The Good Life

Hello my dears! It was so good to talk to you both on Sunday. Honestly it's so strange to have both of you away from home. It’s so quiet here with only three boys, and our large crew that used to take up an entire row at church is now just a handful of us! 

Blake, I’m sorry you were sick all week, but glad to see you on the mend.  What a bummer that your p-day Ichiban karaoke day was tainted by the Dengue.  I’m wondering if you just had a very mild case, or if you have an exceptionally high pain tolerance, because bone-breaking fever sounds miserable. I’m really glad you were well enough to participate in the baptisms. What a neat experience. Hopefully you can start sleeping better once you are back on a regular schedule. I read an email from Colton this week and he also hears noises at night. He thinks his house is haunted, so I guess it could be worse? 
Ty, I’m excited for you to be in Kuala Lumpur! It looks like a really cool city. The Narwal building is amazing! I hope you learn a lot from your new companion and enjoy being with him for his last transfer. I imagine you have a lot of new responsibilities and things to learn as a new AP, but I know you will be great at it. You’ve got a lot of wonderful leadership skills, and I know the other missionaries there love and respect you. 

This is what we’ve been up to this week:
  1. This week we celebrated Jett’s 12th birthday! I assumed he would want a cellphone, but he said he was too “young” for a phone. Huh. What he really wanted was an iPod to listen to music and some nice headphones. We decided to get him an Apple Watch instead, plus the headphones. That way we can at least text him, and he can listen to music, but hopefully won’t have the extra distractions that would come along with a cell phone. I think he was pleased. But it’s a bit complicated to get set up, so he’s needing to be patient. He also wanted to have a birthday party this year. But his birthday was over fall break when friends were out of town. There are conflicts next weekend, and Halloween the next. So.  We might need to be creative. 
  2. Jett also hit the jackpot at his orthodontist appointment. It’s time for phase two braces, but Dr Brown told him he could do Invisalign if he wanted to. What?! So lucky. I mean is it really even adolescence if you don’t have to suffer through braces like the rest of your peers?
  3. Dad got 4 tickets to the Mammoth Hockey game and Toyota club for Friday night. Because Jett had football early Saturday morning, he’s the one who didn’t get to come. Dad, Tate, Ethan and I went and had a great time. Poor Ethan got stuck sitting next to me, but he enjoyed the game regardless. He was especially excited when a fight broke out on the ice! Because Jett didn’t get to come to the game, Dad took DRIP to see the new Tron movie in the theater and he thought that was pretty cool. 
  4. Saturday morning I let Ethan drive on the freeway for the first time. According to Dad, he is still several driving lessons away from being ready for the freeway, but I thought traffic would be sparse and it might be a good time for him to try. He drove all the way to Herriman and did pretty well. He certainly enjoys driving at higher speeds! He’s a big fan of pointing out to me when my own speeds drop below the legal limit. Teaching teenagers to drive is super fun. Definitely not stressful. 
  5. Saturday morning Jett’s football team played in their first (and last playoff game.) Jett’s team was the #8 seed and we played against #1 Seed Mountain Ridge. We played well, but still lost. Jett’s said they were the worst refs ever! Season is over for this year. 
  6. Michael came out for the game Saturday morning, and then the two of us drove to Lindon to meet my parents and Scott and Kathleen at my Grandpa’s storage unit. They were hoping to get the 2 units emptied, but only managed to get one done. It was a lot of work! Michael found a lot of grandpa’s clothing that he was really excited about. I told him to consider if there was anything he should share with you two. I brought another couple of boxes full of clothing home for everyone to look through. So hopefully you two can find a few things you would like. 
  7. When my dad and Scott took a loaded trailer to DI, my mom and Michael drove to Provo for the afternoon and we attended the “No Kings” rally with a few  hundred like-minded friends. Honestly I’m not sure why we are not marching in the streets every day to oppose the corruption happening in the Trump administration, but I does feel good to see others who are also concerned about what is happening. Millions of people all across the country—and world turned out to protest. Trump reacted by posting an AI video of himself as a king piloting a fighter jet. And then from the fighter jet he dumped poop onto the protesters. Amazing. 
  8. Michael was fretting all day about not getting tickets to the BYU/Utah game. Tickets were in the $220+ range. And as it got close to kickoff prices were over $400. But Michael lucked into an extra ticket from his roommate and was able to go to the game. He said it was the “best day of my life.” BYU beat Utah 24-21 and it was an intense, fun game. It was the third consecutive BYU win over Utah, and fans flooded the field after. Utah has not beat BYU for 8 years straight!
  9. This week the Church announced a new First Presidency. The prophet was announced as “Dallas” Harris Oaks which made me smile. Henry B Eyering and D Todd Christopherson will be counselors. It’s a new era for the church. 
  10. I worked my last day of the season with Campus Studio and spent the week driving kids around as usual. I am really enjoying the fall weather and the changing leaves, and I saw a really beautiful sunrise on Wednesday which is very unusual for me! I’ve been enjoying the sound of my wind chime out on the back deck, but Dad doesn’t like hearing it when he’s trying to sleep. I’ve spent several hours of my life that I’ll never get back trying to change out the light fixture in the mudroom, baked my second loaf of sourdough bread, and scoured the internet for an affordable Vector costume for Jett. I spent a good amount of time reading about Dengue fever and fretting about Blake being sick. And also wondering where Ty would be after transfers. Ah. Life is good. 
Love to you both! I’m so very proud of your dedication and hard work!

Xoxo,
Mom




































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