Week of December 15 - 21, 2019

Highlights:

Spiritual

Our church meetings on Sunday were wonderful. I truly enjoyed our Sunday School discussion and Dad spoke with the high councilman in another ward on Sunday.

Choir practice went well and we are ready to present our Christmas program next Sunday.

Dad attended sessions at the temple on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights. I attended a session with the Relief Society sisters on Wednesday morning. I got most of my deliveries completed to my ministering sisters.

I completed listening to General Conference on my iPad for the third time and started my fourth time through. I continue reading the Book of Mormon daily reading.

I have indexed 22098 records and reviewed 70071 records so far this year.

Family

The Wilkins Family

This week continues busy for the Wilkins family. Adam has finals for high school. Grace already had her midterms last week along with her concert and did well. Joshua is hanging in there and had fun activities and parties all week. And Sam was so happy that his teacher returned Monday from maternity leave. We are so thankful for Facebook school sites since we also got to watch Sam sing and Grace get an ice cream award for having a lot of pride points. Way to go!!

The Ethan Rice Family

This was a good week for the Georgia Rice family. Kaylee participated in an ugly sweater contest and ended up winning for her class and for her school. She decorated it herself!

Ethan completed his yard decorating on Thursday night and face timed me the whole entire yard, which is beautiful!!!

The Doran Rice Family

Here are some pics from last weekend's visit to Santa at their ward party.

And of Kelsie's new hair color...

Morgan

Morgan is roofing with his friend Kyle and is doing well.

Kayty

Kayty was off Monday and Tuesday, burning up more vacation days. Unfortunately, on Saturday evening, she was getting a case of water into the back seat of her car and smashed her face into the car roof. She didn't say much, but the injury was pretty bad. I was concerned with her headache and how she was sleeping and was up nearly every half hour checking on her. I feared the worst and was concerned she had a massive dental infection. She did share her injury with me on Tuesday and the swelling was going down by then. She did the following as a paid job for a coworker.

The Nathan Rice Family

At Nathan's division of Honeywell, they had a cubicle decorating contest. His gingerbread house won first place! All created and hand-painted by him.

I enjoyed some time with the girls Thursday while Jessica briefly shopped. We played outdoors, ate snacks, and watercolored. 

Dad's Garden

Dad's tomato plants are looking great and are anxious to get into the ground.

Key limes are still falling and he spends a lot of time juicing. 

Other highlights

Dad and the boys Friday night canal fish

Week of December 8 - 14, 2019

Highlights:

Spiritual

Sunday was lovely with cloudy skies and rain. At the end of Sacrament Meeting, a group of men, with lovely voices, sang our closing song. It was absolutely beautiful and the Spirit was strong as our meeting ended...not a sound in the chapel. Relief Society was also great. We had visits after church from some friends and from an elder's quorum presidency member doing a ministering interview with Dad.

Choir Practice went very well.

Dad helped bring wood to the Ward Christmas Party on Friday night. It was held in the parking lot and they had fire rings for the kids to roast marshmallows in. Not a huge turnout and we left early before Santa arrived, but the Primary really made a great effort.

I continue to listen to a General Conference Talk and read the Book of Mormon daily.

I have indexed 21793 records and reviewed 67384 records so far this year.

Family

The Wilkins Family

Busy week for the Wilkins family, aside from all the working Mike and Allison do. Adam had a piano concert and grace had a chorus concert that both Allison and Adam recorded and sent to us. She did a wonderful job! Ward Christmas party on Saturday and enjoyed all, including a visit with Santa.

The Ethan Rice Family
This is from their visit with Santa on Saturday.

This family had a busy and rough week. Ethan worked hard getting all his Christmas decorations and lights up in the front of the house. Cameo came down with a bug and ran a high fever and couldn't work for days. She did feel well enough to make a lovely birthday cake for Ethan, which we saw via FaceTime on Friday.

Happy Birthday Ethan on the 13th. They went out to dinner and then came home to celebrate. 

Some more of Kaylee's artwork

The Doran Rice Family

Doran and Amber had a busy week working and Kelsie and Kooper were busy at school. They visited on Saturday to pick up a few more things to get to their home.

Morgan

Morgan is well and is working with his friend Kyle roofing.

Kayty

Kayty had a good week and enjoyed a fun company party on Friday. They attended a mystery theater presentation at Arizona Broadway Theater and had a great buffet meal. She also received a $25.00  gift card to Buffalo Wild Wings. Kayty got the recipe from Kim Meikle for the coveted pink frosting topped brownie bites they bring every Christmas.

The Nathan Rice Family

Nathan, Jessica, Anna, Ellie, and Emma had a good week. They came by a few times and we had fun playing with Legos and the Christmas things and they had a great time playing in the back yard with Kooper on Saturday.

