Kari Rochelle Zollinger

OK! After many "nagging" phonecalls about not having seen any pictures yet, here is the first of our latest granddaughter. Born 7 wks early at a whopping 3 lbs 13 oz and measuring a lengthy 17 in. Ta..da..let me introduce you to Kari Rochelle Zollinger, daughter of Scott and Lisa Zollinger. She joined her siblings Alex and Cassie on the 12 February 2009. And tiny she is! She's been in the NICU at St. Mark's hospital for the last two weeks. Her weight gain was steady enough that she was released today at 4 lbs 7 oz. She did so well after she was born that she never needed oxygen. She was jaundiced for a bit but a day or so under the lights seemed to take care of that. I was able to fly in from Dallas to spend some time up at the hospital and visit the family for a couple of weeks but honestly, I miss Mike and can't wait to get back to him. Sorry kids!

As for the Army, we're really lovin' Texas. The people are really friendly; well why shouldn't they be? A great number of them (in our ward) are from Utah! When be make the move from the hotel to the apartment we'll actually be in a completely different stake. I'm a little sad about that but I've never been in a ward that wasn't my favorite. After weeks of waiting for Mike's MOB orders, we finally got them yesterday. We'll make the move to the Arioso apartments in Grand Prairie on 6 Mar. So now it's safe to say, "Y'all, come on down for a visit".

Much love, Vicki

P.S. Don't assume that the "nagging" means you...I've had many calls :)

Unbelieveable!

If I hadn't seen it (and experienced it) I wouldn't have believed it. The entire region has shut down. Schools, government buildings, etc. If you've been following the weather news, our part of the country has been experiencing ice storms. It was a little freaky yesterday to listen to newsmen talk and the people in the office (Army) working furiously to get out of there before the storm hit. Now, I think I've lived through some of the worst snow storms but this was different. What happens is, the day starts out pretty OK but then the temperatures take a dive. The rain falls and turns to ice before it hits the ground. The effect is really quite beautiful. Trees become coated with a beautiful white crust. However, what is beautiful on a tree is not so beautiful on the roads. All the water on the roads turns to ICE RINK! I'm not joking. The temperature this morning was 11* and everything is coated in a thick blanket of ice. It took Mike almost 4o minutes to chisel his way into the car. That was at 6:30a. It's now a toasty 20*. So...to those of you who I've made feel bad about the warm, I am now feeling your revenge.
The good news...later on this week, IT'S GONNA WARM UP AGAIN!
Much love, VZ

For the Kids con't

This is the stadium where the Rangers play. Below is a picture of the Superman ride at Six Flags. Next to that is the new stadium that will be home to the Cowboys. Eat your heart out Rachel!

For the Kids

Owen and Miles have been sending me e-mails (a hint to the rest of you, it gets my attention!) In the last post Owen expressed, "I can't wait to fear my most hardest fear, going on fast things and going high". He'll get that wish when the Nagel's come to visit in April. So, yesterday I went across the street and took a few pictures of the "high, fast things he'll get to experience in April.

Just a little about the location. Arlington is 20 minutes outside of Dallas and the same distance to Ft Worth. It seems to be the place to go when you want to build a stadium as it's the home of the Rangers and the new home of the Cowboys. Those two stadiums sit pretty much in the same parking lot AND those two places are next to Six Flags which is next to Hurricane Harbor WHICH is right across the street from the Marriott Hotel where we live. So, for Owen, Miles and the rest of you...here are the pictures.

Where's Costco?

