Kensington-ing It Up

This last week was another pretty good, yet fairly uneventful week.

On Monday, we ushered in the warmer (at least at the time) weather by

having zone activity! Many kick balls were kicked, volleyballs

volleyed, water balloons  thrown, flags captured, food eaten, and fun

times had! With group pictures!

So much fun in fact, that we didn't get back to our apartment until

about 5! Fortunately, our dinner was with a family that lives in the

same complex as us, so we weren't panicking trying to get ready for

the rest of the day.

Tuesday, we had dinner with a former member of the church (still

attends church regularly, sings in choir every week, feeds the elders

every month, and knows the church is true, but due to some "lifestyle

choices" isn't able to enjoy the blessings of church membership). He

is super nice and really cool, though it's sad to see how the choices

he's making are affecting his ability to have that true happiness that

the gospel brings...

This week was very much a week of service. On Wednesday and Friday for

all of the morning and some of the early afternoon hours, we helped

the Fordhams, a(n awesome) family in the Ward, with some "yard work".

"Why is yard work in quotes" you ask? That's because the "yard work"

was more like "yard demolition" as much of it involved taking an

electric demolition-strength jigsaw and some large garden shears to

several trees/vines/bushes/other unwanted greenery that had infested

their yard. The "shear" fact that we got to "carve" out some time in

our day to wage war on Mother Nature, made those days and service

projects very enjoyable, to say the least (you are welcome all you

fellow pun-lovers out there)! Plus, doing service is always fun!

Other than that, this was a pretty rough week as far as work goes

(lots of appointment cancellations, plans falling through, etc.),

hopefully that just means that this upcoming week will be an AMAZING

one!

I love you all!i hope you all have an amazing week! I know I will!

Training calls are Wednesday (though I doubt I'll train this next

transfer, President pretty much told me that I'm going to "kill"

Thorpe, so unless we're in a trio, it's not likely) and Transfer calls

are Saturday (again, pretty sure I'm staying, but time will tell), so

that's exciting! Until next time, I am still...

Elder Sam Williams

Washington DC North Mission

11700 Falls Road

Potomac, MD, 20854

The Crazy Month of April

April has been a crazy month!!  First of all, a member of our ward died unexpectedly.  Just before the funeral my brother Ray passed away.  So, we did the funeral and then Chris and I traveled to Utah for my brother’s funeral.  We had quite the adventure traveling since a portion of the road between Page and Flagstaff fell of the mountain.  We went through the reservation which we had not done for a long time.  We stopped at a restaurant in Kayenta called The Amigo.  They had great Navajo tacos.  We also traveled up the side of a cliff.  The one other time I had been on that particular road was when Stephen was a baby and he threw up all over me. Chris was the perfect traveling companion.    Thanks everyone for the flowers and cards.  I really appreciate it since we only has a couple of other flower arrangements.  Heber City, of course, was much colder than any other place we were.  Many of my cousins and aunts and uncles and old Heber 7^th ward members attended the funeral.  I loved seeing everyone.  I was also very glad that we all could say good-bye to Ray.  I’m sure he is very grateful to be with my parents and my brother Phil.

Last weekend, April and I gave a shower for Britt.  After the shower was over Gary and I went to Flagstaff to hear Sam sing in the Arizona all state choir.  They were awesome!!  The next day we all went to Zac’s farewell.  He did a great job speaking.  Afterwards we all went to Boyd and Stacie’s to eat.

This week is all about the wedding.  Except for tomorrow, Stephen has declared it a “can’t talk about the wedding day” in honor of his birthday.  Like that is ever going to happen.  We are so grateful that Stephen found a wonderful woman to marry.  We all love Britt.  We are also doing the last walk through for the wedding reception to make sure the Wright House has everything right.

School has been busy with the AIMS test.  Honestly, these poor kids.  There is just way too much testing going on.  The first and second graders are taking the CRT test and next week is DIBELS testing.  Don’t you just love all the acronyms?

Tax season is finally over!  It was made much more difficult this year with system failures by both the Arizona Department of Revenue and the IRS.  Baseball season has begun.  Our  pool was a disgusting shade of green.  We have since had it drained, refilled and the filtering sand replaced.  We also had sun screens put on some of our windows.  It is already making a difference in how hot the house is in the morning.

May will be just as busy.  At then end of the month, Gary and I get to go to North Carolina for the reception there.  Good times.

November

This was a great Thanksgiving weekend.  I took Wednesday off from school and got the house cleaned with really lowered the stress factor in my life.  The weather is a little warm for my taste--especially for late November.

Thursday was a wonderful day filled with great food and great company.  We had 24.  Claye had to work and Amber has to stay home because Carter was sick.  We sent them home food though so all they missed was our excellent company.

Friday Sam, Gary, Susan (Rich’s daughter) went to see the movie Lincoln.  It was excellent even though we did have to stand in line for too long.  Abraham Lincoln was the perfect man for his time!  After the movie, we all went to Rosa’s to eat.  Gary, Chris, and Sam headed home so Chris could work on Gary’s new computer.  Stephen, Rich, his girls and I headed over to the temple to see the lights.  Now it was about 70 degrees outside and there were people there with jackets and hats.  I don’t know if they were doing it because they were looking at Christmas lights and if they were really cold.

Now that this weekend is almost over, the craziness begins!  Tuesday night is our Relief Society Party.  Sam has more than seven concerts between now and December 19.  He has a solo in the PCC concert and they are going to be on TV Tuesday night on channel 12.  We’ll see if he makes the cut for TV.  His jazz group is singing for our Relief Society party.  I can’t wait!  I also love to go hear Chorale sing at the temple.  There is nothing like Christmas lights and music together.

