Sept 7th and before

You would not know it is getting to be fall in Texas.  It is still in the 90's most everyday.  It rained two days this week and cooled down to the 80's so we are still right up there with summer.

It is always a crazy day when the kids are here and today was no exception.  Although I think the devil heard us talking last week about how Sunday's are so hard to get the kids up and then last Monday when we had the kids for Labor Day they got up so easily. So to prove to us that it was not him, today they were not so hard to get up for church and we had no major meltdowns in the morning.  Everyone got ready and got dressed before we needed to leave and there was no major problem.  It was wonderful.

As it was fast and testimony meeting today there were a variety of testimonies.  Nathan usually bears his testimony and today was no exception.  Another lady Melissa Hoffer bore her testimony as she just had a new baby and is really enjoying the new baby.  She said though that Nathan was an inspiration to her and that when she feels like she is having a hard day she thinks about what it must be like for Nathan and realizes that he has not given up and she thinks that if he can keep going that she could keep going.

I felt like I should bear my testimony about the hastening of the missionary work.  I don't know what it is like in other missions but I give out 30 boxes of English Book of Mormons each month to the missionaries and about 5-10 boxes of Spanish Book of Mormons.  Each box of English books has 40 in it and the Spanish have 36.  It is always amazing to me that the amount never goes down.  And the other supplies are equally as plentiful.  I gave out 4 boxes of Restoration pamphlets and more than that other months.  There are at least 5-20 referrals everyday and it is amazing to me that the work just keeps growing.  Just in the ward that we are in there have been about 5 referrals in the last two weeks.  To me this is amazing.  The mission is on fire and we are baptizing about 70 a month lately.  I know that is not as many as some of the South American countries but I think I had been fooled into thinking that there was not much activity in the United States because it is so hard to find a convert in Utah.

On Monday the 1st we had the kids all day because it was our weekend and it was a holiday.  We went grocery shopping at the new Walmart that just opened about a block from us and Nathan bought the kids a few more clothes there that the kids needed.  He bought David some black boots for Sunday shoes and Maggie a new Hello Kitty dress for church.  We also got her some black Sunday shoes.  We also watched a movie and then the kids had to be back at 6:00 p.m.

Tuesday and Wednesday were very hectic days at the office.  I had a lot of Referrals to get in and Baptisms to type in plus we were trying to contact the incoming missionaries that had not sent in their car and bike information so we could get it before they went into the MTC. Plus I had to take Larry to the shops sometimes so he could pick up the cars when they were repaired or given estimates.   Elder Presser had an accident that was a missionary's fault as they rear ended a car that was stopped at a yield sign.  He has had a lot of different car problems lately and some of them he is concerned about how they are driving.

Thursday the church picked up 10 cars that had been removed from our fleet and Elder Presser had to make sure they were all fixed for sale and detailed before they came and so he was very busy for the last two weeks taking cars here and there.  It was interesting to see how they loaded the cars onto the truck.  Larry commented that the driver sure knew what he was doing to get the load balanced on the truck.

I was so busy during the week that I didn't have time to get the orders for supplies filled for MLC like I usually do.  So I was working all day on filling orders and getting them boxed up for the Zone Leaders to take home with them after the conference on Friday.  I worked up until 5:30 p.m. but then we had to go and get the kids.  When I checked my active link and I had 7 activity points for Weight Watchers and so I decided I need to work more at filling orders.  I didn't have all of the orders boxed up for Friday but we had to get the kids so I left.

Nathan and Larry's pineapple plant.  See the baby pineapple on it.

We went to the Post Exchange for dinner with the kids because Nathan wanted to check there for some things.  It was my first experience with the PX that people are always talking about.  The one here is kind of like a mini mall.  The kids enjoyed the Pizza that we got but they were not so happy about the shopping.  It reminded me of when John would shop and I was supposed to keep the kids happy.  It was not one of my fondest memories and Maggie and Sammy thought this was a time to act crazy and grab anything they liked so I hope we don't so that again.  By the time we got out of there all the kids were not happy either because we bought nothing for them (except food) so it was not our favorite night.  They asked if the next week we could go to Bingo night which surprised me as they usually have acted like they do not like to be there.

Isaac planted carrots rather than flowers

Friday was hectic for me in the morning because I was trying to finish up the orders by boxing them up and I also had to include the mail and the Ensigns and Liahonas that the church had sent for the missionaries.  I had called the moving Elders and asked them to come in later as I didn't have them ready and they agreed to come at about 10:00 a.m.  I got most of it done but I ended up having them help me box the last three orders.  I was embarrassed that they had to help me but they are always so kind and so wanting to help that it makes me just love them.  After all the years of having students who make it their point to make fun of you it is so nice to work with people who are kind and helpful and always thankful for what you do.

