Painting the House...

So Rod took some vacation days at the end of October to paint the outside of our house. It was looking pretty ragged to us, and we had planned this for several months. All week long, he prepped. He sanded, scraped and caulked. On Thursday, I took a day off to help with the actual painting.

I was in charge of masking. I could hardly stay ahead of the painter! I had forgotten how much time it takes to mask! And then it's up the ladder, down the ladder, up the ladder, down the ladder. I was EXHAUSTED at the end of the day!

The security door and the front porch light took the most time! Rod was in charge of the spray painter. He did a fantastic job, too! We picked a light color for the main part of the house, and then a muted terra cotta color for the trim. I think the colors look great with the brick!This was a huge job, and I was worried that we would not finish.

Actually, we didn't finish that day. We only got 3 sides done. We had to go back to work on Friday, so finished up the last side of the house on Saturday (the front). It was really hard work to get this job done. You know how much I love Halloween - - I was too pooped to even dress up for the Trunk or Treat at the church that night. I didn't even take my camera to take pictures :( Rod is still working on finishing the trim. He comes home every night after work and does just a little bit. Should be all finished up this week. Thanks, Honey! The house looks beautiful!!

Can't have all work and no play!

On November 11th, we had a day off to celebrate Veteran's Day. We decided to go to Sedona to hike on a new trail. We picked Soldier Pass. We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day. Just look at the blue sky and the gorgeous clouds above that rugged red rock skyline! I was so excited for this adventure. We did have a bit of a problem getting started at the trail head, though. The directions we had neglected to tell us about one street we needed to turn on. We ended up going in circles until we checked on Rod's GPS. We finally found the place. When we got to the parking lot, which only had 10 spaces, there was a sign that we had to have a "Red Rock Pass" to park there. So, we had to go find a place that would sell us a Red Rock Pass. The first tourist shop we found advertised the pass so we went in. They did not have any passes - new management. Boooooo! We had to go further up the road. So we got back in the truck and continued our search, found a place and got the pass. Went back to the trail head, and there were no parking spots! We decided to find someplace close by to just eat our lunch, so we found a skate park. There were some bleachers and we got to watch a little boy fall down a lot while we munched on our sandwiches. It was kind of chilly, too, as it was only in the 50s. We decided to test our luck at the trail head again and FINALLY we got a parking spot! One of the main attractions of this trail is a huge sink hole. It was so big, I could not get the whole thing into the picture! if you look carefully along the edge of the shadow, you can see our silhouette, right where it dips in the center. The next main attraction along the trail is the Seven Sacred Pools. Very interesting place. And very beautiful! We then headed off to find Brinn's Mesa. We lost the trail for a little while, but Rod got us back on track. We climbed up and the view was breathtaking! There were some giant junipers, and I have never seen such huge juniper berries. I really love the red rock country. We were in evergreens, saw cactus, and there were even some wild flowers still in bloom. We had a marvelous hike! When we got home, Rod took me out to dinner. This is one of those days that will go down in my memory as one of the best ever!

The Governor

The school where I work was selected for the Governor of Arizona, Jan Brewer, to present a new program for kids to encourage them to complete high school and go to college. It was quite an assembly. Just the 8th grade students were in the audience. Here is the press release:

On Tuesday, October 26, Governor Jan Brewer hosted a press conference at Cordova Middle School launching an early college and career awareness initiative through the 2010 Federal College Access Challenge Grant program. This initiative specifically targets underserved youth, and NAU will work with eighth grade students from Title 1 schools throughout the state including Alhambra. Eighth graders will take the ACT EXPLORE assessment, which offers an early indicator of college readiness and is designed to help students explore the world of possibilities available, helps students plan for high school, and guides them as they prepare for post high school educational and career opportunities. The press conference was a success, but more importantly Cordova’s eighth graders were a phenomenal audience. All of our guests had nothing but great things to say about our students and how well-behaved they were.

Mr. Gunn was pretty excited to have the governor come to Cordova! It was a pretty big deal, actually. There were three TV stations there and a dozen or so reporters. When the Governor finished her speech to the students, she exited out into the court yard where she was totally surrounded by the reporters with microphones jammed into her face. I am a little claustrophobic, and I would be screaming for them to get out of my face and give me some air!! She was only on campus for like 20 minutes. It was a lot of work to get things ready for such a short visit. (We only had 5 days notice and 2 of those days were a weekend.) Her security team was fantastic and they were very friendly. I was impressed with them. So there you have another Codova event!

Time Out For Women

On October 16th, five excited women set out to conquer the down-town Phoenix area by attending Time Out For Women at the Civic Center. We had a blast! Thanks, friends. This day will be a treasured memory forever! The speakers were amazing, the music powerful, and the spirit was abundant. We were walking on air when we left. Let's do it again, next year, girls!

Peoria Pride - October 23rd

On October 23rd at 7:00 am, HUNDREDS of willing Latter-Day-Saints from the Peoria Stake gathered in a neighborhood of Peoria to serve others. These people ranged in age from 14 on up. They each gave up their Saturday to help brighten some one's life. We ended up painting at least 8 houses, and doing the yards by weeding, moving massive piles of rocks, raking rocks, sweeping rocks, and building new fences. It truly was a labor of love. I am in awe of these amazing people.

Rod and Bethany are signing in.

Careful, Mandy - don't fall.

Becca and some of her friends are painting the trim. They were at a house down the street from us.

Steady hand, steady eye. That's Dallas for sure!

I hope this family knows how lucky they were to have a professional like John painting the outside of their home. He did a beautiful job!

