Week of April 27 to May 3, 2015

Highlights:

Spiritual:

Dad was able to go to the temple Thursday evening. He had been so busy with work around here that he hadn't been able to go in a couple of weeks.

We had a wonderful Fast and Testimony meeting at church on Sunday. Our Deacons (age 12 and 13) and Teachers (age 14 and 15) participated in a Service Project on Saturday where they were able to play softball and help mentally challenged youth play as well. Young man after young man spoke and shared their experience and how it taught them to be a friend, to help, and to be happy in doing everything that you do. Most of our meeting was these young men coming up to speak. There must have been at least 12 deacons and four teachers. What an amazing group of young men!!!

Dad has been reading the Book of Mormon and will start Journal of Discourses when he finishes that. I am reading the Doctrine and Covenants and am on Section 122. I will complete it next week and start on the Book of Mormon.

I only had time and energy to index on Sunday morning, but I managed to do about 40 records. I am working on death certificates and it is always kind of sad to hear how people have died. In 1904, there were many deaths involving being hit by a train. So grateful for our safety standards today.

Family:

The Wilkins

The Wilkins are amazing people! Nothing gets these folks down! Vehicle not working didn't stop them, and Michael is amazing to work so hard to get it fixed...and to get the correct fix! And their friends are amazing too! They helped them with transportation, and one person even offered use of her vehicle. It is such a comfort to know that when we are too far away to help, they are so well cared for!

The Ethan Rices'

Doing well. I did find out that they celebrated their anniversary with dinner and then ice skating! Isn't that awesome!

Ethan took time on his only night off to take Dad to get the piece of wood for the bottom of his truck! So thankful!!!  Wednesday night at Ethan's Pizza job is family night, so Cam and Kaylee go and eat and watch him run in and out. Kaylee was especially happy about the chocolate milk!

Ethan and Cam, along with Wade, Liz, Jade and James, and of course, Miss Kaylee, shared our Mothers' Day pizza Saturday. Cam shared homemade salsa and chips, and Jade and James brought some sausage appetizers. Even though Ethan lives pizza most nights of the week, he helped create some great pizzas for all of us! They brought me a lovely orchid corsage to wear! Thank you so much!!

We received a surprise text Sunday at church inviting us over for some of Cameo's amazing enchiladas! She made two kids: regular and onion free...and both were amazing! Thank you for the yummy surprise end to our Fast Sunday!!!

The Doran Rices'

We enjoyed having Doran, Amber, Kelsie and Kooper join us for Mothers' Day Pizza! Doran helped with the pizzas, and gave me a limeade refil assist as well. Kelsie swam like a little fish, and Kooper had fun with the toys...

and our toaster!

Morgan

No news from him. He must be busy roofing in Cedar City. 

Kayty:

Kayty went to the dentist first thing Monday morning. She ended up having a tooth pulled and requiring a future root canal. You would think that would be a not so highlight, but her pain was relieved so that made it a superb highlight!

"Ruby" is still her driving buddy. They keep finding more things to repair with "Ellie". I am not sure about this repair company, but it is the one the insurance company recommended...

The Nathan Rices'

Nathan began training sessions for his new job at Lowe's. Lots of safety videos. Lots of "Don't start or join a union" videos. He worked on his truck in his spare time, and would come by to search for parts that he had left here.

He and Jessica spent tons of time working on homework. There was an entire day that Nathan was working, and they worked late into the night on Saturday night finishing and submitting so that they could be free on Sunday. We are very proud of their hard work, and so thankful that Nate's headaches are under control so that he can get to his college work.

Work:
Monday, Dad worked is new team position, and there was HUGE progress made with the teams he had been working with. They started using the six sigma tools to discern the problems...finally. He was so encouraged!!!

Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday were very long meetings for his old/regular Supplier Development Engineer position in Tempe. Dad came home Tuesday with possible food poisoning from a ready made beef sandwich he had at lunch. He got little sleep that night, but ended up feeling like going to Wednesday meetings, though he arrived late. Now, that ended up being a blessing, because he sat by a former supervisor who is looking for people like him in her organization (still Honeywell). The paperwork load for his Supplier Development position has increased dramatically. He is NOT a fan of paperwork. So, he is not opposed to finding another position before this one he is working in ends.

He had a great time at the group dinner at Rawhide and got to enjoy some fantastic and yummy food.


Kaylee and I had Caterpillar/Butterfly Week, and enjoyed reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar over and over. She painted her own caterpillar, did watercolor painting, made butterflies, etc.

The weather was on the very warm side, and she ended up Thursday and Friday in the pool with Papa at the end of the day. We had our first over 100 degree days, and we are trying to adjust to the warmer weather outdoors.  (Warm and sunny mornings mean warm slide and swing seats!)


