We are going on a mission !!

 A lot has happened since our last post. We have missed recording many things but now we hope to keep a record of what we are doing now. 

    Nancy retired from teaching school in 2017, after working 24 years teaching 4th grade. We made the decision to close Allred’s Western and Causal Wear. Closing the store was a quicker way to retire rather than trying to find a buyer. We started advertising the closing of the store in September 2018.  With the great support of our community we sold most everything and closed the store November 10th, 2018. We  had invested in a condo years earlier, 2008.  Having this place made it easier for us to retire also.  We were looking forward to having some free travel time. But more importantly we were looking forward to having time to visit our family without having to worry about the store. Moving to Mesa would mean that we would be closer to family. 

We ended up not traveling much. Nancy became involved in the Relief Society presidency as a counselor. Then several months later she became the Relief Society President.  Wade mostly enjoyed golfing.  🏌️ 

After four years of serving as the Relief President I was released.  That’s when we, mostly Wade, started getting the paperwork ready to submit to Salt Lake City.  

It took a few weeks of waiting after our paperwork was submitted to receive our call. Wade read it.  We were called to serve in the Zambia Lusaka mission in Africa.  Wade emphasized that he wanted to serve anywhere the Lord needed us.  So with some faith, more paperwork and some shopping we are getting close to reporting to the MTC.  We hope to keep a record of our experiences here on our blog.

It has been so long since I posted anything. Hopefully I will get better at taking and posting pictures. This new year 2016 means Wade and I are approaching our 35th anniversary.   Through the years we have been through a lot and  we are happy to say we have made it!  We are looking forward to getting older, mostly because we want to retire and rest.  We will see how that goes.

More Quilts

This quit was given to Eric's family in 2011

This was a Christmas quilt for Eric's family given to them 2010.

A quilt for Kyler

A quilt for Kacin

A quilt for Wade 2010

A quilt made from scraps.

This quilt started out as a rectangle.  I made one horizontal cut and one vertical cut down the center.  Then I made each section a square.  Then put them back together.

This quilt will be given away this year at Christmas time. 

This is our house with the front fence gone.  By Thanksgiving we hope to have a new white fence.

More Quilts

I just thought I better take pictures of some of the quilt I have made.  At first I would just make the quilt tops.  Colleen encouraged me to quilt them using my sewing machine.  I am glad I did.  I like every quilt I have made.

This fabric I bought in Utah on a trip with Phyllis and Leland and Mom.  I didn't like the quilt until I quilted it. I guess it grew on me.

I bought this quilt pattern in Utah. When I got home I discovered I had enough scraps to make it.  This was my first try at applique.

I bought a quilt book from Books are Fun.  This quilt was shown in colorful scraps.   Since I didn't have enough colorful scraps I just used a bunch of blue scraps.

On Christmas break last year 2012 I just wanted to make a quilt.  

This quilt was fun to make.  I saw a new pattern that I liked, but used fabric I didn't like.  I ended up loving the fabric after all. 

I saw this quilt at a store in Utah called Pine Needles at the Gardner Village.  I bought the fabric for it there but made my own pattern. 

These are 2 table runners I made in Duncan at a Relief Society activity day 2011.

These 2 quilts are my Dr Suess quilts.  They are some of the first quilts I made.

This is one of my favorite quilts.  It was easy to make.  I didn't make mistakes so it didn't take me long.  The fabric is from 2 layer cakes in the fabric line called Penelope that I bought from Adele.  It is just a throw quilt so it doesn't fit a bed.  I found the pattern in a magazine. I followed their instructions and didn't change anything. 

This quilt is a twin size.  It is on one of the beds upstairs.  These blocks were some of the first blocks I made, but I just didn't know how to put them together.  The blocks were made from scraps I bought from the Fat Quarter Shop.  I bought the dotted fabric on sale at Western Drug here in town.  

These are two Dolly Dress-Up quilts.  I bought the blocks from Adele.  She got them for a discount at the Fat Quarter Shop. Since some of the blocks were cut wrong they couldn't be sold.  Thanks Adele!

This is my most  recent quilt. I made the blocks at Kia's quilt retreat in July 2013.  I still need to sew on the binding.  I love Christmas quilts!

     Well I started my 20th year teaching school.   This is the second year our school has tried a 4 day week.  With this new schedule our school has improved the grade given by the state.  Our school moved from a C school to a B school.  We hope to do as well or better this year too.   Even though the 4 days are longer and, I get so tired,  it is good to get a day off to rest or to have that extra time to plan for the next week. We do work as teachers two Fridays a month....

     Natalie is working in Thatcher, even though her and Cheston live in Mesa.  Natalie works the night shift at a care center as the head nurse in charge.   When she is done with her shift, she sleeps at her inlaws home.  She works several days in a row, and then she will get several days off in a row.  Cheston is enrolled at ASU.

     Stuart is living with Mom and Jiggs.  Stuart was thinking about living alone, but when mom and Jiggs invited him to live with them, he accepted the offer.  He has a bedroom and bathroom to himself.   He also got transferred to a different job at the prison.  He manages a crew of inmates  that work for the town of Wilcox.  Even though he has to drive 50 minutes, it is a 4day week.  He has a 3 day weekend.   He also gets his holidays off.  He goes to work at 4:30 and gets off at 4:30.  That gives him a chance to work out.  His evenings are free too, so we are hoping he will start dating again.

     Eric and Laura have volunteered to be foster parents.  After almost a year of being parents to 2 new kids, they have decided to start with the adoption papers.  We are excited to see what happens. Laura has a preschool in her home where she works 3 days a week but only for a few hours.  Those kids are lucky to have her as their teacher.

   Also, Eric has a new job.  Instead of working for Fluk he is working for Microsoft.  He seems happier.  This company really treats the employees really well.  Eric does many things for the company, including hiring and firing people.   

     Wade in his 32nd year of owning/running Allred's Western & Casual Wear.  Boy we are getting old.  He still loves what he is doing. We are looking forward to retiring, but we will probably work another 10 years or so........Anyway just an update on our family.

Natalie and Cheston came for Thanksgiving 2012.  Since they were staying a few days. Natalie and I did some sewing while Cheston studied.

I had just bought a new quilting book.  We found a cute pattern for an apron.  The fabrics looks so cute together.