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.

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.

The Sad Saga of the Crossing Guard Shelter (or Government run Amok, again)

For the past 16 years, maybe even longer, there stood at the school crossing on 8th street a small crossing guard shelter located next to the sidewalk on the property of a church. It wasn't much--just enough for one or two people to stand under and a little bench to sit on. It sheltered the unfortunate crossing guard who happened to be there when the scorching Arizona sun shone down. People did like to cover the inside with graffiti, but the small church it stood next to would paint over everything from time to time.

Enter the city of Mesa. That shelter had no permit, and a bunch of other stuff that needed to be paid for. The total came to $4000 owed to the city of Mesa. The man on the case talked to his boss and they decided to wave all the fees except for the $100 for the original permit. So the small church raised the $100 for the city of Mesa.

But wait! The shelter was an accident just waiting to happen according to the wise people who work for the city of Mesa. Has there ever been an accident in the past 16 years? No! That fact didn't matter. Now the shelter is no more and those of us who happen to cross children there are at the mercy of the Arizona sun.

The month of March

So, March is almost over. I’m not too excited about it because the heat is just around the corner. March has been a very nice and friendly month except for the days during spring break when it got a little warm.

I decided I would paint the kitchen during spring break. Surely with five days, I would be able to complete the job. Ha, ha the joke was on me--didn’t happen Now it could be that on that Tuesday I spent the whole day reading a book and on Friday I spent a chunk of the day at IKEA with Stephen, Lily and April, but still. . . So all this past week I have been working after school to get most of it done because yesterday I had a Mother/Daughter Activity here. The girls and their moms brought their favorite dish to share and then they made menus for a week’s worth of cooking. I like doing Activity Day very much. Whatever we do the girls think is fun and there is hardly any drama at all.



New kitchen color.



Table decorations for Mother/Daughter Activity

Thursday night we went to the Poston Jr High choir concert at Mountain View. Sam got the big solo. He did a great job!! What a wonderful voice he has. Sam had a successful quarter at school also.

Of course, Gary is busy working on taxes. April 15th is not too far away. I don’t think that is any consolation to him because he still has a whole lot to do. But, baseball season will soon be here.

Stephen loves teaching Sunday School in his ward. I have enjoyed having him work at Lowe’s as I have gotten some good deals on my home remodeling projects.

Chris came to Sam’s concert and then borrowed my car so he could haul around some sound equipment for a wedding. So, very reluctantly, he had to let me use his car. I don’t know what it is about guys and standard transmissions, but I didn’t enjoy it very much. Too much shifting and my left leg isn’t used to driving with a clutch.

At school, we are trying to get the kids ready for all their standardized testing. It isn’t really very much fun for either me or the kids, but only two more months in school. Starting in August, Sam will be attending Mountain View as the first 9th grade class there. Don’t even get me started on that. I wish that he would spend his 9th grade year at Poston.

We are all glad that General Conference is this week. Love to go to church at home!

I'm Grateful

We’re looking forward to a wonderful Thanksgiving week. The weather will be in the 60’s and the food and the company will be grand.

“Gratitude not expressed is no good to anyone.” Bishop Burton quoted this in our stake conference last week. So here goes. . .

I’m grateful for my family. . .both the family I grew up in and my family now. We’re all healthy and happy (well, most of the time). We all have our challenges, but the Lord has blessed us so very much. What we did without Lily is a mystery to me. The world is a much more fun place since she came along. She is smart, funny and gives great kisses.

I’m grateful for music (and ipods). Music cheers and calms my soul. I’m grateful for my musical children. I absolutely can’t wait for Sam’s concert at the temple and his school concerts (both choir and orchestra).

I’m grateful for the holiday season where we have a chance to give thanks to Heavenly Father and celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who took upon himself, in a way we cannot understand, all of our sins, pains, and inadequacies. That because of this, if we will repent, we will be able to return to our Heavenly Father.

I’m grateful for the blessings of the temple that we can be with our families forever with no fighting. How could we stand to be separated from family members without this assurance.

