Week of July 21 - July 27, 2024

Spiritual

Sunday was good. My lesson went pretty well. The rest of the day was quiet. 

Dee 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 40,009 records and reviewed 17,391 records so far this year.

Family

The Wilkins Family

The Wilkins family is doing well. Mike has applied for a leadership promotion. Praying he gets the job! Allison is back to work this week preparing for school to begin on August 5. Adam is interviewing for another job. Grace was busy preparing for girls camp that she left for a few days ago. Lots of family history, church and pioneer history and a fun few days for her. Joshua is doing well and looking forward to beginning high school. Sam is becoming quite the skilled chef and prepares a meal for the family once each week. The a/c is keeping them cool through this hot las Vegas summer!

The Ethan Rice Family

Summer is winding down for this family. Wade got to go to school and meet his new second grade teacher.

The Doran Rice Family

Doran and Amber are finalizing their move. They will be leaving in early August, will stay with Nathan for a few days and then move to their new home, new schools and new jobs. They came by on Saturday for a visit. (I got sick early in the morning and dared not go near them. No one needs to be stopping every five minutes at a bathroom as they travel across the country.)

Morgan

No news from Morgan and Cassie.

Kayty

Kayty had a good work week. 

The Nathan Rice Family

Nathan and Jessica and the girls are doing well. They have been busily readying to start up the school year. Annie will be in third grade, Ellie in second grade, and Emma will be in kindergarten. She is so excited!! She also has two teeth ready to come out! The girls called on Tuesday and shared their Harry Potter Lego video game with me. They had a rainy day and had to stay indoors. Nathan had a work meeting on Friday and then spent the day readying for their busy weekend: Jessica at a homeschool convention in Texarcana, Nathan digging for fence posts to be put up, plus finishing reading the first Harry Potter and watching the movie. 

Ellie's Strawberry Jello Pie

Dad's Garden

We continue to keep our chickens alive. Sure wish they were laying eggs!! Basil is looking good. Dad is starting to add more organic matter to the beds. 

 

Other highlights

Dad was invited to a celebratory dinner for work at The Stockyards restaurant. He had a great meal and enjoyed meeting the voices he speaks with face to face. 

Week of July 14 - July 20, 2024

Spiritual

We had a very good Sunday. A couple that has been in our ward a few months spoke before leaving on their mission to Hawaii. Our meeting was empty of our members but full of temple workers. Primary went well. We only had three kids in attendance. Sunday was quiet as usual. 

We were unable to attend the temple this week. 

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

I have indexed 38,456 records and reviewed 17,171 records so far this year.

Family

The Wilkins Family

The Wilkins Family is doing well and enjoying their summer.

The Ethan Rice Family

Ethan, Cameo and the kids are enjoying the final weeks of summer. Kaylee shared some of her creative work with me...

The Doran Rice Family

Doran and Amber and the kids are enjoying the last days in our heat and readying to move to Tennessee. 

Morgan

No news from Morgan and Cassie this week. 

Kayty

Kayty had a good but odd work week. A/C at work kept working and then breaking so she was back and forth a lot. 

The Nathan Rice Family

I spoke with Nathan and Jessica on Sunday evening. Lots of good plans for the week ahead and the year ahead. On Friday, they toured a museum. They shared some pics of items from the movie "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang". 

Dad's Garden

The chickens are surviving. The citrus trees are doing well. 

 

Other highlights

Dad traveled to Cleveland, Ohio this week. Long travel day on Monday and Wednesday but he did get great things done at his Honeywell supplier and then went to the Kirtland Temple area. 

Christmas in July included completing all my ornaments, watching The Santa Clause 1, 2, and 3 and How the Grinch Stole Christmas, plus Christmas Vacation. 

Week of July 7 - July 13, 2024

NOTICE: I WILL COMPLETE THIS 2024 YEAR BLOG AND THEN STOP ENTERING ANY MORE INFORMATION. I NOTICED THE PIC I HAD USED TO VISUALLY DECORATE MY BLOG WAS GONE. UPON FURTHER INVESTIGATION, THE SITES I DOWNLOADED THESE PICS FROM ARE ALSO GONE. IN ADDITION, I RECEIVED NOTICE THAT AS OF MAY 17, THE COMPANY PRINTING BLOG BOOKS IS OUT OF BUSINESS. I DON'T THINK MANY IF ANY OF YOU STILL READ THIS, BUT I GUESS THIS IS LIKE SO MANY OTHER THINGS THESE DAYS THAT COME AND THEN DISAPPEAR IN A FEW YEARS. THIS BLOG WILL REMAIN ELECTRONICALLY UNTIL THEY CEASE THAT TOO. 

