Missionary Letters To Jon

It was great talking with you last week. I can't believe we talked for 2 1/2 hours! That's a lot longer than the 1 hour Maddy used to call us for. Christmas was nice but really low key. We didn't give or receive many gifts. Chance and Javi didn't seem to want much and all of our money and time has gone towards the wedding. On Wednesday we got to hang out with the Robertsons all day and cook food and do other preparations for the reception. It was cool to hang out with them - I like their family a lot and think if they lived near us we'd become really good friends. Thursday was super busy because we got up early to set up the Provo Library for the reception. I think we had like 20 people there, all working to set it up from 9am to 5pm - so much work! When the reception started, we did a receiving line and I think 1/3 of the people who came were extended family, 1/3 were people from Provo and the Riverwoods Ward, and 1/3 were friends of Heber and his family wh...

Hi Jon. We've had a busy week with wedding preparations and Christmas. I skied on Monday and Friday thinking that the conditions were going to be not great but actually they were awesome. We haven't had snow in two weeks so I thought the base would have diminished but the groomed runs I love were nearly perfect. The overcast skies quickly cleared and we got lots of sun so the skiing was amazing. Heber's family arrived from Germany and we went to Illuminaria at Thanksgiving Point with them. They also came to church with us for the Christmas program and then we had a dual family Sunday dinner at our house afterwards. BYU played their bowl game on Friday and it was the best game of the season by far. Zach Wilson completed 18 for 18 passes which is unprecedented and Tanner Mangum played his last game as a Cougar and also finished perfect and led a touchdown drive. It was a great game. I love Christmas because I love the Savior. I'm so proud that you are ser...

Hi Jon - I hope you are enjoying the Christmas season in Mexico. I've never experienced Christmas in Mexico but the interwebs tell me you have daily highs in the mid 70s and nighttime lows in the 30s so that's a pretty big spread! I guess you put on a jacket when you go out and then take it off in the middle of the day and wear short sleeves! Our week has been busy with tons of work to do for the wedding. We made some box decorations, and I've been cutting, sanding, and varnishing wood. We had to spray paint PVC pipes, and I had to sort out a dozen strands of white lights and replace a ton of lightbulbs, etc, etc, etc so the work never ends. We've also had a little fun going to JohnnyP's Christmas party, having a bridal shower for Maddy, Javi's piano recital, Chance's school Christmas choir concert, and hosting a big open house for all of Maddy and Heber's college friends who are finishing finals this weekend and then flying home for the holiday...

Hi Jon! Before I tell you any news from home I want to ask you can we video conference with you on Christmas? What are the rules and expectations from your mission president? We're going to be really busy around Christmas with a lot of friends and relatives in town for the wedding so if you can give us some advance notice then we can plan accordingly. Do you want to use google hangouts, skype, or something else? What day? What time? What username do you use? Christmas is only 2 weeks away! We have been having some fun lately. Last week we were able to get tickets to a BYU basketball game and took the whole family. BYU had lost 3 games in a row but Nick Emery one of our best players was on a NCAA suspension and this was his first game back. We played Utah State and beat them really good. It was fun to be with Maddy, Heber, Javi, Aimar, Nate, and Ashliegh. Opening day for Sundance was on Friday but they opened on Thursday just from 1pm to 4pm for season pass holders only, and f...

Hi Jon - This week was fun. I had a job interview on Friday - not a great match so I'll keep looking - and Maddy had a bridal shower at our house on Saturday. Mom and I went to see some of our oldest friends - Dan and Karina McDonald - and had a good time catching up with them. I went to Crossfit every day except for Thursday when mom's van was at the tire shop overnight and she went somewhere in my car so I didn't have a car to drive. So I skipped Crossfit but later realized that we own a truck and should have taken that to Crossfit only I had forgotten about it. I stayed up too late Friday night and didn't feel like going to Crossfit on Saturday morning so Aimar and I played rock paper scissors and I lost so we went. Unfortunately we did a ton of burpies and side planks and my sides hurt all weekend! It snowed Saturday night and all day Sunday so I had to shovel snow at church from 8am until 11am and I didn't even get to take the sacrament because I went home ...