June 14th and before

Larry and I were going to sleep in today but we didn't need much because we went to bed so early.  We got up at 7:25 a.m. and read scriptures for a while and had prayer and then we ate breakfast.  It was so good to be home where there was plenty of fruit to fill me up.  I never thought I would be frustrated with a Free Continental Breakfast but they only had apples and oranges for fruit and I have found that they are not something that appeals to me and I just could not fill up on what was offered even though it was all good because we have a different way of eating now and most of it was points I did not need.

We showered and dressed and then I worked on the blog and Larry was looking at some Bible Videos that went along with the stuff we read in the New Testament.  The power went out last night and so Larry had to reset it before we went to bed.  When he did he accidentally reset it to an hour behind the time.  I figured that out when I went out in the night and my phone had said one time and the stove had said an hour before.  So I reset the stove but forgot about the microwave.  Larry was going on the one on the microwave and all of a sudden I looked down and it was 1:13 p.m. and we had church at 1:30 p.m. and it is a 20 minute drive.  So we rushed and only missed part of the opening song.

You might notice that our time has changed.  They divided the two wards in the building with us and made a new ward and so we have a new time because we have 4 wards in the same building now.  So instead of meeting at 11:00 a.m. we now meet at 1:30 p.m.  It is kind of exciting that the church is growing so fast in San Antonio.

In Sacrament meeting Scriptures was the theme.  They had a youth speaker who talked about Elder Jose Teixieira's talk in General Conference entitled Seeking the Lord.

Then they had a Single Adult Stake leader name Sister Craner that talked on Matthew 5:48 and the meaning of Perfection in this scripture as being complete not without sin.

The last speaker was a High Councilor speaking on Ezra 7:10 "For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments."  The speaker Brother Shane asked why would Ezra prepare his heart? The Lord has ask us to prepare our hearts by reading the scriptures.  He also asks us to seek , why?  D&C 29:8   "Wherefore the decree hath gone forth from the Father that they shall be gathered in unto one place upon the face of this land, to prepare their hearts and be prepared in all things against the day when tribulation and desolation are sent forth upon the wicked."  Are we seeking to know what Heavenly Father would have us do?

He also mentioned the parable of the 10 virgins.  Five were wise and Five were foolish.  The five wise could not share with the foolish because the oil in their lamps was the preparations we have made for his coming.  President Kimball talked about this and his motto was Do It!  Do it now!

He also read from D&C 78 and that we prepare by doing the things he asks us to do.  Then he read from D&C 58 and said that we are sent to be obedient that you might bear the testimony of the things to come.

It was a good sacrament meeting.

Sunday School was about the Priesthood and why it is so important to the Church.  Larry got upset when I corrected him on something here but did not say anything until we were driving home.

Relief Society was a lesson on Ezra Taft Benson's teachings.  It was on the doctrine that the prophet that is alive is the most important prophet to follow for our day.  It has some good insights and I appreciated reading and contributing to it with thoughts.  I truly believe that this principle is true.

 I also learned in Relief Society that Nathan had ask the Relief Society to help him with food seems how he is not very good at cooking and Marcy has not arrived yet.

Nathan had got a gentleman who lives in his apartment complex to help him drive his van to church.  we had some things that we had at the apartment that we needed to give to him.  I had told Nathan after Sacrament that we would stop by.  Then Larry came in after Relief Society all excited because we had to catch Nathan and give him the stuff while he was still here.  So we did.  I was feeling a little frustrated because I wanted to go and see Nathan for a few minutes but I knew that Larry did not and he didn't give me time to explain.