Dad's Garden

Tomatoes are doing well in their start boxes. Garden looks good outdoors and many volunteering carrots have been protected with netting. I get an armful of key limes every day. One tree is loaded with tangerines. 

Other highlights

Santa's workshop has been very busy this week. No pics yet but he has been having a good time.

Dad's friends from his new position came over to enjoy pizza and root beer on Wednesday evening. His trainer, Luminita, made a great pizza with pesto instead of tomato sauce and then piled high with veggies. It was awesome!!! He has been blessed to work with such wonderful people. 

I went to Nano's to help with her Christmas cards and money on Thursday. Ten dollars per person was allotted, so someone could go out for a meal or see a cheap movie. Then, on Saturday, Mom's cousin, StElmo Nauman and his wife, Mei, came to visit, so I went with them to lunch at Mom's favorite Mexican food place, Manuel's. He was very kind to her and was constantly cracking jokes, certainly not what I expected from a Philosophy professor. They had come down from Vegas to see Tombstone. I don't remember ever seeing him, but I was the flower girl at his sister's wedding when I was five. 

Week of December 1 - 7, 2019

Highlights:

Spiritual

We had a good Sunday with great church meetings, and Dad was asked to speak with a high councilman in another ward on December 15 so he started working on his talk.  I attended choir practice in the afternoon.

Phoenix Temple is on two week maintenance shut down so no temple visits for us.

Continue to listen to a General Conference talk and read the Book of Mormon daily.

I have indexed 21468 records and reviewed 64873 records. 

Family

The Wilkins Family

This was another long week full of challenges and blessings for the Wilkins family. First, on Sunday, Josh's tenth birthday was celebrated. Happy Birthday, Josh!

The next day, they took him to the doctor, who recommended hospitalization for testing.

Allison shared:
"We are pretty sure he just missed the constant stream of cute nurses offering to bring him Gatorade. 😂

Also, yes, my life is in shambles. But we are okay! God is good.

So. Josh hasn't been himself for a few weeks. Complaining of hip pain, leg pain, etc. Sunday night he woke up screaming in pain and couldn't walk. We brought him to his pediatrician yesterday, who sent him to the ER for bloodwork. He was admitted last night for further testing.

They have determined he has a bump on his spine (most likely born with it) and it's manifesting problems now because he is growing. He has to use a walker to get around and have regular physical therapy but he will be okay.

I'm dying inside at the thought of this crazy-athletic kid having to use a walker to just get around. ☹️ But, God is good and though the timing is rough (really??? right now??? with Mike out of work???) we know everything will be okay."

He called on Wednesday night and had attended cub scouts and seemed happy. I am sure it still hurts a lot, but at least the cause is known.

Allison and Grace were able to share a Youth Christmas Caroling event.

The Ethan Rice Family

Ethan and Cameo powered through and arrived at their house early Sunday morning. Thus, a whole day at home to celebrate Wade. Happy 3rd Birthday, Wadey!!!

The Doran Rice Family

We went to see Doran and Amber's lovely new house on Sunday evening. It is so big and everything is beautiful!

Morgan

Morgan will begin a new job next week at UPS. He will take the bus to get to and from but it will give him some income for a couple of weeks.

Kayty

Kayty had a two day work week and spent the rest of her burning up vacation time watching movies and doing a puzzle. 

The Nathan Rice Family

Lots of sickness remains at this house, but still there are smiles and happy times.

Nathan is enjoying many parties and celebrations at work. (Honeywell Space is very good to their employees!!!) Friday, Nathan took Jessica to the doctor and she was diagnosed with an eye and an ear infection, so the girls got to spend the afternoon with me so Nathan could work half the day. We had fun painting ornaments, playing on swings, and enjoying the Christmas decorations. Nathan is busy creating a Gingerbread house cubicle conversion. It's not legal to take pictures at this sight, but perhaps the leadership will allow so his mom can see his creation. 

Dad's Garden

Dad's new seeds were planted this week and the seeds are sprouting now. He continues to harvest key limes and then squeeze juice. Spinach is doing well in his garden. Carrots are popping up everywhere the seeds flew. Now to hope the quail don't find them too. 

Other highlights

Its the BEST time of year to jog! I saw my first house of Christmas lights last Monday, and this week it got even better. 

