I LOVE THE TEMPLE

Today, Tony and I served in the temple. We got up at 4:30 and were on our way by 5:10. Tony served in the baptistry at 6am so he missed the 6am prayer meeting.  I was training a new sister who is serving once a month because she drives from BURN'S Oregon. She serves Friday night and Saturday morning and then drives home. She is such a sweet sister and I thoroughly enjoyed my time with her. After our shift, we came home.....well, not true.  lol We stopped at.......... YEP, you guessed it. Chick Fil A! We ate lunch and then came home and rested till 3:45.  I finished Christopher's book and I must say, he did a great job. He dedicated it to his father in hopes other men might be helped. I think his dad would be very proud of him.  We then picked up Yeti and Liz and we met the Sister Missionaries at the temple to do baptisms. We were going to bring Brenda Valera as well but she texted me this morning saying she was sick and wouldn't make it. Then this afternoon, Tammy called and said she had a migraine and Chris was sick with a sore throat.  Probably  getting what we had at Christmas. So we were supposed to have 9 in our party (minus the Sisters) and ended up with  the four of us. The baptistry was so busy today that we were only able to do 5 apiece. The sisters served as witnesses.

Afterwards, we got a few pictures of us outside by  the fountain.

Left to right: Sister Curtis from Rigby Idaho, Sister Fonua, from Tonga, Lis, me, Tony and Yeti.

It was super cold today. 15degrees when we left this morning. 30 degrees when we went back this afternoon. However, when your hair is wet, it feels 15 again! lol

IT WAS A GREAT DAY! GOD IS GOOD!

BOOK CLUB & CHRISTMAS TAKE DOWN

Wednesday after the gym, I cleaned up the living room and then made a coconut cream cake for Book Club, which was being held at my house Thursday evening. Then Tony started prepping for his colonoscopy. We stayed home the rest of the day as he needed to be close to a bathroom. Then bright and early Thursday morning, we headed to the hospital. We got there at 7am and he was done by 9:30. We came home and ate breakfast and he was ready for solids. We relaxed the remainder of the day until the ladies showed up at 6PM.

Klynn laughed as she came in and said she got her Christmas down before me!!  lol I am certainly late this year. We had 7 ladies counting myself. Luva, Elizabeth, and Effie on the couch, and Joyce back in the recliner.

Klynn and Jennie and myself. It was a good discussion on the book.  I was the only one who got it completely done which surprised me a lot. Klynn said she speed read it, skipping quite a bit because she didn't like all the history in the beginning. Jenni, Luva, and Elizabeth  didn't read it at all and Effie was almost done but not quite and Joyce just read a bit on line and she said it was only about 100 pages. None the less, we got the gist of the story and discussed it thoroughly. lol  I served the cake and then the ladies went home around 7:30.  Tony and I watched an episode of Hawaii 5/O and then went to our room and read scriptures before going to sleep. I was so tired because I didn't sleep well the previous night. I slept pretty good on Thursday night.  We got up and went to the gym this morning and then when we came home, Tony helped me bring Christmas tubs into the back room and I started taking down .

I did pretty well considering how much I have. Tony helped me take down the pictures and hang up the regular ones. Then I'd fill several tubs and he would take them out to the garage and put them on the shelves. I am still working on the tree and I have the Christmas village to take down....BUT, everything else is put away. My back was hurting so bad, that after lupper, I went up and took a very hot shower. It felt so good. It's now time for bed as we serve in the temple tomorrow morning. It will be a busy day as we are going back to the temple tomorrow evening to do baptisms. Yeti, Liz and Brenda are going with Tony and me and Tammy and Chris are coming with the 2 boys. It will be Brenda's 1st time and also little Tony 1st time. 

1ST FEW DAYS OF THE WEEK! BUSY

Sunday was sweet! We go to church at noon now so we slept in. Man, that feels good! It is such a joy to go and renew our covenants as we take the sacrament. I love my Savior, Jesus Christ. I want to follow Him so I can return home one day and be with my parents and family who have gone on before. One day at a time. Our sunday School class was incredible. Brother Shorzman taught and he is a really great teacher. He got so much class participation and all  the comments were so insightful! Looking forward to his classes.

We had invited the sisters and Liz over for dinner and some New Member fellowship for Liz.

I  made a Wild Rice casserole that Heather said was good. I had a salad and garlic bread to go along.  We had a great visit and Liz expressed her desire to get her endowment. She is really coming along in her Gospel journey. She and another new member sister and Yeti, are all going with us this coming Saturday evening to do baptisms. It will be Liz's 2nd time and Brenda's 1st. Yeti has gone several times so he will be helping baptize.

