January 31

This is what I saw tonight when I opened my dryer door to throw in a load of clothes. It is a common sight in my dryer, especially after Becca has done some laundry. She always has a guitar pick in her pocket. Those little devils get lodged right there, and it is hard to get them out. When you touch them, they go further under the edge. One must be very careful in coaxing them out. Who knows how many picks are housed and lost forever within the hold of the tumbler?

January 30

Does this look familiar???

You're right! It's the ol' tissue paper wedding dress YW activity! Becca was in charge and asked if I would come and help her do this activity tonight. We cut, pinned, stapled, and taped this lovely creation together. Each girl posed for a picture beside the wedding cake table. We have this wonderful lady in our ward that decorates cakes, and she made the beautiful and tasty wedding cake that we all enjoyed after the dress-making. I think the girls had a blast!

January 29

The End! I finished the Book of Mormon today during lunch! Remember...we had a Relief Society challenge to read it all in the month of January. Hooray!!! It was an amazing experience. I read a replica of the first edition - it is FULL of typo's and grammatical imperfections, but more importantly it is full of the truth, the witness that Jesus is the Christ, the only begotten son of God the father. I love this book, and I know it is true!

January 28

Today, we received a note from Rebecca's teacher, Ms. Hulverson, informing us that Rebecca is the Ira Murphy citizen of the Month. Congratulations, Becca! This is what Ms. Hulverson said about Becca: "Rebecca is a great student who always puts forth her very best. She is responsible, respectful, and polite. She is an awesome role model."

NOTE: Rebecca requested that I cut off her head in this photo. (Ornery kid!)

January 27

On Saturday, we received a letter from Nick's school, Cortez High School, informing us that he made Honor Roll first semester. Congratulations, Nick!

January 26

Today we had a "paint class" at the church for any of the Relief Society sisters that wanted to join in. Years ago in California, I used to participate in a class like this once a week. I loved it. Doing this today renewed my passion for this little hobby. My paint brushes are BEGGING for another project.

I purchased this funny little bathroom shelf at the DI about 3 1/2 years ago. It was partially painted a gross green color. One day a couple of years ago, Becca was bored, so I got out this shelf and had her start painting. She only did part of it. I hit it hot and heavy today and had so much fun! This is my finished product.

January 25

My dear friends, Diane and Carol. I worked with these girls at Cortez. We go have lunch every Thursday. It gets me through the week to know I get to see these two. I love them!

January 24

Oh my. We have been wanting to get this rotating food storage shelf and we ordered two tonight! It is a very cool way to rotate canned goods. It is handy, condensed, holds various sizes of cans, and is front loading. We are planning on taking out the wooden shelves in our pantry and putting one of these on each side, with metal shelving in the rest of the pantry. Should be a great set up. The demolition is the only part that worries me. This is a good thing because you cannot keep ANY food storage in your garage where we live. It is just too blasted hot most of the year. Once we get the shelves delivered, and put together, then we get to do some more shopping to fill them up. I just ordered a bunch of #10 cans from the church cannery on Sunday. Way to go!

January 23

My work station.

January 22

Westgate shopping center - home of the Jobing.com Arena.
This is where Hannah Montana performed last night.

Becca and Nick got tickets for Christmas. They had a blast.

Cool fountains at Westgate.

Rod and I had a delightful dinner at the Cheesecake Factory while the kids were at their concert.

Thanks Katie and Ryan!

January 21

Martin Luther King Day.

Alamo Lake.

Great day with friends, Sam and Trudy.
Cold enough for a "hoodie," but delightful. Just look at that blue sky!













Dinner with our friends at Fuddrucker's.

The kids loved that!

January 20

This is what I saw on this beautiful Sunday afternoon after church.

Two good kids doing what they like to do when they relax.

January 19

This is my dear friend, Peggy. She is also the compassionate services person on our ward. Today was the funeral for another friend of ours, Martine. Peggy and I have both been visiting teachers to this amazing woman. Peg arranged for the luncheon after the funeral. She thought maybe if we planned for 150 that would be good. I got a little nervous and said lets plan for 200. She jumped in and organized the whole thing. We fed a lot of people today, but I did not get a count. However, we had TONS of food left over. My bad. But I'd rather have too much than not enough. Thanks, Peggy. You are amazing and I love you so much! Next time, I will listen to you...

January 18

Up at 4:50 AM

Get kids up at 5:30 AM

Orthodontist 7:20 AM

Then off to work...

January 17

This is a ritual that Becca and I love to do after our walk at night:

Hot Chocolate! Mmmmmmmmm

January 16

Tonight, Becca had New Beginnings for her Young Women activity at church. She conducted the meeting and was very poised and professional. After the program, the girls gathered around her and her guitar, and they sang Jonas Brother's songs for fun. Katie and Julie, this one's for you!

January 15

Cyndee Harding, Carol Hansen, & Kathy Percy.

My dear friends and members of the Relief Society Presidency.

