ZLY Beginnings

From my journal:
April 13, 1991
"Dad and I went and did two estimates this morning. One was Mrs. Falter's lawn. She's a teacher at McDonald school. Dad charged them $25.00 for 13,000 square feet of lawn. The next house was very small. Dad stayed at the $12.00 minimum for lawns. He told me that the lawn was really worth about $5. Then we went home and got read to mow Richards' lawn. About that time a lady called for a rototilling estimate. Then the Falter's called and said that they wanted their lawn mowed today. So we went over there with No. 4 and No. 5. We carried the mowers in No. 4 and the grass clippings and stuff in No. 5. I mowed most of the lawn and dad weedeated. No. 5 got pretty full. It already had branches and stuff from doing First Security Bank. After we mowed the lawn we took No. 5 and left No. 4 and the mowers at Falter's. On the way out there dad said that we were low on gas, then we ran out of gas. Dad and I had to walk to the University farm and call Uncle Chuck, to have him bring us some gas. When we were waiting for him we were trying to guess where on the road Uncle Chuck would be. Then when we said he would be coming around the corner, there he was. Then we filled up No. 5 and headed to the landfill to dump all of the grass. Uncle Chuck went with us. Then we took No. 4 over to Richards' to mow their lawn, but it didn't need mowing so we just stayed and talked. Then we came home. Then we went out and dad estimated that lady's rototilling job. Then we went over to Schroeder's and talked. Dad also looked at a rototilling job they wanted us to do."

Just checking in.

I enjoy viewing all of your posts and comments. We don't have much to report this week but I wanted to feel like a giver and not just a taker so I'm at least contributing a text-based post.

Back From the Future

Over the last few weeks, Aimee has been rehearsing for her school's production of "Back From the Future."  This weekend was the big show.  Her drama teacher wrote it based loosely on the movies.  This time they travel to several different era's and the kids perform songs from that time.  Aimee was involved in the 1985 group and performed to Thriller, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, and several other "old" goodies.  The pictures are little fuzzy, but you'll get the idea.

-Brant

The Great Escape

I was channel surfing last night and came across everyone's favorite movie- The Great Escape.  Ty was with me and two hours later, he is now a member of the Great Escape fan club.  Afterwards, we spent last night googling and reading articles on Wikpedia relating to the escape.  So far we have discovered an extra tunnel known as George, POW radios (part one and two), and another escape from the same camp involving a wooden horse.

-Brant

Here's a photo roundup of the last week or so

Some sidewalk art I came across this morning on the way to church. I think it's chalk.

This plaque hangs on the wall of our chapel behind the choir seats and organ. A senior missionary told me that the land our church is built on used to have a house on it. During WWII, a bomb hit the house and destroyed it, while also killing several people. The daughter/grandaughter of these people survived and never wanted to sell the land because she didn't want people to just build another house and forget her family. She wanted some type of memorial built. When the church approached her about buying the land to build a chapel, she asked if she would be allowed to come in the church and think about her family, pray, remember, etc. They said no problem and that's why we have a church there and she has a plaque. 

 You see these types of "polite notices" all over town. The request is often quite direct, "Don't smoke or stand outside my window after 9 pm" but it's seems beginning with polite notice  allows you to say just about anything you want. 

 Making thanksgiving rolls. Kelly really misses her Bosch mixer because kneading dough by hand is really not that fun after about 15 min.

App fun

Up until now, I've usually called back to the U.S. by using my gmail account and calling through the computer. I works fine, but can be a bit of a pain and I have to start all of the calls. If you're dying to call us and looking for a new app to add to your phone, I found a new way to call. Instructions below.

-Instructions are for iphone because that's what I have and know how to do - and because that's what Mom and Dad have. If you have an android phone, I'm sure it's similar and you can figure it out.

1. Download app called "Viber" - it's free

2. Follow the instructions to set up the app. Nothing too fancy, I think they ask for your name and then send you a text message with a code you have to enter to verify the setup. 

3. Allow Viber to access your contacts and you should be able to call anyone else who has Viber on their phone for free, no matter where they are. Calls go through the internet instead of the phone line. Just select the contact, press call, and talk like normal.

4. If you don't already have our phone numbers in your phone, you'll need to add them:

         Travis +44 0746 273 2804

          Kelly +44 0746 276 8607

5. You may want to make sure your notifications for Viber are set up properly so you can see when someone calls you. To set it up, go to Settings --> Notifications --> Viber and set them to something like this:

*If you like pictures, Kelly and I both have Instagram accounts that we put 2-3 photos on each week of the things we see/do around town. My account name is "travzirk" and Kelly is "ixoj".