A trip to the Gila Valley

When we arrived in Arizona for our mission, we decided we wanted to visit all six temples in the state - Phoenix, Mesa, Gilbert, Tucson, Snowflake, and Gila Valley.  We were able to check off the last of these temples on Saturday, February 9th when we drove the three hours eastward to the Gila Valley temple.  

I started to write that we drove through some rather remote areas to get there but then I realized that much of Arizona is remote!  I have said before that there is Phoenix and then there is the rest of Arizona.  And, once you get away from Phoenix, there is a whole lot of nothing.  Pretty, though, in it's desert-y way.  Arizona is home to many Native American reservations and our route to the Gila Valley went through  Apache territory.  One striking feature was the huge amount of litter all along the highway - for miles and miles.  I always thought that Native Americans "respected the land".  Then, I wondered if maybe this is their way of thumbing their noses at the United States - by throwing trash on the U.S. highway that ran through their land?  I don't know.  The three "main" towns along the way are Superior, Miami, and Globe.  All three are mining towns.  We also drove through Queen Creek canyon - very rugged and apparently, a favorite for rock climbers.

We tried to do a little sight-seeing in Miami at a little museum - but it was closed.  We took photos outside anyway.  Behind Steve and me in the first photo is a big black slag heap.  You can also see it in the middle photo

We finished our day with dinner in Florence with Paul and Nancy Hansen.  They returned from their mission in Independence/Liberty last summer so Paul could have colon surgery for cancer.  He looks great and we had a terrific visit with them.   Sadly, I forgot to take a photo!

Vehicle Inspection Zone Conference time again

This past week was our last full week vehicle inspection zone conference. We have one more left in April but it will be a two-day condensed event and we will have Elder and Sister Harris to help us.   

Tuesday, we were up in Prescott and it was cold.  Even the building was cold.  Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday were here in Phoenix and, while the mornings were chilly, it warmed up to perfect temperatures by the time we actually inspected the cars (around 9:45 to 11:15).  Our labors were serenaded by a great tailed grackle on Wednesday, a mourning dove on Thursday, and a mocking bird on Friday.  We also had jet fly-bys on Friday since we were close to Luke AFB.  The gluten-free options for me for lunch were varied.  Tuesday was the best - the Relief Society sisters really did a good job of making my lunch as much like the gluten-full lunch.  It went downhill from there to where, on Friday, they didn't have any idea they needed to provide a gluten-free lunch and absolutely nothing was offered.  Those sisters felt badly and tried to make up for it by offering mixed nuts and M&Ms from their storage closet.  Good thing I had already had yogurt, a smoothie, and a banana that morning.  (I did enjoy the nuts and chocolate, by the way).  These inspection weeks really disrupt things - not just our eating habits.  Our morning routine is modified.  We have to drive a huge 12-passenger van every day.  We come home just wiped out making it hard to be motivated to do our evening duties.  So, I am glad this past week is over...

Some great things happened this week, however.  Steve and I celebrated our 44th wedding anniversary on Thursday.  We celebrated on Saturday with dinner and a movie.  We had hoped to eat at Abuelos but, after the temple, we had to take the van to the mission home and it took longer than anticipated to gas it up and drop it off and the restaurant was already in full Saturday night crowd mode so we took ourselves to Culvers instead.  A delicious alternative.  The movie we saw was "The Kid Who Would Be King".  It was just delightful.

Another great event was getting to hear Jon Schmidt (of the Piano Guys) play the piano in our stake center!  He and his wife were invited to speak for a Relief Society event.  My sister, Juli, drove down from Payson to join us.  It was a very nice evening.

We came home Friday evening to no hot water!  We bathed Saturday morning the old fashioned way - heating water up on the stove and mixing it with cold tap water.  Thankfully, repairmen came and replaced the heater.  And, our washer in Columbia is dying.  So, I bought a new one on Home Depot online.  When we return home, our washer and dryer will both match the ones we have been using here in Anthem.  Glad we've had a chance for a trial run here.  

A regular sort of week

January marches on here in Arizona.  Nights get downright chilly but temperatures climb to the low sixties and even seventies during the day.  It means we drive to the mission office in the morning with the heater and drive home in the afternoon with the air conditioner!

I kept myself busy this week finishing a dress for Larkin. When it came time to look for buttons, I found these adorable owl ones!  

But the package had way more than I needed for the dress so Emily suggested I make a little tote bag to match.  And, I had still more owl buttons to use so I made two front pockets.  Then, I started to wonder if Lucy would feel left out.  Emily advised me to make little vests and skirts for Lucy to dress her stuffed animals.  And, so, below is the end result.

I watched two movies while I sewed - both on Amazon Prime:  The Lightkeepers (a sweet romantic movie) and Miss Congeniality (which I've seen many times)

We invited Amy, Cory, Cade, and Colby to dinner last night.  This was no small undertaking for any of us because of the wheelchairs.  And, I am discovering that most people in the greater Phoenix metro area, don't venture far from home.  Mesa to Anthem - a 50 minute drive?  Nope.  So, we were grateful that the Ellsworths made the trip.  We fixed homemade pizza - both gluten-full and gluten-free and both were a success.  And, I forgot to take a photo!

Below are some random office photos.  First is Scott Collins, son of the mission president.  I teach him a piano lesson every Monday.  This past Monday, we had some shredding of old documents for him to do after his lesson.  

Tuesday was Leadership Training Meeting and I noticed that Elders Snell, Scheible, and Aiken all had matching ties so I took a picture.

On Wednesday, we had a visit from a former missionary, Gabe De La Cruz, and his fiance. 

On Thursday, I walked into the workroom to find Elder Shad Johnson with this on his head.  Apparently, it is passed around to elders reaching their midway point of their mission - or "hump day"

And, we have just a little over four months left of our mission! 