I’m grateful for books! All kinds of books! Books can take us anywhere and oh, all the things we can learn from them--both temporal and spiritual.

Oh yes, of course, I’m grateful that it is now cool here. The best time of the year. In September, I was sure I would survive until now.

When we first moved down here, there were just the five of us for Thanksgiving most of the time. I spent a lot of time feeling sorry for myself. I’m grateful that we will have 20 family members gathered at our house on Thanksgiving day.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Fall Fun

The weather is now perfect here. I was wondering if it would ever happen. I feel so much better now that it has cooled off. Heat makes me feel hot and grouchy.

I liked general conference a lot. Especially the talks given by Elder Holland and President Uchdorf. We all met at Rakay and Claye’s after the last session of conference for dinner.

Sam, Stephen, April, Lily and I went to Utah for Fall Break. Stephen, Sam and I drove and April and Lily flew (on an airplane). The S’s and I arrived in Price so we could attend Whitney’s and Dexter’s wedding reception. Caryl Tatton did a beautiful job of feeding everyone and decorating. Whitney looked beautiful. I especially liked her shoes.

We enjoyed seeing everyone there--especially the part where we all stayed up until 1:00 a.m. talking. Fun times.

We drove to SLC on Monday to pick up Lily and April at the airport. Lily was really good for the whole trip and we drug here around a lot. April and I had a great time boutique shopping. Stephen avoided this activity by having dates and Sam sat in the car mainly because Lily had fallen asleep.

We went to all our favorite places to eat: Magleby’s Fresh, The Brick Oven, Dairy Keen and the Lion House. Stephen introduced us to a new place called Zupas. It serves soup, salads and sandwiches. Yummy.

While in SLC visiting Kirk we went to temple square to see the model of the Salt Lake temple. Very cool. We also showed Lily and Christus statue and went to the new Deseret Book Store.

People were just moving out of my family’s old house. The door wasn’t locked so we went in to take a look. The remodeled kitchen was wonderful. My mom would have loved it. They uncovered the wood floor and refinished them. Some of the paint colors I didn’t really like, but it looked really good. I wish that a nice family would move in.

The weather was pretty wonderful there which was good because one day we walked all over the BYU campus. Can I just say how different it all is from when I went there. Who would have thought? New buildings, new technology, and really young looking kids. Sam’s goal is to attend there someday.

A missionary from our ward died of an aneurysm last week. He had only been out for three months. His funeral was yesterday. Our ward had a rather sad week.

Sam had his first orchestra and choir concerts. They were excellent. His choir is going to be singing at the temple on December 8. I’m sure Sam doesn’t remember how rotten he was when we went to go hear April sing there during the Christmas season. I told him he was never coming to the temple again and he told everyone in Primary that I told him that. He was probably about 3 or 4. The adults in Primary got a good laugh.

The first quarter of school if over already. A big shout out to Sam for getting straight A’s. I’ve been working hard at school also. Lots of kids to see.

I taught Primary today. It was pretty fun. It’s amazing what 7 year olds will do for stickers--things like being quiet and sitting in their seats--magical things like that. We talked about service.

Our back yard is all dug up because Salt River Project is putting in some new electrical lines. Our neighbor is very upset because he just finished landscaping his back yard. They have made a big mess.

Happy fall everyone!

It's June -- Things to be grateful for

1. I can go to my new fridge and get a nice COLD glass of milk. I didn't realize how much my old one didn't work.

2. I know it is going to get HOT this week, but we have enjoyed an exceptionally wonderful June so far. Only in the 90's during the day and it cooled off nicely at night.

3. Rich and the girls' visit. We had fun and I got to know my nieces better.

4. April got to spend a few days with us because Sam went camping to help with a young men's activity.

5. I'm getting some awesome pictures from Stephen's cross-country trip. I wish I were there, except for the driving.

6. Life isn't quite so hectic--so why is my house not clean yet?

7. I missed my dad yesterday, but I'm glad that he is with my mom again.

8. I'm grateful for my son-in-law and his willingness to help.

9. Our pool is still nice and cool.

The Week the Relatives Came

My brother and his girls have been visiting us for the past week. His wife was supposed to come too, but she hurt her back, so she has been at home doing a "While you Were Out". (An old TLC show where one member of the family leaves and another member does something wonderful to the house.) I hope that Lisa is the designer and all her neighbors are the work force. The girls will come home to new rooms and Rich will come home to a clean garage and new living room furniture. It's quite the project for a week and a half.