I love Jennifer's brilliant smile - and her chocolate chip cookies weren't too bad, either!

Reid was our ward captain. He did a great job keeping us all on task.

Miriam and Taylor, two very cool girls. They were much cooler when they got their glow-in-the-dark fluorescent shirts. ha ha!

Elder Ware and Elder Juchau - I love the elders!It was an indescribable feeling to be part of this huge project. Even though we have done it before (it is an annual event) my heart was very touched by the camaraderie, the work, and the feeling of love that was almost tangible.

More Birthday Pics of Becca!

This is what we found in the morning on Becca's birthday. Some of the YW and their leaders decorated her car and our entry way.

She cleaned it all off before she drove off to seminary. It made them mad! They wanted her to drive around all day with a decorated car.

Becca wanted a cherry cheesecake for her birthday, instead of a traditional cake.

Surprise, surprise.

She word these birthday glasses in between classes. (hey, I made a rhyme!)

Think about your wish...

Hope your birthday was a happy day, Becca. ily! You deserve the best of every thing!

Happy Birthday, Becca!

I love this girl!!

I can't believe she is now 17 years old. Becca has really matured in the last year. Maybe it's the driving. I don't know... Here are 17 things I love to do with Becca:

1. Watch our favorite movies.
2. Laugh about her antics with her friends.
3. Attend church and then talk about what we felt or learned.
4. Make Green Chili Stuffed Chicken Quesadillas!!
5. Have a breakfast shake whenever we are in the mood!
6. Go to the midnight premiers of Harry Potter and the Twilight movies.
7. Krispy Kreme donuts.
8. Play games with Katie and Julie.
9. Look at her fantastic photos.
10. Listen to her play the piano.
11. Listen to her play the guitar.
12. Listen to her sing with her amazing friends.
13. Go for a walk at night.
14. Read the Hunger Game books.
15. Look at cute pictures of her nieces and nephews.
16. Give her hugs every day!
17. Drink our bed time Perro while reading.

Becca has added much joy to my life and I love being her mom. It is so great to have a daughter that is willing to do what is right. I want to thank her for a few things: Thanks for getting yourself up for seminary. Thanks for making good choices. Thanks for having good friends. Thanks for being trustworthy. Thanks for being kind. Thanks for your fantastic sense of humor. Thanks for being such a great auntie, sister, daughter and friend. I hope you have a fantastic birthday today, Becca!

The Storm

Many Arizonans did not know what this stuff was until Tuesday. And then we had piles of the little icy balls! --along with lightening, thunder, wind, and torrential rains. The kids at my school wanted to pick it up, eat it, make snowmen, and in general frolic in the stuff. This is one of the downed trees on campus. There are still leaves, branches, palm fronds and other debris in the roads and yards all over the Phoenix valley. When the water was rolling of the roof like a waterfall, I got a little concerned and thought "it's going to come inside!" Yep, I was right. This is the workroom floor. And our lobby got some major flooding, too. It smells like wet dog and was still very wet yesterday. On the way home, I hot hit with another huge down pour. I was worried, and pulled off into this Shell station on the corner of 35th and Dunlap. I tried to get under one of the islands for protection, but there were no spots. I pulled in as close as I could to the cars parked there for protection, and called Rod. While I was on the phone with him the hail came down so big, fast, and furious that I could not hear him over the pounding on the car. I was terrified that our car windows would break! I knew the car was getting all banged up and there was not one thing I could do about it! I just had to sit there and wait it out. Once the hail stopped I could go home. The streets were covered in hail. The hail stones were as big as quarters, and very rugged. I have never experience anything quite like it. And now my car looks like hell - I mean hail? I am very thankful that the now pock-marked car is the only damage we suffered. Many of our friends had broken windows in cars and homes, damaged roofs, and other losses. Our thoughts and prayers are with them!

Conference weekend...

I decided to do something productive on Saturday during conference, so while I listened to the conference via LDS.org, I made 1o sets of baby leg warmers. I so appreciate of the wonders of modern day technology. Our local channel no longer broadcasts conference,and since we don't have cable channels, we watched it on the internet. It was great! And I am most grateful for my sewing machine. I have had it for over 35 years, and it is still going strong! When I visited Katie over Labor Day, I saw the baby leg warmers on a display for her upcoming monthly Relief Society meeting. Her ward was making them for Primary Children's Hospital. The leg warmers can go on the baby's legs or arms when they are in the hospital with tubes and wires everywhere on their tiny bodies. It helps keep them warm when they cannot be dressed because of the wires and IVs. I was very impressed with the idea and with the project, so I decided to try it. I think we will be making them for Phoenix Children's Hospital in our ward during "Souper Saturday" in November. I found the knee socks at Target for $1.00 per pair. So all you Sahuaro Ranch Ward sisters, start buying up the knee socks on sale. We want to make a worthy contribution with this service project!

They were very quick and easy to make. Hopefully, I did them right!!

Conference was so uplifting. I loved every single talk. I can't wait to listen to all of them again. Rod always makes me a CD of the talks from the church website. My car will play Mp3 recordings, so I can listen to the talks when driving to and from work. It always makes my day better. I can listen to the messages several times, and I get something different each time I listen to the talks. I love our general authorities. They are all truly men of God. My spirit was deeply touch as they testified of the Savior and of the doctrines on which they expounded. It makes me truly want to be a better person, and a more devoted daughter of God!

Nick had a birthday!

Wow, Nick. I can't believe you are 19 years old!!

I know this post is very late. His birthday was August 14th. We went to the Texas Roadhouse for prime rib. It was a fun family dinner. It's really weird to have all grown up kids.