Lily is very excited for Christmas.  We plugged some Christmas lights on.  She screamed joyfully, “Christmas!”  I can’t wait until she sees the lights at the temple.  Kate smiles all the time.  We love them both!!!  This picture is Rapunzel and her friend the elephant on Halloween. The wig only lasted about 20 minutes.  But it was cute while it lasted.  For the longest time, we only had Rapunzel.  Lily was off to preschool somewhere.  Rapunzel’s dad was Flynn Rider and her poor mom was Lady Gothal. (The villain in Tangled.)  Now we have Lily back until she decides to be someone else.

Have a joyous and festive December.  We will!!  Dinner at our house on Christmas Eve and Claye and Rakay’s on Christmas.  I don’t want it to come too soon though.  We have the whole month of December to enjoy!

Downton Abbey, the Prius, and Halloween

It’s already the 22nd of October and we are still in the 80’s.  My perfect temperature is 70 degrees, but I’m glad that it has cooled off somewhat.  Two weeks ago was fall break.  April and I had fun hanging out together.  We found a way to watch the new Downton Abbey episodes on the internet, but before we could watch all the episodes, the lady had to shut that part of her website down because she was being threatened by attorneys.  If PBS doesn’t want people to watch it illegally, they should show it now instead of waiting for January.  Sheer nonsense.  I also put my Halloween decorations up.  Lily was so excited.  She is going to be Rapunzel for Halloween and sometimes insists that her mother calls her that.

Kate is doing her army crawl all over the place.  She is one very curious baby.  I don’t think anything will be safe by Christmas.  We are going to have to baricade  her from the living room.  She is also one of the best natured babies I have ever seen.

Last week was parent/teacher conferences so I got out of school an hour earlier.  That was very nice.  This week we are back to the grind with the next day off for Veteran’s Day and then Thanksgiving.  Sam has to take the preparatory ACT test tomorrow.  Mountain View is making all of the sophomores take it.

Gary’s battery in his car died today.  It was a HUGE deal to fix it.  He is not so sure he chose the right car now. After all was said and done, he didn’t make it to work until 3:00.

I will be SO GLAD when the election is finally over and done with.  I’m sick and tired of political ads on the TV and have pretty much decided everybody is lying.  Stephen is in the other room watching the debate right now.

Sam has been rehearsing for Christmas concerts all fall.  His jazz group is coming to sing at our Relief Society Party.  I’m very excited.  The first two weeks of December are loaded with concerts.  He certainly enjoys singing!  

We had everyone over after General Conference.  It was fun to have everyone together, even though some had to leave early.  Our next big event will be Thanksgiving.  Can’t wait.

April is in charge of her ward’s Halloween party and Sam has to go out of town to do Wood Badge for scouts, so I’m going to the party with her to keep track of the girls while she deals with all the party goings on.

I have been helping the 6^th graders work on their compare and contrast papers about the book and the movies of The Outsiders.  Even though I have never read the book or seen the movie, I am sick of having had to hear about them over and over again.  Although, some of the different ways the kids have told the story has been quite entertaining.  

I’ve decided that I was totally cheated in high school in math.  I had a horrible teacher.  Since I have been working with the 5^th and 6^th graders on their math, I think I may have continued to enjoy it if not for that.

Happy Halloween!!!

August

Well we started school again and it was only 116 on the first day. Yuck! I felt sorry for all the kids when they had to go outside of recess.  Anyway, we had a heat advisory warning for the first week of school.  LAME!

Speaking of school, when I walked into a fifth grade class the other day a boy asked me who was better--Michael Jackson or Justin Bieber.  Now I actually used to like Michael Jackson before he got all weird and had so much plastic surgery that his nose almost fell off. I have no use for Justin Bieber whatsoever.  However, maybe if I were in the 5th grade I would really like him.  

I also decided I was very grateful to my 8th grade English teacher for teaching me the parts of a short story.  I didn’t know it would come in handy years and years later since that’s what the 5th graders are studying this week.

Sam is back in the swing of things big time.  Last week he went to PCC camp up in Prescott.  Gary and I went and stayed up there while he was at camp.  I experienced the almost perfect day--sitting on a deck, in the mountains, in the middle of some trees, about 75 degree weather, reading a great book (A Discovery of Witches).  It would have been perfect except for my stupid back hurting.  Sam’s choir is going to be awesome this year.  They sounded great after only 2 days of practice.  It also rained in Prescott.  I wasn’t out in it so it was a great weekend.  Gary had a great idea to stay up there.

Speaking of which, I had a procedure on Friday called radiofrequency ablation.  The doctor stuck a really big needle in my back and used electricity to kill the nerves.  The even had to put a pad on my leg to ground me.  It’s a good thing they shot some kind of sedative in my arm.   Its purpose was to kill the nerves that have been shooting off pain for no reason.  I already feel much better and was able to sit through all of church without running somewhere to stand up.  Yeah for modern medicine.

Because of my back, Sam has attended the baseball games with Gary.  They have had some great father and son bonding time.

Speaking of Sam, he is now old enough to get his learner’s permit.  Where has the time gone?  Am I ready for this?  Probably not.

Lily learned “Little Purple Pansies” in nursery.  She has been singing it to us.  She is getting quite the repertoire of songs between Disney movies and church.

Kate gets cuter every day.  She can roll all over the place and has a very sweet disposition. 

We will all be glad when the primary election is over on Tuesday then maybe politicians will quit calling us all the time and we don’t have to listen to people say terrible things about each other.  Realistically those things  probably won’t happen, but I can dream can’t I?

Someday, sooner rather than later, I hope that it cools off around here.

Sam's trip to Italy (and other events)

Hey everyone, this is Sam here to tell you all about my  tour to Italy this past week with the Phoenix Children’s Choir. As no one else in the family has done anything very interesting (Mom’s words not mine) I am writing this month.

