Monday, March 28, 2011

Dear Friends and Family,

Can you believe March is almost over!  Time is sure flying!  Only 271 days until Christmas.

Last Monday afternoon Bob went and bought six new fruit trees.  When he got home with them, Elder Stanworth and Elder Berghout helped him plant them.  I did the laundry then I tried to read on “Princess Bride”, but just couldn’t get into it.  I think I like the movie better.  I was bored so I went to bed around 8:30.

We slept in on Tuesday morning.  Bob fixed us breakfast then I went to see Jim for my semi-annual check-up and cleaning.  No cavities.  From there I went and got my nails done and then to Bed, Bath, & Beyond to get new tumblers for my missionaries.  When I got home, Bob was working out in the yard.  I sure do miss having Jorge come.  He has been helping Greg Melven get his house ready to sell so hasn’t been able to come over here.  Later that afternoon, I made my reservations to go to Nathen Pope’s wedding in Bountiful, Utah in May.  I’ll fly into SLC on May 19.  Then Cookie and I will drive to California to see our cousins, Doug & Peggy in Magalia and maybe Glen & Myra.  And we might stop by for a moment to see our three cousins and their spouses that live in Carson City, NV.  Then we’ll be back to Utah in time for Pope’s wedding on May 27.  I’ll fly home the next day.  I’m so excited.  I tried to read more on “Princess Bride”.  It was finally getting better—23% into the book.  Bob and I then went to eat at Rosa’s Café.  We stopped by Walmart on our way home.  When we got home, I got 10 Visiting Teaching letters ready to mail.

Wednesday was Temple Day.  Sharon, Marsha, and I had a good day.  On the way home we stopped at Logan’s Steakhouse for dinner.  When I got home, I continued to read on “Princess Bride” which is actually an abridgement by William Goldman of the original book by Simon Morgenstern.

I didn’t sleep very well that night.  I got up and fixed waffles Thursday morning for my two missionaries and then Bob and I met Don & Trish, Dan & Tonia, Seth & Reagan and Marilyn at IHOP for breakfast.  I wasn’t feeling too well.  Soon after we got home, I realized that I was getting sick.  Consequently, I slept the rest of the day.  Elder Berghout and Elder Stanworth mowed our entire lawn that afternoon.  That evening I couldn’t even concentrate on reading so I watched a couple episodes of NCIS and Castle.  I went to bed before Bob got home from teaching his SMU class in Dallas.

I felt better Friday, but was still not well.  I didn’t even get dressed all day long.  Bob left before 10 to catch a flight to Utah to go visit his Mom for a week.  When Bob got to SLC, he said it was snowing.  I did a lot of the watering and slept between each time to turn on or off a valve.  Elder Berghout cleaned my kitchen for me.  About mid-afternoon I got up and read.  I finally finished reading “Princess Bride”.  The book is good, but written VERY differently.  I still like the movie better. 

When I woke up on Saturday, I checked my email, facebook, texts, etc like I always do.  There was a post on Gerin Wilde’s wall that he had broken his leg and was home from his mission for a while.  He’ll go back.  Dan called me a little before 10 for me to come to breakfast with all of them—Don & Trish, Marilyn, and all of Dan’s family.  I wasn’t well, but I felt much better so I got dressed and went.  On the way home I picked up Bob’s cloths at the cleaners and went by the Church to print the ward bulletin and work on Visiting Teaching.  When I got home, I read “First Light” by Haylee Leatherman on my Kindle.  I didn’t like the book.  I talked to Bob a couple times during the day. 

It was so hard to get up on Sunday morning, but I did.  It was cold and grey outside.  I got ready and went to Church.  I only stayed for Sacrament Meeting—naughty me.  When I got home, I took a nap.  Later when the missionaries got home, we visited for almost two hours.  They left and I started reading “The Jungle” by Clive Cussler on my Kindle.  I really like his books.

It was cold again when I got up this morning.  The heater even went on!  It has been in the 80’s most of the week, but not yesterday and today. Oh well, that’s Texas.  I went to breakfast with Trish, Marilyn, and Dan & Tonia and two of their kids.  Josh & Lisa and their family showed up after we got there, but they didn’t eat at our table.  We had a nice visit then I came on home and here I am.  I’m planning on cleaning the house today, but we’ll see……………..

My Weekly Letter ending on 3/21/2011

Monday, March 21, 2011

Dear Friends and Family,

I am back in good old Weatherford.  I’ll actually be here for a couple weeks before I leave again to go back down to the San Antonio area for the annual Bluebonnet Quilt Shop Hop.

