Nobody’s as proud as an idiot these days.

 Good evening Elder Rivera!

We just got home from grandmas tonight. We got to again this week for some reason. She had nachos. We got home a little earlier because mom has to go to a meeting. Right now I’m watching playoff football with Ben, I imagine Joey will be down sooner or later. I’ll let Ben tell you about the games, but this is where the season finally becomes entertaining, at least for me anyway. There were two awesome games tonight.

Last week Joey was home because of Covid numbers, so Ben took the little car all week. I miss taking him. I spoiled Joe and we went to lunch a couple of times. Made me miss when you were doing MTC and we’d go together. I do need to go back on my diet though.

Today is our wedding anniversary. I take your mom for granted most of the time. This week I was thinking of her when I was laying awake late at night. I got swept up in thoughts of how important she is to me. Actually, the word important seems too small. I can’t imagine where I’d be without here, and, in turn, without you guys. Heavenly Father blesses us in so many ways, some are physical, some temporal, many spiritual, but I’m convinced that the greatest blessings are personal. Meaning, he blesses us with personal relationships. Family is always the first relationships that I think of, I figure being family means that we’re passing through more than just this life together. I imagine being spirits together in the pre existence, waiting for our calls to earth wondering who was going first, who was going to overlap, looking way beyond what we know now and being so excited to being there together. I think what’s so cool about those personal blessings is that we can extend those to everyone, from close friends to strangers in Mexico. It’s awesome that you can include God as a relation, just like anyone else that you love. And, bringing it back to mom, I’m so amazed and grateful that because of priesthood covenants, that relationship can be eternal. Sorry dude, I’m feeling pretty freaking lucky and sappy for your mom today.

Yesterday for our anniversary we went to lunch in Salt Lake to a Japanese restaurant called Koyoto. We had tempura, dumplings, chicken, and the best sushi roll I’ve ever had. It was so good. I can blame Covid for not doing anything very special together, but we had mom and dad style boring fun, and it was a perfect day for me just hanging out with her. Across the street from that restaurant was this tiny grocery store with all this super fancy produce and fancy foods. It so fun to watch how excited your mom gets over that stuff, without ever buying anything. We thought about going to a museum, but due to Covid everything required advanced tickets. But we drove downtown anyway. 

On the way we stopped by the candy store where I bought fancy chocolate truffles for mom when we got engaged. Again, it’s so fun to see your mom in those stores. We bought 6 chocolates for $15 bucks, and ate them all within about 3 minutes. You know your mom is a dedicated See’s candy fan, but these were amazing. We were feeling pretty nostalgic by then, so we drove up to the old Salt Lake House on SunnySide avenue. On the way back, we went up to the State Capital building. Some random protest was just ending. I assume it was anti mask or anti vax protest just because of the amount of camo and goatees in the crowd…nobody’s as proud as an idiot these days. 

After, we drove around Temple Square to see if we could see progress on the temple. We went around the block a couple of times and found a parking spot. It was kinda strange to walk around and see how different it is. Only the original pioneer buildings are left, the temple, the tabernacle, and the assembly hall. The temple was dug out at least 20’ down all the way around. On the north side, it must have been dug down at least 50 feet deep. As we walked around memories from my whole life came back to me. I remember going to stake conference in the assembly hall when I was really little. In those days, they had sacrament in stake conference and it took forever! I remember getting baptized in the font under the tabernacle. You know my fear of water, I kept my eyes open as my dad submerged me and I remember the water coming over me just like in a movie. I remember being there one time when aunt Selena was a little girl and she had an accident. I remember a little puddle right under her and my mom say, “Well, time to go home!” And of course I remember our wedding day and how amazing it was. It was cold and windy, but luckily dry that day. In that temple on your wedding day, they have the couple wait in the celestial room while all the guests were arriving in the sealing room. We were dressed in our priesthood robes, it seems like we had the room to ourselves but I have no way of knowing for sure. I remember distinctly feeling you guys in the room with us. I don’t know what that felt like or how I knew that, but I did. You know my tendency for tears, I remember them streaming down my face then and I couldn’t stop. They were still going as mom and I got to the altar in the sealing room and the never stopped the whole time with no other signs of crying, no sobs or sniffing or anything. What a day that was Jacob.

After that we went to the big Costco. Again, your mom finds a way to have an unbelievable amount of fun shopping at Costco. Life is always fun with someone like that. 

I’m making good but slow progress on my trim project in the living room. I’m actually getting excited about it. I’m thinking of extending the trim to the ceiling on the kitchen side, it will be pretty dramatic if it gets done. 

Today at church brother fielding asked for your email address so look for something from him. I always bring up missions in priests quorum, so I talk about you and Ben a lot, about my own mission too. Brother brown gave the lesson today and did an amazing job. He read this great story from his mission journal. There’s no way those young men are going to leave there not hearing about missions as long as I have that calling.

Well Jacob, I’m about out of stuff to tell you. Love you kid, talk to you tomorrow.

Pops