Mini Posts 109 Degree Summer Addition

Finally Completed!

After six months, we finally have a completed sidewalk up to our home. I started back in February pouring individual concrete blocks and in May began the process of placing them in my front yard. We had to take a break from the sidewalk while we did the sprinkler system and the grass, but picked back up with the sidewalk in June. Shannon has been most patient as the project consumed every free Saturday morning and Monday evening for the last few months and I want to thank her for not killing me when I would come in completely exhausted and done at 1:00 p.m. on a Saturday and she was ready to do other things. I would also like to thank my back for not completely giving out on me at some point during this process. Picking up 18" X 18" X 3" concrete blocks is not a back's favorite thing to do, but no discs gave out and no muscles blew up at any point and for that I am also grateful. Up next for our front yard is the process of building a retaining wall type border around the grass and then bringing in rock to cover the rest of the dirt. No sweat! As long as no one expects a faster timeline than the sidewalk took.





The Mind of Logan



Logan and Braden have been in swimming lessons the last few weeks and it has been a really good experience for them. First of all, they both have been gearing up the courage and they eventually made it off the low dive. It was quite an exciting time for them and everyone was very proud. However, you can imagine Shannon's surpise when she looks over and sees Logan climbing the ladder to the high dive along with the instructor. With trembling legs they walk out to the end of the high dive. He stands there for a moment, looks in several directions and then he and the instructor walk back to the ladder and back down. Shannon asked him later what he was doing and why he didn't jump. He explained that was never the intention. He said, "I just wanted to see the view." Sounds good to me.





Temple Moves On



For those who don't live in our valley, the progress on the Gila Valley Temple is moving forward rapidly. This has been the driest monsoon season we have had in a few years and while at first, we wondered what we were doing that was causing the Lord to be upset with us, we realized that the dry weather has allowed construction to move forward with minimal stoppages. Whether that is the reason for the dry weather or not, I am not sure, but it certainly has helped. However, the heat has been oppressive so maybe it is a little of both. The Lord wants the temple completed and so no rain and for all of us who need to get our act together before it opens, here is a little (lot) heat to help you get your mind right. It hit 109 last Saturday here in Safford. Of course I was in the front yard working. Good times.

We look forward to the temple and are very excited for its progress.

Thatcher and Safford Town Council Update

As I mentioned in the last post, Safford has completely backed off of the library fees and it appears they may be gone for good. The pool non-resident fees remain and the golf course is still in limbo, but the library has been taken off the table for non-resident fees. So good news on that front.

If that wasn't enough, at the last Thatcher Town Council meeting, it was announced that over the next five years, the town will build a library/pool complex on the west side of town. YEEEEEHAWWWWWW!!!!!! With the reality that EAC's pool is probably not in it for the long haul, Thatcher decided to move forward with this plan and thereby resolve Safford's problem of Thatcher piggybacking off of them too much. I wonder how this will work for Safford since they were complaining about the money needed to run a pool now that it appears that they will lose half of their business over the fees they imposed. We will just have to wait and see.

The Progression of Kate



Our sweet little baby who barely began crawling a month or so ago decided it was time to pull up on the furniture last night in the middle of family home evening. This of course took all attention away from anything remotely spiritual for a while and it took us a moment to get back on track, but it was worth it. While she has been the best baby, her new mobility has shown that she is one of our busiest with regard to getting into things. But with a smile like hers, she rarely gets in trouble. She loves to reach and grab Shannon's earrings and is constantly told no. The other day, she looked up at Shannon and smiled her big smile and said, "Na na na na na." (Kate for no no no no no) and then reached over and grabbed Shannon's earrings. Not sure if that is a positive for getting the message across that she shouldn't be reaching for the earrings or a negative for the complete lack of concern shown in ignoring that message.

What Time Is It Anyway?

This has been my first month to conduct Sacrament Meeting and WOW I am not good at this. I have had three weeks now and every single week I have said "Good Morning" or referred to our meeting taking place in the morning and we meet at 1:00 p.m. Also, on testimony Sunday, Shannon pointed out that I tried to close the meeting 5 minutes after it began by saying we would have testimonies until 1:05 instead of 2:05. However, as poorly as I have done, at least I didn't have the experience that Kenny Smith, our High Priest Group Leader had in Priesthood opening exercises. An elderly man in our ward who lives in a nursing home wanted to attend a funeral of a recently passed friend of his. With his condition, this would not be easy and would require the help of some individuals. Brother Smith was asking for volunteers when he said, "Brother Whitecotton needs assistance in attending the funeral of a friend. She was a woman he was fiddling with at the nursing home." Upon realizing what he had said, he quickly backtracked and explained they had played the fiddle together at the nursing home, but the damage was already done.

One Final Thought

I urge everyone to write their congressman or woman regarding the Health Care initiative currently being considered. Having served my mission in Great Britain, I have seen first hand what nationalized health care looks like and believe me, we don't want it. We especially don't want to be rushed into it because a group of individuals say we can't wait for everyone to consider what is actually contained in the bill. This is a really, really bad bill and something that is important enough to ask anyone who will listen, to please take the time to write your representatives and express that it is not what we want. I will now step off of my soapbox.