Dad's Garden:
He picked three cabbages which became some awesome cabbage salad on Monday. Tomatoes keep coming in every day.

He planted some new, and highly recommended, varieties this year, with the promise of abundant and large tomatoes. So far, this has not come to pass. Big Beef has been a bust! Next year, trusted types.
We still get many tomatoes, but he had wanted thousands! We won't get that many, but surely enough to can.

Dad's Truck:
He continues to press forward, a part at a time. Lots of little parts go into a truck!

He was having problems making the tunnel ram fit under the hood. He finally gave in and bought a new manifold that would fit better. He wasn't very happy about the turn of events. We still have the tunnel ram, just in case it would work out after everything is done.

Other Highlights:
Even with my toe, I was able to get in a few great jogs this week. I am so thankful that, while it is sore, it didn't keep me from doing what I like to do.

We had a surprise afternoon visit from an old neighbor, Ernie Bunch and his daughter Elaina! It was such a surprise. They live in Cherry, Arizona, but had come down to Phoenix and stopped by to see Dad's garden. Too bad he was at work and didn't get to show them around. I pick and cook and freeze, but I have no idea what most of his plants are!

I have referred to our Mothers' Day pizza for Nano and Grandma. We had a great time!

I also enjoyed a great phone call from my sister, Sharynn. Her family and her nursing studies keep her very busy, but all are doing great, and it was wonderful to talk to her!!


Not so highlights:
 
There weren't many memorable not so good things this week. As I sit here, those not so good things ended up coming out for the good. It makes me so thankful that the Lord is in control, and knows what we need to help us get where we need to be. 

Week of April 20 - 26, 2015

Highlights

Spiritual-
I was blessed to be able to begin my day twice this week in a session at the temple. (And also blessed that I did not fall asleep!)

Dad taught the High Priest group on Sunday, a lesson by Dieter F. Uchtdorf. His week was spent studying and preparing.

I indexed quite a few names...lots of marriages in New York from 1924...and lots of difficult Italian family names to figure out. Computers and typing are such a blessing!

We also have a new bishopric in our ward. Our home teacher, Brett Edwards, is now our bishop, with Brother Shephard as first counselor and Brother Meikle as second counselor. 

Dad and I both completed our home and visiting teaching for the month this weekend. Dad has been enjoying reading some church literature, the Book of Mormon, and the Ensign articles. I have been working on the Doctrine and Covenants and am in section 63 now.

Family

The Wilkins
We had an absolutely awesome visit at the Wilkins this week! Adam is doing well in school, and showed us his original painting and report on the Burrowing Owl. He also played his piano for us and is doing great. It is amazing how far he has come! He is also playing a knight in the school play "Once Upon A Mattress".

Josh took this pic of Adam's Painting of a Burrowing Owl

Adam enjoyed my i-nonphone

Grace is a happy little lady. She likes school and is doing well. She is on the volleyball team and continues to improve each and every game. The last two games, she scored quite a few points. She and I had fun on the teeter totter and swinging.

Josh is as cute as ever! He is amazing at basketball and could bounce the ball on the back porch into a bucket. We did puzzles, teeter tottered, swang, and played hide and seek where he proved to be the most awesome hider. Grace and I failed to find him both times...and yet he found us right away.

Sam is getting to be such a big guy, and is a happy and smiling little sweetheart. He loved having some of Papa's birthday cake! He shows you were his tongue, his nose, his hair and his tummy are, and he loves having someone blow bubbles and playing with his brothers and sister. He is so friendly too and loves to have you hold him, though Mommy hugs are the best.

Though sometimes Sam is far too busy having fun to bother with eating, he sure thought Papa's birthday cake was pretty darned good!

Allison is a superb Mom and wife, and keeps a beautiful house and still has time to play Uno with Josh and give Sam hugs any time he wants. 

Mike is hard working and does such a great job. Their van was giving them troubles while we were there, and he worked and worked and looked things up on the internet and worked trying to discern the problem.

"Tiger", their visiting cat, had been absent...until he saw the white jeep drive up, and then he was begging for canned cat food, which Dad happily provided. I don't know where that cat put four cans of food in less than 24 hours.

The Ethan Rices
Ethan and Cameo celebrated 9 years of marriage this week. Kaylee had fun swimming, playing in the sand, and visiting The Butterfly Wonderland with Grampa Wally and Grandma Liza.

The Doran Rices
They are busy as ever, with work, school, and dog adoption events. Dad is trying to get Doran to do some detailing work on his truck, i.e. cool painted design on the sides.

