Everyone’s talking about missions these days

 Oh hi kid!

This has been a pretty fun week for our family. Nothing major happened mind you, but for the rivera clan, it was more than a normal week. 

Joey and I are making progress on the bass, the finish is all done, we attached the neck, added the nuts for the bridge, and started to mount the electronics. That’s where we sorta slowed down. The instructions are terrible, and it’s tough to see what goes where. In doing a little research I found that most people were lining the cavity wit copper foil tape to avoid interference, so I ordered some and it came yesterday. I imagine the remainder of the project is easier than we suspected, I hope anyway. While on the subject of musical instruments, Ben’s new guitar came. It’s a gorgeous white Stratocaster of which I know or understand very little He seems very excited about it and even I can discern the new sound. 

The early part of the week was standard. Joey now works on Wednesday’s so I have to go to the young men activities without him 😡. This last Wednesday was pickle ball, in the rain. Truth be told, I’m getting used to the boys and like them. Not enough to actually play pickle ball with them, but you know what I mean.

Jordan’s favorite uncle Steve was in town with aunt Susan so grandma invited her children and spouses to chukkarama. I realized I hate that place and I only like it because of grandma and you guys. But grandma is so kind that I made the best of it. Without Jordan there, nothing even funny happened. Afterwards, I convinced mom to go look at a new car. Her air conditioner in her car had been not working and I told her I wasn’t excited to fix it or get it fixed. I promised not to talk numbers but just to let her check it out. There was a super young Hispanic salesman there that showed us several VW Atlas mid sized SUVs. Like most salesmen, he didn’t know jack about the vehicle and made a lot of stuff up. But he was nice and low pressure. That was the very first time I have ever been to the car dealership with your mother where she didn’t throw a fit or get stressed out. The vehicles were nice and also expensive. So for a role change mom started get excited about a new car and I started to feel better about fixing the old one. For the posterity that may in some mysterious future time be reading this, it’s more than just the A/C I’m worried about. I need the change the shocks and struts, get it aligned, have some dishonest mechanic lie about the tie rod ends and ball joints, and get new tires. I figure we’ll end up spending anywhere between $1,500 and $3,000. Which is way less than a new car, but also just the start of what needs to be done when a car starts to get old.

Friday at work was busy, so the day went fast. Grandma had one of her Pie pizza parties where we pick up the pizza and everyone else waits with their mouths open. We didn’t stay long though because mom had bought tickets for a concert with the fake Beatles at the sandy amphitheater. I wasn’t super excited about it but the weather was perfect for late summer and it got us away from the hungry horde. We walked down from grandmas and found a spot on the grass. I had brought our tiny chairs that you have to build yourself, as Joe says. We were on a bit of a slope so the chairs were awkward, and we were at the back of the venue. The grass was much cooler than the concrete area where the seats were, so I was happy. I had looked these guys up on YouTube, the band is actually called Imagine, and truthfully those videos didn’t leave me expecting much. But they started and were actually pretty entertaining, and pretty good. They played popular Beatles songs basically in the chronological order of their release. They were dressed in the gray suits of the early band. Halfway through they paused for a costume change and came out in Sargent Pepper costumes and played their later stuff. I will say that the guy playing Paul had a good voice, they also had an orchestra that was a little hit or miss, but when the were good it really added to those later songs. It was fun to see your mom and brothers sing along, cheer, sway and even dance. It will be fun to go to a few of those concerts when you’re home. You could even bring dates. We went to grandmas to pick up the car and stopped to chat a little. Everyone was gone by then so it was fun to have her to ourselves for a little while.

I think I’m too old stay up that late anymore so I was a little slow on Saturday. Joey and mom made crepes for breakfast and they were pretty good. Later, I went out to see if the A/C refill would work to fix mom’s car. I had tried earlier in the week but couldn’t get it connected. This time I drove up my ramps so I could reach the nipple (that is a technical term) better. I was awkward but I got it connected. It seemed to work, but time will tell if it’s a permanent fix. I wanted to test it so mom and I drove around on some errands and the air blew cold. I was relieved but I sensed that mom may have been a little disappointed that we may not get the new car. We may still do it, we’ll see.

After, I went to Home Depot to buy a 12 foot ladder to install some trim in the living room upstairs. I’ve had this goal to get it done by football season, obviously that goal will be missed and I’m hoping to have it done for your return.

By the time I got back I had to shower up to get ready for uncle Tim’s byu kickoff party. Honestly, I felt like we had been with family enough this week but it was nice. 

Last week I made mom by imax tickets for a rerelease of Rouge One. It was at 9:40 and I was tired, so I was afraid I’d be sleepy. They had a preview for the Disney + Andor series based on Rogue One which was awesome. The movie, on imax, was excellent, so good, almost better than I remembered. I stayed awake and really enjoyed it.

We didn’t get to sleep till after 1am so this morning came fast when we had to get up to get ready for Max Heumann’s farewell. His talk was…let’s just say that he is demonstrating a willingness to serve the Lord which seems rare these days. Otherwise is was the standard “I’m clever and I’m an expert on how to serve a mission” type of talk you give when you don’t have a clue. 

Mom gave another talk today, they asked her to give an update on you. She did a fantastic job using a few quotes from your letters. You sounded appropriately sage from those quotes. Hayden Blattman gave his homecoming talk. He talked about learning joy on his mission and how it changed his expectations for life. He told stories about the joy repentance brought to some of the people he taught. He talked about after serving his mission he was sad and didn’t want to go to school and maybe having a negative attitude. He said his dad told him to be grateful for his situation and he’d feel better about it. He remembered how many people he told that to on his mission in Columbia and how important it was to them and how it helped. He told everyone how much his mission meant to him. It was awesome.

After church we had tostadas, sooo yum. 

Well, the football season is here. Utah state, the heavy favorite over UConn was the local season opener for football this week. They barely won. Florida is actually favored over the Utes by 2.5 points. I find that those betting odds are skewed to get the more popular teams to bet more money on their team. Just how those Vegas odds have usc the favorite to win the National championship. My guess is the Utes by a TD. Meanwhile, byu fans are jealous that nobody’s talking about their game in Florida. In other byu related news, they’ve made National headlines for one of their fans yelling racial slurs against duke in a woman’s volleyball game in Provo. Byu is a freaking embarrassment, all these stories have to be a hindrance to missionary work. They should just cancel all sports.

Well kid, that’s about all for me. I sure love you, and I think of you always.

Pops