SPIDERS AND SNAKES AND HORNETS

Dear Ty,

I hope you have had a great week. You’re becoming an MTC veteran—you’ve now been there long enough to see friends come and go while you remain steadfast and immovable! How did the early-morning send-off go for your temporary companion? Hopefully you were able to go back to sleep for a couple more hours when you got back to your room. Now you’re back with your original companions? I don’t know if you will see Cooper at the MTC this week. He’s really struggling. I hope he’s able to work it all out and find a solution that works for him.  

I’m glad to hear that you got to listen to President McKay speak. My guess is that people are still talking about how amazing his talk was! Hopefully he gave you some good thoughts to think on and consider.

I really did mean to send you your birthday treat this week, and again it didn’t work out. Will you be surprised with donuts this week? Wait and find out! At least you have 10 pounds of lifesavers to console you.

This was a really nice week. I felt like things have slowed down a bit and we could do some summer relaxing.

1. Blake came home from Seattle Sunday night and then went straight to there BYU football camp Monday morning. He was pretty wiped out by then. And he had a light shining into his dorm room all night long, so he didn’t sleep well. I think he would have preferred to have the camps spread out a bit. Blake was home for a little bit Wednesday afternoon, but then he and Ethan went to Youth Conference Thursday-Saturday. I think they had a really good time. They hiked and spent time at the lake and played 9 square. Blake had a leader who told a lot of amazing stories—like when he was a missionary and about to get mugged by a gang of guys with knives and they suddenly disappeared from view of their attackers. Wild. Maybe Blake can write to you about it.

2. Tate had a new friend (Mason Pastrana) over to play multiple times this week. They kept each other entertained for hours and absolutely wrecked the basement getting out hot wheels and legos and Nerf guns. Totally worth it.

3. Jett was supposed to mow the grass this week, but he COULD NOT. Because SPIDERS. Brad van Uitert posted pictures on the neighborhood Facebook page of snakes that are living in his bushes. SNAKES. And then the little kids came running inside a few days ago saying they saw a snake in our bushes. A SNAKE. When you add in my new found terror of the hornets that live in our yard, I’ve decided we need to move and/or burn the whole place down.

4. I turned 45 this week! It’s going to be my best year yet. One of my best friends from high school was in town, so six of us had lunch together at Allison Jensen’s house. Allison bought a razzleberry pie to celebrate, and it was an extremely enjoyable way to spend the afternoon. Dad brought home Cafe Rio for dinner and I made myself a chocolate cake. We had presents, I got to talk to you, and it was a great day.

5. Great Nana has been released from her care facility and is back at home now. She came to dinner tonight and was looking much better.

6. Dana and Tanner came to town for Maren’s wedding, which was held in Tanner’s parent's beautiful back yard. They were free to come see us on Friday, so we spent the day together at Cherry Hill and had an excellent time floating in the lazy river. Tanner was having an extremely nostalgic moment remembering his childhood spent at the park. He was very disappointed they no longer sell slush puppies, but overall he loved the changes and new slides. After playing all day we went to Nana’s house for a birthday dinner.  I may have eaten 3 rolls, and 3 caramel brownies. Delicious.

7. Uncle Andrew has been performing miracles at Grandpa and Nana’s house during his time off. He helped grandpa hang the chandelier in their entry. He organized Grandpa’s work room. He cleared everything out of the side yard, planted trees and flowers, moved the grapevines in preparation for new landscaping. He poured concrete steps, leveled the yard, and put in sprinklers. He went up to Nana’s work room and hauled boxes and bins and cleared a big space for Nana to work. It’s absolutely amazing what he’s doing! And he’s lost about 50 pounds in preparation for a cruise he’s going on this weekend. He’s got another job interview this week, so I’m hoping it goes well for him.

8. Nana and I drove down to Spanish Fork Saturday night. My cousin Aubrey threw a party for her son Brantley who is going into the Navy in a couple of weeks. Aren’t you so happy to be in the MTC instead of Boot Camp?! I am! We talked to Aubrey’s dad for a few minutes. I haven’t seen him for close to 20 years. My cousin Strider looks exactly like him. I still don’t like Jason. But Aubrey is a saint and is going to take care of him in his old age. 

9. Poor Michael has raging allergies again. He is headed up for another 3-day run down the Main Salmon river for more training. He’s living his best life.

10. Dad is not living his best life right now. He’s got a big deal closing soon, and he’s had to work all weekend. What he really wanted to do was fix bikes and work on my honey-do list, but that will have to wait for another day. Who are we kidding? What he really wanted to do was gold 18 holes at Hobble Creek. Sigh. Maybe someday.