Morgan
We discovered on Thursday that Morgan and his friend, Kyle, headed out to Cedar City, Utah for a three week roofing job. We shall see how that works out. 

Kayty
 Kayty started her week with her aunt Marina and Mike coming to her store to purchase a suit from her, and then they graciously took her out to lunch! So nice!!! On her tday off, she took advantage of having "Ruby" a few more days and took a day trip to the Grand Canyon! That girl amazes me so much! And...when she found out "Ellie" would be in the shop another week, she decided to head to Vegas for her two day weekend to see if she could be of any help to Allison.

Sadly, though, she had been dealing with a slightly achey tooth that turned into a full blown toothache three hours after she arrived in Vegas. We got an antibiotic called in by the dentist, but she ended up coming home early and cutting her trip short. Her other day off will be at the dentist's office. 

The Nathan Rices
Nathan and Jess started their online semesters and have been getting used to the homework requirements. Nate also got a great job at Lowe's, working from 4 am to 11 am Monday thru Friday doing loading and unloading. They went with Jess's brother and sister in law to the Phoenix Temple to do some baptismal work. It was their first time to go there, and they thought it was beautiful!Nate was a great help to Dad this week, and came by nearly every evening to get dad inspired.


Work
At the beginning of the week, Dad had determined he needed to make more headway with a particular individual that had been driving these teams in the wrong direction for a LONG time. Of course, the gentleman didn't show up for the first meeting of the week, and wouldn't answer any calls. When Dad got on to the second meeting, online, the gentleman (or nut!) was singing Christmas songs...just because he felt like it. Now, I am one who LOVES Christmas music, but a man...before a professional meeting...NUT!!! Dad did speak with his boss to gain some insight, and was given the ok to travel back to some place in Minnesota or Michigan to see how the wafers in question are processed. At least he will get a trip out of dealing with this nutty individual, though he has been chastising Dad over and over at the meetings about the wastefulness of this trip....like he is paying for it, or that it wasn't wasteful to pull Dad from his regular job to spend months trying to get this dude to solve a problem that has been ongoing for nearly a year prior!


Dad's Truck
Nathan has been so kind to share his time and come over to help Dad. There has been much discussion and changing of thought on the tunnel ram and how much room is under the hood for all that is needed. The engine still needs to be repositioned back further, which means pushing it out of the garage, lifting the engine, drilling more holes, re setting the engine and pushing it back. They did get the gas tank installed and Dad was able to grit blast and paint more things. 

Dad used his new birthday rolly carty thing to get the jeep ready for a Vegas trip. He is ready to put up the LED light that doran and family gave him on the porch, and the light from Ethan and family over his lathe in the garage.

Dad's Garden:
We are getting tomatoes every day, though there is some Blossom End rot, indicating calcium deficiency. Not sure how that is, as I am crushing massive amounts of eggshells! The tomatoes are great and we took some to Vegas to enjoy on BLT's and Nano took one home after she visited Saturday afternoon. 

Dad worked on putting some straw mulch down in the garden to see if that would keep the soil cooler and weeds down near his melons.

We also harvested some of the small cabbage for our dinner next Monday.

Other highlights:

It may not sound great, but a chest freezer can be a scary place, and I got a whim on Monday afternoon to do some organizing, and, with Dad's help, I got it in a better situation. All our juices are in one area, accessible under the removable basket. Meats, nuts, vegetables, and pizza stuff is all in similar areas with little possibility of stacks collapsing! Hurray for last minute ideas!

Our week ended with gorgeous weather! It rained while we were gone on Friday, and it was cool and breezy on Saturday. Next week may hit 100 degrees, so we treasure each wonderful weather day!

I got a letter from Adam and it was great to see his neat drawings! He is really good.

Not so highlights:
I did get the pool brushed four times this week...one of my least favorite chores. I also got some weeds, though it was on the hill out in the back yard while I was trying to discern what the neighbor was jackhammering. Yes, I am a nosy neighbor! Weeds got pulled, so I did something good.!

Speaking of that house, they did put a wall up in between our front yards, shorter than planned but taller than we had wanted. It doesn't even match the other walls, so it looks wonky. It remains to be seen what the final outcome of the house next door will be....

Yep...this is that former ugly white house with the plastic siding that faced North

They lacked enough pavers to make a complete circular driveway...rather odd.

Our sad little Kayty with the horribly aching tooth is presently on her way home from Vegas. I think that there is truly nothing worse than a toothache or a headache!!! Pain pills finally kicked in and we are keeping her medicated until she can get to the dentist tomorrow.

And, I foolishly went into the garage without my shoes and kicked a piece of equipment...