We got Tyson's memory card in the mail yesterday, so I thought I would share a picture of him....he is such a serious boy....yeah, what ever.

We had a good week for Jr. Jazz basketball. All 3 kids won their game today! WooHoo! Jordyn even took a shot and scored...her first of the season, after Troy talked smack with her about never taking a shot....she showed you, didn't she, little brother? Anyway, it was a good, if not long afternoon of basketball.

Well, I seemed to have aged another year this week. I must say that I have had better birthdays. It was a hard week for us all, and to top it all off, I was in bed sick for the day. For those of you that know me well, and know how I love to be the birthday "Queen", this was definately a bummer....I hope for better next year.

Just in case any of you haven't heard, we are having a celebration of Steve's life at Heather's church on monday, January 28 at 1:00pm. The address is 4000 s. 1150 w. in Riverdale. I believe 1150 w. is also known as Parker's Dr. The easiest way to get there from the south is to take the 31st street exit, get on the frontage road(which is Parker's Dr.) and double back to the south. Anyway, it will be casual dress, and there will be a luncheon provided by Heather's ward. I want to thank everyone for their love and concern, and prayers on behalf of our family. We couldn't get through this without you. Joey

I wish I had not so sad news this week, but for those of you who knew my brother Steve, he passed away this last week on January 16. The circumstances of his death were tragic (not a suicide), and saddens me more than I can express in words. I am not yet in a place where I can talk about it without falling apart, but maybe soon. As Heather and I have been getting an obituary ready, I came across this picture, and thought I would post it. He was such a beautiful little boy. I know that Steve is now happy, and with his earthly and heavenly parents, and can finally progress, where he just couldn't in this life, but it is still so hard. We love you Steve. Joey

Cold, cold, cold......that's really all I have to say for this week.......Brrr. I think all of Tooele is frozen. It has been a pretty uneventful week full of work, basketball games (all 3 kids are playing), and the usual mom stuff. I am very happy, and a little embarrassed to admit that the highlight of the week was finally getting all of the christmas put away on saturday night. Hey, I say I put it all up, someone else should have to take it all down......unfortunately, I am the only one who sees this reasoning. The rest of the family thinks "the crazy lady put it all up, she can take it all down"....and so it goes....Anyway, we are all doing well. Hope you all have a great week! Joey From Tyson last week: yep things here are pretty good, still warm, usually about 65 70 here, no snow, not too much rain,.. its pretty sweet. we just got out of a funeral. one of the converts from about 4 months ago died from cancer,.. and so the missionaries in the ward were asked to usher, and they volunteered the rest of the District as well. It was ok, but kinda long. Its weird when i really sit down and think about how much time i actually spend in the church and talking about it. ha. but it was good, him being a convert, there were plenty of non members there and there was lots of plan of salvation talk. i felt like alot of ppl were comforted and feel alot better, and hopefully learned something goodabout us and felt the spirit. tomorrow we will have interviews with pres again, i like those, i know there are some missionaries who dont look forward to them, but when he doesnt have anything to yell at ya for, you dont get yelled at. this last week at church was really good, this new family that we have been working with, la familia perez, came to church. its a family of 5 and they seemed to enjoy church. i like them alot and have faith that they will go far. they are awesome and im really exited to work with them,. the work here is going well and seems to be picking up. i was sick this last wendsday and thursday... we are at Chili's(not as good as applebee's) and i think it was the spicy buffalo wings that got me. i felt horrible for about 2 and a half days and prety much stayed in bed. i hadnt been that sick in along time, and i lost almost 10 pounds, which is annoying, cause now i have to go back to the gym and work it back on, i feel super skinny. but im fine now.things here are good, the ppl are good, the food is good and the spanish is good. love ya

Well, not alot to report this week.... we did have a horrible wind storm friday night that caused some damage in the yard. Not to the house...thank heaven's, but with things like the barbeque grill blown off the deck, patio table damage(repairable), and the saddest of all....the BYU flagpole is down.......leveled......dead. This is very sad news..... we had one man in our ward ask Ed..."so when a BYU flag touches the ground, do you have to burn it? And if so, can I be a part of that?"...Thanks Rob, way to kick a man when he's down.... ;) Anyway, not much else has gone on this week.... I am posting part of Tyson's email from last week..... Joey



christmas was very good but a little differerent. i like to consider myself pretty tough, and i dont get homesick.. but i couldnt help but think about home and going to grandmas and seeing the cousins and everything,. but i never got homesick or sad. i love it out here so much. i really feel like if i wasnt here, i would hate myself, i would just have an emptiness for the rest of my life. i love working with the ppl here so much. especially the spanish culture. they are awesome. we had some killer french toast for breakfast on christmas and some good food with other members for dinner. wayyyy to much food hah! im shocked im not fat. i finally got your package. ha, thanks, i like the scripture case alot. its perfect. it looks really nice. and the food is all good, and yeah, the other guys in the apartment thought it was a tad odd that i got baby food, but i was pretty exited for it. ha, so they just laughed. we as missionaries were taken care of for christmas. 2 reasons i think, there are alot of parents with boys on missions, and we are partially in an english ward... so they know how to do christmas and they have money. i did have a question about the cd you sent me though... haha. im not exactly sure what to think about it,. cause yeah, its pretty country, and also its all about women and love and junk like that,. but the elders in the apartment and i were laughing pretty good at it.. but im not sure if that was the intent or not. anyways, as far as the official rule go's for the mission on music.. its pretty vague, it just has to bring and spirit and be appropriate. which leaves a wide range of music. but anything like himns of course is ok. but also stuff like the tribute to the prophet and even stuff like the best 2 yrs soundtrack. (both of which i have)the work here is picking up. we are really working hard. we just finished our 100% week. i think i told you about that. I called it Heaven week, like "hell week" in high school football, where we just wear ourselves out. and it helped alot. the rest of the missionaries followed it well and we are seeing alot of lessons taught. for us in particular, we usually have anywhere between 1 and 3 new investigators each week, and we had 8. thats a great jump. i could say i would like to keep it up there, keep this pace of working hard and such, but i want more. i know we can do more and work harder. i want to see more baptisms here. the average here is low, i want to change that, and i know with hard work and obedience, along with working more with the members, we can change that.we are currentyl teaching about 23 to 29 lessons(good lessons with good ppl), which leads lessons taught per week in the mission, or atleast its high. i love it down here. come feb i will hit the yr mark. weird. i dont want to be on the down hill, once that happens the time is going to speed up.. i dont want that. well, i guess i wrote enough, thanks for everything,. go cougs!! i will be sending home a memory card within the next few weeks. enjoylove ya!