Last Monday was a good day.  The twins played all day long outside or inside with their Legos or with those annoying games on the TV.  I got calls from Grandma, Eric, Bonnie and my supervisor from the temple.  And, of course, from Bob.  His iPhone 4 was dying.  The touch screen didn’t work anymore.  I also did a bunch of texting to Amber and Stephenie.  We continued to get about 9 eggs a day from the chickens.  Too bad that the boys won’t eat eggs!  I was able to read most of the day.

Tuesday was Stephenie and Evan’s 15^th anniversary.  Dorias texted me that morning.  They were in Mississippi on their way home from Disney World.  The bus driver had dozed off a couple times earlier during the night and Rebecca was sick with a head cold.  I told her how good the boys had been—a big mistake.  Soon afterwards they started fighting and continued over dumb little things.  That lasted most of the rest of the day—Robert crying and Richard egging him on.  After supper we picked up the house, I put them both in the tub, got them ready for bed, let them watch “The Army of Helaman” and then put them to bed.  It was nice and peaceful and I read.  Much, much later, Dorias and Rebecca got home from their trip to Disney World.   They were exhausted, but had a lot of fun.  We visited a while then finally went to bed.

The twins woke up in good moods on Wednesday.  At 9, Dorias and Rebecca left to go to San Antonio for Rebecca’s oral surgery.  She was getting the “Chains of Pain” put in her mouth.  This is what I understand happened:  Rebecca has always been really slow cutting her teeth.  She was in second grade before she lost her first baby tooth.  They have been waiting and waiting for her permanent eye teeth to come in so that they could put braces on her.  So on Wednesday they went in to pull her two baby eye teeth and to put chains on her permanent eye teeth to pull them down.  But when they got in there, they found out that there was a bone ridge in there preventing the eye teeth from coming down.  They had to chip away that ridge, attach brackets to the permanent eye teeth, put chains on them and then attach the chains to the wires of her upper braces.  Now they will have something to pull those permanent eye teeth down with.  Dorias texted me a little after 11 to let me know that Rebecca was trying to wake up and they would be coming back home after that happened.  While they were gone, Bob, Sharon Carter and Bonnie called me.  Bob got a brand new iPhone 4—free because his old one was less than a year old.  He had to go to an Apple store and not an AT&T store.  They were able to transfer all of his old data to his new phone.  Bob had finished his business in San Francisco and was driving to Bakersfield to visit Eric’s family.  When Dorias and Rebecca got home from the surgery center, we put Rebecca in a recliner because she was supposed to not lie flat, but at a 30° angle.  We gave her the meds that we were supposed to and then she slept almost 24 hours.  I’d wake her up every 4 hours to give her more meds—that went on all through the night.  I finished reading Bisingr around 11:30.  I really enjoyed the first three books of the series, but the fourth and final book isn’t out yet!  I then slept on the couch so that I could be of help to Rebecca. 

Saint Patrick’s Day dawned at 4:30 for the twins.  They were so excited.  You would have thought it was Christmas.  Stephenie started this idea of the kids decorating treasure chests so that the Leprechauns could bring small gifts.  The boys had decorated their boxes the night before while I was reading and watching Rebecca.  When I gave the meds to her at 9:30 that morning, she actually stayed awake for about two hours before drifting back off to sleep.  In the meantime, Dorias and the twins packed up their van and headed to Mineral Wells State Park for the first annual Bell Family Campout.  Anyway, while Rebecca was sleeping, I started reading “Princess Bride” on my Kindle.  When Rebecca finally woke up, she was feeling much better and wanted to go to Weatherford so we packed up and left.  We didn’t get back here until almost 10 that evening.  Rebecca slept the whole way.  I met our new missionary when we got home.  He is Elder Berghout from Ogden, Utah.  Elder Lao trained him.  Bob took Eric’s family to Disney Land for the day.

Friday morning Rebecca and I got up and went to breakfast at IHOP before going on our campout with the family.  Trish, Tonia & her four kids were there, but they were just finishing.  After we ate, we drove to Mineral Wells State Park and found the rest of our group.  Charles, Michael, and Robbie were there with their families along with Dorias and the twins.  It was hot with no shade and little breeze—if any.  I am not a camper, but I had fun visiting with everyone.  We went over to the lake after lunch.  The kids had fun playing in the cold water and playing in the sand.  When we started to get sun burnt, we went back to our campsite and visited while the kids played some more.  Robbie and his family left before we ate supper.  Charles grilled yummy hamburgers.  After we ate, we went back over to the lake.  It was much cooler by then.  The kids mostly played in the sand.  When it got dark, everyone went back to camp.  Rebecca and I left to go back to Weatherford.  I much prefer sleeping in my own bed.  I read on Facebook that Dan had gotten home from Wyoming.  Bob had called me a couple times during the day.  He had a lousy day.  He had gotten up early to drive back to San Francisco from Bakersfield to catch his flight which was delayed due to fog.  Consequently, he missed all his connecting flights.  He was supposed to be home around 11 that evening, but didn’t make it until 4 Saturday morning.

