Week of September 12 - September 18, 2016

Highlights:

Spiritual
Dad attended his regular temple session on Wednesday evening.

My wonderful visiting teachers came by on Tuesday morning. It was such a treat to just sit and talk! Sister Joanna Call is a few years younger than me, and Sister Emily Warne is a mother of 5 under 12 years. Its great to share ideas and experiences. The best thing about these visiting teachers is that, while our age span is wide, we can share and learn and enjoy!  I went visiting teaching on Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning, and that was a treasure with my new companion! It is awesome to have help!!! We had great visits. I have also been asked to serve as a visiting teacher for the federal women's prison branch. Since it is not possible to actually visit, I have been asked to correspond via letter at least twice a month by the relief society president of the prison branch. There are lots of guidelines that must be followed but I am learning and looking forward to helping. Dad did some home teaching on Sunday.

I am in Mosiah 4 in the Book of Mormon.

I have indexed 30,229 records so far this year.


Family

The Wilkins Family
Grace is still doing a wonderful job keeping me up to date on the family! I just adore texting her! She is enjoying school and her chair selection variety every day. She was invited by not one by two different friends to come and play on Friday, so she had to make a tough choice.She also worked on a project for school with her friend. They are creating a solar system made of cookies! I thought that was so creative!  Adam had a check up at the doctor on Friday.

The Ethan Rice Family
On Monday, Cameo, Kaylee and Grampy Wally tried out a new pizza place near them. The pepperoni and mushroom pizza was amazing!

Wade returned to Arizona on Wednesday. 
Ethan had worked for two weeks straight with no weekends, so Saturday was finally a family fun day. They completed a registry for Baby Wade at Babies R Us

The Doran Rice Family
No news from this family this week, other than Amber's phone is out of commission.

Morgan
No news from Morgan and Christy this week.

Kayty
Kayty had a week with lots of overtime at work.She participated in a last minute talent show for singles ward family home evening.




 
 She made arrangements for Luke to be neutered and that happened on Thursday. She took him and I went to pick him up. So far, he is doing very well.

Total saves this week: 1 major and 1 minor = 2


The Nathan Rice Family
This was a special week for this family! First, Nathan started another school semester on Monday, so Jessica and Annalee gave him a wonderful sendoff...

I have always heard they learn to drive YOUNG in Idaho, so it seems Annalee gave Daddy a ride to school.

I got to talk to them on Wednesday and FaceTime with Annalee. Nathan is enjoying school and will be supervising the machine shop on Saturdays.

It's First Birthday Week for Miss Annalee and she has been showered with love from all over the family!

What an awesome ball pit!!

 

 
Nathan's first week of school was good. He has already competed programming for his NC class and is working on multivariable calculus. Homework fills his Saturdays now...and he will be in charge of the machine shop on Saturdays at school within the next few weeks: a paid position.

Annalee's official birthday party was Saturday with their friends and neighbors. Nathan and Jessica created a wonderful Ball themed party!!

These amazing marbelized bouncy ball decorations are actually marshmallow fondant.

 

 

 
 

 

 

 And on her actual birthday on Sunday...


 

 

 



 



 
 Such a wonderful time for this little family!
 And a side note...as I predicted, Nathan did try to get through Annalee's ball tube and did get stuck...but managed to get out.

Work
It was a rough work week for Dad in so many ways! He had long Kaizen events at a supplier (not his) on Monday and Tuesday. His day started Tuesday with a very early meeting that included yet another Tech Lead being fired, as well as a few co-workers. He has lost four bosses/supervisors in the last year! That is never a great way to start a day! He did get interviewed on Wednesday morning for a Substitute Teaching Position, and is now an official employee of Glendale Elementary School District. Wednesday was full of supplier visits the rest of the day, both in Tempe and in Phoenix, and then Thursday and Friday were long Kaizen events at another supplier. He came home wiped every day. He had to do so much! Then, he had to work on Saturday...though it wasn't officially work. There are fewer people and more responsibilities and no work next week, so this meant a lot of time scheduling and contacting till late Saturday night. Phone and computer get turned off Sunday night.

