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...

Lost Video

I was cleaning out my video storage on the computer and came across this clip. It was too good NOT to share. By the end of two weeks, I should have a lot more; Luke, Alex Z and Drew have come to visit us in Texas for the next couple of weeks. It was the first time flying for Drew and Alex but Luke is pro.

The first thing they said was, "It's HOT!" Welcome to Texas! They were very grateful for air-conditioning in cars and homes. They spent the afternoon chomping on the bit to go to the pool so they could cool off. I didn't have the heart to tell them, it's so hot that the water is NOT cool but tepid. I also won't let them go out in the heat of the day because, I told them, "You'll burn!" The truth is, I'm not dumb enough to sit in the heat to lifeguard. I make them wait until 4:00 AND their grandpa is home.

They're having a good time because Grandma let's them play Wii Fit. I do it under the guise of exercise but it's too funny to pass up the opportunity for a good laugh. Hula Hoop is one of my favorites but Soccer is right up there as well as Star Wars (not a Wii Fit but oh well).

I'm amazed at the ability of kids to know instinctively how to play a game. Mike and I have purchased a few games for the kids to play while they were here. We spend most of the time staring at the game and thinking to ourselves, "This will bore them!" I've noticed that KNOWING how to play a game makes it so NOT boring.

I bought the Tiger Woods '08 Golf game as well as the new '10 version. We love to play the golf game in the Wii Sports so I thought it would be really fun to play a Tiger Woods version and have more options. The '10 model even comes with an attachment that tells you how your swing is or what modifications to make to improve your game. We're not using it yet because, frankly, we haven't finished making our virtual selves yet. I tried and after completing my face, hair, body (all with options for birthmarks, wrinkles and age spots) I looked like my good friend, SFC Angela Burt. Only one tiny problem...she's black, taller than me and completely fit. I would be happy with that but then the computer would expect me to play like a young, fit person! Not to mention that I've completely offended my friend SFC Burt! So, I'll try again to get closer to the old, wrinkled, age-spotted Mexican that I am...but by then I'll be too tired to actually play the game!

Much love,

VZ

What it's All About

People ask what it is that Mike does. Yesterday I had a chance to go into the field and act as an imbedded photographer to see for myself what he does. Here it is! He and his staff teach soldiers to save lives! I've never had a chance to watch the class do this training in the field and was blown away by the reality of it. The gunfire sounded too real and the IV's were really real! I hope the video does it justice...

Much love, Vicki