On many occasions since our travels began last summer, I've always been on the lookout for stores that sold the things I buy in bulk, i.e, sliced almonds, wheat, cheese etc. Well cheese wasn't an issue but the grains and spices were.
I haven't found a Costco here (there is a Sam's but I don't have a membership) and I haven't had any luck finding a place like Kitchen Kneads in SLC. So, I've been stuck spending a lot more for the things I use often. Let me digress a moment. I actually have the things I use a lot AT HOME! I had just bought vanilla and some spices. I have buckets and buckets of wheat. I have jars and jars of chicken boullion. I have mega pounds of oatmeal. NONE of that would fit in our car!
Anyway, I had an opportunity to go to the dry pack cannery in Carrollton with our new ward and after a couple of hours of helping can things for other people, came home with two cases of things for our storage. I love the sliced apples. We snack on them like chips. I also like the powdered, non instant milk. I can hear you now, "Yuck! Powdered milk!" Well let me count the ways you can use it and save a lot of money. I use it instead of liquid milk when I cook pancakes and waffles. I use it to make yogurt in a gallon jar (thank you Cathrin Hales for that recipe). Now...if I could only find the place that has a gallon jar! Did I mention I have six of them AT HOME! Along with my pancake griddle and waffle maker!
As we've (did I say "we" 'cause Mike is rarely with me) ridden around getting to and from places, I've taken side streets just to see what's there. I've also spent a lot of time looking at stores to see what's available. Well, yesterday I struck gold! And after I BOUGHT the gold, lo and behold I discovered there is gold EVERYWHERE! In Texas you spell gold T-A-M-A-L-E-S. The crazy thing is...you don't have to find the guy in the parking lot at Wal-Mart! They actually have places that sell them by the dozen AND for only $8! Last night we feasted and tonight we'll feast and possibly (if we are very, very good) we'll feast again tomorrow too!
I have this rule and it has served me well...BE NICE TO THE PEOPLE YOU MEET! I've made friends of the people who've served us i.e. the hotel staff, store sales clerks, doctors etc. Here were the benefits. Number one, I had new friends I hated to say goodbye to at the end of the journey. Number two, sometimes I got to go behind the scenes to see what it was they did. You know, kind of like those reality shows "How Do They Make That" or "Really Dirty Jobs".
Yesterday, my new friend at the tamale store (it's actually more of a restraunt) took us to the freezer to see all the tamales on the shelf. They're made fresh everyday. He went out of his way to tell us about his business and a little of his experience living in Grand Prairie (the way it used to be for Mexicans).He also gave us a small bowl of menudo to taste after my story of how my dad used to make the stuff and how bad it smelled and how chewy it was and how I didn't like it...well, MUCH to my surprise, his menudo wasn't chewy at all. It was actually pretty good. However, I'm stickin' with posole which is like meudo without the chewy stuff! We're gonna get us some posole on Saturday to eat this weekend. Oh my gosh! Did I just say "get us some"? I think Texas is starting to get to us...some!
Much love, VZ

Week One

It's Saturday and I'm thinking about our first week in Texas. My time has been pretty relaxing while Mike's has been pretty hectic.
I've spent much of my time doing indexing on the church's geneology website. Indexing is the process of reading old records and entering them into the computer so that eventually people will able to find their ancesters with the click of a mouse. To date I've been able to index over three thousand names. It's really interesting and a most worthy endeavor. Right now I'm working on death records from the state of New Hampshire. I'm sticking with that because after awhile you get really proficient at reading some of the weird writing. I don't know why the people filling out the forms felt the need to use all types of squiggles and curly-q's. Some of the names have been really funny and some not so funny. The thing I have enjoyed the most is the stories that are told with just names and dates. It's hard when you find a family who has lost one or more children in a cholera epidemic or some type of illness. Once in awhile I get curious about a place of death being listed as a "sanitorium". After some research I've found that it was usually the place they sent people with TB. Another interesting location was one listed as "County Farm". It turned out to be a "poor farm". I try to look at this as a job and usually set a goal of two to four hours a day. That could change as I get more involved in the community.
Mike started his assignment last Sunday and he won't get a day off until, maybe, the third week in January. They've lost four other instructors who won't be back for three weeks and another had to go home for an emergency. To add to this, the NCOIC (non-commissioned officer in charge) has been mostly in hiding and left Mike to do much of what he should be doing. It makes for long, tiring days. The good news is that he can have a nice home cooked meal. That's what I've loved about being in a hotel with a full (however small) kitchen.
We've been told that Mike's mob(ilization) orders will be moved up to February 15 and at that time we'll be able to move to our permenent home; a fully furnished, one bedroom apartment. I keep putting off buying anything until I see what "fully furnished" means. I left so much of my cooking stuff at home.
I had a chance to go to the Dallas Temple on Thursday and spent an enjoyable couple of hours. I'm still getting used to not having the mountains around to know north/south from east/west. I'm also getting used to "toll roads"! I keep forgetting to make sure I have some change and some dollar bills in my car. Eventually, I'll find out how to navigate without getting on the toll roads. Unfortunately, my traveling companion (GPS) doesn't feel it necessary to warn me or take me around those roads. What a witch! She's also a nag! I'm looking for a model that sounds more like James Earl Jones.
I've also spent alot of time just getting in the car and driving without any directions. I've discovered that Arlington has some really great neighborhoods and some that appear quite wealthy. Also, I've been able to find everything I need within one to five miles. I think I'm doing a great job of finding my way around.
Today is Saturday and I did a little cleaning out of some of our files, later I'll do some laundry. Such is the life of Texas' newest arrival. I can't wait to invite the Bush's to dinner. More later.
Much love, VZ

Repentance!

I am now totally repentant about all the gloating I did about the 80* weather. Today I'm freezing! It's only 45* (yea, yea, I know it's only 18* in SLC) but 45* in Texas IS freezing! So I've switched again to warm clothes!
Today's been great. I went to the ward we'll be attending and everyone was great. It's only 15 mins away and pretty easy to get to. Bishop Brinkerhoff is a fairly new bishop and very nice. I look forward to working with them.
Mike informed me earlier that we may be moving to a different hotel. Apparently it's just been renovated from apartments to hotel and all the rooms are really large with bigger kitchens. I just bought groceries and finished putting all our stuff away so I'm not so inclined to leave this place but we'll check it out.
So for now "see y'all".
With much love, Vicki