I began following a very brave, faithful young woman on Instagram, who has been fighting with every fiber of her being, just to stay alive for her daughter. She shared the following:

"Tonight I sat at the kitchen counter reading “Wildly Optimistic” by Al Carraway…I came to this paragraph and began to sob. I don’t think I could have written it better myself…”Sometimes we don’t know the what or the why behind things, but we do always know the who. Embrace the unexpected knowing who is guiding you, a God who is always good. A God who has helped us before, who will help us again. A God who has comforted and saved and guided before, who will do it again. A God who solely exists to bring us to the better and to make us better. And seeing Him through one hard or unexpected time, and seeing the blessings that come from that, will make it easier to trust Him the next time. And then the next. And then you’ll find yourself on the ride of your life; a ride you were always intended to take. And then times will come when we will find ourselves feeling at ease among trials, because from consistently trying to trust, we will have experienced time and time again that we are being led to the greater things. Then time will come when the smiles are real. And the happiness is real. Regardless of our situations. Times will come when the scary and the hard and the unexpected turn to exciting, thrilling, new adventures that come with peace, with our knowledge that we are in motion to the best fit blessings.”

Not so good that our pool filter died but grateful we had the 300 dollars to replace it.

Attended Neck and Nog at the Dibb's house on Friday and a party next door on Saturday (lots of terribly loud Iranian music, no one talking to us but our neighbors to the south, lots of people, no place to sit, but pretty good Iranian food.)

Just thought I would share my Thanksgiving Assessment and Plan for 2019 and 2020

I hang this horizontally on the cupboard door and go day by day, task by task.

Thursday one Week Prior

Complete non-fresh grocery shopping

Friday

Turkey (2019 Winco 21 lb)

                Bag

                Oven

                Drippings in Jar (2019 2 quarts)

                Boil Bones

                Broth in jar (2019 4 quarts)

Carefully preserve sliced meat and freeze or refrigerate in broth

Roast Sugar Pumpkins

                Remove stem

                Poke holes

                Place on baking sheet

Create slim Jim cheese ball heads

Do not use melted white chocolate

Create Cookie Peanut Butter Ball heads

Saturday

Make Gravy

                (Recipe for 2019 –

                7 T fat – 3 turkey +4 butter

                7 T flour

                5 c broth

                Bag (2019 made 5 batches

                And used 4 at dinner)

                Freeze

Thaw smoking turkey and grilling turkey

Make cranberry sauce

  

Monday

Puree cranberries and mix with sugar for

                Cranberry salad (6:30 am)

Cheese Balls (6:40 am – made 2)

                Create

                Wrap and refrigerate

Make Ranch Dip  (7:10 am)

Cut celery and carrots and place in water (7:45 am)

Peanut Butter Ball (7:25 am)

                Create 

                Chill

Wrap and Refrigerate

Shop for rolls and pumpkin pie at Costco (9:30 am)

Fresh fruit purchases

Veggie purchases (cucumbers, bell peppers

Thaw dinner turkey         (2019 did not roast a turkey on Thanksgiving Day but might have been nice)

Tuesday

Chill water bottles   (2019 used small black fridge)

Thaw roast turkey

Smoke Turkey

                Remove, clean and season

                Put on smoker

Baking

                Pumpkin Pies

Cupcakes etc (2019 Wade’s birthday cupcakes)

Cut up any other vegetables

Create turkey face -veggie

Create turkey face-fruit

  

Wednesday

Pull all tubs, crockpots and serving pieces from hut

Set up Tables

Wash off chairs

Place serving dishes with photo example out

                Have items ready to go

Wash and separate fruit

                Sliced grapes, strawberries

Make homemade mushroom sauce

Wednesday Night

Place Tablecloths and décor

Prepare serving table with crockpots

Stuffing                               

                Mashed Potatoes

                Gravy

Macaroni and Cheese

Green bean casserole

Platters - label

                Veggie Tray

                Fruit Tray

                Apple Peanut Butter Tray

Dishes - label

                Cranberry Salad Bowl    

                Roll Bowl

                Cranberry Sauce dish and plate

Leave places for Cauliflower and cheese and sweet potatoes.

Drain pineapple and put crushed with cranberry puree and chunks separate

Slice cucumbers and 5 apples (drained pineapple juice in with apples)

Thursday (Thanksgiving)

Tables  

                Tables and chairs ready

                Set and decorate tables

Stuffing   (2019 made 3 types of stuffing

2020 Use 2 bags of herbed and 2 bags corn bread + add turkey bits to give more flavor)

                Prepare

                Crockpot on low

Gravy    (2019 used 4 of 6 gallon bags)

                (2020 use quart freezer bags)

                Crockpot on low

Turkey                 

                Rinse

                Season/Fill with Veggies

                Bag

                Bake

                Let Sit    Slice       Platter

Smoked Turkey

                Whole (16 pound in 2019)

Lite smoker

Rub applied to meat

Put turkey on (breast up whole in 2019)

(2020 either breast down or butterflied)

Cooked for 7 hours

Slice and Platter

Grilled Turkey (11 pound in 2019)

