Home ALONE

Dear Ty,

It was great to talk to you tonight, and so fun to look through the photos you added to the shared album. Man you have to deal with some nasty creatures! And man, you get to eat some amazing looking food! The rain looks totally crazy. Holy smokes, I wouldn’t want to go out on a motor bike in that kind of rain either! You are lucky anyone comes to church when it’s raining! I'm glad you get to stay put for this transfer. It seems like you are enjoying yourself and finding your groove. I’m glad to hear you have put your friend on date, and hope that he continues to come and progress. 

We had a decently busy and fun week. There’s always something going on to keep us busy:

1. Monday was my first day home alone all day with all of my kiddos at school. It was awesome. Not gonna lie. Basically I cleaned all day. But I was ALONE.

2. Wednesday was the firm party. Jett had to miss because of football practice, and he was not happy. But the rest of us had a good time. Tate got his face painted and won $20.  Ethan won a new soccer ball and brought it home for Jett. That was super nice of him. And—dinner was really good—not BBQ!

3. I had my first Region PTA meeting on Thursday. I made a great first impression by showing up half an hour late because I went to the wrong location. Sigh. And then I also didn’t realize I was on the agenda to speak. Luckily I was up to date on the news and was able to pull the information I needed from memory. Cuz I’m awesome like that. I was invited to lunch on Friday with some of the other PTA ladies who are interested in legislative matters and it was interesting getting to know them a little bit. There were five of us at lunch and 2 of the women confessed to being raised in cult-like religious homes with very strict and extreme parents. They were both pulled out of public schools because their parents were concerned about “communist government” schools corrupting them. One of them had a mom who told her not to go to college because she would never be able to get married if she was too smart. Holy cow! It made me so grateful to be raised in a “normal” family.

4. I also had my first day as a kindergarten skill set volunteer. I was only a few minutes late to the 8:50 start time, so I’m giving myself a gold star for that.

5. Dad had his annual non-colonoscopy and everything appeared to go well. I took the opportunity to walk downstairs during his procedure and make an appointment with physical therapy for my dang tennis elbow. He wants me to do some exercises with a 2 pound dumbbell, and I’m feeling really buff. I’m supposed to soak my elbow in alternating ice water and hot water for 30 minutes, and the ice just about kills me. Hopefully it’s worth it and my elbow stops hurting!

6. Michael came home from Idaho on Tuesday. It’s been fun to have him home again. He’s been working hard to get organized and ready to go back to school. He’s looking for a job, managing emails, and cleaning all of his gear. He invited Grandpa Bramhall to join him backpacking in the Sawtooth mountains with some of his river guide friends. He was impressed that Grandpa kept up with them (maybe was a touch slow) but they had a great time and Grandpa treated them all to pizza. Michael said it was just absolutely beautiful and so nice to take a leisurely couple of days out in nature. Of course that leisurely excursion included a whole lot of hiking, but at the end of the day he didn’t have an entire group to cook for and gear to set up in the morning! Overall I think Michael had a really great time on the river and it was a summer he will always remember. 

7. We had some pretty exciting weather this week—nothing compared to the rain you’ve been getting in Sibu though! We had a quick hail and rain storm in the middle of the afternoon, and an awesome lightning show later at night. Those of us who were home and awake went outside to watch the sky light up. We had a heavy cloud cover, but the lightning would come behind the clouds and cause the sky to glow. It was so cool to watch. Apparently once it moved past Kaysville the storm picked up wind and just pounded Layton. Kelli said a bunch of trees in her neighborhood were uprooted, but we didn’t get wind at all.  

8. Blake’s team played at Bountiful High this week and it was live streamed on KSL. Pretty cool! They even called out Blake’s name when he had a fumble recovery! Blake played really well, and it was a competitive game, but they lost in the end. Blake did not seem happy when he got home Friday night. Jett was likewise disappointed when his team lost big in their game on Saturday. Hopefully we’ve got better outcomes in the coming weeks.

9. Dad had his annual golf trip to Wasatch Mountain. But this year Robby requested it be family only, so dad wasn’t able to invite his work and neighbor friends. So clearly he’s going to need to start another annual golf trip that includes his buddies. Dad got home from golfing just in time to take Jett to the Real soccer game. Jett wore his Drip Lord jersey with pride! And they ended the night with a trip to Baskin Robbins which is now Jett’s favorite ice cream shop. 

10. No rest for the weary. Dad came home from the soccer game and got to sit down and finish writing his talk for Sunday morning. Today was Brady Wallace’s farewell and he asked that dad speak with him. Dad outdid himself again and gave a really great talk. I’ll send it to you and you can listen to it. Brady starts home MTC tomorrow and then he’s off to the Provo MTC before heading to Sweden. He seems really excited to go. He told the funniest opening joke I can remember. Something about being asked to speak on the pros and cons of polygamy.  It took a beat for the congregation to process what he had just said, and then there was laughter!

Hope you have a fantastic week!

Love you,
Mom

PS. Kamala Harris rocked the Democratic Nomination Convention this week, and it seems like voters are really excited about her. I’m crossing my fingers that she is our first female president!

PPS. Do NOT go out and about during lightning storms. Take cover! Tanner tells me he had treated plenty of patients who have been hit by lightning. He is chill about just about everything, but when lightning comes out he cracks the whip and gets his kids inside. 

PPPS. It’s 10:00 on a Sunday night and both Jett and Ethan are still trying to get their piano lessons done before tomorrow. Because that’s how we roll here.