September

Sept. 2, 2007
Dear Elder Sean,
It's Sept but it stills feels like summer for a couple reasons. The kids had school off last Fri and tomorrow after having only gone for 3 1/2 days and secondly, it's still very hot here. Close to 100 each day but at least it's in the 60's at night. Supposedly we're having a mild cold front coming in starting Tues and it will be in the low 80's the rest of the week. Having the kids in school for a few days helped us get back to a normal schedule around here and it was nice.

Nikki is doing well so far in 1st grade. She sits at table #5, but the wild kids sit at table #4 according to her. She's so funny explaining the rules of the classroom to us. It sounds very convoluted, but somehow it all makes sense to her. Leah is enjoying 2nd grade with Mr. Harrison. So far there's been no homework, so i think that's why it's a great classroom. She likes the new school Galileo and even the new bus drivers are better than last year because they're "funny". Kristina loves changing classes and having 7 periods throughout the day. All their classrooms are in one small area so they only have 2 minutes between periods. She loves pre-al and engineering the best at this point. However, her long term goals still consist of going to beauty school so she can cut hair for a living.

Alex is still taking voice lessons with Jeff Baker. Jeff really wanted alex to be part of this small group he was forming with kids from the Rivendell Music high school, but Alex decided to just be a part of Sis. Koefed's group. It's a good thing because Jeff's group would cost about $750. Unlike the girls, Alex has already had quite a bit of homework. They just jumped right into things in his classes. He's taking Spanish 5/6 this year and it will actually give him college credit which is nice.

We went to McCall yesterday just for the day. A couple of my quilts were in a quilt show there, so I thought it would be fun to go up and see them. We went to Camp Morrison and went on a hike and then the girls went swimming in the lake for a bit. The weather was nice there, but because there are so many fires in the local mountains it was very smoky and smelled like one great big camp fire. The fires in all parts of the west have been incredible this summer.

So how is your part of the world? I was reading about a couple hand gestures that are common in latin america and wondered if they are common in your area. The first is kind of like snapping your fingers but instead you kind of throw index finger against all your others fingers in a whipping motion. It kind of means "oh no, someone's in trouble". I can remember some friends of mine coming home from Brazil and doing that movement all the time. It had become a habit for them. The other hand gesture is made to alert others when there is a pick-pocket nearby. They said that on buses you might see women who are seated making this gesture. It's made by folding the four fingers down over the thumb one by one starting with the pinky, but done fairly quickly. Anyway, just wondering if there's anything like that there.

Sometimes I can't really tell if you're always getting our emails cuz you're not really answering anything or mentioning anything from our letters. I hope they're getting through. I've been sending my letters to both your email addresses.

I'm glad to hear that Isabel's baptism finally went well in the end. She sounds like she'll do well in the gospel. So how has your goal gone with contacting 300 people each week. I can't even imagine that. I just keep telling the same story 300 times to the same people, namely Nikki and Leah and Kristina and Alex.

Today at church we were all pretty busy. I substituted and taught the 5 yr old class in Primary. Kristina gave a talk and the scripture. Alex taught priest quorum and ended up teaching his Sunday School class also since no teacher showed up. Dad gave the Bishop's message in Primary, so he involved all 3 girls in that. A good day all around.

BSU played their opening game against Weber State and it was almost an embarrassing win of 56-7. EHS got rained out in Mtn. Home. BYU won against Arizona 20-7. It seems like half the ward went down for the BYU game.

Other news-Sean Daly got his mission call to Poland and he's leaving in Oct.

That's about it from around here. I printed out your next newsletter from the guys and will put in the mail this week. I look forward to hearing from you each week. Dad says I hang onto all your words, but I can't help it. I love feeling a small part of your mission by sharing and hearing your stories, so keep them coming. I'm proud to be your mom and I know the people in Argentina will feel your strong spirit and see your dedication to the Lord and they will know you have something special to share with them.

Have a wonderful week. Smile often--it will open many doors.
Love you,
mom
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoox