My AC is Cursed!!!

Katelyn chastized me the other day for not having caught up my blog. Wow, has it really been since April that I took care of my beloved blog? To make this painless for most, here is the run down and why today I finally am updating.

May: Month starts out calm until we find out Clairese can be baptized on her birthday since that is when the stake was doing baptisms. Scramble to coordinate the Grandmas' schedules to make sure they can be here and unpack almost the rest of the house to be nice for when they are here. Oh, by the way, did I mention that her B-day fell on Memorial Day weekend? And then there is the bit about school ending 2 days before that?!!!! The month went so fast I wasn't sure I'd live through it, but the Lord helped out a lot and we got it done and she has many happy memories to go with it

June: First three weeks Clairese has summer school and all three girls take swimming lessons at our kindergarten teacher's house who just happens to be LDS and I've gotten to be good friends with. Merrilee does way cool swimming lessons. First week we had "Duck Day" and that meant the girls and their friends that we happened to have at the same class times got to swim with real baby ducklings in her pool the first five minutes of their lessons. Second week we had "Turtle Day" and yep they swam with real turtles! Third week she had them do a penny dive and they each got to keep up to 25 cents in pennies. The younger kids only had to "dive" to the third step in the pool but they had such a great time. Amber had never had any real swimming lessons yet and is now a fish. The last week in June was spent in beautiful San Diego and Oceanside, CA. I'm dreaming of 78 degree weather since we are up to 43 days over 100 degrees and 19 of them were over 110! Sea World was so fun with Grandma Pat and Uncle Brent and crew! First day there got to run into all of John Jesperson's decendents and second day saw the Rasmussen gang. Went to the best hotel in Oceanside. It's called the Oceanside Marina Inn and is run by a friend of my uncle Mark. We had 99 James Avril and Doris Bender Jesperson descendents all staying at the place! We were surounded by marina views form both the front and back of our two bedroom suite(Thanks again Mom!) and the ocean breezes were heavenly. They had managed to put all of us in the same wing so we could sit out and laugh and sing and only disturb our own extended family! HA! I finally got Eric, Jenny, Becky, Matt, Ryan, and however many other cousins that kept me up when we would go skiing at Elk Meadows back. It was really hard to come back to AZ knowing how nice it was in other places.

July: Oh, I forgot to mention that the Sunday before San Diego Tom and I were given additional callings. We are now the Activities Committee Chair People. Not much of a surprise to us but we had been told the 4th of July activity was all taken care of. NOT!!! We scrambled and found out what had been done in the past and did the same thing with a few more things added. I know it sounds strange to most but the activity was a breakfast, flag raising, and swimming party at 6:30am on the 4th. No that was not a typo - it really was at 6:30am! By the time we cleaned up it was already 95 degrees and that was 9am. No time to dwell on one activity since the ward has an annual birthday party the beginning of August at one of the city pools. We didn't know this because they had it the Friday we were moving in to our new rental house last year. Luckily this one doesn't take much extras and we finally have 3 more people on the committee besides us.

August: It's only 6 days in but Uncle Brent was down visiting his in laws on his birthday (the 1st)and could he please, please, please have Angel Food Cake with Custard Frosting for his present?! Being a good Oldest sister I said yes. He didn't know that I had never attempted it by myself before (it's Grandma Jesperson's recipe) but I did her, my mom, and myself proud by getting it right the first time. We went to Riggs' house and had a great time visiting with him and Kyleen's family. Monday is "Meet the Teacher" night, Tuesday is Amber's B-day, and Wednesday is the first day of school with a projected high of 107 degrees! I don't know either Katelyn or Amber's teachers this year but Clairese got the same teacher for 3rd grade that Katelyn had for 4th and she is great!