Another set of missionaries return home

Transfer weeks are getting harder to bear because the missionaries now leaving, especially the sisters, are ones we have known for eighteen months - ever since we arrived on our mission.   Sigh.

One missionary, dear to our hearts, is Elder Vogen (pronounced Vaagen) from Norway.  

He is completely deaf.  What a great young man (actually, he is 29 years old - not so young as the other elders).  He flew home on Tuesday.  Another missionary, Elder Packard, had to leave ten months early on account of health.  We loved him so much, too.  He makes two favorite missionaries in the Jacksonville, Florida area - I guess that will call for a road trip when our mission is finished :)

Steve had a birthday on Thursday.  He is now sixty-six years old.  He opened his gifts but we didn't really celebrate until Saturday.  We went to the movie and saw "A Dog's Way Home" (loved it!) and I served his birthday dinner that evening (round steak slow cooked with onion soup mix, mashed potatoes, broccoli/cauliflower, ambrosia salad, strawberry pie - my mom's famous recipe).  My sister, Juli, came down from Payson to attend the temple with us that afternoon and to enjoy the birthday dinner.  

That is about all for this week.  I am sewing a dress for Larkin and I have a dress all cut out for Alice.  I continue to explore and enjoy watercoloring and I finished something I will give to Beckie for her birthday.  (all the kids will get a painting for their birthdays this year - whether they like it or not!)

Oh!  I have a "new" bicycle.  Both Steve and I are using mission bikes for our morning exercises.  Someone donated this women's retro-bike (which has seven-speeds in spite of it looking old fashioned )to the mission several months back and none of the sisters seem interested in it, for some reason.  So, we swapped out my "normal" looking bike for this beauty.   It is a very nice ride!

Getting back into the routine

Holidays are over and now it is time to get back into the mission office groove.  Our last missionaries arrived December 3rd and we are looking at another batch of arrivals next week!  And, with all the happenings of December - and being out of the office for over a week - I had a lot of preparations to make for this upcoming arrival/departure.  Work that is usually spread out over a few weeks.  But, I got them done thanks to the help of a few missionaries.  Our office is across the hall from Family Services and many of our missionaries have regular appointments for counseling.  Their companions have to come with them and, while they are in their appointment, they usually come over to our office and offer to help.  We love all their service to us plus it is fun to visit and get to know them better.  Just a little more about Family Services - it is the reason that many of our missionaries who are dealing with anxiety, depression, and lots of other issues can even serve a mission.

Here is a photo I took this week of our AP's, Elders Hernandez and Brooks, with Sister Jennifer Harris (and Steve photo bombing in the background).  

The office has completely dried out from the flood.  So far, no mold or mildew but that is not surprising in this dry climate.  However, we continue to have occasional rain showers - like this morning when I went to collect the paper, it had rained a teeny bit and there were still hovering clouds.  SO different from last winter.  

For date night, we ate at Culvers (Hooray for our BOGO coupon and gift cards) and we watched Solo after we got home.  I consider that a pretty good date.  Yesterday, aside from going to the temple, we hung around home again.  We monitored the snow falling in Missouri throughout the day and we were envious.  

Not much else to report.  My Christmas cactus, an anonymous gift last year, is in full glory right now.  

A New Year - 2019

The first morning of 2019...

Sarah joined us for our traditional "greet the sunrise" event and then she was on her way back up to Ogden, Utah.  We had such a nice visit!

Bones and Lily - ready for the journey.

While it has been a good first week of the year, there were two unfortunate events.  First, the mission office flooded.  The Harris's came to the office on New Year's Eve to this....



A urinal flooded AND the floor drain failed!  Thankfully, thanks to all the hard work by facilities maintenance folks, by the time mission office work actually commenced on Wednesday, the 2nd, things had been pretty well cleaned up and dried out.

Then, on Friday, after I had taken the car to the carwash and while I was wiping down the interior, I ran headlong into the back hatch of the car.  Wham!  I didn't get stitches and it is looking OK today but "that will leave a mark".

Yesterday, after a relaxed morning (Steve had physical therapy and I gave Noah a piano lesson for the first time since he broke his arm three months ago), we packed our bikes into the car and drove to the Skunk Creek Trail for a ride.  It is a city walking / biking path that follows the hardly-ever-any-water Skunk Creek and it goes right through Glendale.  Skies were cloudy but temperatures were in the sixties.  It was great.

Last night, we watched "Quigley Down Under" last night and I cut out dresses to sew for Larkin and Alice.

How we spent our New Year's Eve

One of our hopes and plans while Sarah was visiting was to drive up to the Grand Canyon.  Friday, December 28th was our first option.  But, then there was a winter storm warning for Northern Arizona so we went to South Mountain and the petroglyphs instead.  Monday looked good at the time until Sunday night when ANOTHER winter storm warning was posted for the next day.  Arg!  So, we decided to head south to visit Tortilla Flats that Steve and I had read about in a local magazine.  It is on the Apache highway going east out of Mesa.  The town itself has about three buildings - a gift shop, a restaurant, and a teeny tiny one-room museum.  The drive was beautiful.  Not the Grand Canyon, but pretty nice in it's own way and a fun, new place to discover in Arizona.

We found a short trail to explore.  Sarah let the dogs off leash for a bit and they LOVED it!

It was cloudy all morning and, as the day progressed, the precipitation that was snow in the north eventually made it's way to the valley and we got a few rain drops as we drove back to civilization and past the Superstition Mountains.

The rest of the day was pretty relaxed.  We enjoyed clam chowder and rotel dip for dinner and we watched the latest Mission Impossible movie, Fallout, before going to bed before midnight because, as usual, we had a New Year's Day sunrise to watch.

The End of 2018!