Driving

Hey Michael!
Very exciting to be going back to Allston and Elder Braby! Hope this is a good transfer for you. Is it frustrating to be disrupted in the middle of teaching people in a certain area? I bet that would be hard. Good thing you can still stay connected to the ward regardless of the area you are assigned to. I’m so proud of all the hard work you are doing, and the growth that I can see happening. I know you are a good missionary and are making a positive difference in the lives of those you teach and interact with. 

Not a very exciting week around here. It’s been sooooo hot. I’ve summer, but I don’t think its my favorite season anymore. Probably fall is my favorite. Winter will always be my least favorite!

1. So…my back still hurts. Seems like it gets a little better every day, and then I’ll have a really bad day mixed in here and there. I got some x-rays done and they couldn’t see anything specific in my back, but y neck has a degenerated disk.  Lame. Starting Physical therapy on Tuesday. I feel like an old lady. I wore my mask to church and carried around my back pillow. Partly for comfort, and partly to humiliate your brothers. I was able to get back on my bike this week. I took it on a super short ride right before I had to take Blake to practice on Wednesday. I was hot, and right when I was about to turn around to come home, my earbud flew out of my ear and into the weeds, never to be found. Dang it. I’ll never be able to justify nice earbuds! I went out again on Thursday for a longer ride. I’m hoping the biking will be good for my back. But Friday may back was baaaad. So maybe it overdid it a bit? Never get old Michael. 


2. Last week was full of driving, driving, driving. Blake had double football practices and team bonding activities, plus training 3 times out in Woods Cross. Jett had soccer out in Kaysville and Layton. This week Ethan has basketball out at Corner Canyon. So basically I live in my car, and it still smells TERRIBLE despite me literally pouring gallons of water in the back to flush out the gasoline spill. I can’t wait to get rid of that car! Also, Blake has been driving a tiny bit. I’ve been entertaining him by gasping every time he takes the corner too fast and almost hits the curb. Ah. Good times.

3. This week your dad took the boys to Lagoon for the day with Grandpa and some of the cousins.  Tate was so excited to go. Every time we drive past Tate asks when we are going to go. He loved it. Dad took some dramamine for motion sickness, and it practically knocked him out for 24 hours. Poor guy. 

4. Dad made appointments for us to do baptisms for the dead at the Jordan temple with Ethan, Blake, and Ty. It was a nice evening. I haven’t done baptisms since before I was married. Peeling off the soaking wet onesie was not my favorite.  Mexican food afterwards. I had enormous Al Pastor Tacos and shared Ethan’s Horchata. It was super good. The boys teased Ethan mercilessly about his big bum. The kid inherited Dad’s body type. Hopefully it will pay off when he needs it to box out on the court. 

5. The horchata was my first treat of the week.  Not bad for me. We were invited to Krysta’s house tonight for homemade ice cream, and tomorrow I will be baking a cake for Tate’s birthday so…I might have to try the no sugar thing again on Tuesday.

6. Jett didn’t get to come to the temple with us, but he did get to go boating with Nate’s family.  He was able to get up on the knee board!

7. Today Dad and I drove out to hear Elder Kurogi speak in church. He was just like I imagined. Funny, intelligent, humble, faithful. I’m so glad you were able to serve with him and learn from him.

8. I’m not sure why, but I’ve got the itch to organize every corner of the house. Mostly I just think about it rather than actually following through. But, this week Dad and I ordered a nice cabinet unit for the garage, and I’m pathetically excited about it.

9. This week I got an email from Family Search that lead me to a link with photos of my grandmas. They were both such beautiful and accomplished women. I saw a younger photo of Grandma Stadelbauer that I didn’t even recognize as being my grandma. She looked so different. I asked my mom about it and learned that she had a deviated septum repaired. I will tell you this—I wish my nose looked like that after my deviated septum was repaired! My surgeon flat out refused to do any reshaping of my nose. I should have pushed harder! I also asked my grandpa about Grandma Bramhall running marathons. I learned that my grandma and grandpa Bramhall ran their fist marathon together in 1978. It was the second St. George marathon ever held, and grandma set the record for her age group. She ran one more marathon, and grandpa ran 4 more. So amazing! I wish I inherited some of that endurance and athleticism. At that timer I believe it was pretty rare for women to run long distances.

10. Every week is filled with so many crazy national headlines. It kind of makes your head spin. The Jan 6th hearings have been fascinating and discouraging. We are constantly learning crazy details. And so many people don’t care and aren’t paying attention. It’s very dark humor, but Trump’s first wife died this week in an accidental fall, and people are joking about conspiracies that Trump was behind it to get out of testifying in court on Friday. Ah what a world. BUT—there was a fascinating piece of news I thought you would be interested in.  Have you seen the photographs from the James Webb telescope? The first images were released this week, and they are absolutely stunning. I can’t even describe it well because it’s pretty mind-bending to me, but they have captured images from 13 billion light years away—basically they have photographs from the beginning of time. I can’t even quite comprehend what that means. But scientists are so excited about the treasure trove of information this telescope is providing about the universe. Fascinating.

I love you! Hope you have a great week.
Mom


















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