Well that's our life in a nutshell, oh except for the cursed A/C! Tom went out of town on business Monday and Tuesday night the A/C in the bedrooms stopped working. Repair guy came Wednesday and it was the motor on the outside condenser? unit. He had used to last one on his truck the night before and would have to get one this morning and then fix it! We have two units, one for the east side of the house and one for the west. This was the east one. Fixed it this morning but the kids and I had to have a slumber(sleep, what is that?)party in the livingroom and familyroom because they are cooled by the west unit. Tonight 6:15pm, sitting at my computer which is cooled by the WEST UNIT and couldn't figure out why I was sweating. Held Thermometer up to the vent and it's blowing air out at 96.5 degrees!! There are some blessings for renting down here and the best is we don't have to pay to have the A/C fixed. Put in a high priority request with the management company via internet and will probably see same A/C guy tomorrow to fix the other unit. It's now almost 9pm and I'm hoping the kids will go to sleep quickly so I can get some rest. Tom's coming home tomorrow night and I just hope it's all fixed by then so that we can tackle the few items for the ward party which, did I mention, is this coming Thursday! New goal for month of August: don't put off blog and find the great pictures to add to it before it is December!

This is what happens when you sign up for Facebook!

It is now April 6th, my oldest turned ten yesterday and I realized that my poor blog was getting very lonely!! I blame my lonely blog on Facebook. Yes, that's right I said Facebook. My sister was shocked and wondered how I even found the site without her assistance, but stranger things have happened. Then because I signed up I discovered all these crazy friends and relatives all had accounts and would I like to be their friend(or relative.) When I sign in to my email I find I have 30 (ok, maybe that's an exageration) friends/relatives sending smiles and birthday notices and who knows what else. Mind you, I love knowing that everyone is out there, but having recently rejoined the work force, I know be grateful and don't complain, volunteering at the kids school for at least 1 hour each day, doing homework with 3 beautiful kids, cleaning the house, oh and did I mention that I still haven't finished unpacking from moving in August my poor blog has suffered. Tom has recovered from the "incident" in December and not a moment to soon since the Lord has blessed us with a suddenly booming work load. The Tax deadline (for those who haven't extended) is looming ever so close and everyone needs their work done yesterday! I say poor Tax planning on their part should not have to constitute an emergency on my end, but no one seems to believe me. OK, I'm done whining for now.

February came and went with what all happenning I'm not sure. Tom made the girls and I matching broom stick skirts for Valentine's day and took me out to dinner at a great place called Lucille's. It's southern style cooking with a live jazz/blues band every weekend. The food is fantastic and if you don't go early there is a looong wait. When we went to Sunday School the next morning we found out that 3 other couples from our ward had gone there too but instead of the 15 minute wait we had (I had scheduled babysitter for 5pm) they had a 1 1/2 hour wait after getting there at 6:30pm. Tom spent part of February in Chicago and Dayton, OH doing site visits for work and didn't thaw out for 3 days after he got home.

