Highlights:
Spiritual
We had a good Sunday, though not the most spiritual testimony meetings. Still, it was uplifting and Dad bore a wonderful testimony. Dad enjoyed helping in primary during Sunday School class. Choir practice was great as usual.
I attended a session at the temple on Tuesday morning, continuing building on my Temple Tuesday habit. Dad and I performed sealing ordinances on Wednesday and he attended sessions on Wednesday and Thursday nights.
I so look forward to coming home and studying the Come Follow Me lessons or reading on my own in the Book of Mormon right after my run. It gets me through the harder parts of my jogging trek ahead. I also love my experiences beginning my day with a General Conference talk or two before I ever see social media. It begins my day with learning and faith and hope, and even though I am almost done with my fifth time through, I learn something every single time. I completed my fifth time through General Conference talks and will begin again Sunday morning.
I have indexed 2192 records and reviewed 17933 records so far this year.
I attended a session at the temple on Tuesday morning, continuing building on my Temple Tuesday habit. Dad and I performed sealing ordinances on Wednesday and he attended sessions on Wednesday and Thursday nights.
I so look forward to coming home and studying the Come Follow Me lessons or reading on my own in the Book of Mormon right after my run. It gets me through the harder parts of my jogging trek ahead. I also love my experiences beginning my day with a General Conference talk or two before I ever see social media. It begins my day with learning and faith and hope, and even though I am almost done with my fifth time through, I learn something every single time. I completed my fifth time through General Conference talks and will begin again Sunday morning.
I have indexed 2192 records and reviewed 17933 records so far this year.
Family
The Wilkins Family
The Wilkins family is doing well and had a great last week. Mike and Allison are keeping up with the extra workload and staying pretty healthy. Adam had a great seminary activity last week where he was able to construct a ship similar to what Nephi constructed out of graham crackers, thus, a Nephi's Gingerboat! Grace is doing well and anxiously awaiting results of her tryout to LVA which will come in late February or early March. Last week, Grace, Josh, and Sam participated in their school's Apex Fun Run. Sam completed 21 laps and Josh and Grace completed 36. Hooray for three great runners!! Josh and Sam have been signed up to play soccer, and Grace is contemplating playing a season of volleyball. Sam is loving school and is reading a book about sheep, learning proper nouns, and practicing the Hokey Pokey to perform at his kindergarten graduation! After numerous tests and interviews, Josh was placed in the school's gifted program. A kind friend is giving the kids piano lessons without charge, which is such a very kind thing. While tough things happen, you get the chance to witness the good in others, and then you can sometimes share that same goodness with others. Paying it forward. On Sunday, they enjoyed grilled shrimp and cheeseburgers, and some of the family enjoyed an annual game on television. Saturday included an eight-mile practice for a trek this summer, as well as Grace's first Saturday night dance.
The Ethan Rice Family
Kaylee reminded me early Sunday that it was Groundhog Day and that the Georgia groundhog had indeed seen his shadow, via Marco Polo. We spoke via facetime with Ethan and Cameo, Kaylee and Wade on Sunday. The beds Ethan is making are just beautiful and he has made great progress. On Saturday, they went to a zoo and had the best time. Wade especially liked the peacocks! He showed me his toys and all the pictures of their family. Kaylee had to get to be for school, but we briefly talked to her too.
Cameo shared on Facebook: On Saturday, we took the kids to the Home Depot Kids Workshop and to Noah’s Ark Animal Sanctuary
Friday night was the Father Daughter Princess Dance at Kaylee's school. The whole family ended up going since Cameo was helping out. It was a wonderful event!
On Saturday...
"We went on a double date today with Katie Adair & Josh Adair . We went paintballing! It was Katie & I’s first time. We had a blast!! Thank you MaryBeth Sullivan Watson & Elizabeth Johnson Smith for watching the kids. You all are SO amazing for doing that. It truly was a good time."
The Doran Rice Family
Last weekend, this family attended a Monster Truck Jam and had a great time!!
They visited on Friday evening and we found out Kelsie won second place for the whole school in the Engineering Fair. Hooray for you, Kelsie!!
Morgan
I saw Morgan on Wednesday as he called and then came over with a friend to pick up a paint sprayer so he could help paint her apartment. He has also started the process of trying to get a job at the Auto Zone Distribution Center. He shared dinner with Doran, Amber, Kelsie and Kooper and the sister missionaries on Saturday night.