We had a meeting with these lovely sisters. This is our Stake Relief Society Presidency.

January 14

SHOES . . .



Nick got new shoes on Saturday - TWO pairs of Vans. I guess these are now the popular shoes to have. And you must have low cut socks with these.

He didn't want to pose, or smile, but here is the proud owner of these two new pair of vans.


Becca tried to get these on Saturday, but they did not have her size. Tonight we went to a different mall and found her multi-colored vans.
Here is Becca holding a photo of her "dream man" wearing the same shoes. She found this after she had picked the shoes and got such a buzz out of the fact that he had on her shoes!


These are Rod's new boots. He didn't really care about having his new shoes photographed, but I just threw it in for fun. I got new high heels, too. So there!

January 13

This is the church house.

Here is the steeple.

Open the doors,

And see all the people!

As you can see, it was a beautiful January day here in Peoria. I think it almost got to 70 in the afternoon. We had wonderful walk at the park tonight and only had to wear a sweatshirt.

January 12

I took my car over to Midas this morning at 8 AM and then walked home. The left tail lights are not working, and I need an oil change. Rod has to work this morning, so I am catching up my picture a day blog, and cleaning my room. I have already done the really bad corner in there, 2 batches of laundry, and part of the bathroom. Things are looking much better! I am still waiting to pick up my car.

January 11

Here I am at 6:10 AM as I am leaving for work. I have on my new green jacket. I picked this color because it is the Sunnyslope High School color, and every Friday is spirit day. We are supposed to wear the school colors.
Tonight after work, I was baking cookies for a workshop at the church. I bumped the muffin tin on the side of the oven as I was taking it out and it flipped over, spilling the hot cookies all over the corner of the oven. Oh well . . . I let it cool off and it was fairly easy to clean up. I had to take 3 dozen, and I was making 4 so that Nick and Becca could have some. Guess who did not get any cookies tonight? Sorry guys!

January 10

I don't have a picture of this day, but the picture is from the florist where I ordered flowers from our ward. This is one of the arrangements that I liked and ordered. I went to the funeral for a young woman from my ward. She was only 33 years old and left behind a husband and a beautiful 13 year old daughter. One of the speakers said, "If you have children, go home and hug them and tell them that you love them." I want my children to know that I love them!

January 9

This year, the enrichment committee in our ward challenged the Relief Society sisters to read the Book of Mormon during the month of January. The gasps were audible, indeed, myself included. "In just one month??" Then I thought about it. I have read numerous books in one month, often a book a week. Why can't I read the Book of Mormon with the same enthusiasm, and devote the same time that I do when I read books for entertainment or relaxation? I am reading from a replica of the first edition. It is written in paragraph form, as you can see from the picture above. So far, it has been quite enjoyable. I find that I can actually read with relish, and I love the stories. It is interesting to note the MANY grammatical errors and typesetting flaws in this amazing "first edition" of the most important book of our time.

January 8

Today would have been my Mom's 82nd Birthday. She died 3 years ago last October. There are times when I really miss her, and I see myself saying and doing things that she would say or do.

She was a beautiful, amazing woman with many gifts. She was a dear friend to me, as well as a mother who loved me no matter what. She taught me that I could do anything. Thanks, Mom, for teaching me that I am okay just the way I am.

January 7

Tonight I got out my little pasta machine and made homemade noodles for some yummy homemade chicken noodle soup. It was FABULOUS!

January 6

This pretty much how I see Becca every night before she goes to bed. She always showers and then wraps her hair in a towel. She will sit in front of the computer and do iTunes or play her guitar. She is so darling! I love that girl!

It was good to be home from Utah. We had a busy church day, meeting at a different building for the first time.

January 5

Ryan gave Luka his bottle so he would be all ready to go to Paradise Bakery with Katie, Julie, Ave and me for lunch. Then Ryan took Savannah and Cooper to the Monster Truck show at the E-Center with their cousins.

Later (much later) that night, Becca and I flew home to Phoenix. Our flight was delayed for almost two hours and we did not arrive in Phoenix until midnight. It was after 1:00 PM when we went to bed, and I had a 7:30 AM Ward Council meeting. Let's just say that Sunday I was pretty burned out.

January 4

Savannah is showing off Cooper in is "Woody" dress up.

These kids love to dress up in costumes!

January 3

January 2

January 1

I accept the challenge. I will try to post a picture for each day this year. Sometimes it will be more that one as I see MANY different things each day.

Rod loves to lay on the floor and watch TV. He just gets a pillow for his head and is comfortable. On New Year's Day, that is what he was doing to watch football as we were visting Ryan and Katie. The kids went and got pillows and joined him. Soon they were using his legs for a slide, and then they were jumping on him! Cooper even went and got a stool to stand on so he could jump from higher! It was hilarious.
My two boys - notice that Coop used his stamps freely and decorated his forehead. Look how much Luka is growing already!
Julie and Ava came over every day while we were visiting.