2/3/19 - Family Letter to Emma

hi Emma how have you been

life is good here.

I have been extra tired lately .

IT IS SSSSSSOOOOOOO COOLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Do you want to trade climates?

 any  way have a great week!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 Love Mari

Hey Emma!!!!

Life's been getting better!

Pirates of Penzance is making progress,

Grades are good, and life is fun!

Friends are still strange though.

Love from

Hyrum

M,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!! . . . late.  We hope you got your package and had a great birthday.  You only get one birthday in the Field.  I'm sure you will remember it for along time.  I thoroughly enjoyed your story of being early and finding Jackaline.  I always felt those experiences are what provides the fuel to keep going when things get hard or stale.  We also got a good chuckle thinking of the "Two sisters dripping with smiles and smeared mascara."  I don't know if you heard about Kade being mistaken for an Area Seventy at a Stake conference.  They packed the Stake Center saying Elder Lever would be speaking and most thought he was a Seventy.  They even commented on how young he looked for being a Seventy.  It was a good week for Missionary funnies.

Mom said she sent you a video of her premier on the Nightly News.  We went to support Eve in the Hope Walk yesterday.  They walked from Riverton to that small park on the corner of Redwood and 12600 S.  Mom, Mari and I went late due to Mari's voice lessons.  We parked at the church by the park and met the walker half way.  Once we got to the park we mingled a bit and someone from KSL asked to interview Mom.  She did great and looked good.  I stood behind the camera man and coached the kids where to stand so they could be seen.  Your Mom has received some attention for her spotlight which she tried to deflect.  You saw it, she was awesome

I took the day off Friday and your Mom and I went to the cabin.  It had snowed within the week so all the snow was powder.  They groom the roads for the snowmobiles so we had an easy walk to the cabin.  Once we got to the cabin we had to clear a path up the hill to the door.  We took the path from the road instead of the driveway.  As I was clearing a path I sunk in the snow past my hip.  It was very deep.  We had someone with a snow vehicle try to clear a path on the driveway and got stuck within a few seconds.  It took me about 2 hours to get him unstuck.  Your Mom cleared a path all the way up to the door.  We wanted to see if we still had rodent problems we saw in the Fall.  It did not look too bad but we left a few new traps to try and eliminate the rodent issue for the Spring.  We will send a few pictures.  We found a great Mexican restaurant in Heber on the way home.  We made it home safe but very tired.  We both were walking around on Saturday in a daze.  I feeling OK now that it is Sunday night.  We just got home from the Barlow Super Bowl party.  The game was uneventful.  The teams anyone cared about did not get in.  The food was all party food and we all needed some real sustenance when we got home. 

That is it for me kid.  I hope you have a great week with new adventures and great stories to tell because of your hard work and diligence.  Super proud of you!

Love

Dad

D&C 14

Sweet Emma,

I hope you had a great birthday.  It was really weird to have you gone for your birthday, but tudo bem!  Dad made you a special "poke cake" (vanilla cake with berry cream infusion).  We also had Chinese New Year dinner that night.  I hope you got (or will get) your birthday package.  We had fun putting it together. 

Thanks for sharing such awesome stories.  I love your adventures and the people you are meeting/teaching.  You are a great writer!  Lonnie Stevens is our ward historian.  She asked for your mission picture and  a mission experience for the Ward History.  I sent her one of the photos of you and Sister Bernardo that Sheila took.  I shared the stories you shared last week (finding Jackaline...and the swimming rat and soggy sisters).  It was awesome!

Matt Langford just messaged us.  He seems like a nice guy.  He said he was going through his mission pictures and found one of your District from Soracaba.  He said that the picture reminded him of the good times you had as a district.  He said, "Just wanted to let you guys know how awesome Emma was and is as a missionary.  She is for sure a great example to everyone around her."  When we asked him about his Fidelity interview he said that he had a video interview and next a phone interview.  We wished him well.  If any of your mission friends are ever in the area, we would love to meet them.  The world seems so small!

Today Eve and Mari dressed alike for church.  They looked great!  Hyrum and Dad also happened to be matching.  I was the lone woman dressed like only me.  I told them that I was sure you and I were wearing matching outfits that day...ha ha!  Yes, I know we're a weird family!😉

The cabin was very different and a little mysterious in the deep snow.  It was great to see the cabin in a new season and it was fun to winter 'hike' with Dad.  The guy that dad helped to dig out (who has a neighboring cabin) told us he thinks our crazy rodent is a "Pack-Rat".  He said that a pack-rat will gather sticks, leaves, seeds etc and steal other things from us.  He said that pack rat will leave us something as a trade for the thing it takes.  He said they are really cute but messy.  I felt a tiny bit bad about setting bait and traps, but we need to send that little pack-rat packing!

This week we also went to New Beginnings for Eve.  She is so cute and crazy.  I took her shopping for her Sweetheart's dress.  We had a great time!  We met this new older sales lady, Mickaela, at Charmin' Charlies.  She made a big deal over Eve and her dress.  She became Eve's personal shopper and helped us find jewelry perfect for her dress.  Mickaela said she only has boys at home and she wanted to work at Charmin' Charlies to get to do girlie things.  She just moved here from Rhode Island and wanted to make some friends.  It was really fun meeting her.  We welcomed her to Utah.  I hope we get a chance to meet her again.  She seems like a wonderful person who would fit really well into the Church.  Maybe we'll have to go buy more jewelry....

By the way, I LOVE the pic of you soaking your feet in the laundry sink.  I'm glad you told us it was a laundry sink because it looks like a really tall toilet!  Ha!😂

I love you Emma.  I'm so proud of you! Have a wonderful week.  Stay safe and SMILE!

💜Mom