 Then in the drive home Larry started talking to me about how I had embarrassed him by taping his shoulder in Sunday School to remind him not to go off on the tangent the Sunday School Class was going on.  Apparently he was planning to tie the comment he made back into the Priesthood.  Anyway, when he told me I had no right to comment on that I flipped out for a moment  and told him that he was wrong.  Then I remembered that we had learned earlier in the week when reading the Institute manual commentary on the New Testament that we are reading for Scripture that it mentioned that even when Christ was being spit on and mocked and accused unrighteously  that Satan was working on him trying to get him to strike back and do something unrighteous so that he would no longer qualify as our Savior.  I say all the time that I am trying to be like Jesus but when I get crossed I can get very angry and vindictive and scream and yell.  I did it a lot with Nathan when he would be rude because I thought that he was doing it on purpose. ( But the Spirit has told me in the last month that I was wrong.  That there are things that are connected to the stroke that are causing him to react that way so I have forgiven him.)   I realized that I was blowing up because Satan was working on me to destroy our marriage and I needed to really be like Jesus and Stop! I quit talking for the rest of the ride home and I went into the spare bedroom when we got home. I prayed for long time to help me forgive and move on.  It was not easy but I was finally able to get rid of my anger after about 2 hours and get to the point that we could discuss it without anger and apologize to each other.

Later in the evening I was talking to Marcy and we were both a little bummed and not feeling great and she informed me that her boss wanted her to work until July 31 before she comes down.  I was so upset that I could not write the blog and just went to bed after that because I know how much Nathan needs Marcy when the kids come and that he has the kids for part of his two weeks for the last week of July.

On Monday of this week we sent our grandson Kyle back to Utah early in the morning.  His plane left at 7:00 a.m. we were sad to see him go but glad we were able to spend some time with him and get to know him better.  I mentioned some of what we did in the last blog post.

Civil War and the war after that uniforms

Because we had taken time off to be with Kyle we spent most of our time at the office during the next three days trying to catch up. I had to get supply orders for 5 zones ready on Monday so they could be taken to the northern zones.  Because the Assistants are always using the computers on Mondays and the orders would not have been sent until Sunday night I had to print them out at home so that when I got in I could start filling orders.  One of the zones did not get the email because they did not get the message that it was okay to look at their email on Saturday so they had a mad dash to try to get the orders from their different districts.  But we got it in and filled all the orders before 5:00 p.m. without feeling overwhelmed.  I was also blessed recently to have my Sciatica subside and I was able to lift my own boxes this time.  I considered it a miracle of help from beyond because normally I am not able to accomplish so much without lots of help from others.

Uniforms from before WWI

All the horsemen running across in attack style while the helicopters are flying overhead

 Larry was also busy trying to find out if we could purchase a mission car that was being sent back for sale.  He was hoping to get it purchased before the weekend because we were planning to go to a Military reunion with John and Judy and as I had wrecked our car on the weekend it was no longer fixable.  He went to Wells Fargo to try to get a Home Equity loan but they wanted to completely refinance the house to do that and they would not put any of the income I have on the application because I was not there.  Then after 2 hours they said sorry you do not qualify by yourself.  Of course we do not by ourselves!!  We each bring in half of our income.  Finally on Monday night we called John and Judy and said we would not be able to go to the reunion because we did not have a car and we would have to use what money we had to get a new car. They were understanding but disappointed.  Larry was disappointed also so but we knew what we had to do so we canceled our reservation and we went to bed at peace.

The next morning we got a phone call from John and Judy asking us to reconsider going if they picked us up and paid our way to the reunion.  We were hesitant at first because we do not like to be a burden to others but they were so persistent that they talked us into it.  And we are glad that they did.  Larry enjoyed it enough that he asked me if I wanted to go to his Brigades reunion of the 173rd Airborne in Georgia in October.  I enjoyed it because I learned so much about John and his early life and what it is like to be in the military.

John, Judy, and Larry

So we hurried and called back and got our reservation back at the hotel and started planning to go on Thursday.  I was worried that my next supply order would not be sent until Thursday but then I found out when I went to the mission that they had submitted it on Tuesday so I was able to get it done without a lot of hassle.

Elder and Sister Williams had taken off Tuesday and Wednesday for carpet installation in their home. (They live in San Antonio area) and we really needed to be in the office because it was empty but Larry insisted that we go to USAA to see if we could get a car loan from them.  Granted he had me with him this time but they looked at our finances and approved the loan in less than twenty minutes and we had it all approved and signed in an hour and a half.  We were able to send the papers to the Church and hopefully we will get the title before Monday.

The Blackhawk Helicopter like Nathan flew

Thursday John and Judy came and picked us about 9:30 a.m.  We drove to Marble Falls, Texas and had lunch at a restaurant that they like there called the Blue Bonnett.  It is a old restaurant that has been there since the early 1900s. It kind of reminded me of the Blue Bird in Logan. They have such good food that people line up outside each day and wait to get in even for lunch. It does not have a very accommodating entrance that is why people line up.  We were lucky and got there before the lunch rush at 11:30 a.m. so we did not have to wait more than 5 minutes.  It was good food.  Much too good for someone on Weight Watchers.  They had good pie which is hard to find most places so Larry and I splurged.

John, Larry and Judy looking at the equipment

The typical wagon that traveled with the calvary

After that we drove to Killeen, Texas.  John and Judy were impressed that they had built a new highway into Killeen since they had been there in October.  We went to the Hotel where the Reunion was stationed and got our registration materials and looked through the reunion store.  It was a 1st Cavalry reunion.  They called it 1st Cav.  There were hundred of shirts and clothes and items that were labeled with the First Cav logo.  John has gone for several years because his father was in the 1st Cavalry which is in the Army.  But despite being a Navy man they let him in, lol.  I asked him why he went into the Navy when his dad was an Army man and he said that he knew everything about the Army and wanted to learn something new.

We then went to our hotel and after about an hour of complications we were able to check in, but luckily we were one of the first ones there and so we didn't have to wait in the line behind us.  We relaxed for a few minutes and then we went to get John and Judy.

Riding by two's

John eats sleeps and lives to tell others about and see military things.  When we left the hotel he took us to see where they were setting up the displays of machinery that the 1st Cav uses there at Fort Hood.  He wanted to get out and look around despite our trepidation because of yellow banners around everything, so we did.  I took some pictures of the vehicles there.  They had one of the helicopters that Nathan use to fly and so I was interested in that.  Some of the equipment is huge!!!!  John was having so much fun telling us about each piece and how it is labeled and what it is for.  I have often wondered what the Calvary did in this day and age of different fighting and I learned that they have transferred to different modes of transportation than the horse to accomplish their objectives.

Demonstration of fighting with swords

After looking at the machinery there we went on a tour of the Fort Hood.  John lived on the base at three different times in his life so it was fun for him to point out and for us to learn about what each part meant to him.  Part of where he used to live is scheduled to be torn down.  The elementary school that he went to there is still there but has been converted to house something else.  There are rows and rows of equipment to see for those units that are not deployed.  Each of the members of the cavalry has his own huge machine that he is responsible for.  It was an amazing site to see such a huge base.  I thought that the ones in San Antonio were big but this was huge.  And John seemed to know all about it and what it meant.  Often he would say that this has changed from when I lived here and I could imagine how much I like to show Larry how much Lehi has changed(my home town of my childhood) and realized that John had great love for this place.  It helped me to understand more about him and where he is coming from when he talks.  Family History is so important to help us understand each other.

We went back to the Hotel and then went to Logan's Road House to eat and John still had stories to tell us about the Base and his military life.  Judy chimed in and it was a fun evening of food and fun.  We laughed though because they only ordered cheesecake and we ordered an entree to share and it took them longer to eat the cheesecake than it did us to eat our entree and salads, of course it was a big piece of cheesecake!!

Larry beside the uniform he wore in Vietnam

On Saturday we went to the area where the machinery was set up for display.  John took Larry to talk to each of the persons that were in charge of their vehicle to find out more about it.  It was a humid hot day so Judy took me to the air conditioned 1st Cav museum.  It was an interesting museum.  It talked about the battles and wars that the 1st Cav has been in since the Civil War when it was first formed.  I did not understand that a unit could be that far reaching.  I had thought that they formed the unit when they needed something and then disbanded it when that purpose was fulfilled.  It was a fairly new museum because it went through even the 1st Cav's contributions to the ongoing conflicts of today.  I was really interested in the information on the Vietnam war.  Larry's Airborne unit worked with some of the 1st Cav when he was over there so they had many displays that he could tell me about and learn more about his experience there.  We went in and out of this museum throughout the day.  Many people were there that had fought with the 1st Cav in various operations.