Spiritual

We had a good Sunday Fast and Testimony Meeting at church. Our meeting went long, so singing time went long in Primary, and I ended up with 15 minutes to teach. Edit...edit...edit. What I did went pretty well though. Sunday was good and we talked with family. 

We were not able to attend the temple this week. 

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

I have indexed 37, 375 records and reviewed 16,442 records so far this year.

Family

The Wilkins Family

The Wilkins are doing well, though they are doggone tired of the heat. Their a/c doesnt work at all. They pay over $600 in electric bills every month the a/c runs. The house is up to 100 degrees. It was 120 degrees in Vegas this week. They called the landlord and he of course refused at first but was going to send someone out on Monday. There is a very warm place in hell for this guy!!! Adam is about to start a new job and is looking forward to it. Grace shared wonderful experiences, amazing talks, and fun friend time while at FSY. Joshua had a really good time too. Sam enjoyed his time at home and had a good week. He is becoming quite a good swimmer!! Allison and Mike continue doing well at their careers. 

They are doing well otherwise and living the the community pool as much as possible. As of Wednesday, the a/c is working much much better!

The Ethan Rice Family

Ethan, Cameo, Kaylee and Wade are doing well. 

The Doran Rice Family

Kelsie spent a few days at Girls' Camp early in the week. Doran and Amber traveled to Tennessee to find a house on Thursday. 

Their offer was accepted on Saturday and they returned home to move in a few days. They are happy with the location, the schools and the church in their area. 

Morgan

Morgan and Cassie are doing well and enjoying a cool summer. 

Kayty

Kayty had a good week at work. 

The Nathan Rice Family

Happy Birthday Jessica on Tuesday. 

Nathan sold his parts jeep for a great price after getting lots of parts off it. Came out way ahead. Jessica has been meeting with her homeschool co-op parents over the plans for their co-op meeting days in the upcoming school year. Saturday they celebrated Christmas In July. They went to a ceramic painting studio and painted ornaments and decorations. They drove around listening to Christmas carols and made Christmas cookies and drank hot cocoa. Nathan and Jessica are next fencing in their yard so they can eventually have chickens, guinea hens and maybe a dog. 

Dad's Garden

Heat is making it a ton of work to keep the chickens alive but so far so good. 

 

Other highlights

Lost yet another limb on the front yard mesquite tree so Dad spent time in the heat and cut it up and i hauled branches and stacked wood. 

Christmas in July this week included Christmas music, watching Elf and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, and painting ornaments. Over half done with the ornaments. 

Week of June 30 - July 6, 2024

Spiritual

We had received notification on Friday that there had been a fire sprinkler problem at the church building and we might not be able to meet due to fire marshall restrictions. It ended up everything was repaired and inspected and we had a great Sunday Sacrament meeting with a baby blessing as well as a mission farewell. 

Dee was able to attend the temple this week on Wednesday afternoon.  

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

I have indexed 36,425 records and reviewed 16,031 records so far this year.

Family

The Wilkins Family

Grace shared pics from her and Josh's week at FSY.

They had a fun Independence Day and enjoyed their own fireworks show. 

The Ethan Rice Family

Ethan, Cameo, Kaylee and Wade spent much of the week at one of their favorite campgrounds and fishing spots. The weather was a bit warmer, but there were days of rain that cooled things off. Fishing, scootering, yummy food and new friends. 

The Doran Rice Family

Doran and Amber shared on Tuesday that Amber and Doran both got jobs and that they are moving to Tennessee in three weeks. Kooper is helping Amber out with her wigs. 

Morgan

Cassie organized a campground Independence Day parade. They are doing well and enjoying a cool summer!!!

Kayty

Kayty had a short work week. She got to wear patriotic colors all week, which she loved. She is a great help taking care of these crazy chickens. 

The Nathan Rice Family

Nathan and Jessica and the girls had a good week.  Nathan has been working on clearing out trees in his new yard and has made a few trips to the local landfill. He is also working on his jeep getting the a/c working. Lots of work. 

There was a terrible shooting in a nearby town a couple of weeks ago. Jessica and her friends found a way to help. They had to battle rainy weather but they held a bake sale, which included Nathan's fabulous brownies, to raise funds for the victims. This was shared...