Monday-Tuesday: Dad drove me bright and early (3:30 AM) to the Phoenix Center for the Arts where I met up with my choir and boarded a bus for a 9 hour ride to Los Angeles. (we needed to go to LA because in order to get everyone on the same plane we had to fly Berlin Air which doesn’t fly from Sky Harbor). Once we arrived at LAX we checked our luggage and went through security where I lost my watch (don’t ask) and ate in the gate where I almost suffered food poisoning from undercooked chicken (don’t ask) and boarded the plane. 11 hours later and our plane landed in Berlin where we waited 3 hours for our flight into Rome. We arrived in Rome, checked into our hotel, and enjoyed a 4 course meal with lasagna, salad, some turkey with a gravy of sorts, and tiramisu. 

Wednesday: Toured Castel St. Angelo and walking tour of Rome. After a lunch of spaghetti and strawberry gelato (amazing btw) we toured the Vatican Museum which concluded with walking through the Sistine Chapel, which is BEAUTIFUL. Once we returned to the hotel our group decided to take a nap then go eat at this Italian seafood place (name escapes me) where on the way I almost got ran over by a car on the way there (not my fault I promise). Once there I dined on a whole fresh crab with pasta. (my friend got the same thing but with bass and ate the head as a dare. Not gonna lie, it was pretty awesome).

Thursday: Toured Colosseum and Roman Forum. In free time my group went to Trevii Fountain where we all threw coins in (the story goes that if you toss a coin in the fountain, you will return to Rome someday). We then had a concert in St. Peter’s Basilica for a Mass. Having never been to a Catholic Mass before it was something new and different for me. We then boarded a sleeper train for Catania.

Friday: Once we settled in to the hotel we hung out with a bunch of students of a Catanian school of language. We then went to the beach where I got sunburned (ouch!). Soon after, we went to the mayors residence for a welcoming speech and dinner with the mayor.

Saturday: We went up to Mt. Etna where we were given time to explore, eat lunch, and buy souvenirs. That night we visited an opera house and walked to a theater for a concert. Unfortunately, the building had no AC so at least 5 or 6 people in the choir either got sick or passed out on stage. Because of this and because of the concert ending late, we were allowed to sleep in on...

Sunday: After enjoying a couple more hours of sleep, we got on tour busses for some sightseeing in Catania. Afterwords, my group went Geocaching (look it up for I lack the knowledge to explain it in detail), and found a bread store where for 1 Euro we could get an entire loaf of fresh baked bread (delicious). We then found a group of girls from our choir who had the dilemma of ordering more Pizza than they could eat. Being the gentlemen that we are we decided to help them with their predicament. The choir then went to the US Naval base where we performed for our military servicemen. They then treated us to an amazing BBQ ( a hamburger has never tasted so good in my life).

Monday: We visited tourist central, Taormina, to see the Greeco-Roman theater and do what else, tourist shopping. That night we had our final concert with 2 other Catanian choirs.

Tuesday: Almost missed our flight to Berlin due to the system for baggage check going down for a good hour. Arrived in Berlin and ate some German food and did some tourist shopping.

Wednesday: Got held up in baggage check AGAIN because the Air Berlin staff in Catania accidentally DELETED OUR FLIGHTS. Thankfully it all got sorted out and before too long we were boarded and off on another 11 hour flight back to LAX. 9 hours of bus ride with a stop at Taco Bell in between (Taco Bell never tasted so good!) and we were back in Phoenix at about 10 P.M.

In short it was an amazing experience and I am so grateful that I was able to visit Italy. I now turn the Newsletter over to Mom for any other family information.

Meanwhile back at the ranch. . .School ended and Sam and I were both very glad.  Gary and I went to his firm retreat in Tubac, which doesn’t look like the deserts of Arizona.  I quite enjoyed it.  The weather was hot during the day, but at night and in the morning it was very nice.  We were all together (except Sam) for Father’s Day.  Chris gave Gary a remote control helicopter for Father’s Day.  We figure that Lily will really like it.   I’ve been to doctors for my yearly checkups.  That took up the first two weeks of the month.  My back has been driving me crazy since January.  After three cortisone shots and some physical therapy, it is feeling better.

I have been reading books and staying cool in the house.  Sam has an online biology class that he needs to work on now.  Gary works, counts money and teaches Sunday School.

May Happenings

SCHOOL’S OUT FOR SUMMER!!!  Yippee and Yea!  I’m planning on doing as much of nothing as possible.

We’ve had concerts galore these past weeks--Sam’s voice recital, orchestra concert (with a rock band), school chorus concerts (the Broadway show), PCC concert (in which some kid pulled the fire alarm and everyone had to exit the Mesa Arts Center for about 15 minutes).  They have all been great, but my rear end was very sick of sitting.  These concerts all involved Sam.  He has successfully completed his freshman year at Mountain View.  Now on to the PCC tour of Italy in two weeks.  I’m stressing out trying to make sure he packs everything he needs.

I had to say good-bye to some good friends at school.  I hate good-byes.  That’s one great thing about Facebook; I can stay in touch with friends.