Dad has been offered a substitute teaching position of P.E. coach on Friday and has already completed paperwork to serve as a sub in the Paradise Valley school district.

My work week included the typical dusting, vacuuming, laundry, cleaning, scrubbing, mopping, grocery shopping and meal preparation. Wednesday I had my annual physical. I went in fasting, so I had the exam, then ran to the lab for bloodwork (and for the first time, the technician hit something, possibly a tendon, that caused me great pain in my arm and later bruising for days),

 then ran to get a mammogram completed. I ran home, picked up Annalee's birthday card to mail at the post office, purchased flowers for a sister I visit teach (we missed her birthday last month), finally ate after fasting for almost 20 hours, did two Microsoft Excel lessons, then ran to a way-too-long visiting teaching visit, then changed my shirt and headed to scouts. I got the room all set up - we were to learn map reading and learn about the map legend and then walk around the temple grounds and make our own map. Things were starting great, and then one by one, each of the next eldest den of cub scouts (the Bear Den) started sitting with us. I looked and then their leader sat down in the back of the room. I asked and he said he was told to meet with us since his other leader wasn't there. I suggested taking each side of the room, since he had a big sack full of things and they do different things than our den does. Well, the leader just sat there...we did the flag and prayer, we did the oath and law, and I sat and asked each and every one of the huge group of kids what their best thing all week was. I then looked at the other leader and asked about going to both sides of the room and he just sat there. I had to get our stuff done...and we did get it done...but it was absolutely awful. The boys are not misbehaving normally, but together they were just absolutely wild! Not as much learning, I had no materials for the older boys. And then we had to supervise all of them at the end when they play in the cultural hall until...and the other leader absolutely disappeared. We were left watching all of them! Finally parents came, except for one of our boys...and we waited for 25 minutes to reach his mom and make arrangements. When I drove up, the garage door was open and the light was on, though Dad's car was gone, so I spent a lot of time searching for him. I finally figured out he was at the temple, so I closed up the garage, put my stuff away, cleaned up his dinner, and finally ate! It is wonderful to serve, but when I have a day like that, I am absolutely drained! Lots of key limes were picked up, lots of other things done...just a typical week.

Dad's Garden
Dad worked on the watering system, picked up a bunch of manure with my jeep and trailer. He is still working on getting seedlings to grow. This time of year with hot days and cooler nights are so confusing.

Dad's Truck
No truck work this week.

Year of the House
No house work this week. Only two weeks left and then I issued a work cease notice for October, November and December. Holiday times don't go with remodeling messes! We will improve the insulation in the attic and remodel the master bathroom in January, 2017.

Other highlights
None other than mentioned all ready


Not so highlights
Non other than mentioned all ready. 

Week of September 5 - September 11, 2016

Highlights:

Spiritual
I attended a session at the temple later Wednesday morning with a few of the sisters in our ward. One sister had not attended for nearly 15 years...just didn't want to go alone, so it was so nice to be there with her! Dad attended his regular Wednesday night session.

We returned the four loads of baptismal clothing to the Stake Center on Monday. We ended up having to straighten up the closets...kids clothing was in the adult closet and visa versa. Cub scouts kept me very busy this week! We had a hike scheduled, so Dad and I went on a trial hike, to check for times and to see what signs of animals and insects we could find. We found quite a few things, but it rained the next morning, which eliminated the javelina diggings, the cicada larvae holes, and the jack rabbit and hawk were long gone. It was ok. We did our best.



Cub scouts also included a visit to the family of our newest scout, and my walking back to Thunderbird Park after the boys were with parents. I had a cub scout committee meeting on Sunday to plan for the next few months.

I am in Jacob 6 in the Book of Mormon in my scripture reading.

I have indexed 28595 records so far this year.

Family

The Wilkins Family
On Monday, the family celebrated Labor Day with a trip to Discovery Children's Museum where they got to go in a hurricane box and feel what it's like to be in a hurricane. They cleaned their house and then had a barbeque with hamburgers and smores.

This is the Wilkins' Family garden. Their pumpkins are doing very well!!

