Gator Country

Hey there Ty!

I hope you had a great week. I’m looking forward to talking to you and hearing all about it. I hope you were able to find some new friends to teach. I hope you are enjoying your new companion. Hope that you are feeling well and stretching your grocery money sufficiently. I definitely want to see this haircut you got!


This is what we have been up to:


  1. Jett is done with soccer, but is starting up basketball. Plus soccer is basically year round. Hopefully his wrist heals quickly so he can keep playing. 
  2. Monday night I helped set up for Blake’s Senior Night football dinner. Oh man. Senior year is rough. I hate thinking about another one of my kids leaving home!
  3. On Tuesday your cousin Ryan had to have surgery to correct a broken collarbone. Bummer. He’s going to have to keep his arm in a sling for a few more weeks. He broke it in a mountain biking accident, and it didn’t look pretty. 
  4. We celebrated Jett’s birthday a day early because of scheduling conflicts. He requested ice cream cake and orange chicken. He got a new baseball bat and first baseman mitt, some shin guards, a couple of Harry Potter LEGO sets, and another Big Nate book. It was nice to all be home in the evening and not have to run to/from games. 
  5. Wednesday morning Tate’s kindergarten class planned a program for “Grandparents and Goodies.” Tate had both sets of grandparents join him! Lucky kiddo. 
  6. Wednesday night Farmington played Fremont at home, and we had another decisive win—making Blake’s team the region champions. I’m so happy Farmington was able to salvage their season. It feels so good to win! Headed to the playoffs now. 
  7. Wednesday night also brought a surprise Mormon news headline: New garment designs are on their way! Currently only offered in a few areas, but should be rolled out worldwide sometime in 2025. 
  8. Thursday Dad and Blake and I flew to Orlando for Blake’s senior trip. We got in late and then went straight to bed. Friday morning we were ready for the 7:20 AM shuttle to Universal Studios. 7:20 AM is super early for me. But when you consider the 2 hour time change, it felt more like 5:20 AM. Honestly I’m not sure how I survived the day. I put on a nausea patch, took ibuprofen, and used earplugs—and still felt like garbage all day. Amusement parks just aren’t the same now that I’m old! Harry Potter land was pretty darn cool. Very similar to when we went to Universal in California several years ago. 
  9. Saturday we were so exhausted and we slept all the way through breakfast. Darn it! We had to hustle out the door to go to our Gator watching tour. It was pretty cool, though we didn’t see any really big alligators. We saw several baby-sized gators, a few turtles and some beautiful birds. Then in the evening we went to the Florida Gators football game. There is a lot of team spirit here! There were tailgate parties all around in the surrounding neighborhoods. Everyone was dressed in Gators gear. There were close to 90,000 people in the stadium. It was a great game, the band was amazing, and they set off fireworks after each Florida touchdown. Our seats were great except we had maybe 18 square inches for our bleacher seats. Unfortunately all of our behinds are larger than the allotted space. So we were pretty miserably close the whole game. And the girls sitting in front of Blake were drunk, annoying, and definitely not respecting his personal space!
  10. Today we went to church and then had a great breakfast. Now we are relaxing at the hotel while Blake tries to watch football and write his BYU application essays. What a pain! Blake has a U in AP government because of too many tardies. His teacher told him he could work off the U by observing the political climate in Florida and writing a paper about it. So far we have seen only one Trump yard sign, and one Harris yard sign. We saw one man wearing a t-shirt that read “I’m 1776% sure you’re not gonna take my guns.” And we saw another lady with a Harris sticker on her shirt. So as far as we can see, Trump and Harris are neck and neck here in Florida. I’m pretty surprised that we have seen more Trump stuff all over. We haven’t even see a single MAGA hat! We might need to venture into some more neighborhoods to do more research! Just over 2 weeks until Election Day! The suspense is killing me.
Love you!
Mom

Ps. Quote shared in sacrament meeting today:

Joseph Smith said, “I count not my life dear to me, only to do his will” (Acts 20:24) in a letter to Emma Smith in 1832. He also wrote, “I have given my life into [God's] hands. I am prepared to go at his call. I desire to be with Christ”


Pps. I’m not sure if I can add photos from my phone today. Might have to wait until I get home. 

Sent from my iPhone

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