Email from Mom: Sunday, April 2, 2023

From: Mom
To: Christian.garcia@missionary.org
Date: Sunday, April 2, 2023
Subject: It's April?

Happy Sunday!

Can you believe it is already April? I am still trying to figure out where March went and how we are already into the second quarter of the year. :/

How was your week? How is your companion doing with the dental work he had done these last couple of weeks? How is the missionary work going? How are you feeling with all of what you have around you and all you have going on with 'work' right now?

This week was good here. We were up to the cabin until Wednesday for Spring Break. There is so much snow though that Spring sure doesn't feel like it will ever actually show up. When we unloaded the snowmobiles, we had to drive through a snow slot canyon to get up on the groomed trail to head up towards Smith and Morehouse Reservoir. The kids had the best time and the day was beautiful with a blue sky. The kids even took off layers because it was just warm enough. I kept all of my layers on...I was not that warm. :)

The 3 days we had with the Millers really tried my patience. I keep thinking that the older the kids get, the better they will be. In that house, notsomuch. The kids are so disrespectful, they are being raised 100% by screens, they are just awful. And it is all 4 of them. Kynlee was a crybaby all weekend (she gets attention from Jason which she thrives off of) about a sore finger she jammed almost a month and a half ago and that Jason has wrapped together with another finger to keep it from moving. She is fine though. She still does everything she wants, until she is looking for attention and then it is like her finger is falling off. Boston is a complete a hole. He thinks he is so funny. He is downright awful and aggressive and physical (in a terribly mean way) with the other kids. He gets told to do something and he just laughs and walks away. And neither parent makes him do what it is he has been told. Jurni still rules that house and is never told no. She is the laziest, and heaviest, 10 year old I have ever met. She had to walk up a hill after sledding down it and instead of being made to do it like the others, Jason went to get her on a snowmobile. She weighs as much as I do and it is all in a short small body. Again, parents do nothing. She sat and ate candy and drank soda all weekend. I think Dresden is probably the worst though. That kid cannot function a minute without a screen in his face and his behaviour says so. The kids all have screen time but they all also know the password and add more when they run out. He is also allowed to run his ipod out of battery, move on to Jason's phone which he runs out of battery, goes to Akaelas phone, runs that out, and then works through the other kids. It is pretty sad really but by Tuesday afternoon I could not wait for them to load up and get the heck out of the cabin front yard! It is going to be a long time before I invite the kids up to even the house. I had to take 2 of my anxiety meds Tuesday...that is how bad it was.

Kaitlyn and Eric got their engagement pictures done this week and from the sneak peeks that she shared, they look great. I am so excited for them both. They had them done on the one day of this last week that it didn't snow. It honestly is never going to be a snow free state. In fact, Alta and Brighton have officially recorded over 800" and they still have all of April to go. Every single ski resort here has marked a new record of how much snow they have had. At this rate, it is real life that they could be skiing up there on the 4th of July weekend. It is nuts. So much so that if we didn't fill any of the reservoirs in the state and left them where they are right now (which is plenty full) and we filtered all of the water from this years snow to Lake Powell...Lake Powell would overflow! They will of course fill all of the reservoirs but just to give you an idea of how much we have dealt with this year. And it is still snowing. We are due for another round the first part of this week. I just keep hoping that by a bridal shower/open house that Brooklyn is hosting for Kaitlyn in May that we can actually do it in the backyard and not have to do it inside the house. Right now I am not so sure.

This week is plenty full with stuff we have going. Tomorrow is Cowboys birthday so I will take some flowers and lunch down to Grandma probably. She seems good and the drama over the orange Jeep is finally done and it will go to Robyn and Sean instead of Brent, which is a good thing. I am glad she saw through all of the crap and is going to send it to the garage it needs to go to. Tuesday Fendi will be spayed and have her tail docked correctly. That just means a cranky dog for the next 10 days that I am not looking forward to but it has to be done. Most days anymore I get so frustrated with them and they drive me nuts but it is okay. Tyler found out he has a hernia on his belly button (which is probably why he always says it hurts when someone pokes him in it) so he is going to go and get that checked out and see what we need to do there. My car has a 30,000 mile service on Wednesday, Tyler has a colonoscopy on Thursday, and then it is already the weekend again. We will be busy stuffing wedding invites and getting them ready to address and mail. It is all happening so quickly! Eric got his contract renewed so that you will have a place to land when you get home and get started in school. I am so glad and grateful for him for mentioning that it would be an option rather than having us all stressed out looking for a place for you. I watch and listen as those around here and on the missionary mom page are freaking out for Fall semester housing and boy am I glad we don't have to be in their shoes! :)

Conference has been so good this weekend and as I listen to the General Relief Society President as I type this email to you, I can't help but heed to her words of "quit carrying all the rocks myself". So much easier said than done right? I most often times can hear myself say that "I got this, I don't need" and yet, it would sure be nice to have the help. I imagine as a missionary it is the same. Especially when you have an ami who is so close. It is a great reminder that it takes a village and we all have special attributes that we can help to bear one anothers burdens and help to carry on to the next step. Funny how something like a simple Conference talk can hit you right in the gut right? :)

I sure love you and I hope you have a great week. I hope you have been able to listen to Conference and have had questions answered or peace on your heart where you needed it most. I hope you have a full week ahead of good and that as you work day in and day out as you are closing on opportunities, that you take every second and make them all count. Your days are going to go by just as fast as they are around here and I don't want you to ever look back and wish you had done something different. Make each step you take count. Make each breath you breathe, one that is done with the fulness it deserves. Make each day as you lay your head down be one that you know there was nothing left out there undone and that you have done all you could for that day. That way, the next morning you aren't cleaning up the day before and you can give your all to that new day.

Love you for forever,

Mom