This is April. I’m adding a paragraph to my parent’s newsletter. It’s a win-win situation for me and my mom. So we are getting into the swing of things with our sweet little Kate. She is a really good baby and is now regularly letting me get at least one 5-6 hour stretch of sleep at night, and then she goes right back to bed for at least another 3. She just started smiling and we all enjoy trying to get her to smile at us. Lily loves her little sister a whole lot and calls her “my baby”. Lily, Kate and I went to a cooking group that I have with a few ladies in my ward. We all make a food that goes with the theme of the month and sit and sample new foods and talk while the kids play. The other little kids were trying to look at Kate and take her blanket off of her and Lily’s big sister/mother hen instinct came out and she stayed by Kate’s side to make sure no one did anything to her little sister that she didn’t approve of. Sam has a camp-out for scouts coming up this weekend and then he has scout camp for a week in June. I’m pretty sure we are going to miss him very much around our house. Sam and I both celebrated birthdays this month. Kate was blessed on my birthday, which was awesome and we had a fun family dinner that night. For Sam’s birthday Sam, Kate and I went to P.F. Changs  for dinner while Lily played with Grandma. That’s about it for us...Have a happy and hopefully not too warm June. 

This is Steve. I recently finished an excellent book entitled Fast and Furious, by Katie Pavlich. In it, author Pavlich does an excellent job of laying out the evidence of misdeed and corruption in the Obama Justice Department. Everyone should read it to fully understand why Eric Holder needs to resign (or be impeached). In other news, I’m still here. And that is my update.

Chris is working, as always, but managed to go to Comic Con, some crazy comic book convention in Phoenix this week.  I think he got his picture taken with someone famous or maybe it was just his friends.  When Sam and April went out to dinner, Lily and I went to Panda Bear (Express) to get food.  She is pretty funny.  

It’s baseball season, so Gary is happy to see the Diamondbacks play once again.

Until next month. . .

The month of April

Meet Kate Vera Shelley.  She was born on May 6 and weighed 7 pounds and 6 ounces.  We all love her tons and tons!  Rakay was there to help with her birth which we were all very happy about!  Lily wasn’t too sure about the whole thing and wouldn’t let her mom out of her sight for a few days.  Now Lily is her mom’s biggest helper.  April finally got Lily to hold Kate a few days ago.  Kate actually let April sleep for 4 hours straight last night.  Ah, the joys of being a new mom!  I took a week off of school to help out.  That was pretty fun.  

This last week all of the kids had to take the AIMS (Arizona Instrument to Measure Standards) test which was not too fun.  Sam didn’t have to take the AIMS test this year.  The 9th grade took the Stanford Achievement test which he said was EASY.  We are coming upon the month of May which in some ways is busier than December.  Bring it on because then school will be out.  Sam performed in the PCC Gala which was a fund raiser for the choir so they got to sing for their supper (in a manner of speaking).  The Gala is PCC’s big fundraiser for the year.  I’m grateful to his voice teacher for hauling him over to Phoenix for all the rehearsals.  His next voice recital is May 5 which is the day before April’s birthday on May 6 which is the same day that Kate will be blessed.   She is wearing April’s blessing dress.

This weekend it has been HOT-- like 102 hot.  I am not looking forward to the long hot summer.  Sam and I went to a really great concert last night while Gary went to the ballgame.  We saw a group called, The Real Group.  They are a vocal jazz group.  He and I really enjoyed it.  It’s amazing to me how they make all the different cool sounds with just their voices.  Sam made the top two choirs at Mountain View for next year and he will only be a sophomore.  I know I am bragging, but I am truly amazed at the talent the Lord has given him.  It is pretty awesome. 

Our April Teachings for our Times lesson was Elder Holland’s talk, which I really liked a lot.  We have really great Relief Society teachers on our ward so Relief Society is a pleasure to attend.

Tax season is over.  I always wonder how Gary makes it with so little sleep and such long hours, but he does.  Now it is baseball season, so I guess that makes up for it.

Stephen and Chris are still working away.  Chris got his car fixed and new tires to boot.

Happy May.

March Happenings

Apparently, Kate could arrive at any moment.  She has, however, chosen not to, so we will have to wait until she is good and ready.  Kate’s room is all ready.  Lily isn’t quite sure about all of this.  She says the baby is going to live at our house.  I definitely don’t think that is going to happen.  Lily and April both have the stomach flu, so we hope they GET WELL SOON and please don’t give it to us.

We have had a wonderful March and I hope we can look forward to an even nicer April (weather wise I mean).  I have enjoyed walking and riding my bike and can happily say that I did not waste the good exercise weather this year.

Grandma and Grandpa were here this weekend.  Stacie and Boyd had dinner on Sunday.  Stacie made some scones that were pretty much to die for and Erin made some equally great rolls.  I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Yesterday I got a cortisone shot in my back to take care of a pinched nerve that has been killing me.  They said it might take 5 days to work, but I feel better already and am greatly blessed by modern medicine.  The shot wasn’t too comfortable but so far the result has been marvelous.

Sam is getting ready for the huge Phoenix Children’s Choir Gala.  The tickets are $125 a piece and they sold out.  It is supposed to be quite the grand event.  Sam has lots of rehearsals in two weeks to get ready.  Sam didn’t make all state this year, but just wait until next year!

Chris got rear ended on the freeway.  He said at least it was a nice day to be stuck waiting for the highway patrol.  The picture of his car didn’t look too bad.

It’s March so Gary is working every minute on tax returns.  I don’t know how he keeps the hours that he does, because I would be dead.  Baseball starts soon.

My Aunt ReNee died a couple of days ago.  She was one of my favorite aunts.  She tried to teach me to play the piano, without much help from me because I didn’t practice much.  She played the organ for Gary and my wedding and made the best dipped chocolates ever.  She was also quite the story teller.  She came to Arizona with my mom when Chris was born.  She was regaling us with hilarious story after hilarious story and making me laugh so hard things started to hurt.  I finally had to beg her to stop.  She had a wonderful life with challenges as we all have.  I’m sure she and my Uncle Ralph are very happy to be together again.

Only about 40 more days left of school.  Yes!

P.S.  Kate arrived on April 6 at 11:51 a.m.  She is beautiful and we love her.

