January 18, 2026

Dearest Lily and Isaac,

Wow, I love you guys! It's been a crazy week...

  • I my first Bio Lab on Monday. I know I only have 1 class on Mondays and that it's only from 11-2, but it felt like I was at school the whole day!  I may start taking Trax just so I can study while I commute on Mondays.
  • Went to my first Chem Lab on Tuesday. I felt really out of place - like no one would want to be in a group with old me. That was a mistake. They wouldn't have minded at all, but becuase I had such a bad attitude, I ended up working by myself and feeling stupid. I got there eventually, but everything would have gone better if I'd just been my friendly self and joined a group. Sigh.  Lesson learned
  • Both Dad and I spent all weekend checking MyMap to see if I could get into a day section of my anatomy class, but we had no luck.  Sigh.  That's another reason I was feeling so down when I went to my chem lab on Tuesday.
  • BUT! Tuesday evening I had my first Anatomy lab, and that was the best! I really love anatomy, and my group is awesome!  My TA had everyone introduce themselves and part of what she had us was was to share what we were most afraid of about anatomy.  I shared that I was afraid no one would want to study with the "old lady."  Just by sharing it made it feel silly, and I stopped being self conscious about my age right then and there.
  • I did an Endowment session and played the organ at the temple on Wednesday
  • Emmy and I did Confirmations at the Taylorsville Temple on Saturday. They were busier than I've ever seen before.  That's why we just did confirmations.  Still felt so good to be in the temple.
  • Dad had me get a massage on Friday.  My shoulder has been really bothering me. It's doing better now.
  • I played the organ in Sacrament meeting today.  It went pretty well, I think. I am really enjoying the organ.  In fact, I found out where I can practice the organ when I'm on campus, so I can keep up with my practicing. There's one in the library that I used on Tuesday.
  • We got a new couch!!
Other than that, I've spent the week frantically working on homework. Dad says its the most stressed I've ever been in my life. I'm trying to be less stressed. While I was listening to Elder Oaks' biography I was reminded of his talk, "Good, Better, Best" and had the thought that I needed to pray and ask the Lord to help me know what was the "best" studying I could do.  I knew that if He was helping me prioritize, then I'd be ok.  For example, I finally got together with my Bio study group and one of the guys in the group figured out a good way to split up the studying which dramatically lowered my stress level.  When the Lord is on my side, things work out - always - every time.  That doesn't mean I'll just get straight A's, but He will match the blessing I need with my trust in Him.

I love you guys to the moon and back!!

Mom

Dad being cozy on our new couch

The new couch is BIG

We managed to fit all of the old couch into the back of the truck

Temple Confirmations!

Dad and I went out for Chinese one night.  This was my fortune.  HAHAHAHA!

Dad and I went on a walk at sunset.  The pond is mostly fozen. If you look you can see where the water is still liquid...


Walking home after anatomy lab at 9pm

It's been warm here.  There are daffodils blooming at the Draper Temple


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

May 3, 2026

Image
Dearest Isaac, It's different to only have 1 missionary to write to... Lily came home on Wednesday!  Super fun to have her home! We went to a water polo game for Emmy to keep Lily awake that night and then ate at Spaghetti Factory! Lily and I got to go to the temple with Sister Ingram, a former companion of Lily's.  Then we got to go to lunch together.  Ingram is delightful!  I really like her We left on Friday to go to Zion and hiked Angel's Landing that night in 2 hours 10 minutes!  We were booking it! and caught the second to last shuttle down canyon... On Saturday we did Mystery Canyon.  Isaac, have you done that one? Jon Moffitt came with us, and he was super great to have along. My favorite thing was listening to Emmy, Joseph and Lily chat and laugh with each other! It is an enormous blessing to have children who are such good friends and are such lovely humans to hang out with!! I have been feeling extraordinarily blessed! We got home at about midnig...
Read more

April 4, 2026

Image
Dearest Lily and Isaac, Conference weekend is the best!! Emmy had a water polo game in Springville on Monday.  I love watching her play! I attended 2 online workshops for medical career people this week.  Super fascinating!  I'm feeling a bit discouraged about getting all the work and volunteer hours I need, but grateful for all the resources the advisement center has to help me. I got to have lunch with Joseph twice this week AND he came home for Sunday General Conference Emmy and I did Confirmations at the Taylorsville temple Emmy and I also got to go to Hale to see a new musical called "Hallmarked". It was cute and funny, and I also had a fun small-world moment when I found out that the husband in the couple sitting next to us served his mission in Taichung at the same time as Dad and I! Dad and Emmy left for Taiwan on Thursday It snowed on Thursday ... it was 80 degrees earlier this week... I got to go to an acapella concert Joseph was in! So good!!! I took my last la...
Read more

February 15, 2026

Image
 Dearest Isaac and Lily, This was a great week! President Oaks spoke at the BYU devotional.  I got there at 9:15 and was astonished beyond measure at how crowded it already was.  People were EVERYWHERE and the doors hadn't opened yet.  I was able to get a seat, though, and Joseph and some Jerusalem friends sat with me. Emmy had an appointment with Dr. Beals.  She's doing fine.  He said to just work through the pain - it's to be expected.  I also got to learn which tendon he moved and how the surgery worked.  It was absolutely fascinating! I got to play the organ at the temple and did some initiatories School has been really busy but I'm also feeling more confident and less stressed Emmy and Hana and I did baptisms on Saturday.  I haven't seen Hana in a while, so that was awesome!  We had a long chat about missionary service and what it would look like.  I don't know if she will serve a mission, but I figured that she can't even know...
Read more