Letters to my Children

Hello Elder Rawson! I hope you are having a fabulous week! Any progress to report with the people you are teaching? Did you do anything fun for p-day? I hope the weather is treating you well. It's been freezing here! One more busy week of May and then summer break for the boys! This is what we’ve been up to: 1. Highlight: Ethan’s 6th grade graduation. Dad came with me, and they were having a lot of technical difficulties. They also have a really large class of 6th graders, and Dad was griping about the graduation going on for a long time—he wanted to get to work. Then the kids went up to sing another song, and each 6th grader took turns holding up a sign they had made telling what they wanted to become when they grew up (nab player, doctor, etc). When it was Ethan’s turn his sign read “Dad.” That’s what you call a parent payoff moment!  2. Lowlight: I accidentally ripped off my toenail. 3. This week we have had a little bit of drama with Ethan’s basketball team. Coach Walkenhurst i...

Hey Michael! So good to hear from you this week. It seems like you are really thriving, and I’m so happy to see it. I’m glad the transfer went well and you are enjoying working with your new companions. Hopefully this is an opportunity to really improve your language skills. It sounds like finding contacts in this new area will be harder, but at the same time you seem to have a lot of people making progress. Keep working hard! I’m so glad you got to see Caleb! You’ll have to tell us how the meeting went.  The month of May is always crazy here, and a bit overwhelming. We just got a new computer, and I haven’t figured out how to set up my email on it, so this is coming from my phone today. As I looked over what happened this week I realized it was all about Ethan. So this week’s email is basically an Ethan fan account!  1. Linda asked the boys to start working with a piano app called NoteRush that helps with note recognition and aight reading. Ethan is killing is and surpassing ...

Hey there! Hope you are doing well. I’m excited to talk to you and hear how your transfer went. I hope you are enjoying springtime in Boston and having good success with teaching and speaking Chinese.  Things around here have been busy, busy, busy! 1. We came home from NYC and Blake got Covid. I think he is the only one who got it. But Tate, Ty, and I all got a cold a week or two after, and that was a royal pain I the neck! It totally solidified my germ phobia.  2. I got sick right before my trip to Colorado. I kept testing negative, so I decided to go anyway. I went with my friends Janie and Megan to Rocky Mountain National Park and we stayed for a few nights in a nice little cabin with a stream in front of it. We went on some easy hikes, saw a lot of wildlife, talked for hours, and found a lot of yummy food to eat. I’ve been doing a LOT of traveling, and I’m sort of relieved to be home now! 3. Last Saturday we went to Provo canyon to celebrate Great Grandpa’s 90th birthday! ...

Hello My dear! Yesterday was transfer day! Hope everything went smoothly. Looks like you had a great time at the Boston Marathon. What good luck that you could be there to see that before your transfer. I hope Boston is beautiful and warm and you are enjoying nice spring weather. Things have been crazy at home…as usual. Your dad sent me about 100 calendar invites this week and I tried to not have a panic attack about my schedule over the next few weeks.  1. Our flight home from NYC was delayed. Grandma Rawson was going to pick us up from the airport, but she ended up sick with a stomach bug. We arrived at 1 in the morning, and luckily my Dad was willing to come get us! When we landed Blake said he wasn’t feeling well. I thought maybe it was motion sickness from flying, but nope. It was Covid. Dana got it too. I think she was pretty sick, but Blake was just stuffed up for a few days. He had a great time hanging out in his bedroom. I sent him the link so he could study up for his dri...

Hello Michael! It was so good to talk to you this week. I'm glad your teaching opportunities are picking up, and the Ping Pong night sounds like it could be a lot of fun. Spring in Boston is going to be beautiful. Hopefully this long winter is almost over! We came home from New York to cold and snow. Boo. But my tulips are peeking up, so that makes me happy. I missed my latter last week because of our trip, so this week I’m just going to share some of the pictures from the places we visited. We sure missed having you on this trip! Jett trying to keep his earbuds from falling out on the airplane. Visiting the Empire State Building View from the top We saw a Knicks game at Madison Square Garden Someone’s face was pasted on this Do Not Walk sign. The Vessel was closed. Still very cool. Little Island park by the water was fun. Walking the High Line Park Visiting Dana & Tanner’s house and watching conference. Robert Moses Beach and Lighthouse. Brr!   Tate got soaked of course. ...