10 Days without you!

Hey Blake! It was great to talk to you today, and I loved your email. It’s fun to hear about your experience and watch you navigate this new phase of life. You are just at the verrrrrry beginning, and being a missionary is going to be hard. Keep working at the language! It will come, and pretty soon you will be thinking in Cambodian and trying to remember the word for things in English. The food lines sound like the worst. But you can do anything for a few weeks, amiright?I didn’t notice your hair looking funky today, so hopefully Adam did a good job on that haircut! I’m dying thinking about you telling people you’re serving in Iran and their eyes getting big a believing you. They are probably writing home to tell their parents about the new missionaries headed to Iran, and this is how Mormon rumors and urban legends begin!

Hey Ty! Fun to talk to you today. Nice haircut! Sounds like you and Blake are both needing a touchup! Good luck with all your extra training prep this week, and good luck with your finding! We talked to Blake via messenger Saturday afternoon. He’s doing fine, but doesn’t seem to be enjoying the MTC as much as you did. He’s not impressed with the food, and really wants a good workout and a good night’s sleep. This week they transitioned to language immersion, and Blake is feeling challenged. He’s having a hard time memorizing flash cards. Honestly though, I’d rather have him be challenged than bored. The language will come. Blake is randomly telling people at the MTC that he’s in the first group of missionaries to be called to serve in Iran. And some of those naive kids actually believe him. I can just imagine their eyes getting big and then writing home to tell their parents about the new missionaries headed to Iran. 

Dad and I went out to eat at Orlando’s for dinner last night and ran into Sarah Jane and Vern Geckler. Brandon got home a few weeks ago from Brazil. Sounds like he had a great mission, but also quite dangerous. He’s headed to BYU in the fall. Gavin Wanner and Connor Griffin had homecomings today, and Blake Taylor and Max Jenkins will be speaking in church next week. Crazy. Aren’t you grateful you still have several more months to serve?!

This is what we’ve been up to:

1. We dropped you off at the MTC a week ago Wednesday, and home hasn’t been the same without you! Honestly it feels a little strange to be mentally ticking through where all of my kids are, and realize that only three of them are living at home and need to be fed and put to bed! We drove away from the MTC and had a good cry—all the time knowing that you were right where you needed to be. We drove up to Great Grandpa’s house to see if the new owners had made any changes to the exterior, but it looked much the same. And then, because the littles needed some cheering up, we went mini-golfing at Cherry Hill. I did not win, but I came closer to winning than usual, and that made me happy! The next day I slept in late and swam with the kids at Cherry Hill because I really needed some R&R! It felt good to take little breather after the jam-packed days I’ve had lately. Dad unfortunately had several more long days ahead of him trying to get a big deal closed at work. Luckily it closed on Thursday so he could enjoy a family day for Great Grandpa’s funeral. I spent weekend trying to get the house picked up after Glacier and a busy week. Monday the cleaning ladies came and delivered us from our filth. Bless them!
2. Ty has a new companion that he’s training, and he’s been called as a co-zone leader? I’m not sure exactly how that all works, but he’s working hard.
3. I’m convinced Michael is having a richer Taiwan experience than every one of his classmates. He seems determined to explore every inch of that island. And he has been touched by the kindness and generosity of the people in Taiwan. Saturday night I checked Find Friends to see if Ethan was on his way home, and noticed that Michael’s location said HONG KONG. This is an approximation of our conversation: Me: Michael are you in Hong Kong? Mike: Haha. Yep! I wondered if you would notice. I wanted to surprise you! Me: Cool! Mike: This place is amazing. Me: Did you go with your program, or invite some friends? Mike: I didn’t invite anyone. When I invite friends I feel responsible for making sure they are safe and have a good place to sleep, etc. Traveling by myself gives me more flexibility. Me: Ah. So where did you sleep? Mike: Under an overpass. Me: . . .  Mike: It’s legal to sleep outside. I checked. Me: Don’t ever do that again!!!
4. Colton Hyde had his farewell Sunday and started home MTC Monday. He gave such a great talk. One of the stories he shared was about a strange prompting he had to go up into the mountains around midnight one night. He met a man who was obviously in distress and who had just said his first prayer in many years. Colton was clearly an answer to this man’s prayer.  Colton was inspired to talk to him about the gospel and meeting with the missionaries. He befriended the man and has kept in touch with him since. It was a really cool story—-one that his parent’s heard for the first time over the pulpit!
5. Monday Jett and Tate invited Nate and Gavin to come to Cherry Hill with us and use their buddy passes. Gavin is a good little swimmer, but I was nervous about other people in the lazy river or pool not looking out for him, or bumping him, or running over him with a tube, so I stayed super close. He needed a lot of help getting in and out of the pools and onto his walker. He was too nervous to try the Little Dipper slides, but the slide at Pirate’s Cove was just right for him. So I would wheel him up to the top and lift him onto the slide. And then I’d pick up his walker and run down around and into the pirate’s cove to get him back up onto his walker. Then I would push him across the shallow pool, life him off and on his walker again to get him over the edge of the pool. And then I’d push hm up to the slide and do it all over again! It was exhausting, but also such a pleasure to mach sure he had a great time out at the waterpark. His world of available activities he’s able to do is shrinking, and it just breaks my heart.
6. Tuesday night Dad took me to a firm activity at Top Golf. It was my first time there, and I thought it was a lot of fun. Good food, fun activity. I really enjoyed it. Except for the fan. I hated the fan. It kept moving, and It was impossible to keep my hair out of my face all evening. Note to self: Wear a hat and a ponytail next time!
7. Because we were out for the night, Ethan was in charge of Tate. But Ethan wanted to go to the soccer game at the high school, so he and Tate rode their bikes all the way there. Tate did great and had fun hanging out with Ethan. And now he thinks he gets to go any time Ethan goes out with his friends! Ethan is trying to adjust to being the oldest brother at home!
8. Wednesday I had to give a presentation on at a PTA meeting at Davis High that was for all of PTA in Davis County. I was a little stressed, but didn’t need to be. Everything went fine. But I really had to wait for the presentation to be behind me before I could start writing my talk for Great Grandpa’s funeral. It really was an honor to be asked to speak at his funeral. But I suffer from severe writer’s block and didn’t really get my thoughts onto paper until the early morning hours the night before the funeral. I was sitting up on the stand in the church just prior to speaking still trying to edit my thoughts. Sigh. When will I learn to not do that to myself?
9. The funeral was really lovely. It was good to have my extended family together to celebrate his life. My dad, uncle Scott, and my cousin Brad all gave very touching talks that really encapsulated the kind of person he was. I wish you could have been there. I learned a lot about my own grandpa that I wished I had known earlier. I’m not sure if you have any way to access the internet to watch the meeting? I’ll send the link just in case. If not, I will try to have it transcribed so you can read it. It was a long meeting, and you might not be able to read it all at once, but maybe when you have a few minutes here and there. I’m also going to send you his devotional talk and a talk he gave for Easter several years ago. Again—I’m sure you can’t read it all at once, but I think you will enjoy both of the talks. He really was a masterful speaker and a spiritual giant. He will be buried in the cemetery close to his house where my Grandma was buried. It’s a beautiful spot up on the hill. I know it was his time to go, but I still mourn the loss.
10. Random news from the neighborhood—Dad and I were invited to the Warby’s house on Friday for a very non-competitive game of pickleball. Enjoyable. Anthony Butler from our ward got baptized Saturday evening. I’m not sure if you remember him. He is the grandson of the Averys and has been coming to youth activities. It was a nice event to attend. Bennett Black had an accident at Lake Powell last week. He slipped at the top of a rock face and slid 170+ feet, landing in the water at the bottom. Apparently he is lucky to have dropped into the water because he was falling fast enough that landing on rock would likely have killed him. And luckily he did not hit his head. But his hands are so injured that he needs to go to the burn unit at the hospital tomorrow to have his hands treated. I attended the bridal shower for Bethany Jensen (too young!) but missed the one for Ashley Cordero (also too young!). Ashley and Jake Willard (not too young) are finally getting married in September. Today I attended the funeral for Brian Parkin. It was a really nice memorial service for Jake’s father-in-law. I gave him a big hug for you! I came home to look him up in my yearbook because I thought we were in the same graduating class, but I was wrong. He was a year older than me, which makes sense why I didn’t remember him from school. I also found a picture of my DOCTOR in my yearbook. What? I had no idea she went to Davis, and also I thought she was older than me. So now I feel really old! 

Okay, that’s all I’ve got for now. Have a fantastic week!

Love you, Mom

Ps. “Screwing” is probably not the best word to use in your missionary emails! 

Pps.

I’m attaching instructions for the 4-7-8 breathing technique.  And also count down by 7s. Hopefully these techniques can counter the Gadianton Robbers! Can’t hurt to try it!

Ppps. How could I forget? Ethan got invited by Wyatt Orison to a corn hole competition yesterday. They won the competition and $1000 in prize money! $500 each, and an awesome trophy. Not a bad way to spend a Saturday evening!

Pppps. Oh also—Dad took the boys golfing and Tate got to go for the first time. He said it was “mid.”