On Thursday, Allison and Sam were able to eat lunch with Adam, Grace and Josh at school. Josh is turning into a ping pong lover, and barely stopped playing to eat something. He is getting pretty good and even defeated some of the older kids!



Hooray, Josh!!

Friday, Adam and Grace were invited to swim at a friend's house.They had a great time. Late Saturday night, Grace lost another tooth.

The Ethan Rice Family
Cameo shared a baby bump update on Friday

They continue to enjoy Grampy Wade's visit. They found a KFC with a buffet on Saturday

I picked up my phone to go to church and was very surprised by messages, emojis and selfies from Kaylee...

The Doran Rice Family
Doran ended up with a terrible allergic reaction on Tuesday.

He said the lining of his actual eye swelled up within 30 minutes, so he headed right to get some help. He  looked much better on Saturday.


Kelsie's 9th Birthday was celebrated Saturday night at Peter Piper Pizza in Avondale. I have never seen such a packed place...full of people and very noisy. Lots of friends and family came to celebrate.

Morgan
Morgan and Christy are doing well. He is very busy working on setting up Fear Farm.

Kayty
We rearranged Kaytys room on Monday, allowing for yet another shoe shelf unit. She got her closet cleaned out, got rid of things (a major miracle) and located a jewelry making kit she had forgotten. She spent her late Wednesday, early Thursday, making this...



Work went well this week.

Total saves this week: two on Thursday morning, one on Saturday and one on Sunday = four saves.

The Nathan Rice Family
Nathan, Jessica and Annalee enjoyed their last week of vacation from school. On Monday, they drove to Blackfoot Idaho (after a slight delay - walked out to find their tire flat, but Nate was able to plug it and they were on their way). Annalee liked the petting zoo and got to pet a pony and a goat. They found a fabulous thrift store having an awesome sale, too.They tried camping later in the week. Annalee had a difficult time sleeping in the tent, and thought it was a great time to play. I was so glad to be able to Facetime with her four times this week. Nathan is ready to start school next week. Almost half way done for him.They enjoyed a day at the park on Saturday, too. Nathan scored a working weed eater at Deseret Industries which turned into a motor for a future project.


Work
Dad's week was very up and down. There is a really down feeling when people know that they are going to not be paid for a week in the near future, and also that nothing will be accomplished for three weeks during that time, and the rumor of more furlough in December. It seems they are making it so awful that people leave...and many have. Dad has spoken to people that are the only ones left to carry the full department load. He, himself, is having to take over for two people who scheduled large Kaizen events when they knew they would be out of town so he would have to take over. Lots of meetings filled Thursday and Friday, but there is a real down mood over everything....like all forecasts and planning have an asterisk attached. Those who will no longer be employed will find out next week, and those who remain will then have no work and no pay the next week. Hard to make any progress in anything under these circumstances.


My work included dusting, vacuuming, scrubbing the bathroom, laundry, cooking, shopping, restocking the years' supply, updating the budget spreadsheet. messages and calls regarding cub scouts, trimming grape vines, caring for the chickens, selling more items from the playroom,scrubbing bathrooms, weeding, gathering key limes, using antiseptic to clean the poking woulds from gathering key limes, and making prickly pear jelly. I also began Excel training, but only had time to do one short lesson this week. I am going to have to schedule time in the future.

Dad's Garden
Dad's seedlings are growing well. He is anxious to plant them! He has already worked soil and is doing some trial seeds in a smaller bed using the method we learned at the Preparedness seminar on Friday.

Dad's Truck
No truck work this week.

Year of the House
He got the doors routed on Saturday. Now he will build the cabinet and we need to determine the right stain.

Other highlights
Hurricane Newton did not make a direct hit on Phoenix, but ended up giving us a few moments of rain on Wednesday.

I finally made some prickly pear jelly on Thursday. Oh, the smell of that juice cooking brought so many good memories of Fall. I told Dad to come and smell...I said, "That's the state fair!" It was crazy but so fun to prepare all that fun stuff for the fair!

Friday, I took Nano to her eye doctor appointment. We had a good time and a great visit.

Friday night, Dad and I attended a bi stake preparedness class at the Peoria North Stake Center. It was about beekeeping and urban farming.

