UAB! Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah!

 Oh hi Jacob,

Your mission President just posted a picture of you and your comp. you look good in it, if not super excited to be in that picture. Did they just come to visit or did you have interviews and all that? Your companion looks happy, and tiny. 

We’re watching the Christmas devotional right now. I’m not sure if you are watching it or not. If you are, I’m sure you loved the six year old violin player as much as your brothers. Ben went on a rant about how stuff like that is more likely to drive people away from the gospel as anything. Ben’s rants are funny. 

I’ve been sharing a ton of stuff on Facebook about the Utes and the game hoping you can see it without getting in trouble..The rankings came out, We’re the highest ranked three loss team and we’ve finally leapfrogged BYU 😁

CFB

1. ALABAMA

2. MICHIGAN

3. GEORGIA

4. CINCINNATI

————

5. Notre Dame

6. OSU

7. Baylor

8. Ole Miss

9. Okla St

10. Mich St

11. Utah

12. PITT

13. BYU

14. Oregon

15. Iowa

16. OU

17. Wake

18. NC St

19. Clemson

20. HOU

21. ARK

22. UK

23. ULL

24. SDSU

25. A&M

We’ll play Ohio State who is ranked 6th, so it will be interesting to see where the Utes will land with a win. The most hilarious thing is where BYU ended up. The will play UAB is 8-4 and took second in conference USA. WHO’s UAB? I had to look it up: The UAB Blazers football team represents the University of Alabama at Birmingham in the sport of American football. The Blazers compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision of the National Collegiate Athletic Association and the West Division of Conference USA. Artie just texted saying he couldn’t stop laughing when he read that. I looked at a few BYU message boards and they are mad, it’s so freaking funny.

To say BYU fans feel slighted is an understatement. But I’m sorry, if you play nobody all November and don’t even dominate in those games, AND you don’t play a championship game where you risk your record, then you deserve a crappy bowl and a dip in the rankings. Uncle Tim has sent me a few really kind texts, but I can feel the envy. We were supposed to go to Mark’s house for his baby’s birthday party to take extravagant gifts in exchange for soup, but we declined. I only wanted to go so I could roast Mark. Soup on fast Sunday? PASS!

We had a pretty big crowd for the game, Artie and a buddy and Max, the cooks with their regular entourage, the Bergs came too. We were going to get pizza from the Pie, but they make it too difficult on busy days. So we just got Costco cheese and pepperoni, they don’t sell combo anymore. During the game, I started to look up info on the Rose bowl. It was then that Rising threw one of his interceptions. So I quickly put my phone down—I did not want to be the person to jinx it. Artie was doing the same thing across the room and had the same reaction at the same time. After the game, we got on and bought tickets. But even that was hit-and-miss. We had to try several, like over 10 times and got kinda random seats. They’re the cheapest seats they had but they quadrupled in value by Saturday morning. Artie got some for he and his mom, and Max (don’t tell, it’s a surprise). And uncle Justin and Spencer got two as did Clary and Alicia. I’ve only got a hotel room for one night as I have no idea what are plans will be. Luckily, Disney is sold out for those days. I can’t get anybody excited about returning to Beatty Nevada for some reason.

Saturday was a pretty normal Rivera Saturday. Joe and I finished putting up the Christmas lights, I got some stuff moved over to the shed, we ran errands and your brothers put up and decorated grandmas Christmas tree. After, she took us to La Fountain. I had my classic cheese enchiladas and because I’ve been doing this weight watchers thing (I lost three pounds last week 😁) so they tasted insanely good. Last night we watched Dune. I was preparing my lesson when I got extremely sleepy, so I went to bed and had crazy dreams all night.

Today was a good Sunday. It was fast Sunday and I taught my lesson. It’s probably my last one and I’m going to miss that calling. But the I realized that next year is Old Testament, and church will be from 2 to 4! So maybe not.

We had tostadas for dinner tonight. I had about an hour’s worth of work to get done for tomorrow. Joe made Chex muddy buddies and now we’re watching the last segment of the Peter Jackson Beatles documentary. It’s been a really nice Sunday. The weather has been insanely nice up till now. But the week it’s supposed to snow and get really cold by next weekend. You know I get a little nervous with you guys driving in the snow. 

Joe starts his new job tomorrow. We went to Walmart last night to get him black pants and shoes. He seams excited, if a tiny bit nervous. I plan to give him a blessing tonight before bed,

I sure love you kid, look forward to tomorrow. 

Pops