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Hey Michael, 

It was fun to chat with you a bit over messenger this week. I hope you had a great time at the Boston Science museum. I bet that was a fun p-day activity. We look forward to your emails and phone calls home. I encourage you to make the time to keep up on your letters. You will be grateful to be able to look back on your letters and remember the details of your mission experience. And your grandparents and friends enjoy hearing from you as well. I hope everything is going well with the people you are teaching. Have you had any interest in your English classes yet? We have had a few days of really nice weather, and it looks like you will be having a few nice days as well. Hopefully as the weather warms up it will be easier to stop and talk to people out and about. I bet Boston will be just lovely in the spring. How is everything going with your companion? I hope you are getting along well and enjoying your time together. I think it can be very difficult to spend so much time one-on-one with just one person, so hopefully you have the opportunity to spend time with other missionaries and “friends" as well. You will have to tell us more about the Portuguese Elder you went shopping with last week. Sounds like he had an interesting life story. 

What’s going on around here?

1. Blake was asked to speak in church last week, so we attended in person. Blake did a great job, and a lot of people commented on what a good talk he gave. The chapel was so crowded and I was super uncomfortable being there. But I let the kids stay and go to their classes. It was Tate’s first time in primary and he loved it. We went back today. It was a holiday weekend and not nearly as crowded. But almost nobody was wearing masks because covid is over. Will I be the last to mask? Perhaps.

2. Today Ethan was ordained as a deacon. He has waited patiently, but was very excited for this to happen. Tate weirdly threw a fit right before the blessing because he wanted Dad to hold him. We explained that Dad was going to give Ethan a blessing and he demanded that I do it instead. Well.  Finally grandpa gave him his cell phone to distract him, and your Dad gave Ethan a lovely blessing.

3. The last few months have been stressful, and I’ve gained too much weight. So I started a new health challenge with Aunt Allison on Monday. Wish me luck!

4. Ethan wants to join the robotics team, so we are going to submit an application this week and see if he gets selected. I think he would be good at it.

5. Your Dad and I finished watching Loki this week. I thought it was very entertaining. I think your Dad thought it was weird.

6. Ethan’s football team rented out the Kaysville theater to watch American Underdog, and Ethan got 4 extra tickets. So he took Dad, Blake, Jett and a friend. I think it must have been the first time Ethan and Jett got to go to a movie since before Covid. Tate really wanted to go, but I told him it would be too scary. I should really take him to see something fun like Clifford in the theater. I bet he would love it. They did a raffle before the movie, and Ethan won a bluetooth speaker and Jett won a Marvel poster. Fun night for all.

7. I had two lunch dates with friends this week, which was wonderful. Spent the rest of my time cleaning, going to doctors appointments, and driving kids around. Oh. And playing Wordle. I've got Ethan and Dad playing as well.  I’m also counting down the days until the Utah Legislature is out of session. Every day they do more damage. This year the theme seems to be destroying public education.

8. Your dad is winning honey-do points this week. He brought me flowers and chocolate covered cinnamon bears for Valentine’s Day. He called all over town trying to find Distilled water for my CPAP when I ran out. And he stayed up super late last night putting up shelves for me above the homework desk. He has a lot of work to do and is busy all the time. He needs to get more sleep. And so do I! Tell me what it’s like to be on a regular sleep schedule? I can hardly imagine it!

9. My lemon tree is not thriving. I’ve got a ton of tiny lemons growing.  But the leaves are turning yellow and dropping. I hope it doesn’t die.  The stupid thing is very high maintenance.

10. This week I stumbled on a fascinating article called “Satan’s Foot in the Door: Democrats at Brigham Young University.” It was a long piece that covered the history of politics on campus from the end of the Wilkinson administration to the mid-nineties. It was so interesting, and I kept wondering how involved my grandpa must have been in a lot of the campus policies. I’m going to have to discuss it with him.

Today I went to Gospel Doctrine instead of my regular Sunday school class (long story). Brother Krstic gave the lesson and made me feel so grateful that I am not tasked with teaching adults because his level of thinking is way above mine. We were discussing the story of Abraham and Isaac. He said he had been pondering alters for a number of years. Which is really interesting to me because I have never pondered alters.  But he sort of likened alters to being made of stones that represent sin and weakness. And what we place on top of our alters is holiness (Holiness To the Lord).  The holiness is gained by sacrificing those sins and weaknesses and submitting our will to the Lord. I suppose that is a never ending process for each of us.

I hope you are well, and that we can visit soon.

Love you,

Mom