Kayty
One serious low on Sunday morning. Happy Birthday on Monday morning. She took a vacation day and slept in, and we headed out to get her favorite birthday cake. However, Costco no longer has that cake. Talk about disappointment! So, we found a nice brownie platter for her at Sam's Club that she could celebrate with. She had her annual review at work this week and did very well. Her boss said she likes how Kayty always comes into work happy. Wow! She sure isn't happy when she drives away! She had fun watching her favorite hockey team this week on tv.
The Nathan Rice Family
No news from Nathan, Jessica, and family this week. They did stop to pick up mail on Saturday night and we saw a sleeping Anna and Emma in the car and got to smile at a partially awake Ellie.
Dad's Garden
Tomato plants survived the freezing weather this week. I am picking snow peas and the carrots are still surviving.
Family History
Alas, I was so busy, I didn't recognize the dates, but January 21st was the fortieth anniversary of Dad's proposal to me. I sat and tried to remember dates and details. I even headed to look through my journal to see what I wrote, but I did not write in the narrative style back then, so I am going to share as best I can remember.
The Spring Semester of 1979 at Phoenix College was the first time I came in contact with Doran Rice. I was sitting by my friend, Jackie Hansen, in a Doctrine and Covenants Institute Class. A question was asked by our teacher, Brother Kim Johnson, and right behind me, a voice answered that question. There was something about that voice. Not sure what it was, but I remember noticing that voice. I do remember that I noticed who it was later. I played pool at the institute with him a few times. I told the Institute Secretary, Sister Starks, that I thought he was cute, but she said he already had a girlfriend. He did come to my house once, since I had been the editor of the Institute Newspaper, the PC Pipeline, and turned over the information of that position to him since I was the Glendale Stake Vice President Rep. I do think Sister Starks put a bee in his bonnet one time, and we did go on a date. We went and saw "Superman, The Movie". It was fun and I knew he was someone very special. However, it seemed that at that time we just didn't get together. We each ended up getting engaged to other people. I got a full-time day job and started school at night in the Fall of 1979. I was taking a math class and who ended up in there but Doran. It was for one night. It was the wrong class for him at the time. But I do remember him saying to me, "You know, you are marrying the wrong person." That sentence stuck in my mind for a long time. It ended up that the person I was engaged to was not as dedicated to the church as I felt I needed and we broke up on January 9, 1980. I was done with engagements and marrying, but within a day or so, Doran called me on the phone. I told him my news and he invited me to a Young Adult fireside where Donny and Marie Osmond were speaking on January 15. We never stopped talking after that night. (I will be honest here. I did fast and pray about him and eternity, and I had received an answer) On Sunday, January 20, he took me to his house and kept asking if I liked the house. Then we went and walked around the Mesa Temple grounds. We had a wonderful time, but nothing was said, so he took me home and was sat and watched tv till very late. It was after midnight sitting on the sofa in my mom's family room when I turned and looked, and he was down on one knee by me, and said, "Suzzy Kew, will you marry me?" I immediately said yes! I had to work the next day, and was totally exhausted but so very happy that one of my co-workers figured it out. Those poor ladies at work! I broke up with one guy and was engaged to another in a few weeks. The temple scheduler was probably feeling the same thing. I did cancel the May wedding to the other guy and then called back a week or so later to schedule the April 24th wedding, but I don't think the scheduler could forget the name "Suzanne Kew".
Now here we are, forty years later. What a wild ride it has been! So many things happened that I never ever dreamed of. Hard, hard things. Difficult things. Challenging things. Faith building things. Wonderful things. Some dreams never even realized, and some better than I ever could have dreamed of. So glad I said yes!!!
Alas, I was so busy, I didn't recognize the dates, but January 21st was the fortieth anniversary of Dad's proposal to me. I sat and tried to remember dates and details. I even headed to look through my journal to see what I wrote, but I did not write in the narrative style back then, so I am going to share as best I can remember.