Swimming was one of the favorite activities of the week, especially for Susan. She loved swimming and was constantly asking her dad when it was time to swim.

Grace is a great artist taking after her dad and cousin Stephen. Here she is with the monster she drew at the Arizona Museum's for Youth monster exhibit.

Caroline loves her dad and doesn't like to have him out of her sight even if it mean going to her aunt's boring Sunday School class or waiting for Chris to get the jumper cables after the car battery died. The jumper cables were home instead of in my car where they should have been. Whatever.
We all enjoyed this great movie!

We went to eat at Joe's Barbeque and Rosa's, two of our favorite places.

Today they went home. They are going to stop and see the Grand Canyon on the way home and stop in Kanab for the night. I know their dog Waylon missed them, and their mom did too of course.

A fun time was had by all. By the way, read the Day the Relatives Came. It is a funny book.

I am having a hard time getting pictures where I want them to be so. . .Caroline is the first picture. By the way, when I asked them what movie they wanted to watch I thought they would say some Disney cartoon. No! They wanted to watch THE MUMMY.

Power Outage!!!

The power went off at our house. The wind blew really hard and knocked down 8 power poles. Now ordinarily these lines probably wouldn't have blown down, but because they are "fake", they did. The city of Mesa is widening the road and some of these lines had to be moved. Hence, the power lines are only temporary

It began Monday night at 10:00 and continued to Tuesday night at about 7:30 p.m. I am not bitter because some of my neighbors' power came back on WAY before mine did. (Well, maybe a little.) However, since we are supposed to learn something from all our trials (I know this barely qualifies), I have decided to take the high road, and instead of complaining, I would like to list some of the things I have learned from this experience.

1. I am extremely grateful for air conditioning. I don't know how people lived here before it was invented.

2. My hair looks really awful without being blow dried and nobody made fun of me. Who knows, maybe they didn't think it looked any different.

3. Sam and I went to Chris's apartment after school. He had the air cranked down. What a nice son!

4. I remembered not to open the refrigerator and the freezer and most things were okay.

5. I'm grateful for all those SRP workers out there working hard to get the power back on.

6. Did I say I was grateful for air conditioning?

7. Do you know how quiet it is when there is no sound from air conditioners and and pool pumps?

8. We found out April is having a girl. That really doesn't have anything to do with the power going out, but it happened yesterday also.

9. I should have slept in the basement. It was much cooler!

10. I am grateful for air conditioning. Whoever invented it should have gotten the Nobel Prize.

11. I'm really glad I didn't live here 100 years ago.

Mother Nature

Mother Nature and I sometimes have our disagreements. For instance, she thinks the perfect temperature for Mesa in the summertime is 110 degrees. I think that is too hot. I think she is showing off with her wild thunderstorms during the monsoon season.

Today, however, we were in perfect agreement. I woke up to a nice cool breeze blowing in my bedroom window. To make it even better, I heard the pleasant sound of a spring shower. It was perfect!

Thanks Mother Nature!

What I Did on My Spring Break

This spring break I decided I wanted to accomplish something besides my usual sitting around reading a book, which I really like to do, but sounds really boring when people ask, "What did you do on your spring break?" So here goes. . .

Monday: I decided I really needed to clean my house because when I am working, it really isn't my first priority. The laundry room seemed to be a good place to start since I can't ever find anything. Here's what I found during cleaning: 2 flashlights that didn't work, six bottles of bathroom cleaner (I keep buying more because I can't ever find any.), two pair of Sam's old shoes, which were about half the size his feet are now (size 12!), and some rope which must have been made during a cub scout day camp. Then I decided to move along to my bedroom. I am a pile maker. Going through those piles was like going to an archeological dig. I figured that since I hadn't ever needed the stuff at the bottom of the pile that I could safely throw it away. I was going to clean the kitchen cabinets, but by that time, I had had enough of cleaning.