March came with Tom traveling again to Ohio and adding the lovely city of Pittsburg to the list of places that he was still trying to thaw out from. He was also able to visit the Kirtland Temple and the School of the Prophets while he was out there. There are 2 different visitor centers fir the Temple and the difference between the Spirit in those buildings was remarkable. This was actually his second visit to Kirtland having had to go right by the Temple on another business trip a while ago. So for the kids spring break we went camping in the somewhat famous town of Tombstone, AZ. We spent 2 nights in a RV park called the Wells Fargo. It was a half block from the OK Corral, yes the one where Wyatt Earp had a shoot out with some other guys. There are only 2 buildings that actually date back to that time, since most of the buldings of that era were made from wood and the town has burnt down twice since that time period. One of the 2 original buildings is the theater called The Bird Cage. It still has it's original bar in the entry area and stairs that lead up to the "catwalk" where after a fine show the menfolk might get a little more entertainment in a fine "crib." The bullet holes are all still there and for a stipened you can tour the whole building. After adding up what it would cost for 2 adults and 3 kids ($44) we just went for a walk on the boardwalk. We did take a trolley ride that was a guided tour through the town and even out to Boot Hill, the resting place for a number of outlaws. Tom took the girls on a stagecoach ride and we ate ice cream everyday at one of the 30 stores that are now housed on historic Allen Street. The girls thought it was interesting that the sidewalks were made out of wood, especially when their dad told them about the plumbing from that time. Tombstone is actually a very dog friendly place to visit and Our dog was real happy that they had dog water dishes about every 6 stores or historic buildings. Dusty the dog even got to go on the trolley tour free of charge! The morning we were packing up to come home a semi-truck with a huge electric transformer on it's flatbed came in to town. We know this because either the load was too high or the telephone and cable tv lines were too low and the truck snagged the lines and pulled the pole straight out of the ground. Forget breaking the pole, the whole thing just came plum right out. The Marshal was not having a good day, but since it happened on a state highway road the Highway Patrol got to take over the scene which was just 1/4 block up from the RV park. Lucky us, we got to see the whole thing happen! Tom and I have decided that we want to go back again without dog and children (does the phrase "do we have to go in to another building? come to mind) and stay at one of the bed and breakfasts they have in town and really get to enjoy the history and architecture of the town. My dad would be so proud that at least one of his daughters has gained a love of historical and sometimes hysterical sites. We tried to get into a lower elevation campground but all were booked solid. At least we were able to call ahead and find out before we drove to them. On the way back to Mesa, I had Tom stop at Eegee's for their fresh fruit slush. Eegee's is only in the Tuscon area and they are waaay better than any other slush, slurpee, or freeze that I have ever tasted. Tom and the girls had never had one so I got one lemonaide and one fresh lime. Tom said that it reminded him of actual Hawaian shaved ice and could understand why his wife was so insitant that we stop and get some. We almost had a record on the Gambles' family road trip of no one getting car sick until we were backing the trailer in the driveway and Clairese lost it. At that point everyone but mom, who was guiding Dad, came flying out of the car for fresh air. The poor dog was stuck in his kennel but we rescued him quickly and IRON STOMACH MOM cleaned up the car. I've decided that it was a mom who invented Frebreeze just to save on all the car cleaning bills. WE have Friday off of school this week and Dad has to do a site visit in Cottonwood, AZ. There is a state park with fishing lagoons and hiking(read walking) trails there so we are off to Dead Horse State Park for Easter weekend and work. They have 107 trailer sites and 20 tent only sites so we should be good to get a spot. Let's see if maybe this trip can break the Gambles/Jesperson family travel sickness curse and I won't have to clean out the car again!

Ikea

Ikea! The store where, if you don't get lost in it, you can find just about everything! I remember people telling me about it years ago and they were shocked that I had never heard of it. My first real memory is of Sid Leiberman, a professional story teller, relating a story about helping his son set up a new apartment when he went to college. Everyone told them to "Go to Ikea!!" I had had a great laugh during that story but never thought I'd see the day when it would become a guilty pleasure. In the mail two days ago comes an add for just this weekend. Glance at it, throw in purse(more commonly refered to as the great unknown), and say look later. That night look and discover down pillows on sale Friday only for $9.99! Some of you may understand the magnitude of this deal. If you travel with the Gambles, you know we come with all our own pillows because there are never enough, even in hotels, to sleep comfortably. Tom had back surgery 12 years(has it really been that long?) ago and needs multiple pillows to sleep with. School gets out and I drag three girls to Ikea(a 20 minute drive) to purchase pillows. They are sold out!! But I said they have everything didn't I?! Find down alternative pillows in bigger size for the same price! Girls now complaining loudly that they need a new pillow too. Leave store with 5 new pillows, 1 package of pillow cases, 2 fitted(oops!) king size sheets, and 4 packages of Swedish cookies( I blame Aunt Solveig for this!) that I can only get at Ikea. After I help clean the ward building at 8 AM this morning it's back to Ikea for a new down comforter cover with matching shams for $19.99. Did I mention that yesterday was payday?! While out that way I'll probably stop at Fry's Electronics to see if my dream cordless phone system is on sale since we may have 5 phones but only 2 will let you talk for more that 2 minutes and I've spent more money replacing batteries now than the cost of new phones. Fry's is the electronic equivilent to Ikea - if they don't have it, it doesn't yet exist. When I get home I hope to finish putting away Christmas since it is Febuary 1st tomorrow and clean all the tile floors with my steamer I got from Christmas. Moving away from family stinks 'cause then you have to get all the things you borrow from everyone.

