September 2026

 We got Timmy's junior year school photo back at the beginning of September.

He only took two days off of school after knee surgery and then pushed through the pain to keep up in his hard classes. His recovery went as well as we could hope. He needed ibuprofen for a week or two, but he was able to get a hang of those crutches no problem.

After about a week of only getting out of the house to attend school, we got him to go to Lowe's with us. He enjoyed driving around in the scooter to take a break from his crutches.

After two weeks he was able to  remove the gauze and bandages but had to keep those steri-strips on.

He had to wear the big brace that kept his knee straight constantly, which was not super fun for him. He did enjoy wearing shorts to church though as the pants would not work with the big brace.

My mom injured her left knee and had to take care of it in the same way Timmy did to recover, keeping her leg straight with no weight for six weeks. Grandma was at the end of her six weeks and Timmy was just starting, but they were twinning on crutches for a while.

Mark also helped my mom find and fix her .22 so she could try to get the pesky squirrels. She is the best shot still!

Elder Brian Hsiao had a lucky (we should call it blessed because it was not just luck) emergency transfer, which put him with two really great companions for his last week and a half in Henderson. They did some great work together and Brian learned a lot and had a good time doing the work. He also learned that his Visa had arrived and he would be leaving to Taiwan on September 9! Prayers were answered for real and things were looking up for him!

He said goodbye to his Elder friend that was in Henderson waiting for his Visa to Peru.

He and his companions went to sushi to celebrate and say goodbye.

And then Elder Hsiao was off on the long flight to Taiwan! I am grateful he had a lot of travel experience before his mission. It made it easier for me not to worry about him traveling. He does better than I do! I was so happy for him to finally be going to Kaohsuing!

He made it safely and got right to work! We was assigned to be with the incredible trainer/zone leader Elder Roberts. I am so grateful for Elder Roberts. 

Brian got his mission bike made especially for him with his name on it and everything! He will be spending much of his life on this bike for the next two years!

He started adjusting to Taiwan mission life and worked hard to try to catch up on the language learning he had missed the last 6 weeks in Henderson. 

Our phone calls with him moved from Tuesday in Henderson to our Sunday evening (his Monday morning). 

At home we were moving full force in school with a gazillion things to do. I was missing Timmy's help in all the Student Gov things because of his surgery recovery and I found myself going to all the things alone because he either had physical therapy or was really not well enough to go and help. A lot of my senior officer girls played tennis, so I went to their senior tennis night.

The big school community night which we just had in May was moved to be in September. So we were back at it in the Cottonwood tent painting faces and helping with games.

Student Gov put on tailgates and treats for the football games.

Timmy's pain moved from his knee to his ankle because of all the swelling, but he was recovering.

Despite being on crutches all the time, he decided to ask his friend Hadlyn to the upcoming Homecoming dance. She is one of my SBOs and so much fun!

Mark had to make all the meat for the High Priest social. We got a whole lot of tri-tips! Half were for us and half were for the party.

We prepared them all in bags and then put them in the sous vide and seared them on the griddle. Here he is ready to slice them up at the party with the other counselor in the stake presidency.

Mark had used this cooler to sous vide the steaks, little cutie decided to see if he fit!

Then Homecoming week arrived! Homecoming week is so hard and busy for Student Gov.  One of the dress up days was camo. Timmy and all his friends wore ghillie suits.

Every night I had to go to Powderpuff practices. But I did appreciate the view and the weather cooperated.

The Powderpuff game went well and was fun! Timmy could not participate in any of the activities because of his knee so it was kind of a bummer for him.

We organized a teacher/staff verses student football game during the school day. Mark came and played QB. The teachers destroyed the students.

The Homecoming assembly was a success! During the week I get so relieved after every successful event.

Then we had the football game with the tailgate, royalty announcement and the fireworks that I am in charge of. It all turned out well.

The next day was the Homecoming dance.

A lot a kids showed up to the dance. Timmy was sad he couldn't go into the mosh pit because of his knee.

Mark was so kind and helpful for this dance. He came and set up his nice camera and printer and ran the photo booth giving everyone printed photos. The kids loved their photos. Our printer was super slow but he printed what he could and I printed them through the next week when kids came to my room to pick them up.

I was just so relieved when the dance was over because it meant Homecoming week was over! My room was a disaster from the assembly and the dance, but luckily I have Student Gov class first thing on Monday morning and we could leave it all to clean then. I felt like I had lived at the school this week and could not wait to be home and not have to worry about any more Homecoming events.

The next day we had Endowed for Life youth meeting at our house.

Just after the meeting, Timmy got asked to the next dance, Monster Mash, by his friend Bailee. He was excited!

The next evening, I got to go to a little goodbye legacy event for CHOICE Humanitarian. Sadly, the organization could not sustain itself after 44 years. CHOICE decided to hold  a little event to honor all that it had accomplished over the years as well as it's founders, Dad and Jim Mayfield. They told my mom to have all the family come.

There was a nice little presentation to honor the beginnings and say goodbye.

Some of the country directors were there. This is Willy from Bolivia he has been very close to my dad for many years.

It was a nice event. It was a little hard to say goodbye to CHOICE and be reminded Dad was gone, but nice to think about the impact that he made on this world. It really just can't be put into words how many people he has helped.

As I help my mom look through my dad's files I am just blown away at his love and compassion for the poor in the world. CHOICE was only one of many organizations that he started or worked for, sharing his time, money and expertise. He gave his life to helping people in need with whatever organization (usually multiple at once) he felt he could do the most good at that time in his life. He was literally a humanitarian hero and loved by so many.

(Published 11/7/2026)