New Truck!

Hey there!

It was fun to talk to you on Monday and have Sydni come over and visit. Hope you had a great week. If I recall correctly, you bought good food at the grocery store this week, so hopefully that resulted in some yummy meals. And also hopefully students are back at school this week and ready to answer your messages and schedule appointments! I sent your charger in the mail this week, so hopefully you received that. I look forward to your letter and more details of what you were up to.

News from home:

1. This week started out with a bang. I was tired from a week of family celebrations, then I stayed up late Sunday writing to you. Monday morning I woke up to Tate in my room asking me if he could go to school.  Poor kid was really sad his brothers were going back to school without him. So I got up and used the bathroom. Quickly.  Like I was in the bathroom for one minute. But then I came out to the hallway and the front door was wide open. I didn’t have shoes on, so I quickly went out to the porch, and sure enough Tate had already made it down to the corner and refused to come back. So I came back in and threw on some Crocs and a jacket and went to the corner to get Tate. But when he saw me coming he took off running. So literally 3 minutes after waking, I found myself sprinting around the corner in crocs chasing after the kid in front of all the cars showing up for school drop-off.  I hauled Tate back to the house kicking and screaming, and tossed him in his bedroom for time out. Geez. 

2. Monday Dad spent a good amount of time looking for a used truck. And none of them worked out. And I knew the perfect truck was not going to just magically appear overnight, and I also knew that being down a car was not going to work long term—because Ty needs to get to work and school and the ski slopes, and I just cannot get him and your other brothers where they need to be by myself with one car. So I told your Dad I thought he ought to just go ahead and buy himself a new truck. I figured he had never been completely satisfied driving that Avalon and he wanted to go back to driving a truck anyway. We could pass the Avalon to Ty for now, and if Dad wants to keep looking for the perfect teenager truck we can always sell the Avalon later. Well.  Your dad jumped on that real quick, and by Tuesday morning he had found the perfect truck for sale in California. Time for a road trip! So we made plans to fly out on Friday to drive it home.

3. In the meantime we had a regular old week, but I was at stress level 10 because of Covid. I know you can imagine it.  It feels like everyone we know has covid. Tuesday morning Andrew texted to say that Emery had just tested positive with one of the tests that I had sent home with them over the weekend. Meanwhile Alison and Zach had come down with sore throats and Wesley was headed to the instacare with a 103 degree fever. So I was worried that maybe despite all our precautions we had had a covid outbreak over Christmas. Turns out Wesley was negative and Alison and Zach never really got very sick. Nana was sick Wednesday, but it didn’t really turn into much of anything. So maybe Emery got covid somewhere else? Sounds like it's slowly making it's way through their family, but nobody is very sick. 

4. CDC finally approved boosters for 12 and up, so I took Blake in on Thursday for his booster. (Have you gotten your booster yet?) I was relieved to have Blake get his shot because it feels like there is so much sickness going around that I sure he’s having multiple exposures a day just going to school—where there is still no mask mandate (people are so stupid). Anyway, about an hour after Blake got his shot, Alyssa Hyde texted that she and Colton are positive and Blake sat right next to Colton in carpool that day. Sigh. So I’m still feeling anxious that Blake could get sick. Bennett Black was also out of carpool because of covid this week. Then today Jessica Scott texted to say she and Gavin are positive. She drove Jett to a baptism yesterday and Gavin played with Tate earlier in the week. Then your Grandma called to say Aunt Jan tested positive and Becky was exposed to her. Your grandma and Grandpa have been on and off sick for a couple of months it seems. So we delivered tests to them this afternoon as well. Sick but not covid. Dana texted to say Tanner has it now too. Also seems to be mild. And Steve Bennett, but thankfully not Brenda. I'm hoping this is the last big hurrah—that enough people get sick and have some level of immunity and then case counts drop and life is magically back to normal in a month or two. But I think hospitalizations are going to be a big problem for the next month at least.

5. Ethan’s ski program started this week on Friday nights. Dad tried to find gear in the garage that he could use, but Ethan could not get those darn boots on his feet. So dad found some larger boots, but they didn’t fit the bindings. So I hauled all the stuff into REI to see if they would adjust the bindings and they basically laughed me out the door because of course the bindings were too old and they wouldn’t touch them.  But. We found some other boots that worked and fit the bindings, and Ethan skied happily and had a great time with Luke and Seth. Lucky boy.

6. Dad got braces this week. Invisalign. I can hardly even tell he is wearing them. I’m kinda jealous. Plus, they will be good for weight loss because he has to brush and floss every time he takes them off, so definitely and incentive not to snack all day.

7. We were supposed to have a special stake conference this weekend with a visiting apostle—Elder Cook. But they cancelled the meeting because of covid. Ironically they just went ahead with regular sacrament meetings, which makes no sense, but nobody asked me. Anyway, dad was supposed to have a bunch of meetings Saturday morning in relation to the stake conference, but he thought they had all been cancelled. So I talked him into flying out to California on Friday night instead of at the crack of dawn Saturday morning (very good choice). Someone from the Toyota dealership picked us up at the airport and drove us to the dealership and dad bought his truck. He was so excited. I told him maybe he should consider naming his new baby, but he did not like my suggestion. The guy who sold us the car was trying to sell your Dad on extra warranties and a security system and told us all of these stories about people having parts of their cars stolen. So basically all weekend every time we parked the truck and came back to it your dad had to check under the truck to make sure nobody had stolen the catalytic converter! I guess it's a problem right now? Some lady this week who lives on Laurelwood got out of her car at the mailbox to get her mail, and somebody jumped into her car and stole it! Crazy. Anyway, your Dad LOVES his new truck. Loves it.

8. Friday night we went out for an anniversary dinner and ate out on the patio at a place called Roy’s that overlooked the bay. It was lovely. We really have not eaten at restaurants much since Covid began. We had a great weekend together, and the drive home was so nice without children in the back seat!

9. On Saturday we went to visit Ryan and Kelsey at their newish house in Fallbrook. It is such a cool place. As soon as I got out of the car I could smell the amazing fresh air. It is green hills and an absolutely beautiful view. They have avocado, orange, grapefruit, lemon, and loquat trees right in their front yard. And the weather was sunny and perfect. I want to move to California. Dad says no.  But really I love it there. And they wear masks in California. And they have a beach (which I did not get to visit by the way). After visiting Ryan and Kelsey and having lunch with them, we drove to Anaheim to see my friend Janie and her husband Andrew. Their son McKay is 15, 6’9”, and wears a size 16 shoe. He is enormous. And then we hit the road for St George—despite the fact that I had left my coat and Ryan’s house.  Just couldn’t bring myself to backtrack and hour. Oh well. 

10. We got home tonight after stopping at Matt & Tiff’s and grandma & grandpa’s house to show off the truck. I’ve always wondered what my house would look like if I did not lift a finger over the weekend, and now I know. It’s not good, and I’ll probably be digging out for days. We visited Nana and Grandpa tonight. It’s grandpa’s birthday and we brought him a big canvas photo of the extended family. I think he was really excited about it. 

And there you have more details about my not-so-exciting week than you ever really wanted to know.

And now for a spiritual thought. Hmm. Maybe Dad told you this already? Probably. He was very moved by this. Dad was listening to Elder Cook during the meetings on Saturday that ended up not actually being cancelled, but being held over zoom. Elder Cook said he couldn’t share details, but wanted to bear apostolic testimony that he knows the Savior’s voice and knows His face. And that was a neat thing to hear. We are lead by prophets and apostles who have had very sacred experiences and are sharing their testimonies with us.

I love you and hope you are well.

Miss you,

Mom