We raised $801!!!! I still can't believe it!!! I have never been more proud of the people of Camden! So many donated, even without taking food. People were still handing us money as we were packing up! A few of them shared stories of family members or friends who were victims. It was heartbreaking. We are so grateful for the opportunity to help in any way we can!!

Jessica Rice is incredible for setting this up! And for finding a way to make it work (quickly!) when FF was canceled! And our amazing Lauren brought the cutest decorations! Thank you to every mom and dad who baked as well! Everything looked amazing! The Homeschool Cooperative of Camden really showed out for this one! 

Dad's Garden

Dad cleaned out all the remaining winter vegetable beds. It is hot here so we are just keeping things alive. 

 

Other highlights

Dad's cousin, Kenna Clay Jordan, died on Monday afternoon of prostate cancer due to Agent Orange (he served in the military in Vietnam War and Agent Orange was sprayed on the troops.)

With Doran and Amber joining the ranks of Rice family that will now live far away, it has been a time to reflect. So many good memories of camping, fishing, swimming, holidays, etc. I am sad that all will be gone, but I am so thankful the change is for a good reason: a new job. I have friends whose lives have had to take drastic changes for health reasons, such a cancer treatments and chemo. This is a good thing. It will be an adjustment for us, that is certain, but we have adjusted before and we will do it now. For now, we are in a house with a new roof and a new air conditioner, we have been taking out and trimming away trees that will be hard for Dad and I to take care of as we grow older. Kayty is blessed with a good job and good life and health insurance. Mom is hanging in there and my responsibilites for her won't stop until she has passed, has her funeral she prepaid for and is buried in the plot with my dad. 

I had a wonderful birthday! It began with texts from Kaylee and Wade, calls and singing from Annie, Ellie, Emma and Eve, and Nathan and Jessica. Morgan and Cassie called as we were on our way for me to walk around Hobby Lobby and admire the new fall decor. Doran, Amber, Kelsie and Kooper, Grandma and Curtis came over for hamburgers as they will be leaving very soon. Ethan and Cameo facetimed later. I got a wonderful Marco Polo from Allison and Joshua later. Thank you everyone!!!

Week of June 23 - June 29. 2024

Spiritual

We had an unusually good Sacrament meeting. Stake speakers were great! We had Teaching in the Saviors Way teacher training during primary while our kids sang. Sunday was quiet and nice. 

We were able to attend the temple this week. 

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

I have indexed 35,799 records and reviewed 15,575 records so far this year.

Family

The Wilkins Family

Grace and Josh spent their week at FSY. Allison worked with her fellow lead teachers planning for the upcoming school year. 

The Ethan Rice Family

Ethan, Cameo and the kids are doing well. 

The Doran Rice Family

Doran and Amber are still waiting for news on Amber's new job. The kids are good. They dogsat for a friend that visited Japan and brought back treats and souvenirs...

Morgan

No news from Morgan and Cassie this week.

Kayty

Kayty had a good week at work. 

The Nathan Rice Family

Nathan called on Sunday sharing about a tragic shooting that happened in a nearby community. So sad that happens even in small towns. The family is doing well. He finally was able to get his huge property mowed and will do that every couple of weeks. He now has two working lawn mowers including a zero turn. They headed to the dump on Friday to get rid of lots of leafy branches he had trimmed. Summer is going well. 

Dad's Garden

I went out on a cloudy morning and pulled up the dead tomato plants and bagged them up. We are working hard to keep our chickens alive in this hot weather. 

 

Other highlights

Our air conditioner began glitching again last Saturday. (A/C compressor worked and cooled but when the compressor shut off, the fan ran and we could not turn it off. So we went from cold air blowing to warm air blowing. Dad had done a lot of research and calling companies since this had happened beginning in July last year. We ended up accidentally calling one company and they were great priced, great reviews on Yelp, licensed and reasonable. He came on Tuesday afternoon and spent the next six hours installing a new five ton Trane unit both outside on the ground and in the attic. 

Dad traveled for work to Cincinnati, Ohio Wednesday and Thursday. He met with a supplier on Thursday morning. 

A couple rainy mornings this week were a lovely pleasant surprise. 

Bulk trash pickup got all our tree trimmings. I went out and raked up all the remaining leaves etc and put them in the trash. 

So, since mid September 2023, we have had to purchase an entirely new roof (added six solar panels too), a new microwave oven, new tires for my vehicle, repaired the dryer, repaired the washing machine, and purchased an entirely new air conditioner. I am thankful Dad is still working full time.  