The Spring Semester of 1979 at Phoenix College was the first time I came in contact with Doran Rice. I was sitting by my friend, Jackie Hansen, in a Doctrine and Covenants Institute Class. A question was asked by our teacher, Brother Kim Johnson, and right behind me, a voice answered that question. There was something about that voice. Not sure what it was, but I remember noticing that voice. I do remember that I noticed who it was later. I played pool at the institute with him a few times. I told the Institute Secretary, Sister Starks, that I thought he was cute, but she said he already had a girlfriend. He did come to my house once, since I had been the editor of the Institute Newspaper, the PC Pipeline, and turned over the information of that position to him since I was the Glendale Stake Vice President Rep. I do think Sister Starks put a bee in his bonnet one time, and we did go on a date. We went and saw "Superman, The Movie". It was fun and I knew he was someone very special. However, it seemed that at that time we just didn't get together. We each ended up getting engaged to other people. I got a full-time day job and started school at night in the Fall of 1979. I was taking a math class and who ended up in there but Doran. It was for one night. It was the wrong class for him at the time. But I do remember him saying to me, "You know, you are marrying the wrong person." That sentence stuck in my mind for a long time. It ended up that the person I was engaged to was not as dedicated to the church as I felt I needed and we broke up on January 9, 1980. I was done with engagements and marrying, but within a day or so, Doran called me on the phone. I told him my news and he invited me to a Young Adult fireside where Donny and Marie Osmond were speaking on January 15. We never stopped talking after that night. (I will be honest here. I did fast and pray about him and eternity, and I had received an answer) On Sunday, January 20, he took me to his house and kept asking if I liked the house. Then we went and walked around the Mesa Temple grounds. We had a wonderful time, but nothing was said, so he took me home and was sat and watched tv till very late. It was after midnight sitting on the sofa in my mom's family room when I turned and looked, and he was down on one knee by me, and said, "Suzzy Kew, will you marry me?" I immediately said yes! I had to work the next day, and was totally exhausted but so very happy that one of my co-workers figured it out. Those poor ladies at work! I broke up with one guy and was engaged to another in a few weeks. The temple scheduler was probably feeling the same thing. I did cancel the May wedding to the other guy and then called back a week or so later to schedule the April 24th wedding, but I don't think the scheduler could forget the name "Suzanne Kew".
Now here we are, forty years later. What a wild ride it has been! So many things happened that I never ever dreamed of. Hard, hard things. Difficult things. Challenging things. Faith building things. Wonderful things. Some dreams never even realized, and some better than I ever could have dreamed of. So glad I said yes!!!
Other highlights
Someone shared this on Facebook and I love it!
Dad did lots of woodcutting, stacking, restacking and cleaning up this week. Our woodpile looks awesome and the yard is getting cleaner over on that side.
I sealed the granite counters in both bathrooms and the kitchen island this week. I also did more organizing and cleaning.
It took nearly three hours of phone calls, record amassing and printing, form filling out, scanning and emailing but Mom had her podiatrist come and clip her toenails on Friday. The initial set up of these things is mammoth, but hopefully, once the transition is complete all will work smoothly. Scott and Jenny were again the awesome helpers and got a message to Mom as well as took her out for her favorite Mexican food.
We finally got the gift from Ethan and Cameo delivered to Wade and Liz Wallin on Saturday and had a great visit! They are doing very well and Tracker is hanging in there.
Dad and I got the rack for my laundry baskets cut and put together on Saturday. Dream come true!!
Not so highlights
Dad has had some frustrating dental problems lately. He had to get a new crown on a tooth in January. Right after that, another tooth chipped, but he and the dentist decided he could wait on yet another crown. And then Sunday morning, a filling just fell out of a tooth that was filled a year ago. He called on Sunday and left a message, and got in on Monday afternoon. He felt he should stop by Nathan and Jessicas and got to hug Ellie but they were leaving so he came home.
Sadly, the joyous Christmas tree in the window was taken down during the day on February 6th. I saw in early as I ran by, and then when I walked by that night it was gone. I guess it's ok to take your Christmas tree before Valentine's day...and I would never have one of my own up that long, but that tree brought me such joy these last couple of weeks. I am so thankful it was there!
Sadly, the joyous Christmas tree in the window was taken down during the day on February 6th. I saw in early as I ran by, and then when I walked by that night it was gone. I guess it's ok to take your Christmas tree before Valentine's day...and I would never have one of my own up that long, but that tree brought me such joy these last couple of weeks. I am so thankful it was there!