Michelangelo?

I was going to Arizona Mills the other day to do some shopping.  Stephen said to me, "Hey, Old Navy has Michelangelo shirts.  Could you get me one?"  Of course my mind goes to the artist, the painter of the Sistine Chapel, David, etc.  I thought maybe they had a shirt like this one with a fig leaf place in a strategic location.

So, I'm looking all over for a shirt like this.  Couldn't find one.  I finally gave up and decided to check out without the shirt.  As I'm ready to check out, I asked the clerk about the Michelangelo shirts.

He replied,  "Oh, Michelangelo, the ninja turtle."  Duh, I should have known, Stephen, Chris and April watched that cartoon every day. (April would HATE it when they would call her April O'neill.)

Stephen is now the proud owner of a Michelangelo t-shirt.

January Happenings

When last we corresponded, April was writing the newsletter while I was busily making Christmas cookies.  I love December, but I like January because it is like the calm after the storm.  

We all had a very Merry Christmas around here.  It was especially fun to watch Lily.  We went to church.  Sam sang a solo.  Chris gave me a Kindle Fire which I have had a lot of fun with.  Especially since I can take it to church and it has all the scriptures plus the George Albert Smith manual.  No more heavy scriptures for me.  It also has the internet.  What more could I want, oh yes, games and books!  I love technology.

We started off January with our anniversary--31 years.  Gary and I took a trip to Sedona and stayed in Oak Creek Canyon at a bed and breakfast called the Canyon Wren Cabins.  Oak Creek Canyon is one of my most favorite place in Arizona, probably because it reminds me of Utah.  We went hiking and enjoyed the beautiful scenery.  The weather was perfect.  We had a fire in the fireplace in our cabin every night.  The breakfasts were yummy.  We got a homemade brownie every day.  We found some great restaurants in Sedona--Mexican, Italian, and a sandwich shop that had the most delicious soft bread ever.  Fun times.

Sam jumped right back into PCC.  This Saturday is singing regionals for school.  Sam has been working hard on his solo and sight reading. His voice teacher has been a huge help.  Good luck to Sam next Saturday!  Break a leg!

April and I got Lily some new spring clothes.  She is insisting on wearing them now however, even though the weather isn’t totally cooperating.  She also insists that the new baby’s name is “Cake” even though all of us have tried to tell her that it is “Kate.”

Tax season has started for Gary, so he is getting very busy.  Lily likes to help him with the garden and loves to eat the broccoli.

I jumped right back into school also.  The second graders have been working on “carrying and borrowing.”  The new term is regrouping.  Whatever it is called, some of them are having a hard time.  They almost had me convinced that 2 is greater than 9.  Needless to say, we have some work to do with a few of them.

I must say this whole Relief Society President thing is a little weird for me.  Nothing like getting a new calling to see oneself in a whole new light.  I see my strengths, but I also see things about myself that I wish I was a whole lot better at.  I have to say my favorite part is feeling the guidance of the Holy Ghost.  Anyway, I’m sure the more I work at it, the better I will get with the Lord’s help. 

Bad Behavior at Frys

April, Lily and I went to Frys on Thursday to pick up a few things for dinner.  Lily loves to ride in the car attached to the cart.  As we were walking to the store from the parking lot, we observed the following:  Apparently someone in a truck accidentally almost ran over someone or simply got to close to them.  All of a sudden the "f" word starting flying along with the middle finger salute.  As the woman in the truck was backing up, one of the men standing there hit her window and challenged the woman in the truck to a fight.  (By the way, the truck had handicapped license plates on it.)

I have to wonder--what were they thinking?  Does swearing and flipping the bird make one tougher?  Why are some people so aggressive?  I don't know, but they looked liked total idiots to everyone standing there watching them.  And I wonder why some of the kids at school act the way they do.

Ending 2011

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! As Christmas quickly approaches we are franticly trying to prepare for it’s arrival. This week will be spent doing some last minute Christmas shopping and will be very filled with baking for Carol and April. Every year they prepare plates full of numerous goodies for neighbors and friends.

Lily is VERY thrilled to have Santa come and visit her. She is certain he will bring her a princess for Christmas. We are also prepping her for sleeping over at Grandma and Grandpa’s house. She loves sleeping in her bed but anywhere else is questionable.

 Gary has been busy with tithing settlement and is all finished. He and Carol have also attended two parties for his work. One was a catered event at a museum and the other was held at a Brazilian restaurant. Carol had some very “exciting” things happen this month. She was called to be the Relief Society president in the ward. All of the information and duties are very intimidating at first but she will do awesome. She has some very good counselors and secretary to help her out as well.

Sam is counting down the days until he gets out of school for the Christmas Break. Only two more days full of finals left. Sam has been extremely busy with all of his singing and all of the concerts he’s been in (as have Gary and Carol). A big group of us got to attend one of his Phoenix Children’s Choir concerts, it was very enjoyable. He had another concert with school called the "Holiday dinners." They perform at a local vocational school where they have a culinary program. So Gary, Carol, Stephen, Chris, and April all went, ate dinner, and watched Sam sing. At the end the alumni get to join the students and sing two songs that they sing every year. So April went and stood by her “little” brother and sang with the choirs. He is also singing in church on Christmas.

 Stephen is still working hard. He is the one of the Gospel Doctrine teachers in his ward and is excited to be teaching about the Book of Mormon next year. He is also co-chair of the ward Home Evening Committee. The name of his ward was changed to the Mesa YSA 3rd Ward in anticipation of the forthcoming YSA stakes in Arizona. Lily loves to come over and find Stephen and then play with all of the stuff in his room--especially when they get to play with animal puppets.

