Dear Elder,
Well, its Monday, and I am glad because that means you will be getting a letter from us today. I don't like it that you get no letters on the weekend. I do hope that you had a nice weekend and that this will be a nice week for you, too.
Dad and I had fun on Friday and Saturday touring gardens all over the valley. We enjoy the peace and beauty of strolling along together admiring people's beautiful homes. We were a bit early on that first day, to we stopped to wash the car before we continued and boy were we glad that we did because we went to a house in a very fancy and gated neighborhood. In fact, it was a gated property in a gated neighborhood, and we got to see the entry gardens, but a wall and another gate kept us far from the actual house, and we couldn't even see the roof of the house from the garden, the property was so extensive. Still, the garden was beautiful with its ponds and fountains, etc. My favorite part was the fact that they had the same bench and chairs as we have in front of our house which proves just how fancy we are.
That garden was not our favorite, though. Our favorite garden was a property not too far away, but much less grand. What a beautiful back yard! Paths, and antique benches, a stream and a couple of small bridges, places for the grandkids to play, a hammock, and of course many beautiful plants and flowers and a vegetable garden made the property lovely. I can't describe it in a way to do it justice. Anyway, we saw those two gardens first, and then nine more. We also enjoyed driving to the gardens together. It was a wonderful time.
While Dad and I were doing that on Friday, the kids worked and also visited with cousins. Jessica joined the girls and they went to the mall and did lots of shopping while Richard, Thomas, and Jon stayed home and played frisbee and build a fire in the fire pit to roast marshmallows.
The cousins left us Saturday morning with hugs and goodbyes and good memories. The kids worked weird hours on Saturday and we spent lots of time driving them to and from work as well as finishing up the garden tour with two last gardens. I wasn't in the brightest of moods on Saturday, but your sweet dad still enjoyed being with me because that's just the kind of guy he is.
Grandma has been asking for watermelon lately,and after the last one we got at the grocery store being so insipid, we decided to buy one from a corner stand. It cost us $8 which is more than it would have been at the grocery store, but it was worth it! Grandma and I ate a good amount of it ourselves Saturday evening. No one else was there to enjoy it with us because I left Dad in to walk back to where his pickup was parked--6 miles away, Katrina was working, Miriam was at a friend's and Jon and Thomas were off at the arcade. They won tickets enough to get Dad a beer can opener that said "#1 Dad"--ha ha. I told them that they should have gotten him a wife beater shirt while they were at it. They also got a boomerang which they enjoyed throwing till Dad threw it on the roof. Anyway, that was our Saturday.
Sunday was, of course, Father's day. The kids and I had a little miscommunication, so he didn't end up getting breakfast in bed before church, but after church the kids made him chicken and sweet potato fries. They were delicious! We had a nice time visiting together as a fam till Dad left to exercise and I went in to nap. After that, Thomas, Katrina and I played a game.
After that we woke up Miriam from a nap and made Dad's father's day dinner which was delicious. While we cooked, Dad got to Skype with Cassandra and we listened in while we worked. He didn't get to Skype with Lily because she was in bed. She sleeps from 6:30 pm to 6:00 am. That's a long time! I guess she just totally wears herself out during the day being so busy. I also got to talk to Cassandra. That was on Saturday, and she was telling me all about pinterest and that I should get on and start a pinterest board, and I did. It was very fun. Miriam and Katrina picked out a birthday present for Lily while they were at the mall with their cousins on Saturday. It is a little swim suit, and it is so cute!
Well, Dad liked his Father's Day meal and alos his presents which, since I can't remember if I told you what they were, I'm going to tell you again. The kids got him a pack of DVDs containing a bunch of old black and white comedy shows--a hundred in all. He really loved it and couldn't believe it had so many. He also loved the coyote hunting DVD he got, but he can't go out coyote hunting until he gets new glasses. Till then , he cant see real well because his eye sight has improved. Weird, right? I mean, usually people's eyesight gets progressively worse. Anyway, his glasses are too strong a prescription now, and he can't see well enough without glasses to shoot. I hope he gets new glasses soon so that he can hunt with Jon before he leaves for Logan. For dessert we had sugar free root beer floats. So that was our Father's Day celebration.
We were also going to have a Family Home Evening highlighting Grandpa's life, but Uncle Paul came over to see Grandma, and that took up the rest of the night. We plan on giving the lesson about Grandpa tonight instead. I did get to call Grandpa late last night and wish him Happy Father's Day. Why didn't I have all the kids talk to him??? I didn't think of that till now. Shoot. Anyway, we had picked out a very nice card for him that had a beautiful water color scene and said just the right thing. We really liked it and were excited to give it to him, and guess what? He loved it! We are so happy that he liked it as much as us.
Actually, Miriam will be the only kid here for Family Home Evening tonight because Katrina and Thomas leave for "Especially For Youth" today. We will have to do a rerun of FHE next Sunday night, I think. So, you will have two siblings living on campus only a few blocks from where you are for a whole week! They are very excited about EFY. They have attended before, but not an overnight EFY like this one. Miriam will also be leaving us at the end of the week for youth conference. It's nice having the kids all with something fun to do. Dad plans to work a lot while they are gone, and I plan on getting caught up on stuff around here. We will also, hopefully, spend a lot of time together and with Miriam.
I am still studying Preach My Gospel, and it is changing my life! Thanks for asking me to study it. You will laugh, I just finished chapter one. There is so much to study in each chapter, and I only have about a half hour a day to do it, but it has been wonderful. After reading and pondering the words and scriptures in chapter one, these are my goals:
1)Reach out to God--Pray to Him and ask Him to increase my love for Him and His children. Listen for His Holy Spirit, Do His will and try to be like Him.
2) Reach out to To God’s children--Have an open and loving heart. Serve them and speak out concerning the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Well, that is our life in a nutshell. We didn't hear from you last week, which makes us all the more excited to hear from you when you write next. Please, please tell us when your departure date is and also send us a list of everything that you need us to bring you. Matt, I know that you are very good at going without, but please think hard about what would make your life easier, and let us know so that we can get you all set before you leave. I love you and we love you. I am so glad you are working so hard and learning so much. I am glad that you will be representing our family, our Savior, and His church as a missionary in Mexico!
Love,
Mom
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