What Happened to the Rest of the Year?

Where to start?! When last I wrote I was removing strange unwanted pets from the house. No new pets to report but life and it's challenges just keep coming. The first week of October I got put back into the working world. Tom's company had finally started landing all the "next big jobs" all at once, so I was recruited to count toilets, doors, windows, sinks, refridgerators, square footages, signs, and flooring types off of blue prints. I was also put in charge of Tom's travel scheduling and hotel booking. It's nice to have adult conversations but now the finish unpacking the house is going really slow. I have however hung a few pictures, rearranged some furniture and was grateful that Tom said buy the Halloween costumes this year. Katelyn went as Tinkerbell, Clairese had to be Daphne from Scooby Doo, and Amber went as Ballerina Snow White. This worked well since our school principal decided that if the kids wore costumes that day they had to be literary characters! The kids had a great time trick or treating mainly because one of our neighbors clued us in to a trunk or treat held by one of the wards in the stake. Tom had walked with the girls down our block and most of the houses weren't participating. So our friends and us packed the kids and candy into our cars and set up at the other ward's building! They got more candy there and I didn't feel guilty because we gave away most of ours to the other families.



November came with the knowlege that we would get to go "home" for Thanksgiving. Tom and I had put in lots of hours so we were taking the week of Thanksgiving off - sort of- and spending it in Utah. We did our civic duty and made sure to vote making us feel real good when Proposition 102 passed with a good majority here in AZ. Between school, work, Tom's travel, and an assorted number of minor illnesses we made it to Utah and Tom did get to hunt as well as work for part of the trip. I was grateful that we spent the first 4 days at my mom's since December turned out to be a test of faith and many extreme blessings. We had a great Thanksgiving Dinner at my mother in laws and stayed with her until time to come home.



December started out with the normal making of lists of what to pack for Utah, what to buy ahead of Christmas and what to wait to buy when we got to Utah on the 20th. Santa had been informed we would be in Orem at my sister's on Christmas morning and all was going as planned until the 12th. Tom had gone to Safford, which is about 3 hours south east of Mesa, to do some work and was driving back into town. He had called me just before 4 pm to let me know he was almost home and needed to call his partner since he had picked up a check from the client. He called Trent and while talking to him said he wasn't feeling good and was going to pull over. Trent thought that was the end of the call and hung up. Tom had gotten to the right side of the road but passed out before he could put the car in park. The car then drifted back across 2 lanes of traffic and came to a stop in the center median against the cables that are supposed to keep you from going in to on coming traffic. The car was going slow enough that the air bags did not even deploy. A very brave good samaritan who had seen the car drift, pulled over and tried to rouse Tom but could not. This kind person broke out the rear right passenger window and unlocked the car and was able to bring Tom to and call 911. Tom thinks it was only about 3 minutes before the paramedics arrived that he was brought around. By now he was able to express to the EMT's that he was having extreme abdominal pain and was transferred to the closest hospital. It just happened to be the one that his cousin Jenny had given birth at very early that morning. Two hours after the "accident" Tom texts me on my cell. That was the first that I knew anything was wrong. He tells me to bring the girls with me to the ER. The hospital he was at was the one closest to our old house and when I could see that there was going to be quite a wait I called a friend from our old ward and took the girls over to her house. In the mean time Tom had been given a blessing by his uncle Ken and Trent. They had both left the hospital before I got back but I was not too concerned at that point. The ER doc said that there was an unusuale amount of liquid in his abdominal cavitiy and they were not equiped to deal with that type of situation and would be transferring him to a Trauma hospital about a 30 minute drive from there. The Doc walked out of the room and things went from bad to worse in a hurry. Tom had an extrenme amount of pain and passed out. I hung up 2 cell phones and rang the nurses station repeatedly until some one came. The nurse who came in called for extra help and I left the room as at least 5 others were running in. The doc had just changed his mind about the ambulance to sending him air vac when this had happened. Luckily there was a chopper only moments away and he was taken to one of the best trauma centers in Phoenix. I called Trent to alert him and he left immediately for the hospital. He was already at his house so it only took him 15 minutes to get there. I was coming from the far east valley but my mom reminded me to take time to receive a blessing for myself. I called the counsler in our Bishopric who lives 3 houses away from us and asked him to meet me at the house since it was on the way to the trauma center. My entire Bishopric met me and gave me a blessing. Oh the peace that the Spirit brings in times of crisis!!
I got to the hospital and they took myself and Trent into a briefing room. They told me that Tom's spleen had fully ruptured and had caused the internal bleeding that had made him pass out. It probably ruptured slowly and that is why he was able to pull over and make it to the hospital. He was now stable and the surgeon was just finishing and would come out and talk to me in the OR waiting area. My bishop had arrived at the hospital to be with me and the girls were at Trent's house with his wife Kelly and their kids. I was calm because of the Lord's reassurance that all would be well. TO make the rest of this long story shorter, Tom had to be given 6 units of blood and had been given paralizing medicine at the first hospital so he wouldn't pull out breathing tubes and IVs but not any sedation medication. He had to endure the pain of the flight to the trauma center, the insertion of a central IV line, and the surgeon cutting him open before he was sedated! In the blessing he had recieved from the Lord through Trent and Ken he had been told that "he would be comforted through all the procedures the physcians had to do to take care of him." Little did he know when given that blessing that it would mean he could endure pain that not many have to go through. The Lord was there every step of the way. HE made sure that someone would stop when Tom passed out. HE made sure that the ambulance and EMTs were close by. HE made sure that the ER docs ran the right tests to find the abdominal fluid. He made sure that the helicopter was within 5 minutes of the first hospital and had a clear flight pattern to the trauma center. HE was there to comfort Tom when he had to endure unimanigable pain and know that all would be well. HE made sure that one of the best surgeons in Phoenix was on that night to locate the source of bleeding and be able to stop it quickly. HE was there to comfort me and all the family members that we had contacted to help us get through the night. HE has been with us every step of the way during a realitively speedy recovery. The 12th was a Friday. Tom was out of ICU by Sunday evening. Monday the Anesthisiologist came in and told Tom that had he been given any sedative or pain medicine before they had cut him open he would have died. His body's natural adrenaline and the pressure building up inside him was the only thing keeping him alive. The Gospel is True and Priesthood Blessings come straight from our Heavenly Father! Tuesday the 16th he came home and had his staples from his incision removed on the 23rd. There was a total of 27 staples holding his incision together. The girls wanted to look at first but after being shown them they want dad to keep his shirt on! Christmas was especially wonderful this year because we still had Tom with us. Both his mother and mine forbade him from setting foot in the state of Utah until he is fully recovered. He is working half days between home and the office. We spent New Year's Eve at home with the girls playing board games and WII. Grandma Pritchett, Santa, Tom, and I had coordinated getting WII for Christmas and it is fun for the whole family. At midnight we went out in the back yard and let off poppers that sent little streamers of paper out. The dog didn't like the sound, not so much from us but the neighbors that were letting off illegal fireworks! Everyone went to bed and slept in til 10 am. I think that is a record for my girls.

January is starting off calm as compared to the last month and I hope it continues until I can recuperate from taking care of so many things and loved ones! TO all have a Happy New Year and remember that the Lord loves us all!

What a month September was!!!