David, Sammy and Maggie's plants.  David's is seeds planted

Friday Sara brought the kids at 6:00 p.m. all except David who wanted to go to the school Football game.  Earlier she had said that she wanted us to take David to the game but at the last minute he got a ride with his friends.  So Nathan and Larry had decided that they would just take David to the game and stay for the game and then bring David home.  Therefore they went out to the game early and watched it.  Grandpa said that David's friend was a girl and that he sat with her for a while and then he came and sat with them.  The Randolph RoHawks must be pretty good as they won by about 53-0 but it was such a boring game that David wanted to leave at the half.

David's flower is coming up already from seed

While they were at the game I hung out with Maggie, Sammy, and Isaac.  They wanted to play on their electronics but when they started fighting I suggested that we go to the pool and they liked that idea.  It was almost dark but the pool is open until 10:00 p.m. so it was fun to see the pool all lit up and there was only one other family there so the kids had fun with them.  We stayed until about 9:00 p.m. and then they went home and took a bath and wanted hot chocolate because they got cold swimming even though it was not cold.

Friday night my brother Keith contacted me about setting up a link through a program he has that allows you to connect with 25 other people.  He wanted to have us all call in for Mom's birthday party that they were going to have on Saturday.  I worked on that while the kids were on their electronic games and we got it all set up to work.  I sent the link to all my kids but I don't know if they got it.

Maggie, Isaac, and Sammy's birdhouses

Saturday Nathan wanted to take the kids to the home depot to attend one of their craft classes.  They were making bird houses.  David didn't want to do it so he helped Isaac who loves this kind of thing.  Sammy said he didn't want to do it but when he found out that he couldn't have any of the treats they had for completing a house he changed his mind.  Larry helped Maggie do hers and I helped Sammy.  They neither one could hammer the nails that needed to be used to put the houses together.  Larry helped Maggie put the stickers on hers that were from the Wizard of Oz but Isaac and Sammy wanted to paint theirs.  It wasn't as messy as last time but it was still messy and Maggie and I got paint on our shirts.

After making the houses Nathan wanted to get some pots for Isaac to plant things in but then everyone wanted to get a pot and a plant so we ended up getting some for each of the kids and a pineapple plant for Nathan and Larry.  We came home and planted them and the kids really enjoyed them.  David actually texted pictures of the flowers that he like best to his girl friend to see what she liked before he bought his.  The only problem is that now we do not have the kids for two weeks and we have plants that need to be taken care of.

This is the plant that David picked out with his girlfriend

At 1:30 p.m. we were able to link with the others that were calling in and sing Happy Birthday to Mom.  It was fun for the kids to see the others and I enjoyed seeing the family in Utah.  Mom waved to us but it was hard to talk to her.  I was really appreciative that Keith had gone to the trouble to offer the link for us to be there for a few minutes.  I was disappointed that more people did not take advantage of the opportunity.

Saturday evening Nathan was invited to a dinner at the Studevants, the military relations missionaries for the church here that have done so much for him.  We decided it would be easier for him to not have to take the kids and so we spent the evening hanging out with them.  We watched a movie and had dinner and the kids played on their electronics if they wanted to and it was a fun night.  Maggie fell asleep about 7:00 p.m. so it was really quiet until she woke up about 8:30 p.m.  But she still went to bed good so she must have been tired.  She was really missing her mom this weekend.

Ashton with his family at his favorite Birthday place, Bubba Gump

I talked about Sunday at the beginning.  It was a good weekend and we had a good time with the kids.  Nathan is trying to get them to do something else besides electronics on Sunday's to keep the Sabbath day holy and even Sammy did pretty good as long as he had legos, but when we went to take them back he had a meltdown because he was sure that Nathan's charging cord was his.  We looked all over for his cord but could not find it and when we got to Sara's she said that he lost his a long time ago.

Sunday evening about 7:30 p.m. we were able to Skype with Jake and Nikki and their family for Ashton's birthday.  It was fun to talk with each one of them and find out more about what is going on in their lives.  Jake is doing a good job of providing for them and they had just finished up grilling something.  Apparently Jake likes to do that.  Ashton said that he got a lot of legos for gifts and amazingly he already had them put together so he could show them to us.  Myles could say Grandma and Grandpa so that was fun.  Nikki does a great job of keeping the family going and together.  Abby read us 2 stories from her reading books and she is doing a good job.  Lexie came in at the last minute because she was at a Seminary event.  I can't believe that she is old enough for Seminary.