2025

Oh hello Joe,

Well, back to normal around here, as far as that goes. First things first, how did the baptism go? We saw the miracle story that your comp wrote for the mission newsletter, I liked that story.

As for this week, it seemed a little more festive than Christmas week for some reason. Monday I did the job search. There’s this older sister missionary that serves for church employment. A friend of mine, who is also out of work, referred me to her. I reached out for help on updating my resume. Keep in mind that I’m confident about my experience, but at my age, the amount of experience on my resume actually paints me as old. It seems that for some reason, a lot of experience is frowned upon in this current job market. Anyway, she showed me a way I can highlight my experience without showing my age. Anyway, working with her gave me a boost in confidence as I send out my resume. I’m really grateful for her help and for the churches resources for temporal needs. The rest of the day we just did errands. Mom asked me for a new toilet seat for the hallway bathroom for her birthday, she was serious and I’m a dang good husband, so I picked one up and got it installed. I also ordered a birthday cake from Costco for her birthday party.

Tuesday was mom’s birthday, so we made it a fun day. Mom wanted to go to breakfast so Jacob came with us and we went to Jim’s, Ben was working. Then we did a little shopping and stuff to get ready for her birthday party. We had been wanting to change out our kitchen faucet for a while, we found a really good deal on a nice one at Costco, so my romantic old self put one in the cart when I picked up the cake and got it installed when I got home. I wasn’t overly difficult to put in, but the way I had to worm my old stiff body under the sink to reach up behind the sink to remove the old one and hook up the new one left me pretty sore and stiff for the next couple of days. The old theme continues. After that I cleaned the kitchen to get ready for the party.

Mom made a bunch of baked potatoes and toppings for treats, grandma got here early and had maybe the best batch of her delicious chili I’ve tasted. People started coming about 6:30 and we just sorta sat around and talked and ate for a couple of hours. Grandma, uncle Tim, aunt Lithia, Jordan and his girlfriend that looks exactly like his sisters, various other uncle Tim offspring, the bergs, Artie and Patti, and the coopers all came. It was the right amount of people with only one baby. As it approached 10 this old crowd got tired and mostly left. But mom suggested we watch the movie What About Bob, an 80s comedy and the Bergs stayed to watch with us. Now that movie was a safe, rated pg comedy. I know it was too “safe” for your brothers, and I only found it mildly amusing, but your sweet mom was laughing hard during the whole movie and afterwards described it as edgy. It was not even mildly edgy but your mom is seriously sweet. I think her party was a success.

Wednesday grandma took us to the Olive Garden for mom’s birthday. It was good. Grandma misses grandpa. I miss him too when we’re together like that. The rest of the day was mostly taking down Christmas and watching football.

Thursday morning your mom and I went to the temple, it was nice to be in the prayer circle with your mom. I spent most of the afternoon tweaking the resume I got back from the sister missionary. I sent it out that afternoon to a job that fits me really well, i hope to hear back on that one.

Friday mom and I went to aunt Stella’s to help her get into her accounts. She’s got it down and probably doesn’t need my help anymore, but it’s nice to go see her. After she and uncle Temmy took us to breakfast at black bear diner. It was good and fun to be with them. We ate well this week. I did some more job searching in the afternoon until your brothers got home. Ben had bought tickets to go see SE7EN at the Jordan Commons IMAX theater. When we got there I noticed that I may have been the only guy in that mostly full theater that was an adult, or even born, when that movie was originally released. I saw that movie when it first came out, and it left an impression on me so that I never really wanted to see it again, not that it was a bad movie, I remember it being a great movie. But I think the depiction of cunning evil is what kept me from a rewatch. Now this time, I knew the ending, so I wasn’t shocked. But I was amazed at all the detail and foreshadowing that lead up to that ending that I probably didn’t notice the first time I saw it. I was also massively impressed by the production quality, the character depth, and the symbolism in that movie. It was a fun experience that I was grateful to share with your brothers. That movie might be more deserving of the term edgy. 

Saturday I attacked the painting project in the high side of the room. I dragged in the giant ladder that was really too big for that room. I vacuumed off I thick layer of dust from that ledge. I painted another corner of the ceiling, replaced the last recessed light with a led fixture, replaced the battery in the smoke detector that is way too high to reach normally, and painted half the west wall before running out of paint. With all the lifting, climbing, and reaching, I expect another bout of muscle soreness. I most likely have another four sessions on this room before I’m finished, between the high ceilings and all the furniture, it’s been way more challenging than I assumed it would be. I don’t see how the bathroom will be harder than this.

I got cleaned up and we went to the basketball game against Texas Tech. I’m sorry I never sent you the final score, but it was ugly, we left early. The Utes are fundamentally unsound, and that is not Utah basketball. I don’t always think a new coach is a cure, but I think it’s time. The Utes are better than this.

Today was our first day of late church, and fast Sunday. I got up and went downstairs to work on my hobbies. It was quite nice just sitting in my office, not feeling the pressure of the job hunt for a couple of hours, listening to music moderately loud focused on my selfish pleasures. I’m not sure how much that’s a sabbath appropriate activity, but it felt like a rest to me. Church was nice, it fun to see Ben do his elders quorum duties. He always acts reluctant, but he Is active in his duties. Ben smoked a pork butt and we had tostadas with it for dinner. It was good.

Well kid, that’s it for this week. We will chat tomorrow. I’m sure you are already doing this, but if I could ask for your continued missionary prayers for my job I would appreciate it. Mom reminded me that President Neilson has taught us to expect miracles and to pray for them, so that’s what I’m doing and asking for you to do too. Thanks kid. I love you,

Pops 

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