I know we are now in October, but I thought it would be good to catch everyone up on what's happenning here. September started out just fine. I started voluteering at the elementary school in both Amber and Clairese's classrooms. I read stories in Clairese's class on Mondays and Tuesday thru Friday I'm in Amber's class swapping out kindergartener's homework and helping with crowd control during math at the beginning of the day. I say crowd control because there are 26 kids in her class. That's a lot of 5-6 year olds first thing. She has a great teacher who just happens to be our Stake Camp Director. Tom says not to get too friendly! Ha! Too late. Katelyn has had a temporary substitute this quarter because her teacher just had a baby right before school started. If she needs help too I think I'll cry! Don't get me wrong, I'm lovin' helping out, but I don't think I'll ever finish unpacking the house if I do.

Speaking of the house, no I still haven't unpacked everything yet. The family room looks like we are going to move out soon, because that was the best place to set boxes. I'm determined to de-junk as I go so it may take a while to get it done. I've found boxes that we didn't open at the last house. So I try to go through one a week. I know that sounds lazy but this last month was a little crazy. I have found things like old valances that we hadn't used before and are getting to use now. The french doors have curtain rods at the top but not at the bottom so I used the non-matching Battenburg lace valances that my mom didn't use in her new house. They are just close enough that unless you really look at them they look the same! The sewing room is a dream though. It really pays to have a husband that sews! He modified the dinig room, that we had no table for, into the sewing room by building me a wall mount counter for the sewing machines and a standing island with an Olfa cutting mat inlaid in the countertop!! It's snug but soooo nice to not have to put up and down banquet tables anymore!

On about the 15th of the month I was helping Clairese finish homework at the kitchen table when she said,"Mom a Seagull just landed on Katelyn's head!" To which I replied, "There are not Seagulls in Arizona!" I thought she had a great imagination until Katelyn came in from the pool and said,"Mom! A Macaw just landed on my head and I shook it off and it landed on the pool noodle!" This strangely seemed more plausible than what Clairese had said but still a little wierd to be happening, so I told them I would go look. Not a Seagull, not a Macaw, but a cockatiel was sitting on the noodle drinking water from the pool!!! I tried to reach for the noodle and it flew onto the deck. Being the profesional bird wrangler that I am, I reached down with both hands and picked it up before the dog could get to it. Usually this would be where I say the bird bit me, but this one was pretty nice and let me carry it into the house. Tom was out of town so I knew it could stay for a day or two. The dog, who had a sore on his head, thought this was not bad for mom to "fetch" a bird and wanted some of the action! I quickly started looking around to see what I could use for a cage. Two milk crates and a big piece of nylon screen later we had a make shift bird cage and a lab trying to get into Katelyn's room to "see" the bird. I made Found signs and we put them up around the neighborhood. Two days later Tom is home and no one had called on the bird. We had a full slate that weekend and I kept hoping the owner's would see the signs and call. No Luck! So we announced it at the Elder's quorum party that Friday night, at the ward Humanitarian Day Saturday morning, and in Priesthood and Relief Society on Sunday. Still no owners. I might have caved in to my children, who now thought the bird was cool, and bought a cage but I was now sick. I had a sore show up on the left side of my face on Thursday and by Sunday it was throbbing, and painful, and swollen to the point that I had a hard time opening my mouth. I went to the urgent care on Sunday afternoon and was told that I had a MRSA Staph infection. They put me on antibiotics and pain killer and told me to follow up with a doctor during the week. On Wednesday I went to a Dermatologist who confirmed the diagnoses and changed 1 antibiotic and put me on 2 more!!! They did a culture and said they would call and let me know if I could stop taking any of the medicine. Fast forward one week and I'm MRSA free, but my guts aren't happy with me! The bird has now gone to live at a neighbor's house that already had lots of birds and made new bird friends. I haven't taken down the signs yet, but still no owner. The girl's are a little sad but they know "Perky" is much happier. The month ended and I went back to volunteering at the school. I had taken last week off so I wouldn't infect the kids. Clairese just came in to inform me that there is a lizard in the family room on the wall! Oh, the joy of living in the desert!!! I'll chase this "friend" out of the house. I wouldn't know how to explain this one to Tom!

Home Sweet New Home!!!

