October 5, 2025

 Dearest Isaac and Lily,


What a week!

  • Uncle Matt was sealed to Sammy on Tuesday at the Bountiful Temple.  It was awesome!  Rachel and I went to an endowment session before the sealing and as we walked down the stairs to change back into street clothes, Matt and Sammy were waiting together to be taken up to the sealing area!  It felt miraculous!
  • It was POURING rain when Rachel and I went to put our bags in our car, but it had let up a little by the time the sealing was over.  All of Matt's pictures were in the rain, though.  That didn't seem to bother him.  I've never seen him so happy!!
  • I turned 49 on Wednesday!  Emmy cleaned the house and put up birthday decorations for me!  Isaac called me that morning!  Lily called me later as well!  Best day ever!  49 is great!
  • I did my birthday lunch with Grandma and Joseph down in Provo.  I love being with them! I had birthday dinner at the Dodo with Dad and Emmy.  Also delightful!!
  • I was supposed to play my first shift at the temple on Thursday, but my mission friend who lives in Australia is coming out for Conference and I needed to pick his daughter up right during my shift, so I got a sub.
  • I spent Thursday and Friday with Melanie Orth, whose dad served with me (and Dad) in Taiwan.  It's been 26 years since I've seen him, so taking care of his daughter for a day was a pure delight for me!  
    • We introduced her to to Deseret Book, Trader Joe's, Target (it only sells clothes in Australia), and Sweet Salt
    • We toured the MTC and had dinner at Brick Oven with Joseph
    • On Friday I took her to Sister Missionary Mall (If they had this in Australia, she said her whole wardrobe would come from there!) where I bought her a few dresses and a blouse.
    • I drove her to the Temple Quarry where we "listened" to the rocks and found where the rebar used to be stuck in the rock. She's been called to serve in the Salt Lake Temple Square Mission, so I thought she'd like going to the temple quarry. And then we drove all the way up to Alta to see the Fall colors.  Some of the aspen trees were red instead of yellow!  So gorgeous!
  • Dad and I had a mission reunion on Friday.  There were about 15 of us there, plus our mission president's wife.  It was super fun, and I loved it!! My Australia friend landed just in time to come to the reunion.  He was SOOO jet lagged, but still thought it was totally worth it!
  • GENERAL CONFERENCE!  I loved Conference! I always do, but it still felt extra sweet to hear the leaders of the church even though we don't currently have a set apart President and first presidency.  My favorite talk will probably switch around frequently, but I particularly liked Elder Brown's talk (a 70 in the Saturday afternoon session), Elder Uchtdorf's talk on spiritual gifts, Elder Oaks talk on the Family, and Elder Renlund's talk on what it means to take Christ's name on us.
I love you two to the moon and back!!!

Mom








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