Thanksgiving day

 Jacob,

I was looking forward to your call all day. I was worried because of the bad connection this morning. It was so fun to see you and your apartment tonight. You really looked good, you seemed so happy. I’m so happy for you. Enjoy those happy times and thank Heavenly Father for them. I’d been praying that you feel some of that joy I promised you on your mission. I hope this is one of them.

I had a couple of rough apartments on my mission, but nothing even comes close to that. As long as it’s safe, that’s all I that matters. I told mom I’m not sure where Joey will have to be called to to be able to one-up you on that. Looks like Ben had it pretty freaking posh after all.

Rod and Beverly stayed a while. I actually had a pretty significant gospel conversation with them, especially Beverly. We discussed Family Search. She found out she has an ancestor that came across the planes as a Mormon pioneer. Rod wants to come back and tour the salt lake temple when they have the open house. I told them that the temples are so we can make covenants so we can be together for eternity. I told her that we Heavenly Father wants us to be like him. I told here that we can be happy together like we were today during thanksgiving forever. 

She reads a lot of your letters, and she thinks you must really be growing up. She got such a kick out of being able to talk to you. 

Rod is rod, and he dominates most conversations. Nick, hayleys husband, and max Heumann took a large load of his rambling. I managed to defend my views on vaccines, mom strongly stood up for the educational system, and we all survived.

We told you about the turkey bowl. You and Jordan were the primary discussion point. It’s the smallest one we had for a while. It was fun even if if I did pile on uncle Tim. Katie is better than mark, she completed and caught more passes than he did. Ben, Artie and uncle Steven dominated. Max Cooper made it his mission to over cover joe. I was tempted to teach Joey how to use an elbow or knee, but thought better of it. Even though it was cold, it was probably the warmest we’ve had since being back from Texas.

After we came home, peeled potatoes, and straightened up. I got frustrated with mom because she was in perfectionist mode and nothing I did was right, so I put myself in timeout for a bit and pouted. She broke a glass jar full of adobo chilies and scalded her thumb pretty bad, so we kept those traditions alive. Everything was really good, Ben’s smoked turkey took a little longer and came out late, but everyone raved about it when it did. He went on a rant because I called it his turkey, so he had his turn pouting too. Grandma brought seven pies because, well, grandma. I missed uncle Tim and aunt patti, but the house wasn’t overly crowded so it was manageable. 

Tonight Beverly helped mom and Joe take down the fall decorations and start putting up the Christmas stuff. You’re brothers were bugged that they stayed so long, but it was me that encouraged them to stay. I think our family has something very unique in the world, the fact that even with all of our frustrations and pouting we really are happy when we’re together. I think there are people that are hungry for that, and we can so easily share it with them. Well, for us it’s easy, for you, dude, you are all in doing it real, it’s so great.

Tomorrow we’re going to see aunt Stella and uncle temy. Then the cooks are going to watch the game with us. Mom and I are going to see if we can get our booster shots in the morning.

Well my boy, I’m so excited to hear about your doings. Your baptism, your trip to Mexico City. It really is my dream to visit Mexico City as a family someday. The temple is in a little rougher part of town, but as you said, you’ll see a lot on your way down.

Jacob, I love you son, I’m happy for you, I pray for you, and I’m so proud of you. Keep at it.

Pops