 Chris has been pursuing a new hobby. He goes rock climbing with a friend about three times a week. He is getting pretty good at it and has been acquiring as much equipment as possible so he can do outdoor and indoor climbing.

Sam and April did not attend his work party since all it involved was riding a bus around Phoenix and bar hopping. Sam would like you all to know that The Dear Leader, Kim Jung Il passed away ascended into heaven escorted by a multitude of cranes today. Praise Allah. Anyway, yesterday Sam held his first "Operation First Class." He’s developing a way for the boys to get a lot of the basic requirements up to first class scout out of the way so they can work on more nitty gritty stuff. It went pretty well. April is relieved that she made it to the end of the year with enough teachers in primary and is excited to start the new year fresh with only one teacher short. She’s also excited to get the new babies room all cleaned out, organized, and eventually painted. Lily loves to tell stories, we understand some more than others and her newest word is “hypothesis”. She learned it from her new favorite show Dinosaur Train.

 Well that’s it for us. See you in 2012!!!

School--First week

So I made it though the first 3 days of school, but not before almost dying on Thursday because it was so humid. Yuck.

I am helping in a kindergarten class for the first two weeks of school. Very interesting experience. One little boy cried ALL day on the first day of school. Believe me, that takes effort. He would stop when something interesting was happening, then realize he wasn't crying and start wailing again. Then there's the poor little girl who speaks NO English. She doesn't have a clue about what is going on. And here's the thing. This little girl will be expected to perform as well as English speaking kids on tests at the end of the year. I ask you, is that fair? Talk about setting someone up for failure. Just my opinion.

Here's some things I took for granted working with first graders: they know which part of the paper is up, they know how to hold a pencil, they know that we read from left to right, they can follow directions, they have known how to write their names for a long time, they know what to do in the cafeteria, and they can listen for more than 3 minutes.

I really miss my teacher friends in first grade. I miss my friend Sheryl because I won't see her as much this year.

And yet, I came back because I love the kids and it is a pleasure to see them learn and grow.

I also decided that I needed to get up at 5:30 so I can exercise every morning because I am way too tired after school. So I go out to the swimming pool and do water aerobics. It is quite pleasant out there at that time of the morning. I just really don't like to get up so early, but since I do, my new bedtime is 9:00.

Sam started high school this year and so far he seems to enjoy it. He is at Phoenix Children's Chorus camp this weekend in Prescott. Lucky him. Gary and I took him up yesterday and it was so nice!!! Chris and I are going to pick him up tomorrow and listen to his choir sing. Lucky us!

Wise Words to Live By

Brother Gordon is the president of FAIR. The Foundation for Apologetic Information & Research (FAIR) is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing well-documented answers to criticisms of LDS (Mormon) doctrine, belief and practice. I think we need to remember that questions and concerns about the gospel aren't evil or bad. They are just questions. It's how we choose to deal with the questions that we have that can make or break us.


A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity of visiting with a
brother who is struggling with his testimony. He was kind and
gracious as well as being open about his struggles. He is a good
returned missionary who is active in church and married in the
temple. He objected to one of the policy decisions that the Church
has recently made, and when he brought that objection up to members
of his extended family, he was immediately criticized for not
supporting the brethren. These confrontations with family members
then made him start to question other things he had learned in
Sunday School and Seminary.

As I have been thinking about this, I realize that the policy
decision by the Church did not impact this brother. There was no
change he had to make in his life; there was nothing he had to do.
But, questioning the one thing, and being met with negativity,
brought everything else into question.

It is not an uncommon occurrence that spiritual difficulties with
one small item can cause a larger problem. This "chink in the armor"
theory is a strategy that is often exploited by anti-Mormons
familiar with the phenomenon. Many anti-Mormons throw accusations,
many of which can be easily reconciled, with the hopes that one will
stick and gnaw at us until it leads to a major crisis of faith. In
the case of this brother, it wasn't anti-Mormonism that caused the
chink in his armor, but simply a Church policy he disagreed with.

While some believe that the gospel gives us answers to everything in
life, others feel learning to deal with ambiguity in life is an
important skill to master. I am a committed, believing Latter-day
Saint who believes the Church gives us many answers. I hold to the
position that the Lord wants to bless us, but sometimes we aren't
ready for that blessing, teaching, or information. There are good
members of the Church who may not do everything right, which brings
difficulties or ambiguity into our life. At times, we don't have a
complete understanding of some principle or practice. Sometimes we
can feel absolutely right on some principle or teaching, but we may
not be in agreement with another member or Church leader.

When I observe this principle, as I observed it in this brother, I
often reflect upon the phrase to "hold to the rod." What should we
hold on to in order to buttress our testimony and carry us through
life? There can be many things to choose from, but we must choose
wisely. In my case, I hold on to my testimony that Jesus is the
Christ, that He loves me, and that He died for my sins. I also hold
on to my testimony that the Book of Mormon is true. With those two
beliefs held as the rod of my testimony, other difficulties,
ambiguities, or disagreements become secondary.

I pray that we all can hold to the rod, that we can be kind to
others, and treat others as the Savior would treat them. This will
lead to happiness in our life.

--Scott Gordon
President of FAIR

June Fun

The thing I love about summer, that if done correctly, there isn’t a whole lot to do. Except, of course, for those lovely vacations we all enjoy. So, pretty much I am loving summer. Well, except it has been over 110 degrees for the last couple of days.

Last week, Gary, Sam and I went to St. George to attend the plays at Tuacahn--The Little Mermaid and Grease. We loved both of them. Jeff, Debby and Neal joined Mom and Dad and us for The Little Mermaid. We dined at Chuck-a-Rama before the show. Ursula’s death scene was stupendous, Scuttle was hilarious, and Ariel had a beautiful voice.