Tuesday: I made it to the cannery by 8:30 a.m. to do some dry pack canning with our stake. Having never been there before, I didn't know what I was supposed to do. I ended up at the table that was canning cocoa mix. I love the smell of chocolate in the morning. It turned out that we had to can 298 cans which was about twice as much as everything else (beans, wheat, etc.) So after everyone else was done, we were still working, for quite a while. According to my friend Lori, I should have followed my other friend Laura, because she knows where the fast canning tables are. So, note to self--follow Laura.

After that adventure, Sam and I headed off to Costco to get some strawberries to make jam. Except things like that always take longer than one thinks and Tuesday was St. Patrick's day and I was fixing corned beef and cabbage for the family. Also, my visiting teachers came. I totally forgot they were coming. Now I have some yummy strawberry jam in my freezer, but it took forever to clean up.

Wednesday: Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat was playing at the Mesa Arts Center. I bought tickets so Sam and I could go. We both really enjoyed it. The brothers were hilarious. Although I was disappointed that Donny Osmond wasn't playing Joseph.;) We got a really great parking place too, because somebody left just as we were coming down the street behind the arts center. Sam wanted to go to Olive Garden to have dinner, so we did.

Thursday: Both Sam and I wanted to see RACE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN. It was a very pleasant way to spend a couple of hours. Dwayne Johnson (formerly The Rock) starred. I think I like The Rock better than Dwayne, but whatever. He was pretty fun to watch. After the movie, we decided to find the Scout Shop (We were at Mesa Riverview.) to buy Sam a scout book. I mean he has only been a scout for a year, it was about time to get him a book. Yes, I'm a slacker mom sometimes. We purchased the scout book. Then we hit Sam's and I's favorite pizza place--Red Brick Pizza. It's right by the Cinemark, so if you are ever in the neighborhood, you should check it out. Gary stayed home to work on tax returns, so we were nice and brought him pizza too.

Friday: April doesn't have to work on Fridays, so she, Sam, and I went to have breakfast at Crackers and Company. Yummy. Afterwards, April and I went shopping at the Rustic Hutch. Sam didn't want to shop. He thinks it is boring.

About a month ago, I bought a pressure cooker. I have been wanting to try it out. I bought some hamburger and beans at Sprouts. I cooked the hamburger and put it in the jars. Then I put the jars in the pressure cooker, fearing that I would do something wrong and something bad would happen. Like, maybe I would blow something up, even though Shar, the lady who I bought the pressure cooker from explained that it would definitely NOT blow up. Well, everything worked according to plan, so we will see how the finished product tastes.

Saturday: I thought I would have a peaceful day reading my book, finally. However, I had agreed to feed the missionaries, which I thought met I just had to take dinner to them at the Temple Visitor's Center. They called and it turned out they understood they were coming to our house. So I had to speedy quick get the kitchen cleaned up. Sam and April came to dinner also. That way, I didn't have to worry about any lulls in the conversation. Sam and Jacob were around also, but roast pork, sweet potatoes and apples didn't appeal to their picky appetites. I also had to finish preparing my Sunday School lesson. I haven't taught for three weeks because of ward conference and stake conference, so I was having a hard time getting inspired to sit down and finish planning it. Thankfully, the Lord always helps me know what to say as long as I have done my part in preparing.

So today I taught my Sunday School lesson about Emma Smith and Section 25 of the Doctrine and Covenants. I admire Emma for all she had to endure. I don't completely understand why she didn't come west. I can guess some of the reasons she didn't. Since I don't know everything, I am in no position to judge her actions. I appreciate the chance I have to study church history and the Doctrine and Covenants this year.

Tomorrow it's back to school for Sam and I and when people ask what I did, I will have something to tell them. Plus, I am pretty proud of myself for getting some projects done instead of wasting my time.