22 Jul 2007

July 22, 2007
Dear Elder Sean,

We just got back home from Jared's house where his family was having an open house for him. He spoke this morning in his ward too and I went. He did a great job. He was the concluding speaker and the other speaker was a young man also leaving on his mission the same day as Jared. His family had recently moved into Jared's ward. You could tell the Bishop was very fond of Jared, he got emotional just announcing that he was speaking and told about him a little. I knew that his parents would have a hard time. His mom (like someone else we know) was a mess after he spoke. Very emotional day for them. Jared's emotions are very tender too. At his house tonight I talked with his mom about doing a newsletter like the one we're doing with your roommates. She thought that would be a great idea and to include Houston in it too. So you'll probably be getting 2 newsletters a month once I get this second one going. I also told his parents we'd have them over for a game night of Golf.

Jared gave me 3 CD's he made for you, so I'm going to stick them in the mail this week along with some church post card pictures that I picked up in Provo that might be good for the leather scriptures. Dad mailed you a test pkg last Thurs (July 19th) so let's see how long that takes and let us know how it looks when it gets to you and if everything's still in the box. What exactly do you have to do for the mission choir?

I had a fun time in Provo last week. I stayed at Steve's and the first day I met Darla Weigel for lunch and we went shopping. It was great seeing her again. She's feeling at home now in Riverton. She's worried about Tyler, but said there's not much she can do now that he's 20. I saw Tyler at Jared's farewell, gave him a hug. He asked about you and said he didn't have many friends around any more. Must be a weird feeling to be left behind.

I met another friend I'd known in Calif. for lunch the next day at Zupa's with Carolina. Then Carolina and I went to Draper shopping. Dakota and Kassie and 2 friends tried to sneak into the EFY dance, made their own EFY wristbands and everything. They managed to get in but then one of the girls in Parker Starr's group ratted them out and they were thrown out. I guess the girls in Parker's group were jealous and mad that they were hogging Parker's time. The girls were mad they got kicked out, but we just laughed at them. Alex said he had a great time this year, said the dances and the speakers were the best.

I called Charmaine when I got into town and told her I would stop by and pick up the box you mailed, but she said she hadn't received anything. The next day I went to the MTC to track it down. The guy in the mail room knew about the place in Provo that "mailed things to Provo for free". So I went to that postal place and there was your box sitting in a pile of a bunch of other boxes. I asked if they just hadn't mailed it yet and she said they never mail those boxes. They just sit there and the person in Provo is supposed to pick it up--that's why it's free. I was just happy that I had tracked it down. So I gave Alex his poster. He likes it and will put it up in his room. I'm going to try to take a picture of it then send a digital copy to you, but we'll have to see how that turns out.

It's still super hot here and in Utah. We're all very tired of it now. It's still up over 100 every single day and doesn't cool down much at night. Our electric bill is going to be so high this month. This is a large house to try to cool down. I hope you're keeping warm there. Send me a little of that cool air in your email please.

So we've got Brig here now at our house. He and Alex are going to go bike riding tomorrow to get ready for their High Adventure later this week. They leave on Wednesday and will be back Saturday.

So how have you been feeling this week? I'm so sorry that you came down with the flu last week, or was it something you ate. Sounds like it kind of hit you hard whatever it was. I've been anxious to hear from you this week to see how you're feeling now. I hope you've been able to have a great week.

So how was the Dia del Poncho? Can't wait to hear about it.

Have you got any good investigators right now? Any interesting visits... How's your Spanish coming along?
I hope you're feeling pretty comfortable now with the mission routine. We are busy as ever here, always something going on. Our hot water went out this morning. Dad took a cold shower, but I couldn't take it, so I borrowed the Poulsen's while they were out of town. I didn't like walking across the street to shower. Don't think I'll do that again. They're supposed to come tomorrow to fix it. Luckily dad's working tonight, so he can either shower at the hospital or wait until later tomorrow to shower again. I boiled water for Leah and Nikki's shower. Any way, it was a trauma for a few of us not having hot water. I don't know how Kirk does it not having hot water in some of the places he's lived. Do you have running hot water there? I realize how blessed we are with all these little luxuries in life and how spoiled we can become when we're not grateful for them.

Well, I better be off to bed now. Have a great week.

Love you,
mom
xoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxo