The Hole in My Heart

Yesterday (29 July) at 7:13pm the last of our visitors left on a plane for home. At 7:14p I was left with a great big hole in my heart.
Starting way back at Easter, Sara and Matt brought the family and spent almost a week with us. We had a great time going to a baseball game, eating at Pappadeaux's, going miniature golfing and playing Wii. Last month on the 26th of June we began hosting two groups of grandsons. Alex Zollinger, Andrew Mortensen and Luke Moroz were the first group to come to Texas. We had a great time swimming, going to a baseball game, going to a movie, playing Legos, playing Wii, eating at Pappadeaux's (seafood), eating at Cousin's BBQ, eating at Nina's (mexican), eating at Appleby's, eating at Trail Dust (steak) and hanging out with Grandpa Mike at the Army. What made it so exciting for them is getting to fly by themselves to get here.
After a two week visit, the boys and I flew back to SLC and I spent a week there with the family. Well, actually, I stayed part of that time in a hotel which the grandkids love because they can go swimming. We also had a two hour family reunion at Famous Dave's BBQ. We were only missing Michael with Taylor, Jamie and Matt (who had to be at a school conference). It was lots of fun and more importantly it was easy! I just ordered six of those garbage can lids filled with different kinds of bbq, beans and coleslaw. Grandma "Hair" (Zollinger) joined us and we had a great time basking in the noise of the grandkids/great-grandkids.
On the 15th of July I came back to Texas joined by Trevor and Kyle Zollinger. They had a great time playing Wii and Legos. We ate at Pappadeux's, Nina's, Johnny Carino's, Cousin's, Cheddar's (bbq) and IHOP's. We went to a baseball game, an aquarium and played miniature golf. Do you see the pattern of entertainment? Eat and play, play and eat, then eat and play some more!
It's been a really great summer. Now, I realize that it's been five weeks since Mike and I were on our own...and we're really BORING!
Thank you to the parents who were willing to part with their children and entrusting them to us. Thanks to the boys who kept us on our toes and helped us have a really great summer. We miss the noise and look forward to being home with all of you. Actually that may be sooner than we thought...but that's another story. We will enjoy the time we have left here in Texas. After that, onward to a mission!
Much love,
Miss Vicki (the name comes from my good friend SSG Joe Stephens who hails from the great state of Arkansas)

Fifth Day in Texas-Kyle

So the first thing we did yesterday was wake up eat and then go to church. Church was fun the lesson was cool too. After church we went to my grandpa's work and stayed for a couple hours. So then soon as we got home to the apartments we took a nap and watched t.v., oh and I beat Ratatouille. So then we played three games go, phase 10, and Zarahemla. As you guys all know I lost every single game so that just proves I suck at bored games. And that is what I did that day.

The End

Fifth day in Texas-Trevor

Sunday, was a game night day. We played three games: Go, Phase Ten, and Settlers of Zarahemla. You could tell my grandparents and my brother were scared. They know I'm the bomb, or King of the Board Games. I guess it turn out how I wanted it though, seeing that I was one of the ones losing, but hey that's life.

While we played games we had ice-cream. Chocolate, thrice chocolate, and cookies and cream. Delicious! My brother and I also played some video games on the Wii, that was fun too. Just another day in Texas, guess the heat must have something to do with it. Well, got to go and act like a Texan. Yee-ha!

Fourth day in Texas-Trevor

OK, so this is my fourth day in Texas, but before I can get to that I have to say yesterday was an awkward day, I wake up and I get ready as usual, but this time my Grandpa tells us raccoon! I think he's kidding. It turns out he wasn't I saw a raccoon outside the apartment just hanging there on the door. Now, that was a surprise. So, back to the fourth day in Texas it's morning now and were just waking up.

There you have it, our fourth day in Texas! Just kidding. I'll just go back to the third day in Texas, we ate out at some seafood restaurant. The food was great, seeing that I had the fried shrimp, my brother getting the boiled, my Grandpa getting halibut with potatoes, and lastly my Grandma getting chicken and mashed potatoes, a lot of mashed potatoes. I have no idea what we're going to do today. I guess all I can do is wait! Well, blog ya'll later.