Since they were breaking up camp after breakfast on Saturday, Bob, Rebecca, and I didn’t go out to Mineral Wells.  Michael, Karen and Megan stopped by for a minute on their way back to Benbrook.  Dorias and the twins showed up a few minutes later.  Rebecca and I were watching “Beauty and the Beast” (the LDS version) when they got here.  Later I went in and took a nap.  I didn’t want to cook supper so we went to “On the Boarder” for supper.  One of the twins went to sleep before the food even arrived.  Afterwards, we drove out to Brock to see how Dan’s new house was coming.  The other twin went to sleep while driving out there.  When we got home, we watched “Forever After” and the old version of “Parent Trap” with Hayley Mills.   Afterwards I did the ward bulletin for Sunday and the missionaries’ meal calendar and then went to bed.

Bob left for his meetings before I got up.  When I did get up, I got ready for Church.  Since it was the third Sunday and Linger Longer, I got a half ham ready to cook.  I waited and put it in the oven at Church so that I wouldn’t have to come home and get it like I did last month.  It was so much easier doing it that way.  Dorias and her kids went to Robbie’s branch in Mineral Wells so I had to leave an hour before they left.  Our meetings were good and the dinner went well afterwards.  I did a little work on my computer when I got home and then took a nap.  Later that evening the missionaries came home.  They didn’t have a dinner appointment so they decided to cook.  Elder Berghout decided to make homemade pancakes.  Everything went well until he realized that he had used powdered sugar instead of flour.  What a mess, but at least he tried.  I started reading on “The Princess Bride” again, but decided to watch the movie instead.  Both are written by the same guy so they go along with each other—not like many books and movies.  I went to bed shortly thereafter.

This morning I got up and went to breakfast at IHOP with Trish, Dan & Tonia, Seth and Reagan.  Afterwards I did some shopping at Walmart then came on home.  I did my regular Monday chores.  We lost 8 trees this winter so Bob went into town to get new ones. 

Well, I’ll close for this week.  I hope that you have a good week.

Weekly Letter ending on 3/14/2011

Monday, March 14, 2011

Dear Friends and Family,

Today starts Spring Break here in Texas and I am in Boerne watching the twins.  Now let us go back a week…..

Last Monday I was in Katy, TX at Bonnie’s home celebrating her 28^th birthday.  As I mentioned earlier, we went to see “Beasty” at the Katy Mills Mall (don’t waste your money) and then we went to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner.  It was really nice.  I got a salad that was to die for.  When we got home, we visited and then went to bed.

When I got up on Tuesday morning, Jarom had already gone to work so I went and crawled in with Bonnie.  We visited a while and then I got ready to drive home.  I had a nice drive home.  Bob was home when I got here.  Later we went to get gas for my car so I’d have enough to go to the temple on Wednesday.

Wednesday morning I picked Sharon and Marsha up to go to the temple.  We had a nice drive over.  We did see a freaky accident.  I still can’t figure out how it happened.  Marsha was quiet the last half of our trip, but I didn’t think anything of it.  Her eyes were closed so I just figured she’d dozed off.  When we got to the temple, she wasn’t feeling good at all.  We finally called the temple paramedics who determined that she needed to go to the hospital.   They thought that she might be having a heart attack.  They called Jim to meet her at the hospital.  The rest of the day went smoothly at the temple.  Sharon and I went home by ourselves.  When we got to the Olive Garden to eat dinner, Jim called me.  They were keeping Marsha overnight for more tests, but they hadn’t ruled out a heart attack.  I went to bed shortly after I got home.  Bob got home an hour or so later.  He had also talked to Jim.  Marsha hadn’t had any more of those episodes since she arrived at the hospital so they were optimistic.

