November 30th and before

The driveway to John and Judy's, Pleasure Hill Drive

We are on our way home from a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend with John and Judy Trolinger.  We definitely had a weekend of R&R.

This morning we went to church at the Kerrville Ward with John and Judy.  They had some good speakers.  The Youth Speaker talked about the importance of Family Home Evening.  She gave examples from and article in the Ensign that showed how different families have implemented FHE to fit their needs and pointed out that most of the families were families with special circumstances. 

Friday was a beautiful day on Pleasure Hill Road

The Guadalupe River near John and Judy's

The first speaker was a woman that was originally lived in Texas growing up and then followed her husband to Australia where they had 10 children and then after all that he left her for someone else.  She has come to Texas to help her sick Mother with her three youngest children.  She talked about an article that I cannot remember but she bore a strong testimony of how the atonement of Christ had helped her to overcome her broken heart and move on in life. 

Larry at the Guadalupe River

 The last speaker was an older man who had been a Sergeant Major in the Army.  He worked in a hospital and he told of experiences working with people in the army.  He reminded me of John when he is telling us about his military experiences.  His talk was based on a talk by the President of the Romania mission, Craig Hansen that was given in 2003. I was hoping to find it to link here but I am not finding it with google or the search on lds.org.

We went to lunch after church and after we were talking for a while and Larry was quite tired and he finally announced that he was going to go lay down for a while.  That kind of broke up the discussion for a while and after looking at the “He is the gift” website at Christmas.mormon.org I decided to go and join him.  We slept until about 5:00 p.m. and then we decided to get up and get going.  I was worrying about driving in the dark but Larry says that did not bother him.  So we are driving home in the dark after wishing John and Judy goodbye and packing the car.

Nathan in Las Vegas on the strip

Marcy's family at her sister's vow renewal being funny

Nathan and Marcy with her sister and her husband

Nathan just called and it was good to talk to him.  He was excited about seeing 5 of his brothers and sisters this weekend in Utah and having a party with them on Friday night.  Most of them he has not seen since the stroke.  He also got to go to see his cousins Marcus Hadlock and Carin Fausett .  They also went to see Grandma Jenkins in Lehi.   Most of the time he is riding in a car there and has to get out and walk into the houses so it is good therapy for him.  He called to say that he was going to go to Utah for Christmas also.  They spent Thanksgiving with Marcy’s family and also went to Las Vegas on Monday for her sisters vow renewal.  He looks so good in the pictures that they have sent I think this trip has been good for him.  I am thrilled with this new circumstance.

This week was a short week at the Mission Office.  Larry had a number of accidents over the weekend that he had to work on and I had plenty of my work to catch up on.  We went to Weight Watchers to weigh in before we went there because the Assistants are always using the computers.  It was a good week for Larry but not for me.  I gained back the two pounds that I lost last week.  Larry lost 4 pounds. After that we went to the office and were there until about 6:00 p.m.

There was a fairly violent storm on Saturday night the weekend before and on Sunday our TV had quit working.  We called AT&T and after resetting several things the TV was working again.  So we relaxed together and watched TV for Family Home Evening.  Not the best idea but it was relaxing and fun to do together

Unique soda machine at Torchy's Tacos

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Tuesday we to another zone training at the Oak Hills zone meeting at the chapel at Convict Hill.  We did not take time to sight see but we did go to a Torchy's Tacos.  They had the most creative tacos I have ever seen.  And they even had their own brand of soft drinks.  It was a really fun experience.

Allison and Mike caught unawares

Wednesday we went early to pickup the pies that the young women in Woodlake ward were selling for a fundraiser.  It was a huge relief not to have to make pies this year and I had tasted a sample and they were good.  Then we went to the office to finish up what we could before we left for the day.  We had thought about getting away at about 2:00 p.m. but we were a little later than that.  Fortunately I was able to get all the referrals in for the day.  We went home and packed and finally were able to leave.

John, Judy in background, Kyler and Allison

Of course there was a traffic jam on I-10 so Larry went off on some of the frontage road.  All of the freeways in Texas have frontage roads on either side that follow along and provide turn a rounds.  We have come to really like that feature most of the time. We learned in the process that the famous barbecue place around here, Rudy’s, started in Leon Springs.

Larry and I at the Guadalupe River Club on the shore of the Guadalupe River

We got to John and Judy’s about 6:00 p.m.  We talked for a while and then we went to dinner at a local restaurant that we like called Billy Gene’s.  We stayed up talking for a while and then we went to bed.

Thursday we slept in.  It felt so good. John and Judy said that this could be our R & R  place for the weekend and we took them up on it.  I am finishing this up almost two weeks later so I cannot remember what we did in the morning and early afternoon but we did work on the dinner some, Judy had all the traditional Thanksgiving food and I had brought the pies.  It was a very good dinner and of course I ate too much pie.  I was really impressed with the pies that the young women had made.  And I do not impress easily when it comes to pie.  We had also ordered two quiches and had those for breakfast.

The view of the river from the deck

John and Judy(caught Judy with her mouth full!)

Michelle, Erick, Kirsten, Maren and Nathan

Judy had invited all their family to come but David and Jane did not show up and texted that they would not be coming at the last minute so that put a small damper on things at first but Mike came with his kids and that was fun to see them again.  We had a great talk with them.  It was interesting that Mike’s daughter Allison who is 17 did not remember that we have been there for other times in her life.  She only remembered that she had met us in the summer when we met them for lunch.  It was fun talking to her.  She is a very articulate teen and carries on a good conversation with adults.  She has joined the Navy and is attending classes right now to get her ready for when she graduates.  As John spent his major portion of his career in the Navy that is good but he is really concerned for the job she has chosen because she is so small and she could get hurt easily.  Mike’s son Kyler is 12 and was quieter but he did not spend all his time trying to avoid us either.  As always it is fun to talk to Mike as he is a police officer for the San Antonio police department.  But he isn’t just any officer.  He flies helicopter patrol for them most of the time.

Michelle and Dan, Heather and Erick, Kirsten, Maren and Landon, Nathan and Marcy

Friday and Saturday we spent with John and Judy going to restaurants that they recommended and riding around Kerrville.  They showed us the VA hospital and we drove out to find a road that we have been trying to find a referral on.  We spent a lot of time talking and learning from each other.

In Utah 5 of our 8 children got together at Heather's dads house on Friday night after Thanksgiving and had a party.  They sent pictures of all of them and it was so good to see so many of our children together again.  I think they had a good time from the looks on their faces.  We also had a lot of grandchildren there.  Everyone seemed to like Marcy very much.

Our Grandchildren at the Party

Well hope this finds you all well.  It seems like we have covered the week.