                Butterflied turkey

                Rubbed with meat rub

                Grilled for 4 hours

                Slice and platter

Mashed Potatoes (17 pounds 2019)

                Place cream/butter on stove

                Peel Potatoes (10:00 am)

                Chop

                Boil a lot

                Drain (in strainer)

                Rice

                Crockpot

Macaroni and Cheese

Velveeta Mac and Cheese (four boxes in 2019)

Boil Pasta            Add Sauce

Thin with cream/butter mix

Crockpot

Green Bean Casserole

                Warm Frozen Green Beans

                Add homemade mushroom sauce

                Put in crockpot

                Top with onions

Salad Prep

                Cranberry

Whip Cream/add marshmallows

Add cranberry/pineapple mixture and stir

Bowl

                Turkey Veggie Tray (use picture)

                                Veggies on silver platter

                                Dip in bowl

                                Bell Pepper face

                Turkey Cheese Ball (use picture)

                                Ball roll in nuts

                                Place on plate

Pretzel feathers, slim Jim head, Ritz crackers around

Fruit Turkey Platter (use picture)

                                Arrange fruit

                                Pear face

(2019 had no pumpkin so placed on platter)

(2020 – buy pumpkin to display skewered fruit)

                Peanut Butter Ball Turkey

Roll in mini chocolate chips

                                Apple Slices in tail

Place with lots of apples around it

               

Olives and Pickles in 3 section tray

Cranberry sauce in bowl and on plate

Butter on Plates

Week of November 24 - 30, 2019

Highlights:

Spiritual

We enjoyed a wonderful Sabbath day with church and family visiting. We enjoyed a lovely Sacrament Meeting with wonderful talks about gratitude and religious freedom. Relief Society was also great.

Dad attended the Phoenix Temple on Friday night.

I completed reading the Book of Mormon on Saturday morning. I am reading the December Ensign magazine and listening to a General Conference talk each day.

I have indexed 21124 records and reviewed 62015 records so far this year.

Family

The Wilkins Family

The Wilkins family is doing well and holding their own during this trying time. Mike works part time at night and looks for a career during the day. The temple has reopened, giving Allison longer hours but she is managing both jobs and kids and is staying healthy. The kids had the week off of school, which I am sure they loved!!!

The Ethan Rice Family

We enjoyed a Sunday visit and Haystacks for dinner with Ethan, Cameo, Kaylee and Wade.  They enjoyed time with Wade, Liz and Tracker, visited family near Wilhoit. They "moved in" with us late Tuesday, visited Grandma and Nano, went out to lunch, and prepped for Wadey's birthday party.

The book exchange box on the next block near our house. 

Kaylee and Nano

Kaylee, Wade and Nano

Thanksgiving Day was great!

And Wade had a wonderful birthday party!!

They headed out for home on Friday afternoon, fought snow and rough roads in Flagstaff, slept a few hours in Tucumcari, New Mexico, and then headed across Texas. We spoke to them late Saturday night and they were deciding whether to stop in Arkansas or power through

The Doran Rice Family

It was a busy and good week for Amber, Doran and family. Amber made a whole Turkey dinner for her co workers that they enjoyed on Wednesday. Thanksgiving was awesome and Doran got their new home all ready for Christmas.

Black Friday is busy for Ross Outdoor, so Amber had to work, and they enlisted Doran for additional help.

Morgan

Morgan is doing well living with Doran and Amber and is looking for a job.

Kayty

Kayty had a surprise in her bed Sunday morning...

She was such a great help all week to me! On Thanksgiving, every time I turned around, she was either cleaning, preparing, washing dishes, peeling potatoes, or hanging birthday balloons. She enjoyed sales on Black Friday and got a new Christmas tree for herself.

The Nathan Rice Family

Nathan had vacation time available and spent the whole week enjoying time with family. They went to the Wildlife World Zoo and especially enjoyed the seal show. They spent time with our family on Thursday before heading to Jessica's family Thanksgiving meal. They also headed out for Black Friday shopping and got a few things for the girls for Christmas as well as lights for their new house.  The girls were starting to get sick, so they didn't get to see cousins before they returned home, but Nathan quickly came out to say goodbye right before they left. 

Dad's Garden

Great rain makes for a happy garden. 

Other highlights

Busy busy week preparing for Thanksgiving. The weather worried us, and a backup indoor plan was put into place, but Thursday dawned cloudy but dry, and our patio was set up. Kaylee decorated the tables, Cameo and Ethan cleaned and cooked, Nathan made awesome pies and Jessica helped with the fruit tray, Amber brought awesome cookies, and Kayty was a master of everything since whenever I turned around, she was either preparing something or washing dishes.

Got Thanksgiving and Fall all packed away and made pretty good progress getting the rest of Christmas put up.