Thursday morning I got up and took shirts to the cleaners, Sugar to Puppy Luv to be groomed, and to the Church to do my final report on February’s visiting teaching. When I got home, I started the laundry and visited with Bob.  He made airline reservations to go visit his Mom towards the end of the month.  He had to go into Elbit for a couple hours before going on into Dallas to teach his SMU class, but that didn’t take as long as he thought it would so he went to visit Marsha also.  She was doing fine.  Dorias called and talked a while and then Cookie called and we visited.  Then it was time to go pick up Sugar.  She sure looked different.  They gave her a summer haircut which cut all the blue off and most of the pink off.  She is skinny now with all that winter hair gone.  That evening I watched some Bones episodes on Netflix.  Before I went to bed, I packed my suitcase. 

Friday morning I did some last minute things around the house.  Michael called me to let me know that Larry Curtis had died during the night.  He was a good man and I really love his wife, Betty.  I told Bob good-bye and then left for Boerne to watch the twins.  On the way, I went to Fort Worth to run a couple errands and then headed south.  Robbie called me and talked for a few minutes.  I got to Boerne around 3:30.  No one was home so I lay down and took a nap.  Dorias and Rebecca had left earlier in the day for Orlando, Florida.  About an hour later Mark and the twins showed up.  They had gone into San Antonio.  Much later Matthew got home.  They packed all evening while the twins played.  We collected the eggs and put the chickens to bed.  Then we watched TV.  I put the twins to bed around 9 and then I went to bed.

When I got up Saturday morning, Mark and Matthew were fixin to leave on their vacation to Mena, Arkansas.  Richard and Robert were already up.  A little before 9, I took the twins to their final basketball game.   When we got there, we discovered that we were at the wrong place or it was the wrong time or something.  I let the boys play on the playground toys for a while then we went back home.  I am so glad that there are two of them and that they play so well together.  The weather was great on Saturday so that they could play out in the backyard a lot.  I was able to read on my Kindle.  I’m now reading the third book of the Eragon series.  Everything went fine the rest of the day.  I got a call from Elder Downs.  He is being transferred on Wednesday along with Elder Collins.  So when I get home from here, we’ll have two new missionaries.

Daylight Savings.  Richard and Robert woke up about the same time that they always do, but it was actually one hour later.  This didn’t help me, because my body hasn’t adjusted yet.  I was thinking that Dorias had 9am Church and I couldn’t see how I could get the twins and I ready in time, but then I remembered that Dorias has 1pm Church this year.  YES.  I didn’t do a Ward Bulletin this week for our Ward.  I never got the speakers from the counselor that is conducting and besides, Dorias’ internet is lousy and the Xerox machine at our Church is still broken.  I usually just email it to Bob and he runs it off for me when I’m out of town.  I got the twins ready and we went to Church.  It was easy.  They slept through Sacrament Meeting and the Primary had them for the last two hours.  We had a fantastic lesson in Relief Society.  Cookie and Bob both called me when we got back to the house.  My nephew, Jimmy, was just called to be second counselor in the bishopric there in Hattiesburg, MS.  I am proud of him and his family.  Bob was at Love Field fixin to fly to San Francisco for the week.  He just found out on Friday that he was going.  His ticket was almost $1,000 cheaper each way by flying Southwest instead of American.  He is going to try to go and see Eric and his family while he is in California.  I also texted with Bonnie for a while on Sunday evening.  I read while the twins played for the rest of the day.  I went to bed when I put them to bed.

Today is a gloomy day.  It will probably rain here in Boerne.  The twins are playing and everything is fine here.  I hope that you have a good week.

Monday, March 7, 2011  (Bonnie’s 28^th birthday)

Dear Friends & Family:

Bob worked on Strategic Thought all morning while I was on my computer.  Then he went to work at Elbit in Fort Worth in the afternoon.  That is so much better than Mobile, Alabama.  That afternoon I read on my Kindle “Eldest” until I got tired so I lay down and took a nap.  When I got up, I worked on Visiting Teaching until Bob got home. Then we went to Empty Nester’s FHE out at Jack & Judy Sparks’ home in Santo.  Everyone there was from the Mineral Wells Branch so we didn’t know very many.  They had a guest speaker who talked about the Civil War days.  It was very interesting.  She even dressed in costume.  Afterwards, we stopped at Sonic on our way home.  I was really tired when we got home so I went to bed.

Tuesday morning I got up and made biscuits and sausage gravy for Elder Struhs and Elder Stanworth.  After they ate, we took pictures and said our good-byes, and then I went to IHOP for Breakfast with the Girls.  We didn’t have a great turnout, but sufficient.  While I was gone, Bob went to Elbit in Fort Worth.  On the way home from IHOP, I stopped at the Church and worked on my Visiting Teaching report and made some changes on the routes.  When I got home, I cleaned up the kitchen, put supper in the Crockpot, did the laundry, and read.  Our new missionary came over with Elder Stanworth.  He is Elder Downs from Kaysville, Utah.  I think that I’m going to like him.  He is the 37^th missionary to live with us.  I read all afternoon until Bob got home.  Later we went into town to fill my car up again.  Gas is now up to $3.20 a gallon.  At least I get about 35mpg in my little Corolla.  I read when I got home until I went to bed.

