October 12 and before

Larry and I are on our way back from Kerrville.  We have had a good time with John and Judy Trolinger, Larry’s sister and her husband.  We came on Friday night and went to a restaurant named Billy Gene’s that we like here.  They have turtle cheesecake that is to die for. 

 Saturday I went to a Kerrville Genealogical Society Conference for Family History with Judy.  It was a workshop on how to use technology in doing family history given by Caroline Pointer who has the blog 4YourFamilyStory.com.  It was a good conference but I think I took too many of some pill accidentally or I had a harder time sleeping the night before than I thought because I had a hard time staying awake for most of the morning.  Larry and John went to The National Museum of the Pacific War that they have in Fredericksburg which is about 22 miles from Kerrville.  Larry and John said that there is enough there to spend 2 full days there.  It was built there because Admiral Nimitz one of the great leaders of World War II grew up in Fredericksburg.  It sounds like a place that I would like to go to with Larry.

Friday night it rained half the night and about half the day on Saturday.  It brought a cold front with it and the temperatures plummeted from the 80’s and 90’s to the 50’s and 60’s.  Part of a presentation that John and Larry went to was outside and they said they got really cold.  For Larry to complain about the cold it had to be cold.

Judy and I finished up about 3:00 p.m. and we went home.  The guys were not back yet so I was still tired so I went to sleep.  I ended up sleeping for about 2 hours.  About that time the guys came back and we went out to eat at a Chinese, Vietnamese restaurant that they have here in Kerrville.  It was really good food and it gave us a chance to talk.  After coming home from there we talked some more until about 11:30 p.m. and decided we needed to get to bed.

This morning John and Judy went to the Kerrville Ward with us.  They were having Fast Sunday because of Conference and so it was Fast and Testimony meeting.  The Bishop there is very personable and when he saw me he said, “Hello Sister Presser” like he knew me, from clear across the foyer.  There were some good testimonies of the truth of the church from many members.  Several people mentioned the movie “Meet the Mormons” and advised those who had not seen it to take a non-member friend to go and see it.  I agree!

We had lunch with John and Judy and then Judy told us about some new Genealogical finds that she has discovered on Larry and her Bates line.  We talked for about three hours again and now we are on the road.  It is always good to see them.  Because Nathan had gone to Utah this time we were able to stay for the whole weekend.

It has been a crazy week this week.  On Monday we helped Nathan to prepare to go to Utah after several weeks of up and down discussion about whether it was safe.  Ultimately he proved to us that he could do it he thought riding a bus because you can request a handicapped bus for him to get on and off of.  He also got a hotel room in Vernal, Utah where he went that was handicap accessible and after that I felt much better about him going, although he told me he was going whether I liked it or not.  He went out to get on Via Trans about 11:00 a.m. and we waved to him as we went to the mission office.  He kept us updated from time to time but eventually he got on the Greyhound bus at about 1:00 p.m.  When we went to bed he was around Big Spring, Texas

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Larry had to pick up several new cars and trucks from Benson Chevrolet and Ancira Nissan this past week and had to get those distributed this week.  He had one car and 4 trucks.  He picked up the trucks on Monday after we got there.

Tuesday we thought we were going to go to Oak Hills Zone Conference to deliver two of the trucks but the moving elders talked Elder Presser into letting them deliver them and we stayed home and worked on office work that was waiting. Larry was a little frustrated though because they waited until about 2:00 p.m to go there and he was thinking they were leaving about 11:00 a.m. so they were late.  

We worked all day in the office and then went home and had dinner at home and watched bones.  We had prayer and scripture and Larry went to bed.  I stayed up a little longer to coordinate picking up David and Isaac for scouts and with Brother Smith, a new convert that I am helping with Family History in Woodlake ward.

So I started to say my personal prayers and all of a sudden the phone rang. When I answered the phone the person calling was Marcy Zufelt Vogler’s brother Antony.  He was calling to ask me if I knew that Nathan and Marcy were planning on getting married on Thursday of that week.  We knew that Nathan was going to see Marcy, an old high school sweetheart that was also divorced, but he hadn’t mentioned marriage to us.  Marcy’s brother was against them getting married.  He was hoping that I could talk some sense into Nathan, Ha Ha!  Anyway I just about had a heart attack when he told me that.  He had found me through the Studevants and other people that the guys at his work dug up.  I could not believe what I was hearing and was in shock.   I texted Nathan and asked him about it but he was not answering because he was probably asleep. 

