“ You people are of the mindset that a lot of toppings equates to good pizza!”

“You people are of the mindset that a lot of toppings equates to good pizza!”

Guess who said that.

Oh hello Elder Rivera!

This was the week here in little old Bluffdale that fall came. Overnight. From the mid 80s through the first half of the week to freeze warnings on Friday. It kinda nice to tell the truth, it’s sweater and PJ weather. It rained Thursday and Friday too but it’s back to beautiful clear sky’s.

Quote number two: “I’m obviously the favorite parent because IIIII already sent my letter to Joseph.” —Heidi Rivera

I must admit my to neglect regarding game updates. I have two excuses for that. The first being because mom and I were at my cousins Halloween party last night instead of the game when it started. At kickoff time I was next to the campfire in clary’s backyard listening to Sam’s ghost stories. When mom came in the Utes were playing so bad that we decided to come home. I turned it on and mom went to bed. I watched it, but I honestly can’t remember a Utes game that bad since the late 80s, not kidding. I used the excuse that you were in bed by then, but I honestly didn’t see the point in sending you the bad news. 

There is some relief in the realization that your team is bad and not simply having bad games. We also realized that byu is not just lucky, they are actually good. It’s a hard pill to swallow, but now that it’s down, we can have a proper outlook in life.

I didn’t do much missionary work this week. I didn’t get a call from the elders on Tuesday to go teach Fynn, so assumed that the got president McMullen to go with them, tho I haven’t followed up. I was also prepared to teach Gospel Essentials today, but none of our new members came to church.

I did make a little progress on our room remodeling project, though it’s largely imperceptible. I got two walls of prepped and a second coat of paint on 2/3rds of the ceiling. While I was working on the room I realized how disgusting the human body is—there’s a thick layer of dust on every horizontal surface. As you know, household dust is largely comprised of dead human skin cells. I now have a small shop vac full of skin cells sloughed off by your mother and I. Ick. Anyway, I removed the curtains and one blind and I think I’m going to leave the blind over the small high window off. It looks nice without the dusty blind. I’m also planning on trimming out that window, thus further extending that project.

Work has been busy and stressful, but no more than usual. Your mom is on fall break this week so i hope i can get a little time with her. If there’s a silver lining to mom and your brothers being gone on Tuesday and Thursday nights is that I can work a few extra hours and not feel like I’m stealing family time. Thursday I worked till about seven then went for a walk. It was nice, but I still missed your mother. 

Friday night your brothers and I got dinner at Rancharitos. I had a cheese and guacamole. I know I have a slightly childish pallet at rancharitos, but I really enjoyed it. When we got home your brothers played Minecraft and I listened to some music, I felt the freedom to listen rather loudly because your mom was still at the temple. I upgraded one the components in my system, I replaced my echo link digital streamer with one from a company called WiiM. Tech in that category has really progressed in the last five years. Now I have a cutting edge music streamer that downloads and plays super high quality music connected to my old school Sony stereo receiver which is connected to my homemade speakers, and it sounds really great, even better than my vinyl. Which is saying something because listening to my records has been really fun since I moved my system into the movie room.

The byu game started at 8:30 so Jacob and I decided to watch it at least until it was obvious the Oklahoma State wasn’t going to win. It was a really fun game to watch since ok state looked way better than they did against the Utes. OSU scored to get the lead with about two minutes left in the fourth quarter. We cheered pretty hard. Then BYU scored in like three plays, that’s when the realization hit that they might actually be good, not just lucky.  The second half of that realization came Saturday night with the Utes loss that they are bad, not just unlucky.

Saturday was a good day. I got up late and mom was making us breakfast pizzas. They were good. After we cleaned up mom and I ran some errands. We went to Trader Joe’s then Walmart. Times like that with your mother are my favorite. After that is when I did the aforementioned work on our bedroom. 

Mom had already committed us to the Halloween party so i turned down the game tickets that Artie offered. But we still wanted to get food with your brothers before the game. Jacob had to get some pictures of the fault in a park near campus for a school project, so we met your brothers there. We had wanted to break our habit of getting burgers before the games so we went to this divey Chinese restaurant that I used to go to in the 90s when I worked downtown, called Little World. It hadn’t changed one bit and it was really good, we’ll have to take you there.

We had a little time after so we went to get ice cream at baskin robins, it’s funny just how much baskin robins annoys your mother. But I really enjoyed it, as do your brothers. Even though it was still early, we dropped your brothers off at the stadium and headed to the party.

We got there late but I always feel so comfortable with that part of my family. There was some good costumes there too. 

As you know, today mom gave a talk in church. I must tell you Joe, and this will not come as news to you, but your mother is a truly amazing person. That talk she gave, and the way she gave it was really great, it was very well prepared, and very expertly presented. The Spirit was very strong, to the point where my emotions were showing. And you know how that’s frowned on in our family. I kept thinking that I often focus on the things in my life that scare me, or I look for problems in places that they probably don’t really exist. But right in front of me are the profound blessings that Heavenly Father gives me. Like your mother. Like your brothers, and like you. 

Tonight we went to grandmas for dinner. She had uncle Tim’s family over. It was really good and fun to see everyone. 

We have more concert news. I saw that one of my friends from Dallas had gone to see ELO at the American Airlines Center, so I googled to see where else they were playing and the tour, their last tour, ends in Los Angeles next weekend at the Kia Forum. Since moms on Fall break, we got tickets and a hotel. We’re going to leave on Friday morning, and return on Sunday. As I’m sure you know ELO is the band that sings Mr. Blue Sky and such. 

Wow, a google notification just came that Andy Ludwig, the Utes Offensive Coordinator just stepped down. I feel bad for him, he gave us some really fun seasons at the U.

Well kid, that’s enough boring letter for this week. I sure love you,

Pops