Bob got up early Wednesday morning and went out to Brock to help Dan wire his new house.  I got up when he was leaving.  I got ready for the temple then went and picked Marsha up.  Sharon still had company.  James moved back home during the day on Wednesday.  We had a busy day at the temple.  I was Initiatory Coordinator for most of the day.  Jim came up to the temple in the afternoon and went through a session with Marsha.  After our shift, Marsha and I drove back to Weatherford.  We stopped at On the Boarder for supper.  No one was home when I got home so I read.  

Thursday morning I went to breakfast with Trish, Dan & Tonia, Seth and Reagan.  Afterwards I went to Bed, Bath & Beyond, to the bank, to the Church to work on VT and then home.  Bob had gone to Maverick while I was gone and picked up a new computer that they were building for him.  I posted to my blog then went over to Trish’s to see how the construction is going on her new addition and on Dan’s new house.  I stayed a couple hours and visited.  When I got home, Bob was fixin to go to the dentist—Jim.  From there he went to Dallas to teach his SMU class. I worked on the Ward Bulletin and on Visiting Teaching and just messed around on the computer and then I read in my book until I went to bed. 

Friday morning Katie called me to see if I wanted to go to breakfast with her Grandma and parents and Seth and Reagan.  I got ready and left.  We had a good visit.  I stopped at the Church to tweak some of the VT Routes then came on home.  Bob wanted me to go with him to make some visits.  We visited Charlene Pope.  She had her fake knee taken out last week and is now in a rehab center with a spacer in the place of her knee.  She seems to be doing better.  She will have a new fake knee put back in after a few weeks.  We also went to see another lady in our Ward.  When we got home, I read and then I went with Bob up to the Church for an interview.  While I was waiting on him, Charles & Amber came by.  We visited until Bob got done, then the four of us went over to Chicken Express for a bite to eat.  Afterwards, the four of us went over to the Payne’s house to help celebrate the temple marriages of Clay & Susan Merritt and Johnny & Elizabeth Eakles.   When we got home, I worked on Visiting Teaching and then went to bed, but I couldn’t go to sleep so I got up and finished my book “Eldest” and then went to bed.

Saturday morning Bob had to leave before 6 to go teach his all-day SMU class.  I got up a little later, cleaned my sewing room, cleaned the kitchen, finished the laundry, packed, and got ready to go to our Relief Society Birthday Party Luncheon.  I think it was one of the BEST Relief Society parties that we have ever had.  Of course, Cindy Rose was in charge of the food and her mother, Gail Inman, was in charge of the program.  It couldn’t fail with the two of them.  I was in one of the skits.  It was very well attended also.  As soon as it was over, I left for Fort Worth.  I stopped at SAS Shoes and bought two new pair of shoes, got gas at Sam’s Club ($3.36) and then headed toward Houston.  I got to Bonnie’s house in Katy around 6:30.  It was almost 7:30 when Bonnie got home from work.  She was surprised to see me, but she kinda felt like I would come because I’d gone to Stephenie’s and to Dorias’ for their birthdays.  Jarom had my room all ready for me.  We ate pizza then just visited—Bonnie does not have a TV. 

Sunday morning we went to Church.  Their Relief Society had its Visiting Teaching Convention during RS time.  The Priesthood took over Primary so those sisters could come to it and the Young Women and Young Men were combined so that those sisters could come.  They had a good program.  Afterwards we came home and visited until time to go to Tomball to have Bonnie’s birthday dinner with Stephenie’s family.  Evan’s brother and his family came over for dinner also since one of their kids had had a birthday earlier in the week.  We had a nice dinner, visited, and then went back to Bonnie’s house.  We went to bed shortly thereafter.

Today we got up and just lounged around for a while then we got cleaned up.  Stephenie and her six kids came over about 11 and the ten of us went to brunch at IHOP for Bonnie’s birthday.  Afterwards we all went back over to Bonnie’s and visited until 3 when Steph and her kids left.  Now Bonnie, Jarom and I are fixin to go to the movie to see “Beastly”.  When we get done there, we are planning on going to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner. 

If you think I had a big week this last week—wait until next week!  Hope that you have a great week!