Saturday morning, Dorrie and I headed out to Millie's Hallmark for our annual trip to see what Dept 56 village pieces are on sale, as well as looking at the set up there. We then enjoyed walking around The Brass Armadillo and then had lunch.


Not so highlights

It's not so fun waiting to see if the job is ending, and thinking that the furloughs will continue every three months. We are praying and pondering what we might need to do if things don't settle down. No decisions of course, but we want to be ready. 

Week of August 29 - September 4, 2016

Highlights:

Spiritual
I started my Wednesday in my favorite early morning temple session. I did some work for a friend that will complete sealing her family members in Gilbert this Saturday. Dad attended a session Wednesday night.

I helped train the new webelo leaders on Tuesday. On Wednesday, we had a great cub scout meeting, and had one of our cubs who typically cannot come there. We are preparing for a hike next week.

Our stake baptism calling kept us crazy busy all week. There are so many things that need to happen and people that need to be in the right place at a certain time, and then people try to make things easier for themselves which end up complicating everything for everyone else. And then Dad give a phone call to every family to inform them of what they need to bring, and what time to be there. Finally late Thursday he had everyone contacted. Other than the fact that we, along with the high councilman Brother Whiting, allowed the font to overfill...again!, the baptism was great. Every family left with very blessed and happy children.

Much speculation involving our stake realignment. It will be interesting to see what really happens next month!

I am in 2 Nephi 27  in the Book of Mormon

I have indexed 27166 records so far this year.


Family

The Wilkins Family
Here is how the Wilkins week began...

They started school this week. Grace said the first day was wonderful except for the fact that their a/c was not working when they got home. They got it fixed and she said school went great. She loves her class, her teacher and her flexible seating (that refers to what they sit on, not where they sit). Adam likes his classes and Josh loved it, even though a full day of first grade was a bit tiring!

Tuesday was Grace's 10th birthday. She has been looking forward to this for so long! Their cake plans had to change when the house was so warm but all ended up working out perfectly and the princess birthday celebration was a success! She loved the pinata and received a beautiful princess dress from her best friend, Katelyn.
This is what Allison shared about her on Facebook
"10 years ago we were blessed with this sweet and spunky girl! She is so kind, giving and nurturing. She is a wonderful little artist, LOVES to sing and dance, loves to party plan (at least once a week she gives us invitations to a themed party held in her room), is SO good with younger kids and babies and writes me a sweet note almost every day. I am so thankful for her!!! Happy Birthday, Miss Grace!"
And there were so many wonderful comments...not just Happy Birthday but such kind words of how wonderful Grace is.

She now has a blog, and she updated with the following words...

hi!!! I am 10 now!!! For my birthday I got a boombox, a refill for my oven, and a CD!!! the CD has my favorite song!!! it is "I won't say I am in love"!!! it is the best song ever!!! I love that song!!! it is from the movie Hercules!!! the best movie ever!!! I was thinking I could perform a song from that movie!!! it is going to be on the 11th for grandparents day so grammy, grandma, grandpa or papa, please come up at least 1 of you!!! so you can tape it and share it on facebook!!! I hope you can come up!!!

 She is also saving for an American Girl doll and has nearly half saved. 

The Ethan Rice Family
This family had another busy week. Cameo took that nasty glucose test early in the week. No news means good news, we suppose.

 Cameo and Kaylee took an enjoyable walk on Thursday

Ethan messaged Dad on Dove Opening day (note below) and his opening day was not until September 3, and there is a Hurricane hitting Florida on Thursday so no telling how that will affect hunting. He hadn't gotten a license yet as of Thursday.

I received this greeting from Kaylee on Friday

On Saturday, Grampy Wally flew out to spend time with them.

Hurricane Hermine didn't bother them at all, and we are so grateful!!

The Doran Rice Family
Doran and Dad talked on Tuesday evening...about hunting...and other stuff.

Happy 9th Birthday, Kelsie, on Friday, September 2nd.


Dad and Doran hunted on Saturday. No joy in Mudville, but they had a great time being together.

Kooper enjoyed my cleaning out the playroom. I sold one kitchen, and, since he loved playing at our house with this one, he got it.