At 11:00 a.m. we went to another part of the base and they had a reenactment of the rules of combat for the Calvary in the Civil War and the Early days of 1900 before the motorized vehicles took over.  It was interesting to know that people could spend part or all of their enlistment doing this reenactment nowdays and taking care of the horses and grounds.  I filmed the entire program and will try to upload it but it may be too much for the video capacity of the blog.  It was really fun to see.  I wondered how much of that my Grandfather Thacker had learned in basic training he attended in WW I before the war ended.

Display of a typical bunker situation in Vietnam

They had a nice food court that we went too for lunch.  We ended up getting Subway which is good for Weight Watchers because it is possible to get lots of fresh vegetables on your sandwich to fill you up.  Larry and I marveled that John and Judy shared a 6"sub.  We had always thought we were being economical on our calories getting one six inch for each of us.  They are both very disciplined when it comes to food.

Then we went back to the area for the machine displays.  John and Larry spent more time looking at the machines and learning what they do.  Judy and I headed for the museum.  One time John and Larry came in and that is when I was able to get Larry to talk about his experiences in Vietnam.  While we were looking they came in to see if someone with a silver car could move their car as they were trying to send the vehicles to the area for the evening program and it was blocking the way for them to be removed.  We thought it was John and Judy's car but when they got outside John was very relieved it was not because they had parked in a ridiculous place right by the vehicles on display.

Larry and I at the luncheon

We had a little time before the evening barbecue and so we sat in the parking lot in the car and watched them move the machinery.  John was like a little boy at Christmas he was so excited to see this.  He wanted to see the Helicopters take off but finally Larry convinced him we had to get to the Barbecue even though we got there plenty early.  But Larry is not one to dilly dally when he wants to move.

The Barbecue for the reunion was a typical Texas Barbecue but some things were served in a different form than I have seen.  They had the Brisket and Chicken and Shredded Pork.  The creamed corn was baked in a casserole.  They had the charro beans and potato salad and other salads.  I thought they had cheesecake for dessert but is was a lemon meringue in a graham cracker crust.  But all in all it was a great dinner and more than we could eat just taking a large spoonful of each thing.

Judy and John drinking their iced tea

Others at our table

Then we went to another area of the base to the 1st Cav Headquarters.  They have a bleachers set up permanently in front some with a cover and some without. It was raining but then it cleared up for the program.  John had on a replica 1st Cavalry Stetson and it had his rank of Chief in the Navy for its markings so when we got there the military ushers took us to the covered bleachers in a special area.  We also had seats with backs.  Here they did a program about the history of the 1st Cavalry that was amazing.  They had different solders in the past uniforms and with the equipment they used according to the battles and wars that the 1st Cav was in.  It was very informative for me and exciting to many of the retired members of the 1st Cavalry.  I got a few pictures and Larry got a few pictures but by the time we got there our phones were almost dead and we did not have a charger.  The end of the program they had all the different types of solders of the 1st Cave come on the stage together in attack mode and they had the helicopters fly over that they use today.  It was exciting to see.

After that we went back to the hotel and went to bed.  John and Larry were planning to take the car into Jiffy lube or somewhere in the morning early because the oil change light was on so we wanted to get a good sleep before morning.  Of course Judy got up with them but I slept in for a while and then went to breakfast about an hour before it ended.

When the guys got back we checked out and started our journey home.  We did not stop along the way but when we got to San Antonio we took John and Judy out for Mexican food before they went home.  We had fun sitting and eating and talking before they had to go home.

Our new car

Larry had brought home the car we were buying the Wednesday night before we left so we were able to show it to John and Judy before they left.  They both said that they liked it.  It is a 2014 Jeep Compass.  One of the reasons we got the loan so easy is that the car was valued at $20,000 and we got it for $13,900 so we got a good deal.  We hope it will last for many years ahead.  Larry was really wondering if he wanted to give me a key after I wrecked his cherished car but he finally relented.

We spent the evening relaxing after going grocery shopping to get some fruit because we were both craving our precious 0 point fruit.