seems that this year, it is trying to commit suicide since he left town! 

Week of October 29 - November 4, 2023

Spiritual

Sunday was our primary program. It was fun and went well. And since six weeks ago, half of us were not in the same ward, it was a miracle. 

We were not able to attend the temple this week due to the biannual shutdown. 

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

I have indexed 14,452 records and reviewed 21989 records so far this year.

Family

The Wilkins Family

The Wilkins Family is doing well and is as busy as ever. Mike likes his work at Amazon and now qualified to convert as soon as an opening arises. He is doing very well. Allison continues to work hard on both her degree and with her sweet second-grade class. Adam's job at the school didn't work out but he still works at the theater and enjoys that. Grace is very busy with church and school responsibilities. Halloween left her full of activities at both her old and new high school. Josh is out of his cast and is slowly recovering. Lots of pain but movement improving. Sam is the happiest guy, though right before Halloween the poor guy came down with two ear infections! Halloween trick-or-treating was great and the family had fun doing their traditional meals and games and pumpkin carving. 

The Ethan Rice Family

The kids had great costumes this year and enjoyed trick or treating. 

 And Ethan and Cameo!!! This family LOVES Halloween!!!

The Doran Rice Family

Doran and Kooper invited Papa to come and target shoot with them. They had a good time. 

Amber spent some of the week working in Vegas preparing for a NASCAR event. She was even interviewed by ESPN.

Morgan

Morgan and Cassie are doing well and are busy working and staying warm.

Kayty

Kayty had a good work week. She dressed up for Halloween as Kim Possible. 

She loved that red hair so much that she is now going to dye her hair red. 

The Nathan Rice Family

This family had a great Halloween. They spent the holiday carving pumpkins and enjoying time with family. The girls are doing well at homeschooling and enjoying Friday co-op activities. 

Dad's Garden

Radishes, basil, oregano, and chard are being harvested and eaten. 

 

Other highlights

After days in the attic and trying everything we could, Dad called Gary Wilkins to try to figure out why we had no electricity in the living room. Gary had the right tools and after lots of testing, it was determined there was a loose wire in the power box going to the living room breaker. Thank you, Gary!!

Saturday was nativity scene day. I will try to get the tree up on Monday next week and spend the next few days decorating it. 

Thanksgiving is going through a menu revamp for a smaller crowd.