Thursday, April 28, 2011

Drag Races at Phoenix Raceway April 28th 2001

Ten years ago today....Adam and I went out to Phoenix Raceway to watch some drag races (with jet engine cars) and Monster truck races. A friend of Adam's dad gave him the tickets and he invited me to go with him.
It was an exciting show, but seriously by this point I was just SO confused. Not about My feelings about Adam but about Adam's feelings for me.
I mean, Here was a guy who had three brothers who all would like to have gone to this show, and instead he invites me. He took me out the night before, he sits by me and talks with me at every Y.S.A. activity. This was technically our fifth date with each other. I can tell that he enjoys talking to me and he keeps asking me out. So, he likes me right? THEN WHY WON'T HE JUST HOLD MY HAND ALREADY!!!
Seriously, aside from sitting perfectly still with my hand resting on my leg palm up fingers open, I've given him plenty of opportunities.
Does he really just want to be friends? Because as much as I liked him I wasn't getting any younger. ( I was 23 and 1/2 ) I was ready for the next step in my life but if Adam just wanted to "hang out"....Maybe I needed to move on.
As soon as I got home that night I hit my knees. I told my Heavenly Father that I REALLY liked Adam, but I knew that at this point in my life I needed to be looking for a husband, not just a "friend" to  hang out with all the time.
Suddenly, I felt an overwhelming sense of peace come over me and I got the feeling to just be patient with Adam. I knew at that point that for whatever reason I should continue to date Adam. I decided to stop worrying about whether or not Adam held my hand and "what it all means". I would use this opportunity to get to know him as well as I could and just have fun with him.
I slept better that night than I had in a long time.

M.C.C. Institute Guest Speaker April 27, 2001

Ten years ago today....Adam and I went to hear a special guest speaker at the Institute building at Mesa Community  College. Adam invited me to go with him a few days prior.
The speaker was a historian who talked about the Book of Mormon and showed slides of maps and Ancient ruins in South America.
Luckily, I was so interested in what the speaker was saying, that I didn't spend too much time dwelling on the fact that Adam wasn't holding my hand. But, ya...he didn't holding my hand.

Friday, April 22, 2011

Dinner at the Quist Home April 22, 2001

Ten years ago today....
Adam and I went to my parents house for Sunday Dinner.  Even though Adam still hadn't even held my hand, I  had a feeling that he could potentially become a permanent part of my life and I wanted to see what my family thought of him so, earlier that week I invited him for dinner.
I begged my little brothers not to embarrass me, but I can't say that I was surprised when the first thing  my brother Ben said to Adam was "hey, you wanna see my ringworm".   Nice one Ben.
Then when Adam went to sit at the dinner table he accidentally pulled off one of the chairs finials (which was already broken)  and my mom teased him about breaking her chair. I don't remember much of the dinner conversation, but it was along the same lines as that dinner scene in the movie "While you were Sleeping."
Well, So much for great first impressions. The cool thing was, Adam said  he really enjoyed himself.
And, my family was smitten with him.  From then on, they never asked me when I was coming over for dinner, it was always "When is Adam gonna come over for dinner again?".
My reply was always the same  "When he holds my hand I'll invite him".  In other words....Maybe never.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Four Peaks April 21, 2001

Ten years ago today....Adam and I went on a hike on four peaks.  We planned for me to meet Adam at his parents house ( His parent's house was on the way to four peaks my place was an hour out of the way).
Once I got to Adam's house, we left to go pick up another couple then we met back at his parents house to meet his cousin and her "date".
Well, his cousin brought a date, but she also brought her friend Pam. Pam just happened to be Adam's old girlfriend. (We later found out that Adams cousin Marshelle set the whole thing up thinking that Adam wouldn't get his own date and by default would pair up with Pam. Evidently, Pam  who was Marshelle's best friend,  wanted to get back together with Adam so she had Marshelle plan this hike.)
I could tell that Pam felt a little awkward but so did I. I wondered  if Adam knew she was coming and if he did...why did he invite me?
The good news was that Adam decided to drive his truck which only had room for us and Adam's friend and his date.  So Pam had to ride in a different car with Marchelle and her date.
The bad news was that once we started hiking, it became obvious that Pam was in MUCH better shape than I was. In fact, everyone was. I felt like I was slowing the whole group down and wondered if Adam wished that he didn't bring me along.  We sat down to rest and eat lunch, and Marshelle's group decided to go on ahead to the top.
After lunch we decided to head back to the car. ( Adam told me later that he thought I was hiking slow on purpose in order to put some distance between us and Pam. I told him not to flatter himself. I really was just that bad of a hiker) In any case, it did put some distance between us and on the hike down we were able to relax and have a great time. At some point I got cold and Adam gave me his jacket to wear. (I still have that jacket.)
However, Adam still didn't hold my hand! What was with this guy anyway?  Did he like me or not?
Well, if your waiting to find out when he FINALLY holds my hand... Get comfortable, because it's gonna take a while!