Ok, so it's been over a month since I wrote but I've truly been in a state of chaos! We had put applications in on 2 houses and got the one closest to Tom's office! Then came the work. I hate packing and that is putting it very, very, very, mildly. I dream that one day we will make enough money that I can hire someone to pack everything for me! Tom's dream is that he makes enough money that we can rent a dumpster and invite the Elders and Young Men over to throw out all the old furniture, move, and then buy new furniture and have it delivered and set up! Stop laughing so hard, I said it was a dream!!! We didn't find out that we had been accepted to rent our new house until the 17th of July and even then we still had to get special approval. Once the lease was signed we found out that we couldn't move in until the 8th of August and the girls would start at their new school on August 11th. I started the dreaded job of packing and oh by the way did I mention that Tom was in St. Louis on a business trip that week. It's just my luck. The Lord is trying to teach me to be better prepared. I had hoped to take posession of the new house before we had to be out of the old house thus making it possible to avoid using too many boxes by moving things over a little at a time. Haha!!! I spent the first week of August throwing things in boxes and the 7th - 9th of August listening to my husband complain we have too much junk! I then spent the 12th of August at the doctors being told I had a sinus infection and a few other non-metionable infections. My Mom arrived the 13th to help whip the house into shape and boy was I grateful. I can now cook in my kitchen and we have been able to retire the paper and plastic goods back to the cupboard. My health is improving and after one week I was able to find ( Honey have you seen the other box of cables?) and assemble the computer. When I checked my e-mail I had 100 unopend messages. That's what I get for not finding the computer parts sooner. Our old ward have recently seemed to become semi-professonal movers as we were the third, or was that fourth, family to move out this summer. We were truly blessed to have so many wonderful friends who lended trailers, themselves, their children and their fuel to get us moved. Then they out did themselves by coming back to the old house and insisting on helping me clean the entire house!!!! We could not have done it without them! The next morning we attended our new ward. We were late and the girls all had to go to the bathroom so Tom walked in to find us seats just as the speakers were being announced. Just picture this. We're exhausted and both Tom and I had lost our voices. He's looking for seats and hears" We will next hear from the Gamble's who have recently moved into our ward." He said he looked around totally suprised and was grateful to see a young couple already sitting on the stand! As it turns out our world just keeps getting smaller. Our new bishop is friends with our old home teacher, one of the couples had a singing group my sister-in-law was in while growing up, and the sister I decided to sit next to when I walked in late for Relief Society is close friends with a good friend from our old ward! The couple that was speaking is not related to us, but are from the Blackfoot, ID area, God's country as Tom calls it. Our old bishop grew up in the area and his parents are in the ward we share the building with. I hope to have the house all unpacked, and de-junked with in the next month but who knows if that is a pipe dream or not. Life in AZ is hot but we are blessed to know so many wonderful people. Our new address is 2635 E Elmwood St., Mesa, AZ 85213. Phone numbers have remained the same.

Home? in AZ !

Well we made it home to AZ on Sunday to find that the house we are currently in will go on auction on July 31st!!! Good thing that I've been searching on line while we were gone. I've put in applications on 2 houses and we hope to be accepted for at least one of them otherwise we start looking again :( One house is 2 miles from Tom's office and the other is 10 miles. Either would be an improvement from the 20 miles he drives one way at least once a day(sometimes he comes home and drives back in to do "fix it" jobs for friends and family.) While at the Gambles family reunion at Bear Lake, UT I asked Tom" if this was Heaven?" He answered yes!!! We really miss having cooler weather and seasons. Our kids would complain it was cold at 76 degrees, so they have already turned into AZ wimps! For those who wonder why Arizona doesn't go with daylight savings time the answer is simple. When your low of the night is 85 degrees, you don't want it to be 102 degrees at 11pm! The drive wasn't bad because it was overcast all day and didn't rain on us till we left Flagstaff. Well I'd better go now since I have a house to pack and who knows how many realtors to let in! I'll blog again when I have our new address.