After dinner and our visit, we took pictures because the sister's had an appointment.

I plan on taking (well, starting to take ) down my Christmas decor after Book Club, this coming Thursday.  I'm enjoying it for now.

Monday, we went to the gym late. 10AM LATE !! Pat had a doctor appointment and I told her we'd go when she could. She was happy about that. lol It was Martin Luther King day and wow, was the gym ever busy!! We walked and had a good visit catching, up about our weekend.  She is such a generous friend. She got me a box of Pomegranate seeds that come in 4 cups. AND, she gave me two special oranges that have a big tips on the end of them and they peal so easily. I saw them at Costco and they are spendy!!

 

When we got home from the gym, Tony got our Christmas gift from Debbie and Robin, hung up on the back patio. It's a wooden dragon wind chime. Pretty cool!! 

 We got a text from Tammy on Monday asking if we wanted to come for dinner. Katie cooks 3 nights a week and she was making a Seafood boil.

We said we'd go and it was a great choice!!

She had shrimp, crab legs, potatoes, sausage and corn on the cob.

She did a great job and we all enjoyed it. Except for Corbin.  He only ate the corn on the cob. lol

Katie is getting to be a good little cook. Glad we got to be some of her guinea pigs. ANYTIME, seriously!!

Tuesday morning, we went to the temple. Sister Brown went with us again. We did 3 endowments, 35 sealings and 15 initiatory. It was a wonderful day.  After dropping Sister Brown off, we came home, and changed our clothes and then went to the church to set up tables and chairs for the  Relief Society activity this evening.

The activity was our 1st for the new year. We had a tea party and a cookie exchange. 

We also played games and visited. Our table played UNO  at the table I was at. We were having so much fun that when the sister missionaries came, they sat with us. We played 4 rounds and it was a lot of fun. I didn't win even once but we weren't keeping score so no big deal. lol 

We have such sweet sister's in our ward.

Liz said later that she wished she'd sat with us because we were having so much fun. lol  WE DID!!

Lois Patterson decorated our table with a tea pot and two tea cups that she'd made with her Cricut. She has told me she would come over and teach me how to use mine but we just haven't found the time. She works and I always have something going on. 

Maybe one of these days.

After it was over, she gave me one of the tea cups. It is so clever. I've got to learn how to do this. Well, the week isn't over and it just keeps getting busier.  Guess it keeps me out of trouble. lol

FRIDAY, ALREADY!!

We got up at 7:15 and got ready to go to the gym. It wasn't as foggy this morning but still some fog.  We did our walking and visiting and then home we came. Stopped at Lynn's 1st  and put her mail in her house. Not sure when she'll be coming home but her health is getting better all the time, as is ours. 

While eating breakfast, I admired my Amaryllis. All four flowers are opened up and it is beautiful.  

I'm thinking that I may get another stem that will have blooms eventually. Time will tell.  Beauty and enjoyment in the little things.

Tony and I went to Costco on Monday and they had HOKA tennis shoes on sale. We have so many friends who have them and they LOVE them. We'd looked at them at some shoe stores but they were too expensive.  They were still $119.00 at Costco but that beat $175.00 and up at the other stores. SO, Tony and I tried them on and they were so comfortable!! We both got a pair and I have been walking in them all week (well, since Tuesday) and it feels like i'm walking on pillows. I love them so much. I even look forward to getting up to go walking!  lol

YAY!!! I GET TO KEEP MY INSURANCE PLAN WITH DR KELLER

We went to the gym this morning. It is so foggy out today. A man pulled in front of us and it was kinda scary. We did our workout and then came home to eat a quick bite and do some things before our appointment with our Insurance agent.   I didn't like the pinecone cards so I thought it might help if I added a couple of acorns. 

Still not my favorite but they will have to do. I have one Santa done so I made a gift card holder with him too.