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

All Creatures Great and Small

Last Saturday afternoon, the kids were playing with their chicks in the backyard when suddenly I heard one of the little chicks yelp...er squawk..whatever they do when they are hurt.
I see Eliza jump up and I ran over to see what happened.
Sarah was holding her chick and Eliza tearfully told me that she didn't see Sarah's chick go behind her and when she scooted back she accidentally sat on Sarah's chick.
Sarah set her chick back down on the ground and it just stumbled and fell to it's side and closed it's eyes and started breathing really hard.
Sarah screamed "It's dying!" and ran to the house in tears.
I chased after her and held her for a bit while she cried. I told her that her little chick was suffering and I asked her "if you were hurt badly, who would you want to have holding you?" She answered "My Mommy".
I then explained that she was like that little chicks mommy and asked her if she thought she could hold it and comfort it while it was still alive. She said she could and we went back outside. The little chick was still laying on the ground and Sarah picked it up, held it and spoke softly to it through her tears.
By this point we were all crying and Eliza felt SO bad. I suggested that we say a prayer and we all gathered around Sarah and her little chick.
I pleaded for comfort for the children and I simply asked  Heavenly Father to please end the Chick's suffering and allow the chick to continue to live but, if it be his will that it should die, that the chick would go quickly and that it would be taken care of in heaven.
When the prayer was finished, we all hugged and continued to sit with Sarah and her little chick. A minute went by then suddenly, The little chick hopped out of Sarah's hands. It limped around for another minute then was walking perfectly!
Three days have passed and I am happy to report that the chick is as good as ever.
We know that Heavenly Father doesn't always answer our prayers the way we want him to but for whatever reason, he allowed a miracle to take place for us that day. We also know that Heavenly Father hears and answers even the simplest of prayers and that he is mindful of ALL of his creations "Great and Small".

This is Our Ward

When we walk into our Church meeting house each Sunday; We are greeted by some of the most Amazing people we know.  Hugs, handshakes and smiles are given and received  from all.
In our ward, it doesn't matter if your dress is the latest fashion, or if your hair has highlights or is cut in the latest style. Your kids might have accidentally mismatched their socks, and their shoes may even be a little scuffed. Things like that don't matter much in our ward.
Old folks are friends with young folks...And people use words like "folks".
When you have a question about gardening there's a dozen people you can call. All of them would drop what they're doing to help you.
If you have question about how to cook an elk steak, a sewing project, a canning project, food storage, car trouble, chickens, pigs, or a home remedy for pink eye, There's always someone who can and will help you out.

Last Sunday the call went out to our ward family asking for help to fix fence posts on the Church Ranch the following Saturday.
Cattle raised on  the Church Ranch is used to bless the lives of our needy brothers and sisters all around the world through the Church's Humanitarian efforts.
I was awed by the amount of ward members who answered the call to serve. When we pulled up to the job site on the ranger (the church ranch is just a five minute buggy ride from our house) there were families lined up along the fence for as far as we could see. All of them were working together and getting the job done with smiles on their faces.

In fact, so many people came that a four hour job became a two hour job.
Red Rover, Red Rover send Sarah right over!

The youth and kids were able to spend time together playing games and going for buggy rides while the rest of us visited with one another.

Afterwards the Tenny family prepared and served us a great lunch. 


I am so grateful to be associated with such wonderful neighbors and friends.

We LOVE Taylor 3rd ward!



**pictures courtesy of Bridgett Miller**

YSA Park Activity April 18th 2001

Ten years ago yesterday....
Adam had been out of town for a week on a snowmobiling trip with his dad. I was missing him, so I was very happy when he called and told me he was back and asked if I would be at the YSA park activity that night. Of course I said yes! ( O.K. I actually wasn't planning on going, but since he asked, I wasn't going to miss it for the world).
We had a great time playing water-balloon V-ball and getting a chance to talk for a bit while we ate yummy sub sandwiches.
We talked about the hike we'd be going on that Saturday.
 He had called me the Previous Saturday while he was in CO. And asked me if I wanted to go on a hike up four peaks with him and some other couples. I'm not much of a hiker, but I wasn't about to let some other girl go with him. So, once again I said yes. And maybe, just maybe he'll hold my hand!