The next day Gary, Sam and I visited the home of Jacob Hamblin. His job was to work with the Native Americans and help keep the peace. We also toured the St. George tabernacle, a beautiful old building, in which all of the presidents of the church (except Joseph Smith) have spoken. I had to go shopping so I dropped the other two off at the hotel. I found some cute clothes for Lily.





Tuacahn procured some great old cars for Grease. But why oh why is Sandy the one who has to change. I guess it wouldn’t be “cool” otherwise. As an added bonus, it started to sprinkle during intermission, which made the song “It’s Raining on Prom Night” even more fun for the audience. We were all sweating during The Little Mermaid; the weather during Grease was much more pleasant. I’m sure glad it didn’t really RAIN or we wouldn’t have gotten to see the rest of the play.

On the way back, just east of Kingman, there was a car fire. We were stopped for awhile, Thank goodness it was only about 84 degrees so it wasn’t to bad to sit there on the freeway. The truck, that I assume ran into the gas tanker, was toast. The only thing left was black metal. There was also a fire along the side of the road, which firefighters put out quickly. It did make our trip seem much longer.

All of our kids and Lily were here for Father’s Day which made it a lot of fun. Chris gave Gary a Diamondback’s cover for his Iphone and April made him a excellent memory book.

I am now helping to teach the 11-year-old Primary class as well as doing Activity Day for the girls. This month we held a recognition night for the girls. Their favorite thing we did seemed to be the scripture plaques they made. I purchased a sheet of fake wood and Sam S. cut it into pieces. The girls painted them. They each picked their favorite scripture and we put that with a picture of the temple and a picture of Jesus and mod podged the whole thing. I was a little worried about how a few of them would turn out, but they all did. Gary is going to be teaching Gospel Doctrine along with his clerking duties. Sam is the secretary in the Teacher’s Quorum.


We have had our old living room couch in the kitchen for the past few months. We finally got rid of it. Yahoo! Someone in our ward needed a couch so they hauled it away last night, now maybe I can restore a bit of order in the midst of chaos. I always envy RaKay and Stacie because the houses are in such good order. Mine, it seems, never is.

Last, but not least here are some pictures of Lily's favorite activity--unloading my purse of all its contents. I couldn't get her to smile either.

Two Great Reads

I recently finished the Citizens of London by Lynne Olson. Ms. Olson tells the story of London during WWII. It is a spellbinding account of the sacrifices made by the people of London. She also tells the story of Edward R. Murrow, Averell Harriman, and the U.S. ambassador John Gilbert Winant. I had never heard of Winant before I read this book. He was truly an unsung hero. He was greatly admired by the British for his humanitarian work in their country. He worked behind the scenes to facilitate the relationship between Britain and the U.S. Without his efforts, this relationship would not have existed as it was during the war.

I am currently reading Talking with God by Robert L. Millet. Brother Millet is a professor of Ancient Scripture at BYU. Many of my questions about prayer have been answered by reading this book.

Here's an excerpt from the chapter entitled "Answers to Prayers":

At the convocation of the College of Education at BYU in the summer of 1992, one student shared with her fellow graduates and others present a touching story about an experience she had had with a young Native American boy. He had been labeled by previous teachers as incorrigible, which was of course, a serious problem. She felt impelled to reach out to him and help. She knew the family situation was difficult and thought that if she visited his home she might find some clue for how to reach him. The visit stunned her. She found poverty, neglect, alcoholism, drug abuse--everything negative and destructive seemed to be present in that home. Her heart ached for the boy; his situation made her despondent. As she poured out her heart in prayer to the Lord, she found herself asking, "Have you forgotten this boy?"

The answer came, quietly and reassuringly: "No. that is why I sent you."

Very often the Almighty answers people's prayer--the prayers of the lonely, the downtrodden, the hungry, the bitter--through other people, through those sensitive souls who who open themselves to inspiration and are willing to be inconvenienced.

Mormon's Sense of Humor

I love the Book of Mormon and every time I read it, I find things I haven't noticed before. Every time I read the story of Ammon in the Book of Alma, I always get a good chuckle. Now the point Mormon was trying to make, when he edited this particular part was that God keeps his promises (at least that's what I think). The ways he points this out is pretty darn funny.

In the book of Mosiah, the sons of King Mosiah want to go preach the gospel to the Lamanites. The Lamanites were a ferocious people who loved to kill Nephites, so Mosiah had good reason to worry about his sons.

In Mosiah 28:6-7 the Lord speaks to Mosiah: "And king Mosiah went and inquired of the Lord if he should let his sons go up among the Lamanites to preach the word. And the Lord said unto Mosiah: Let them go up, for many shall believe on their words, and they shall have eternal life; and I will deliver thy sons out of the hands of the Lamanites."

Mormon points out that this promise was fulfilled at least two times in his narrative. The first time during Ammon's fight with the rustlers who are trying to scatter the king's sheep at a watering hole. The servants of the king who were watching the sheep wept because the king had a nasty habit of killing the servants who let the sheep get scattered. Ammon tells the servants to get back and he will take care of the problem. The rustlers figure that they can easily take care of one man. Then Mormon remind us in Alma 17:35: "Therefore they did not fear Ammon, for they supposed that one of their men could slay him according to their pleasure, for they knew not that the Lord had promised Mosiah that he would deliver his sons out of their hands; neither did they know anything concerning the Lord; therefore they delighted in the destruction of their brethren; and for this cause they stood to scatter the flocks of the king." Much to the delight of every young man who has every read this account, Ammon cuts the arms off many of them and also kills a few of their leaders.

