Letters to my Children

Hello Elder Rawson! Thank your for the email this morning. I always love to hear from you. As far as Scottsdale and the octopus goes—I'm not sure who chose it? The waitress recommended it. She also recommended the oysters. I think it is fun to try new foods. When we eat out with the Bennetts we always go to nice restaurants, so I figure that is a good time to be adventurous. The octopus was ok, but not something I would ever order for myself. And I was really relieved that they didn’t order the oysters, because I’m not sure I’m quite adventurous enough for that!  I’m glad you had a successful week teaching and finding. Hopefully that continues and your Chinese keeps improving! Another week in the books. This is what’s happening around here: 1. The weather here has been absolutely fantastic this week. It’s unseasonably hot. Terrible for the snowpack, but so welcome after a long winter. 2. The nice weather means Jett can start practicing soccer outdoors. He likes playing outdoors so ...

Dear Michael, It was nice to talk to you today. Too bad the connection was so terrible! Glad you had a great week and fun p-day. I’m going to keep this short and sweet because it’s already late. Rawson happenings: 1. Daylight Saving Time. Man. Losing that hour is always brutal. The Senate just passed a law doing away with the time switch twice a year. Waiting to see if the house takes it up. I hope so! 2. Dad and I flew to Phoenix (Scottsdale) on Wednesday morning for his legal conference. The airline switched our flight from 3 pm to 8 am. More early mornings. Do not like. 3. The bright side is that we arrived with time for lunch and a trip to the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix. Your dad was so excited to spend an afternoon looking at cacti! I really enjoyed the afternoon. The best part was the butterfly exhibit. But the garden was also hosting an art exhibit of glass sculpture by Chihuly, so it was a good time to go. 4. That evening we went to a nice French restaurant with Dad’s b...

Hello my Dear, How was your week? How did transfers go? As expected? Tell us about your new companion. It looks like it’s still chilly in Boston, but perhaps some more spring-like weather is coming. It’s cold here, but sunny today. I’m ready for winter to be over. We had a fun and busy week here. Top ten: 1. GOP caucus meetings were held this week. I went in hopes of electing more moderate candidates. At the meeting I learned that at least 75% of the people in attendance think that our elections are rife with fraud and we should do away with mail-in ballots. Sigh. I also learned that Dave Adams intended to run for senate against his uncle Stuart Adams who is the senate president, but Dave got cut out of his uncle’s district during redistricting. How convenient. Stuart is bad, but Dave is crazy. Dave hates his uncle and says Stuart cheated Dave’s dad out of the family business. I think he was hoping to use this campaign to expose his uncle. Anyway, looks like he is still planning to run...

Hey Michael, I enjoyed your letter and phone call this week. It seems like you are working hard and really thriving. I enjoy seeing the pictures of the cool places you are visiting and the people you are serving with. I’m so glad your Chinese is coming along. Learning a second language is such a big accomplishment. Especially Chinese. I’m glad things are progressing with some of the people you are teaching, and hope things turns around for Tony.  Gosh. It feels like another week of same old, same old. This is what’s happening here: 1. We finally got a good snow storm! I’m not actually a fan of snow, but I’m grateful for the water and so glad to have storms clean up the air. 2. Ethan applied to the robotics club and got one of the coveted spots! He’s excited. 3. Ty had a big wipeout trying a new ski trick. He came home super sore and limped around the house for a few days. Seems to be feeling better now. 4. The boys had their piano recital this week and they all did an excellent job...