Surgery, Parties, and Church

Hello Michael!

As always, it sounds like you had a busy week with surprises along the way. Chinese presidents in Outer Darkness makes me laugh. Passing around Mate in the middle of flu season is a very bad idea. Sorry about your awkward chapel tour. I’m glad the other mission moms are keeping your apartment festive! And I hope you learned your lesson about posting to Facebook! Im so sad to hear about the car accident. It’s just devastating news to hear about Elder Leonard. You will have to let us know what happened. We are hoping and praying for the best.

News from home:

1. We had a fun, eventful week. The firm Christmas party was on Wednesday night at the Salt Lake Country Club. Always a highlight of the Christmas season. Dad looooves those mashed potatoes, and they served ice cream this year! We had a Polar Express-themed Christmas party at the church on Friday, and I also hosted a brunch with my ministering sisters that morning. This time of year is so great to be able to gather with friends, family, and colleagues. Especially after 2 Covid Christmases, this year feels very “normal.” Everyone on the planet is sick right now, but nobody cares anymore.  Except me. Dad says my germ radar is always on high alert.

2. On Tuesday for family night we went down to Heritage Park and walked along the walking trail where they had set up a huge display of blow up holiday decorations.  Tate loved it. Blake, not so much. 

3. Ethan had some sort of fundraising activity at school this week where kids could pay money at lunch time to “pie” their classmates. Ethan is on the Hope Squad and was one of the kids getting pied. He got whipped cream smashed in his face multiple times and then begged me after to come pick him up so he could come home and shower it all off.  He sent me a picture, and I kid you not—I thought they had given him a makeover before they pied his face. It looked like he had blush, lipstick, and mascara on, and I thought how in the world is he going to get all of that off his face? And then I learned that he was wearing zero makeup. None. Lol. It reminded me of when you were younger and people were convinced that you wore eyeliner! Oh I’m so jealous of those eyelashes!

4. Ethan had surgery on his kneecap Thursday morning. I had a stomach bug this week and was not feeling well after the party Wednesday night. But Ethan had to check in to the hospital at 5:15 am. Yes. 5:15 AM. Cruel and Unusual, I say. Your dad was also coming down with a bit of a cold, but he offered to take Ethan in the morning and I was so grateful. I guess they got to the hospital on time and then basically had to wait for hours before the surgery started. Dr. Tyson said the surgery went well. I guess Zach Jacobs sells the medical devices used in the surgery, so he was in the operating room with Ethan to oversee the procedure. But apparently before the surgery they had to give Ethan an IV, and also numb his knee up with shots that he had to be awake for. It sounds like the needles were huge and horrible, and it was all very painful. I was surprised they did anything painful before the anesthesia, but I guess he needed to be able to feel where the anesthetic was going. He seems to be recovering well. Doesn’t seem to be in too much pain. But his leg is in a brace that is locked straight so he can’t move it. That makes it hard to get around and get dressed, etc.  He’s going to try to go to school tomorrow. But it’s probably going to be hard to navigate such a big school.  He’s going to request an elevator pass in the morning, and we will cross our fingers everything goes well.  

5. Yesterday was popcorn day. I made 32 batches of oven-baked Carmel popcorn to take around to the neighbors. That’s a lot of popcorn! Blake’s friends were all over last night to hang out, play volleyball and watch a movie. They were also excited that it was popcorn day!

6. Dad spoke in church today. He was so excited to give this talk. He worked hard on it, and was able to draw on years of studying and learning about Joseph Smith for material. It was a great talk, and he bore powerful testimony of the prophet. You should read it when you have time.

7. At church today they announced there will be boundary changes in the stake. It seems they intend to create smaller wards. I really like being in a large ward, but I understand that our ward is so big that it becomes really difficult to manage, and it’s a burden on leadership. Ward boundary changes are always hard, and I hate the idea of being split up from friends. I’m sure I’ll feel a bit anxious this week until it’s all settled. For sure the ward will be different when you come home.

8. Ty smashed his toe in his ski boot again this year. He says he likes his boots tight, but he needs to have the boot “punched’ near his toe to give him a little extra space. But his toe has been really hurting, and he thought there was a blood blister under his nail. So of course he watched a YouTube video with a skier who had the same problem. The skier put a pin through his nail so he could drain the fluid and relieve the pressure and then was good to ski the next day. And so on Friday at midnight Ty decided to poke a hot needle into his toenail. Of course it hurt terribly, and he decided he didn’t want to do it again. I texted Dave Warby in the morning and he said he could take care of it at home. I thought Dave was just going to drain the toe, but he told Ty that the nail needed to be removed. So Dave numbed up his toe with (4!!!) shots that HURT. And then Dave ripped off the nail.  I couldn’t watch. Anyway, boys are always an adventure, and I hope Dave never has to pull off one of my toenails. And hopefully Ty will be back to skiing soon. His back is still bothering him, but not as bad as a couple of weeks ago.

9. Bramhall happenings: Dana and Tanner were supposed to move into their new home on Friday. But the lender told them Thursday afternoon that they couldn’t close the loan until Monday. They were super upset, but couldn’t do anything about it. They had to reschedule the movers and all of the appliance deliveries, and it was a huge hassle. Hopefully everything goes well for them tomorrow! Maddy is waiting for a formal job offer to come in the next couple of days. She thinks she is going to be offered somewhat of a promotion and a moving package to manage a nicer store in Denver. She’s excited about the idea of moving out of state and is wanting a change, but Denver wasn’t really the location she was thinking about. I think she will take the offer if its comes in as planned. And then she will need to organize a move and start right after Christmas, so it sounds pretty stressful! My mom and dad just got home from California. They went out to visit Ryan and Kelsey and the new babies. My dad said it’s quite overwhelming to be juggling two jobs, two brand new babies, and three other little kids! He said he spent the whole week fixing things around the house. That would be so helpful!

10. Tonight at dinner for some reason we were talking about nightmares. Tate told us that he had a nightmare at “Jan’s house.” He was talking about when we stayed at Aunt Jan’s cabin last summer. He told us that he watched Harry Potter and saw the big, scary spiders and that was his nightmare. I remember not letting you watch that movie for awhile because I knew how afraid you were of spiders. Anyway, Tate went on to tell us about his made-up nightmares. Dad and I looked at each other across the table and Dad knew exactly what I was thinking. I was having deja vu. It was just like a flashback to 15 years ago when you were sitting at the table telling us your stories. He even arches his eyebrows like you, and he was wearing one of your old t-shirts. It’s like you never left home!

Love you Michael!

Mom