He's kinda cute, but my favorite is still the Joy Reindeer one. None the less, they are fun to make. Tony and I watched a presentation on his computer that the Bishop wants the Presidency's to watch. He is meeting with Tony and Debbie this Sunday to discuss it. We didn't get it finished but we had to leave for our appointment in Meridian. I am so happy we went and discussed things with Garrett, our agent. We found out that I can go back to Blue Cross and Tony and Lynn can stay with St Alphonsus. This way, I can keep Dr. Keller, my kidney doctor. I trust him explicitly because he is the doctor who diagnosed me correctly and got me into remission from the GPA autoimmune disease I have.  He is such a good doctor and I did not want to try and find a new nephrologist, SO I am one happy camper today!!  We came back to Nampa and it was 2:30 so we went to Costco so I could pick up my prescription and then to

THE HABBIT and got a sandwich.  Tony dropped me off at the corner and I came home and he went to his mother's to get her mail. We are now both home and I am going to read more in the book for book club.  It was supposed to be this evening at 6 but I wasn't sure I'd have time to host because of our appointment. As it turns out, I would have but this way, I have another week to finish the book, which I need. I got a text from Scott (in Japan) and he asked if Tony and I could run to his house. Mostyn said he hit the button on the garage door opener, after taking out the trash cans and the door wouldn't shut. Tony and I drove over. 

The door was half shut and cockeyed. Lower on the left.

The cable on the left had come off the tract and was partially hanging out on the outside of the door. We checked  inside the garage and both tracts were bowed out. It looked like a spring had broken. We decided it was something the garage door company who installed it, would have to fix. Mo called them and they said they would be out between 5 and 7. It was 4:30 when he called. I sent a text to Scott and he said the company had sent him a text as well. We were sorry we couldn't help but it wasn't in our wheelhouse. Mostyn sent me a text later and said it was done. They had to put in some screws to straighten the tracts and get the cable rewound some how. 

We came home and I worked on the afghan that I'm making. I am using up yarn I found in a tub in the garage. Not much more to go. It's been a good day. God is good. 

TUESDAY , WEDNESDAY

On Sunday when I gave the lesson in Relief Society, we talked about the temple and Sister Brown made the comment that she wants to go but neither she or her husband drives.  so I asked her if she and her husband wanted to go with us on Tuesday when we went. She said she would but her husband would stay home and help  with their great grandkids. They have a grandson who lives with them and he and his wife have children whom they help with a lot.  

So, we picked her up at 8:45 and off we went. It was so cold when we headed out. 28 degrees. We did 2 endowments each so by the time we got out at 1:30, it had warmed up to 40. 

Me and Diana.  She was so happy to get back to the temple. It was the 1st time she's been in the Meridian temple so we gave her a tour after we finished our sessions. She loved the decor, the paintings, the colors and the octagon shapes she noticed throughout the temple. She will probably start going with us regularly on Tuesdays. 

We took Diana home, and then Tony and I ran to .....yeah, you guessed it.  Chick Fil A and got some lunch. When we got home I noticed my Amaryllis had opened up some more! Only one more blossom to open fully. Then I'm hoping the stem at the bottom will grow taller and have some blossoms too.Time will tell.

They are so beautiful and no maintenance. 

I was reading my book while Tony finished the puzzle he got for Christmas, from Liz. "Tree of Life." It's cool and Tony said it was pretty difficult but no problem for him.

After the gym today, I tried a couple more gift card holder's with a pine cold die I have. 

Not my favorite. I may have to add an acorn or two cuz it needs something!! Too blazay!!  At 1:45 , we went up to Melissa's to see Ellie and little Evelyn.  

She's 5 months old now and is such a happy little gal.

She rolls onto her back everytime she is put on her tummy.  She is cutting teeth  and drooling like crazy. 

So her little hands are in her mouth a lot!  lol

She sure is a pretty little baby. She only weighs 13 pounds.

She has the cutest socks with little  bug rattles on them. 

Grampa got his chance to hold her. 

I had to laugh at this face on Grandpa. I'm surprised the baby wasn't screaming but she was smiling big time.  lol  Shortly thereafter, she started to get fussy. Ellie said she feeds her at 3 and then she goes down for a nap, so we let Ellie take her back and we left. It was a fun visit and we plan to go more often now that we are healthy.

FINALLY, GOT MY BOOK

Got the cutest die awhile back and started making a few Gift card holder's with it.

I cut out enough parts to make five reindeer.  

I put together one card holder to see how I liked it.

I thought it needed a cutout to make it easier to take out the money or gift card out, and it looks so much better. Then I got a text from the Library....finally! The book I reserved for Book Club finally got in. 

Tony and I took a quick trip to the library,  picked up the book and I came home and read for a while. It's a true story and gives a real great description of the delta in Mississippi. It's interesting but not what I'd expected. Will be interesting to hear what the ladies have to say about it. I have 8 more days to finish it.

Before the day was over, I made 4 more gift card holders. 

Then off to bed. We had temple reservations in the morning.