Week of June 16 - June 22, 2024

Spiritual

Sunday was good at church. The children sang well, we welcomed and enjoyed hearing from a recently returned missionary who had served in Mongolia, and learned of another young sister in our ward who will be leaving to serve in the Georgia Atlanta Spanish Speaking mission. Primary went well and the kids liked the lesson and might have learned something. 

Dee was able to attend the temple this week on Thursday evening. 

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

I have indexed 34,707 records and reviewed 14,951 records so far this year.

Family

The Wilkins Family

Allison Marco Polo'd me on Monday night. They had a busy couple of weeks! Its the summer time and all the medical, dental and eye check ups are going on. Josh will need five baby teeth pulled and he will have the same chain treatment that Ethan and Doran had to pull teeth down that are growing sideways. Grace is readying to register for her next year of college. She and Josh are also prepping for FSY next week. Adam has a job interview coming up and is looking forward to getting back to work. He had a great birthday and enjoyed milkshakes for his treat. Mike wanted a pretty low key Father's Day so they had Cafe Rio homemade and refrigerator cheesecake. They have been enjoying friday mornings at the temple. Allison has completed all her required testing and passed them well. She now waits to hear the paramaters of her student teaching. 

The Ethan Rice Family

This family enjoyed a great father's Day weekend of camping and fishing. Weather was very warm for them and so they enjoyed their travel trailer air conditioning. Summer is going well. 

The Doran Rice Family

Doran, Amber and the kids are doing well and having a great summer. Kooper got to help Mom at work over the weekend. 

Morgan

Morgan talked with Dad on Sunday. He continues to work temp jobs while Cassie works on housekeeping where they are staying. Her Dad has offered to help them with a new home if they will move out to Iowa near him. 

Kayty

Kayty had a good week at work. 

The Nathan Rice Family

This was a get back to normal week after weeks away. They are all doing well. 

Dad's Garden

We struggle still with roof rats who have now eaten two entire basil plants. Citrus are doing well. We have worked very hard to keep plenty of water and cool spaces available for the chickens and they are surviving the heat so far. 

 

Other highlights

Happy Fathers Day to Dad and to all my sons and son in law on Sunday. Dad had a great day! Dad enjoyed calls, texts, Marco Polos and his gifts. He ate his favorites and Kate took care of all the chickens. 

Dad traveled to South Bend Indiana for work on Monday 

and returned very very late Tuesday. 

I visited with Mom and paid her fees on Tuesday morning. She wasn't as happy as usual but everyone is entitled to have a not so good day.

Worked on the trees in the front yard since its bulk trash week/month. We trimmed the Palo Brea in the front yard and the big mesquite. I worked on Thursday trimming the Palo Brea in the back yard on Thursday. It was 111 degrees at the time but it was in the shade so it was okay. 

Air Conditioning began acting up again so we are looking for a new one. 

Week of June 9 - June 15, 2024

Spiritual

I substituted for our chorister in Sacrament Meeting on Sunday. Survived. Class went well and Sunday was quiet. 

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

I have indexed 33,423 records and reviewed 13,279 records so far this year.

Family

The Wilkins Family

Happy Birthday Adam on Sunday! Wilkins are enjoying a busy summer! Josh and Grace went to the temple early Friday morning to perform baptismal ordinances. 

The Ethan Rice Family

Ethan and Cameo had a datenight with friends from McDonough. 

 

The Doran Rice Family

Doran, Amber, Kelsie and Kooper are doing well at work and are having a good summer.

Morgan

Morgan and Cassie are finally enjoying a cool summer and enjoying their work. 

Kayty

Kayty had a good work week. 

The Nathan Rice Family

The girls were finally well enough to come visit on Tuesday morning. I will admit I was a bit nervous. Not sure if they would have fun here. But my concerns were crazy. They had a great time. We played legos, games, built and played with the toy kitchen. Annie is so tall! and Ellie looks so much older. Emma enjoyed opening her birthday gift and was all full of hugs and snuggles for papa and I. And Eve warmed up after she got to know us a bit. 

We shared ice cream sundaes as they came over to visit with Doran, Amber and Kooper on Thursday evening. 

Nathan flew in town in the middle of the night Thursday and we got to visit with him for a bit on Friday. They flew home on Saturday. 

Dad's Garden

Final pickings of tomatoes are happening as the weather heats up. Basil is looking great. 

 

Other highlights

Grandchild visits are always the best and this week was no exception. So glad Jessica and the girls recovered from a nasty virus and could come and spend some time with us.