Peoria Pride

On Saturday Becca, Rod and I got up early and went to work with several of our ward members at the Peopria Pride project. This is an annual event sponsored by the City of Peoria. They provide all of the supplies, such as gravel, wood, paint, and equipment for renovation in selected neighborhoods to refurbish and renew the look. We, as citizens of the community, provide the manpower. The church is involved in this event as a service project. We had a great turnout from our youth. They worked hard, and after we were done, the all came to our house for donuts and drinks. As you can imagine, we breathed in a great deal of dust from working in the gravel. We dug up Bermuda grass, removed old gravel, and raked and smoothed the new gravel.

The young men really hustled and got the job done. Several of the men worked on putting up fences. They used posthole diggers, plumblines, hammers, shovels, etc. They did a very professional job.

The girls learned about "manual labor." The bishop and his boys take a look at the newly refurbished flower bed they just finished.

The McLains are always there with a smile and a helping hand. She is the YW president in our ward and is just amazing with what she does with our girls.

Sister McOmber was there with a drill in hand, and she was also found on the end of a shovel, a rake, a broom, or whatever else needed doing. One of the city workers there commented to her "you just don't stop, do you?" I told him if you want a job done, just get a bunch of Mormons together.

It is always good to get together with ward members. Whether we work or play, it builds our bonds of unity. I am so glad I got to go and participate in this great event. As I looked up and down the street, and saw over a hundred members of our stake out working together, I was so overcome with love for these wonderful brothers and sisters in the gospel. It was amazing to see this project!

The 5 Things Lesson

Last night we had a stake Relief Society fireside. The speaker came down from St. Johns. I have never heard of this place, but was told it is just a little podunk town in Northern AZ. The speaker was willing to come down and share some things she had learned from some of the hard stuff that life had dealt her. 3 years ago, her husband was killed in an auto accident. She had known him since she was 15 and he was the love of her life. She just didn't know how she was going to go on. After much coaxing, she went to a Women's Conference with a friend and learned a great deal. As she learned new things, she applied them to her life and is sharing with others. She has given her speech in every ward in her town, and people are inviting her other places now. She said that before you get out of bed every day you are to ask yourself these 5 questions and answer them:

1. What do I love about myself?
2. What do I have to look forward to today?
3. What does Heavenly Father want me to learn?
4. Who can I serve?
5. What am I grateful for?

She then said "Don't forget to laugh out loud every day!"

I thought this was all very profound. I am a believer in affirmations and in being positive. I totally look for the joy in life with every experience. I know that Heavenly Father has a plan for each of us, and I try to be in tune with that everyday. I believe that if you want to love someone, you should serve them. I also believe in gratitude. And I love to laugh. So her philosophy was nothing new to me, but it was well organized and I liked the "5 Things Lesson." I have committed to myself to ask and answer these questions each day. It is a worthy challenge.

A Busy Saturday!

4:30 - rise and shine! 5:00 - leave for the airport to take Julie. She did not feel well this morning. She rolled down the window and barfed onto the freeway. Of course it got all over the side of the car. My poor girl! 6:00 - home from the airport. Get Rod up. 6:30 - arrive at the bishop's home to can our pasta. We did 12 cans - wide egg noodles, homestyle noodles, and elbow macaroni. It is supposed to stay good for 30 years. Hmmmm....wonder if I'll ever have to open it up to survive. 7:00 - home and Rod leaves for work. I went to the car wash. Came home and did the inside of the car too, vacuum, windows, the whole enchilada. Also stripped the beds, vacuumed all of the ceiling fans (very yucky!) and started the laundry. 8:20 - take Becca to her YW conference breakfast. 8:45 - hit the shower 9:00 - watched the morning session of conference. 11:15 - dash to WalMart to get a few canned items and some cash so Becca can get a haircut. 11:45 - leave to meet Rod at Costco to get our weekly shopping stash. We enjoy having a chicken Cesar salad while there. 1:00 - watch afternoon session of conference. During this time, Rod also mows, edges, and uses the blower on the yard. He also gets the evaporative cooler going. It is very nice - and now we won't be using our electric meter for a fan. 3:00 - put away all the Costco stuff. Go check out the water barrels. Since it is conference time, Rod empties out the water and refills them to keep the water fresh. This will be done twice a year. He uses a clear piece of plastic hose and just lets it syphon out. Pretty slick! We are going to get one more barrel next week. That will give us 200+ gallons of water in storage. Hopefully, we will never have to use it. 3:30 - more laundry. Allen is here. Put clean sheets on the bed, put up clean towels in the bathroom 4:00 - take Becca and MacKaela to WalMart while I go to the credit union to make a deposit. I bought all the stuff for Heidi's enchiladas for dinner. Take Becca and Kaela to Kaela's house. 5:00 - Rod calls and says he and Nick are on their way to the priesthood session. 5:15 - get home and kind of crash. Get on the computer for a few minutes and check out some of my favorite blogs and check the email. 5:45 - ahhh! where did the time go? Gotta get those enchiladas going for dinner. 6:40 - enchiladas in the oven. Set the table. Get out the Halloween table cloth. Empty the dishwasher. Do the dinner prep dishes. 7:10 - the family is home and we have dinner. Do the dishes. Cleaned the kitchen. 8:00 - do some folding. I still need to clean my bathroom. 8:30 - decided to take a break and post on my picture-a-day. I still need to clean my bathroom. 9:05 - I feel so done with this day! Guess I better quit this post and go clean my bathroom.