Marcy and Nathan right after their wedding

Tuesday  I received a text from Nathan confirming what Anthony had told me and telling me that he did not want me to tell anyone.  I told him that I had already told the Studevants, Annette, Kirsten and Larry.  He told me he didn’t want anyone else to know.  I told him I thought it was a crazy thing that he was doing but essentially he said he didn’t care but not to tell anyone what he was doing.  Because I still felt peacefully about it when I prayed about it and because he is 40 I decided to not fight it.

We went to the mission to get ready to take a truck to Del Rio, Texas by the border.  As we drove down to the border I kept getting texts from him and then I got a text from Marcy apologizing for not telling Larry and I and saying that they were not going to change their life style for a while so they thought that it would be better to not tell anyone.  She was very nice and said that she loved Nathan very much and was excited to see him.  I thought when she saw him that she might change her mind.

Marcy and Nathan kissing after the wedding

We went to the zone conference and got there just before lunch.  We had lunch with the missionaries and were able to spend some time with a missionary couple, the Pages, that are going home in two weeks and talk with them.  They had a lovely Mexican dinner of Beans and Rice and Beef fajita meat and tortilla and mashed potatoes.  They had the traditional three milk cake and some cheesecake so it was not weight watchers friendly but it sure tasted good and it was the right price.

Sammy on the swing

Nathan and Marcy texted that he arrived in Vernal about 11:30 a.m. Utah time.  They both seemed excited to see each other.  Later when I texted Marcy about how she felt about his handicaps she said that she had pictured him much worse and was pleasantly surprized by what he could do.

Sammy crossing the monkey bars, He actually made it all the way

We worked on some paperwork together as we rode back from Del Rio and arrived in San Antonio just in time to go to Converse and pick up the David and Isaac for Scouts.  They went to each of their activities and Larry and I went to the Family History Center.  It was so fun to be helping someone with Family History again.  I helped Brother Smith and his wife find a birth certificate for his grandmother and a possible person on the census of 1910 that could be his grandma on the other side.  I was on cloud nine.  David was excited because he took a pinewood derby car and slapped the wheels on it because he forgot his and won 3^rd place in the pinewood derby that the Young Men had.  Isaac made a trial mix and was excited to show that to his mom.  I don’t know if Larry was excited about anything but I was glad for his support.

Isaac going down the slide backwards

Isaac working on the Monkey bars

Thursday I had a Dr. appointment in the morning at 11:00 p.m.  I arrived early and filled out my paperwork and then waited for an hour and a half.  I was wondering for a while if I had missed my call because my sister Kathy called and I talked to her for a while but they assured me that I had not missed the call and I was still in line.  Several people told me that the Dr. was worth it but it was frustrating because I had so much to do at the mission.  I finally got in after 1:30 p.m.  The Dr. is very nice and I enjoyed talking and dealing with her but I still was frustrated that I got back to the office at 3:00 p.m.

David attempting the Monkey Bars

I worked for an hour and then we went to get the kids to take them to do something.  The traffic is always bad in San Antonio in the 4-6 p.m. range and so we have to leave early to get there for 6:00 p.m. when normally it would be a half hour trip.  We bought a pizza and some drinks and took the kids to the Converse City park.  Maggie had a parent open house for part of the night and Sara came to get her about 7:30 p.m. and then we took the boys home about 8:30 p.m.

Sammy on the slide

Friday Nathan texted me that he had not got married yet because of some problems and that they were hoping to get married that day.

We went to the mission office and worked for most of the day.  I worked on an order for the distribution center and thought it would take about an hour or two to complete and I finally finished it up at 3:30 p.m.  I was going to try to do some baptisms but then Marcy texted some pictures of Nathan and her together kissing and the caption was “We did it”  At first I was a little heart sick so we decided to leave the mission office and go to John and Judy’s so we would get there on time.  Texting on the way over I learned that Kirsten and Marcy’s mom were the witnesses and there for the wedding.  Nathan said that he wanted to tell his brother’s and sisters and Grandma.  Friday night after we went out to eat with John and Judy I could not sleep because I was so frustrated so I texted Nathan and told him that I could not wait to much longer and that if he wanted to be the one to tell his other brothers and sisters that he had to do it quickly.  I also ask them a bunch of questions about whether they were serious about this or if it was just a fling or something to get back at their exes.  Marcy wrote me a text saying that they were very much in love and had just decided not to tell people until they could live together.  Nathan will come back here for the time like his original plan and they will work on how to get together after school is out this year.