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Easter Pageant Take Two April 11, 2001

Ten years and two days ago.... Adam called and asked if I wanted to go with his stake young single adult group to watch the Easter Pageant. I told him I couldn't because my ward's single adult group was going and felt like I should support my ward.
But....maybe if my singles group "accidentally" ran into his singles group at the flagpole about 30 minutes before the pageant started maybe we could all sit together.
So that's what we did.
 And, once again we sat watching the Easter pageant shoulder to shoulder, wishing that we were holding hands. Sigh.....

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Peeps

Last Tuesday we welcomed these three little cuties into the family.
Right now they live in a box in the mudroom with a heat lamp. When they've grown enough, they'll move into the chicken coop and hopefully start laying eggs for us.
Each of the kids picked out their own chick
 Sarah's is named Sariea
 Eliza's is named Fuffy ( L left out on purpose)
 Caleb's is named Wacky-wack

Friday, April 8, 2011

Easter Pageant April 7, 2001

Ten years ago yesterday.....
Adam took me to go see the Easter pageant at the Mesa AZ Temple. At the time, I was living in an apartment less than a block away from the Temple. My best friend Lola, and her husband Aaron (one of Adam's good friends) lived in the same neighborhood. We met up with them on the Temple grounds and all sat together to watch the pageant.  I always love the pageant and the story of our Savior's life, but I must confess that it was hard to focus on the pageant when I was sitting so close to Adam. I really wanted him to hold my hand.
 At this point in our relationship, Adam had still not yet built up the courage to hold my hand so thank goodness the seating at the pageant leaves everyone sitting shoulder to shoulder. Just sitting so close to him gave me that fun tingly, twitterpated feeling. (later Adam told me he felt the same way.)
After the pageant we walked back to Lola and Aaron's apartment and played games with them for a bit.
The more I got to know Adam the more I liked him, but I really had no idea how he felt about me.
After the date I called my friend Lola and told her I was a little frustrated because I liked him so much but, I didn't know if he felt the same way about me. She told me that Aaron got a chance to ask Adam about me and Adam said he thought I was  "Really cool".
Sigh,  That didn't help much but I'll take it. "Really cool" is better than just "Cool". Right?!!!

Monday, April 4, 2011

Ruth Gets Shotgun... April 4, 2001

Ten years ago today....
 I went to a YSA activity that was held at the Haws Home in Apache Junction.
We all met at the Seminary Building at Skyline High,  then carpooled out to the middle of nowhere where the Haws's lived.
Once we got there, Adam made it a point to sit by me while we ate BBQ then we played ping pong, volleyball, and we sat together during a short devotional.
The best part of the night was when  Adam yelled that he was ready to go and several of the single girls literally ran to the van that Adam was driving back to the seminary building. They were all lined up to get shotgun and any seats available in the front row of the van. I figured I'd end up sitting in the back row because I didn't "line up" fast enough but Adam surprised me by saying (loud enough for everyone to hear) "Ruth gets Shotgun !"
It was hard not to look smug at all the girls who were shooting daggers at me with their eyes.
From that night on, no matter who else was in the car, If Adam was driving, I rode shotgun!

Sunday, April 3, 2011

GOTTCHA!!!

Dinner is served......


April Fools!!!!

The Trio had been anxiously awaiting April fools day for weeks.
 They couldn't wait to tell me (countless times)  that there was a spider on my head, they'd lost their homework folder, they broke a limb, and that the house was on fire.....all in hopes of tricking me.
I just had to get even and trick them like they've never been tricked before.
The opportunity came when my cousin invited us to have dinner at her house.
I was grateful that I didn't have to make dinner and decided to use the time instead to clean out the refrigerator. I took all the leftovers that would have been thrown out or fed to the chickens, and put them in a casserole dish.
In the meantime I had put a loaf of garlic bread in the oven (our contribution to my cousin's meal).
This made the house smell really good, and the kids started asking " what's for dinner?".
"It's a surprise" I told them." a recipe I have never tried before".
I had them set the table, and Caleb made a salad (another contribution to the meal at my cousin's)
and when the table was all set I got out the bread, the salad, pretended to get the "casserole" out of the oven.
In a grand gesture, I set the meal before them. There faces were so funny! I could tell they didn't want to get in trouble by saying anything negative about dinner. They just looked and looked at it, while Adam kept saying how yummy it was gonna be.
"APRIL FOOLS!!!  We're going to have dinner with Jay and Kristen." I said
The kids were so relived, and admitted that I really tricked them good!
So, I'm pretty much the Queen of April fools day around here....A queen, with a spider on her head. AHHHH!!!