Morgan
No news this week. We heard he has a new job and starting a new job is always rough.

Kayty
Kayty had a good week. She had bloodwork done on Wednesday and a doctors appt on Thursday. Her numbers were not good, so she is going back in three weeks. Thus, she is taking too much insulin, and I had a major save on Friday morning...two times...and one on Sunday morning. She is worth keeping alive, so I don't mind...

Work went very well this week and she ended up getting a few overtime hours in as well. She enjoyed church on Sunday too. Luke is being a pesky little boy cat, wanting to cat around at night. The coyotes would love that! So he sits and whines at the door all evening. Kayty is getting him fixed soon....but not soon enough!

The Nathan Rice Family
 Here are more pics of Nathan's "hunt"

Nathan and Jessica spent their early week packaging up meat. They bought a simple hand grinder and ground up seven pounds of deerburger on Monday evening. Nathan is using his last few days before school begins to study SixSigma and Lean Manufacturing.He and Jessica started a portion control healthy eating plan. He was near death on Thursday but seemed to survive.

Hope Jessica survives him!

All else for the family went well. They have one more week before Nate starts school.

Annalee has been a bit grouchy, but it's probably due to teeth coming in.She is loving the venison though. They made an awesome pot roast and she loved it!!

Work
Dad had many meetings all week. We received a "surprise" email late Thursday (after the stock market closed) announcing another furlough week from Sept 19 - 25. Lots of people are very angry, since there is still a layoff looming in a few weeks. Dad did get on the phone right away and found that his fingerprint clearance card had been ok'd and will be here next Tuesday. He contacted the school district and found out what he had to do to get a substitute teacher certificate. The paperwork was completed and mailed on Friday. He received an email late Friday that they would meet their new boss on Tuesday in a big meeting.

My work included the typical mopping, vacuuming, dusting, scrubbing toilets and tubs, laundry, as well as cleaning up more fallen leaves under the grapevines,grinding up a ton of eggshells,picking up fallen key limes (and disposing of the smaller ones),and doing some clean up on the back porch.


Dad's Garden
Dad is getting ready for planting. He also removed the shade covers from his pepper plants, since they are beginning to bloom. He also started his seeds in the planting pots for the winter garden: lettuce, romaine, swiss chard, chinese cabbage, collards.

Dad's Truck
No truck work this week.

Year of the House
His router bit came on Wednesday and he spent the next days working on preparing the router table for finishing the cabinet doors.We will need to start on the bathroom soon or it won't get finished this year, so not sure if the cabinet will get done. We will see.

Other highlights
Happy Birthday, Nano on Monday the 29th. She had a good day and we enjoyed talking on the phone.

September 1  Always Opening Day for Dove season...except for today. Everyone here had to work, including Dad who had scheduled a day long evaluation at a supplier, and ended up that the CEO of the supplier griped about the evaluation for an hour, and then only let Dad stay an hour and a half total. No hunt for the first opening day (except the ones that fell on Sunday) that I can ever even remember. Then notice of furlough came later. We will be able to tighten our belts and survive another very small paycheck (house payment, insurance payments, etc. are still deducted at the full amounts). It really wasn't a very happy kind of day...

Piano Tuned! I love it when our piano tuner comes!!! He gives us a mini concert after he is finished and it is just heavenly.

It was a good September 1 thing to think of Dad's dad, Doran C. Rice, on what would have been his 90th birthday!






Luke the Cat's current garage mouse count for the week is 2! They are gross to find, but I am glad they are dead and not roaming around out there!!

Not so highlights
Dad and I were the only two people in all of my Facebook, or in Phoenix/Glendale, or in Glendale North Stake, or in Thunderbird Hills Ward that were unaware ahead of time and thus were not in attendance at a football game between BYU and University of Arizona. The. Only. Ones. Our Sacrament meeting was full of visitors here to watch the game. I think I even saw a football player walking down our hallway. We knew nothing, and thus were home doing the four loads of baptismal clothing laundry while the rest of the people we know were at the University of Phoenix stadium.

I am so glad that BYU beat U of A in the last six seconds. Anyone beating U of A is great in my book!!