Bishop Alonzo helping Isaac with his tool box

The week before we had the opportunity to take the kids to scouts on Wednesday and I was able to help Brother Smith with some Family History.  Isaac made a tool box in his Cub Scouts and David was helping to plan activities.  Nathan had Pack Committee meeting that night and so he went with me also.  Brother Smith was a little late and so we had basically just started when Nathan and the kids were finished so we did not get much done that night but I gave him a My Family book and asked him to fill it out.

Isaac finishing up his tool box

Thursday night we went to Wounded Warriors Bingo night.  David won again and got a $50.00 gift card to Toys r Us.  Because he won the first game and the family cannot win after one win we went out to the playground and other things there on the grounds for a while.

Isaac climbing the ropes

Maggie on the stepper

The weekend of General Conference Sara had tickets to go to something in Austin.  She asked if she could bring the kids at 12:30 p.m. on Friday rather than 6:00 p.m.  Because Nathan had 4 appointments at the VA that day and because I had Mission Leaders Conference with Zone Leaders coming to pick up orders I told her they would have to come to the Mission Office.  She brought them with new games that she had bought and treats and they were basically bored in one hour.  Sister Williams had them color some of the Small boxes that were left from the supply orders coming in and that lasted another hour.  Luckily we also had some electronic devices that they could play.  It all went pretty well but Sammy still found time to take the fender off a bike and take a part off a Bike Rack that was there.

David climbing the ropes

Saturday and Sunday were General Conference.  We had the kids for all of it.  Nathan had had them pick out a recipe to make for the weekend and we decided that it would be best if they each made theirs seperately with me.  Isaac chose peppermint bark so we made his first on Friday night.  It worked out fairly well and tasted good but it was a lot fatter than the ususal Bark.

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Maggie had chosen some cookies called snow balls that were made with almond meal and coconut and egg whiles.  We had to buy more ingredients for that on Saturday morning.  They tasted good but they were probably the hardest to make and Maggie had a hard time staying with it until they were complete.  When they were done the kids did not want to eat them because of the coconut so they must have Grandpa John's tastebuds.  I was disappointed with this one.

Isaac watching conference

David wasn't very excited about cooking with me but I tried to help him like I would have one of my students that were in 7th grade and teach him some cooking skills and help him to be successful.  He had chosen to make cinnamon rolls in a baking cup.  They were basically croissant rolls with the cinnamon and sugar on them.  He didn't want to do it at first but as he realized that this was not that hard and that he could also make croissants with the rolls we bought he got more excited.  We got them made in time to eat those with milk for the first session of conference on Sunday and they were a big hit.  I thought it was a good experience for David.

Sammy doing his favorite thing-playing on the Ipad

Sammy had chosen a mini beef wellington in the cup.  I realized after the coconut experience that he was not going to like having the blue cheese and spinach it called for with the sandwiches so we just put the steak in the cups and I had to make some pastry to put on top because Larry did not realize that he needed to buy puff pastry.  But when I looked up the recipe on line it was basically the same as my pie crust recipe but with butter rather than shortening or lard.  These were a hit also because they were basically steak with a piece of pastry on top and everyone likes steak.  Larry had bought some HEB steak that was already cooked and just needed to be warmed so it worked great.  Sammy got really excited about it which surprised me because he usually hates things like this.

David watching conference

June in the kitchen

So basically while we watched conference except for the Sunday sessions I was cooking all weekend but it was a fun activity for some of the kids.  However it was not a good activity to maintain my self control when eating.  I ended up making pie crust cookies out of the left over pastry and I think I ate most of them.

Conference was wonderful!!! There were so many good talks.  I especially liked Elder Scotts and Elder Bednars but they were all good.  I was so excited to be able to read them and study them immediately.  We played Elder Bednars for John and Judy while we were there this weekend.

Sammy trying to look like a sunshine baby in tellatubbies

Nathan asleep with Marcy's baby Drayk

We had the kids overnight for Sunday on that weekend too and then Sara came and picked them up at 6:45 a.m. in the morning for school.  So we had to get up very early on the Monday that Nathan left.  But we have enjoyed having some time to ourselves while Nathan is off getting into trouble.