The Salt Flats and the Record Store

 Oh hello Elder Rivera,

Things are still hot here in the city of Bluffdale. I’m down in the basement listening to some new vinyl records. Months ago I ordered the remaster from the Talking Heads, Stop Making Sense movie soundtrack. Not you gig? Well, I won’t argue with that, but it’s easily the best sounding record I have so far. I also just got an original 1977 pressing of the Steely Dan album, Aja. It has good sound, but not better than the rereleases in my opinion, so in the future, I don’t plan on being snobby about reissues. Presently, your brothers are playing video games and your mother is up watching some cooking or Hallmark show.

Today wast fast Sunday, and I have something to fast for. I found out Friday that there will be layoffs at work. I will keep my job, which obviously I’m grateful for. But I will be loosing two of my staff, which will completely change my job. This is supposed to happen on Wednesday. It will be a bad day. I fasted for the guys I know that are getting laid off. This is going to suck for them.

Mom made these incredible chicken fajitas for dinner today, wow, they were excellent. She also made classic chocolate chip cookies, I ate two and I’ll most likely eat more.

Today at church I talked to a guy that’s dating a lady that is a newer member. His name is Craig, seems to be a very nice person. Anyway, last week brother Evans chatted with him in Elders Quorum and asked if he wanted to learn more. Well he did, brother Evans contacted me, and I followed up today. He seemed positive about it so I’ve contacted the missionaries. I just need to find out if he can be taught in our ward or in his ward. It would be great if he could be taught here. Bro Evans is a legend man and, though we don’t get a ton of opportunities to teach, our ward is so good at reaching out and talking to people and fellowshipping them. I’ll keep you posted, I hope I get to participate in some of the lessons. Missionary work is kind of awesome.

Yesterday morning mom was having one of her fancy classmates come over to work on their final project. Ben and I desperately wanted to get out of the house and Jacob decided a bit reluctantly to come with us. Ben wanted to look for salt crystals so we went to the Salt Flats. We went out a few years ago (that time I lost my camera) and we found a place where the crystals were huge. We went back to the same place and it was very wet with soft, gooey mud under a thin crusty layer of salt. Where it was crystallized it was in little tufts and very fine. Ben ended up putting a little in an empty water bottle. We stopped by the official Salt Flats rest stop for a minute, Jake was unimpressed. When we walked out we could hear the roar of engines and I realized that it was Speed Week. Speed Week is when guys bring out their cars to see how fast they can go, top speed. I was curious enough that we drove down to where they were. But they were charging admission and I wasn’t sure how enthusiastic your brothers would be so I turned back. Someday maybe I’ll go out by myself to spend the day. We gassed up in the Wendover and headed back.

On the way home we stopped in town to go to Randy’s Records. A classic old record shop not far from where I grew up. I was looking for the aforementioned Aja album and was lucky enough to find it. I’ll need to be careful not to go there too often as there are too many temptations. On our way in Ben pointed out a mural with my namesake, please excuse the cartoon nipples. After that, we met your mom at Cafe Rio for a late lunch.

We came home for a while and mom and I decided to go to the Parade of Homes. It’s where you can go tour fancy houses without being arrested. There were some cool homes.

The rest of the week was pretty average. Friday night I went with your brothers to do initiatories  at the Jordan River temple. We all got to be in the same room and I could hear their names in the midst of the various blessings. After having gotten the hard news about work I was a little emotional and was really receptive to the comfort of the Spirit. I do, however, have to admit to some pride thinking about having Ben and Jake in there with me and you serving your mission. Not that I get any credit for that, but I am grateful for your choices.

I’ve been wondering about the big rodeo/bbq went. I hope it was fun and I hope you met some people. I hope you are doing well and I hope you know how much you are loved. Talk tomorrow, lyity.

Pops