Summer is Over

Hello my dear!

The way you write letters makes it sound like you are absolutely LOVING life as a missionary. I love it.  I hope you had a really great week training your new companion. Hopefully he’s the type who likes to work until he drops! I’m always surprised and delighted by the generosity and kindness people show you—even in small ways like giving you red bean, or letting you use their parking spot. Sounds like you had really interesting and amazing meal with Frank. Again—so kind of him to treat you to dinner.  I’m glad your ward is excited about missionary work and that you are having success. Keep up all the good work! I can’t believe you are nearing your 1-year mark. What a year it has been! I’ve seen a lot of growth in you, and I’m so proud of you.

We’ve had a fun and crazy last week of summer vacation here at home.

1. Jett had a soccer tournament this week. He plays goalie, and is pretty good at that position, not as good when he plays on the field. They won three games, but lost the championship game. They took 2nd place, and Jett got an awesome medal. Then on Saturday night Dad took him to the Real game and had a really fun night. Jett really loves soccer. 

2. Tate had more swim lessons and he is doing much better learning to float. He is so excited to start preschool, but he has to wait a week longer than his brothers. He wishes he could go every day, but he is only in a 3-day class. 

3. Ethan had a rough week. He’s nervous about starting jr high, and not excited to go. He doesn’t like going to physical therapy, and he’s really mad at me for not letting him play basketball right now. It’s not like him to have a bad attitude, so hopefully he enjoys school this week and cheers up a bit. He got to go float the river with his young men’s group this week, and that was a lot of fun for him. He gave up on learning Chinese on DuoLingo, but he switched to Spanish and is making a little more progress.  

4. Blake had his first sophomore football game on Thursday afternoon. He played well and they won their game against Bountiful. They asked him to dress for the varsity game on Friday. He didn’t get any play time, but he’s getting good feedback rom his coaches. He’s starting high school tomorrow!

5. Ty played like it was his last week to live. He went out birding and saw two rare owls (Great Gray Owl, and one other?) this week and was SO EXCITED! He did some hiking and biking with friends, and also a little bit of ACT prep. He spent all weekend with his friends from HEFY. A group of them came to our house on Friday night to sleep over in the court. They set up a screen on the court wall to play video games and watch movies. Then in the morning we had a big breakfast with burritos and crepes. Then they went off to spend the night at another friend’s ranch, and he got home late this evening. Apparently they went four wheeling and then our country dancing and had a very fun time and hardly slept at all the whole weekend. Getting up for school tomorrow morning is gonna be rough. Earlier in the week Ty had some friends over to make posters and they went out to ask girls to the Homecoming dance. Ty and Brook took a break from each other over the summer, and it appears they will not be getting back together when school starts. I love Brook, but I’m relieved. Ty has had a great summer. He’s spent a lot of time on his own birding and biking, but he has also spent a lot of time with friends, and I think his senior year will be a good experience for him to be more social with other friends. 

6. Tomorrow is back to school! We have been buying clothes and supplies, and I went to back to school night at endeavour and Centennial Jr. I even went to my first PTA meeting—it was 2 hours long and did not pertain to me at all. Do not recommend. At least there were cinnamon rolls. So much for no sugar this week.

7. I’ve been working like crazy on my garage project. It’s very labor intensive, and I’m exhausted. After grinding the floor, I used heavy-duty degreaser ad scrubbed and power washed the floor. Then I mixed up and acid wash to etch the concrete and I had to scrub that in and wash it off. Etching took so much longer than I anticipated. Today the concrete is dry and I can see that I need to wash it again to remove more of the etching materials. Then the next day I intend to repair the cracks and holes, and tape the edged. Hopefully I will be painting by Wednesday. I still need to hire someone to install the cabinets and other racks we are going to put in, and I’ve got to figure out where everything is going to go. I’m really anxious to be done and get everything moved back in. Then I can get some other areas of the house organized as well. Right now Tate’s old room is full of stuff from the garage. The toy room has stacks of food storage that is waiting for me to put away, but I’ve got to take bins from cold storage up to the garage, etc, etc. Also, I freaking tired.

8. Yesterday we had a family reunion at Barnes Park for the Rawson family. It was fun to see aunts, uncles, and cousins.

9. Rob and Leishja are scheduled to move up to Idaho next weekend. Leishja has gotten a new job in the same kind of department, and they are going to match her pay—which is significantly more than the other nurses at that hospital are making. She’s really happy about that. We didn’t see  them at dinner tonight because they have covid and are quarantined up in Idaho.

10. We didn’t see grandma and grandpa Rawson at dinner tonight either because Grandpa was admitted to the hospital this afternoon. He had shortness of breath and chest pains. They have found that he has several blood clots—perhaps from after his knee surgery. He has completed 10 weeks of physical therapy for his knee and is doing much better. But the hospital has given him a blood thinner and they are going to keep him at least overnight to monitor how he responds to it. As I understand, if the blood thinner works he will be able to come home soon. If not, he may have to have surgery to remove the clots from his lungs. Obviously surely is not desired, so please keep him in your prayers and perhaps send him a message or give him a call on Monday.

Today in church my lesson was about repentance. It really is such a beautiful part of the gospel. It’s so comforting to know that when we make mistakes and sin we can repent and try again. We are all human and have our failings, but God has offered us a way back to him if we repent and stay faithful. Beautiful.

Love you!

Mom