Because Ammon is so valiant in protecting the king's sheep, and because instead of bragging about what a great job he did, he immediately returned and got the king's horses and chariot ready to for the king's journey, the king listens to Ammon and is converted to the gospel. In fact, he is so changed that he loses his strength and appears to be dead. During this time the Lord is working with the king and is "removing the dark veil of unbelief from the king's mind." Those around the king's wife try to convince her that the king is dead and needs to be placed in his sepulchre. Ammon and tells the queen that he will awaken the next day. He does and begins to preach to the people. The spirit overcomes the king, queen and Ammon. Some of the rustlers show up to see this miracle and they figure that now would be a great time to get revenge on Ammon since he is lying there helpless. We return to Mormon's narrative in Alma 19:22-23: "Now, one of them, whose brother had been slain with the sword of Ammon, being exceedingly angry with Ammon, drew his sword and went forth that he might let it fall upon Ammon, to slay him; and as he lifted the sword to smite him, behold, he fell dead. Now we see that Ammon could not be slain, for the Lord had said unto Mosiah, his father: I will spare him, and it shall be unto him according to thy faith—therefore, Mosiah trusted him unto the Lord."

Despite the evil designs of some of the Lamanites, Ammon was protected by the Lord. The amusing thing to me is how Mormon points this out. The bad guys don't know, but there is no way they will be able to hurt Ammon. The Lord is more powerful than anything man can do.

Family Newsletter

Each month Gary's family all write newsletters that his mom puts together and mails to everyone. Here's ours.. .

Yesterday was the last day of school. All I have to say is “Yipee”. It was a hard year and I am so glad that it is finally over. On the success side, the first grade teachers (who are the best) met their academic goals for the kids in reading and math. I hope that I had some part in their success. There is nothing more satisfying than watching a child learn. I saw many learning successes this year.

Sam has had a wonderful May! He auditioned for the Phoenix Children’s Choir and made the highest choir. Next summer he will get to go to Italy with them. He was also on the honor role at school with a 4.0 grade point average. On Sunday he will be leaving for Washington D.C. on his Close Up tour sponsored by the school. He will get to see all the sights and learn a lot too. He is then going to help with Jumpstart which is the program at the junior high to help incoming 7th graders learn the ropes of junior high. In August he starts at Mountain View High School. Sam also had his voice recital on May 14. He sang “Across the Western Sea” (an art/classical song) and “Close Every Door” (from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat). I give a huge “thank you” to his voice teacher, Mrs. Lori Woods. She was a big part of his singing success this year. She is an awesome voice teacher. Sam has learned a lot from her. Grandma and Grandpa came to see him. He did an epic job and we all went to the Olive Garden to celebrate his birthday (only three months late).



We all met last night at Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville for Sam Shelley’s birthday. He hit the big 30. Chris brought Lily a balloon shaped like a duck. She loved it. She was great as long as she had someone to carry her around and look at the sights. Her dad, Stephen and Chris got some exercise packing her around. She liked the food, but just didn’t appreciate sitting around.

I’m looking forward to finally finishing my home improvement projects, going to St. George to see the plays there, and a family reunion. Also, reading all the books I have time for. I had a busy May also with Relief Society, Sam’s concerts, Activity Days, and the biggest funeral luncheon I have ever seen.

Gary is busy with work and training our new bishopric members how to count tithing. The first weekend in June is the big law firm retreat. We are going to a very nice resort, Dove Mountain, near Tucson.

Weather wise May was a great month. Today the real heat begins and won’t end until October. Boo.

Busy Week

Some weeks are busier than others. I'm sure you've all had weeks where you just run from one thing to another. Last week was that week for me.

Tuesday was our ward's night Relief Society meeting. I was helping with the food and making 12 pounds of chicken salad. So with my trusty pressure cooker and my trusty Bosch, it was not a hard job. It was somewhat time consuming. I spent a lot of time Monday cooking chicken and also had to take Sam to voice lessons.

Tuesday after school, I made the chicken salad. Twelve pounds is a big pan of chicken salad. After dropping Sam off at violin lessons, he would be picked up by Sam Shelley, April and I headed to the church. So with the help of Karen Shiflet, we made 65 sandwiches. We also served salads and dessert. It was all very yummy and there wasn't very much left. After dinner, the balance of the meeting was discussing visiting teaching--a subject that always makes me feel a little guilty. Confession: if I went every month, I wouldn't feel that way.








Wednesday afternoon was Activity Day. Krista Lenhart and I have all the girls in our ward--8-12 years of age. They are fun, but they also have tons of energy. I found cute bracelet from Clare's Place and a cute Mother's Day card at Family Fun.com. Do you know that there is no where in Mesa (at least that I could find) that has big colored beads? Not Michaels, JoAnn's or Hobby Lobby. I was very disappointed. After leaving finding the beads until almost the last minute, because who knew I wouldn't be able to find them, I had to order them online and pay extra so they would get here on time. The girls had fun making the bracelets and the cards and were excited to give them to their mothers. I wanted to get pictures of all the girls and their creations, but they were very fast getting them done and wrapped.






Thursday, I had a much needed hair cut and color job. We also went out to dinner for April's birthday at the Cheesecake Factory, one of her favorite places.

Friday was her actual birthday. The poor girl had to make herself a cake, because I was too busy and too tired. Ah yes, I forgot last week was Dibels testing week at school. Dibels is a reading test that is given to every child K-6 and I am part of the testing team. So take my word for it, by the end everyone is rather brain dead after listening to kids read stories, retell said stories, read nonsense words, and break words down into their individual sounds. The first graders did an awesome job.

I had a great Mother's Day. We had steak, baked potatoes, corn and watermelon fixed by April and Gary. YUM. The whole family was here. Maybe the rest of May will be less busy. I sincerely doubt it though. With concerts, recitals, meetings and the end of school, it promises to be very busy indeed