Second day in Texas-Kyle

The first thing I did on the second day is read, and then I played Wii. Then a couple hours later we went to the army training center to go see my grandpa working, after that we went to go eat at a sea food restaurant. After dinner we went to the apartments and went swimming. And then we went to watch t.v. Then went to bed.

The End

First time in Texas-Trevor

Well, this is my first time is Texas. As soon as we got here it was like BOOM! The heat hit me like a speeding bullet, I was guessing it was over 100 degrees. As soon as we actually set foot on Texas ground this strange feeling came over me, I looked in the distance and what's this? No mountains! Yes, it was strange, but at the same time it was cool. This just tells you how flat Texas really is.

Not only do they have nice flat area, but I hear they have great barbecue, only we didn't have barbecue, we had Italian food which was still good. I had pizza with an almost vegetarian style. I had five toppings to choose from I chose four vegetables and one meat, Italian sausage. Then after we had fun in the afternoon we went into the evening, time to hit the stores! We had ice-cream, and wow as soon as we stepped outside the ice-cream started to melt like a snail moving, I guess even in the shade it's still hot. After the ice-cream we went to another store Wal-Mart.

The parking lot there was filled and when you go inside the amount of people in there is, I guess the proper term is a lot. After Wal-Mart we went home to the apartments and watched some good old television. Soon after that I got a little tired and decided it's time for bed, so with that I took a shower, brushed my teeth, and went to bed. First time in Texas not so bad, I guess I'll see how it passes the Trevor test.

First day in Texas- Kyle

So we are in Texas and we took a plane to get here. So the first thing we did is eat at a restaurant and I ate lasagna. And then we went to the apartments, so while we were there we played Wii and we had lots of fun, and then I played with bead stuff and made a L.A. Dodgers sign. So after we played Wii we went to Cold Stone and I got bubblegum flavor with gummy bears and sprinkles in it. After that we went to Walmart to buy stuff. And we went to Kroger to buy milk. So then we went home and watched T.V until we went to bed. And thats what we did that day.

The End

Life in Texas

For the next couple of weeks Trevor and Kyle will be using this blog to write of their activities while here in GPTx. So...enjoy!

Construction Traffic

I'm visiting home (SLC) and when I'm here I stay at the Baymont Hotel over by the E-Center in WVC. It seems that everytime I'm here, the city is doing major road work. Usually I bypass the traffic by driving around the construction mess. Yesterday I made the mistake of driving through it!
I didn't really stress over three lanes of traffic merging into one. I had nothing but time so I just went with the flow, the very slow flow. But an interesting thought popped into my head and here's what I found myself thinking. There was a gospel principle at work in this construction zone and I wanted to figure out what it was...and I did!
There are basically two types of drivers in this situation; those who are extremely territorial about their place in line and those who are gracious. The first group is pretty focused on getting where they want to go and they do this by subtley ignoring (and sometimes not so subtley)those who want to get into the line and quickly close any gap between their car and the car in front. The second group (sometimes to the chagrin of the car behind) will let a car after car come into the line. Where is the gospel principle? Well here it is.
Our life as a Latter Day Saint is kind of like the road in construction. It's the road that will get us where we want to go. It's the "forever family" road and we get so focused on the journey that sometimes in our rush (gotta get to ?, gotta go to ? you fill in the blanks) we ignor, subtley and sometimes not so subtley, those who are looking to get on the road with us. For example; how many times do we turn our head to avoid making eye contact with someone of different status (you know what I'm talking about; beggars, tattooed/pierced wonders, those who "just don't look the type") essentially closing the gap between the cars, so to speak, so they can't get on the road. While there are those who would stop to give a coat to a homeless man and say, "Here, get in front of me, I'll let you in".
Yesterday, I let as many cars as I could get on the road. Tomorrow, I will pay more attention to others who want to travel the same direction as me.
It was just a thought while driving...