Matthew had two transfers with his companion Elder Toledo in Escada Brazil. From talking with him, it seems like he liked the area and enjoyed the people. They did a lot of good and sounds like they were able to get a few people more active than had been before. It isn’t a ‘high baptizing’ area which makes it seem like you aren’t ‘successful’ sometimes but I think they did a lot of good. Here are the last few pictures from his time in Escada. There are some from a zone conference and a few trips to play soccer in Recife while they were there on p-days.
I believe these pictures are from his last zone conference.
These are the last pictures he sent us from Escada before he left for his new area.
I was at work the other day and got a notification on my watch. I saw it scroll through with this silly picture of Emilee asking for money. It was cute enough that I decided to donate.
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The weather has been getting nice enough for her to ride outside for her lessons more. She is getting pretty good.
Allison qualified for State wrestling this year! The first group of pictures if from her qualifying for state match.
ScreenshotScreenshotThese are the Spring Hill girls that qualified for state.
Qualifying match videos
It is pretty awesome that she made it to State!! We were excited for her. The parents made ‘fat heads’ for their kids and we attended the parade walk for them around the school before they left. She missed a lot of regular practices because of some therapy she was doing but she made them up with morning practices and worked really hard.
They do a walk out of all the State athletes before the matches begin. The SH girls are in the yellow on the front (bottom) left side of the picture, starting maybe 10 people in.
Ryan and I decided to do a little get away. Well, Ryan decided and I went along and had a great time. He is the instigator of most of our trips and I appreciate it. We wouldn’t get around to it as much if I was instigating it. We went to a resort in Cancun. Last time we were in Mexico we did some day trips to see different areas and the Mayan pyramids, and a cenote. This time we were just there for three days and we decided we wanted to relax and do not very much. We walked around the area we were at and ate good food and did some window shopping. Otherwise we stayed at our resort and napped or read a book on the beach or at the pool. I got a great tan in February! In the evenings they had some show or activities we could go to. The last night we were there was the super bowl so we watched it on a big screen with the rest of the hotel. It was very relaxing and it was nice to be able to unplug for a few days.
Flying in it was raining. We have had the worst of luck on our beach vacations. We research the best time to go for great weather and smaller crowds and when we get there it is ‘unseasonably cold’ ‘not been this cold for 30 years’. So we were a little discouraged. The rain stopped pretty quick and we didn’t have any more after that. When we landed the airport had no gate for us to go to. Like they were surprised we were there.🤦♀️ They told us some stupid story that the plane at our gate broke down so they didn’t have a spot. But our plane was joined by 5 other planes parked at some random spot on the tarmac before we were done. We waited about 30 minutes for a bus to come. Then another. Then finally a third before it was our turn and we were able to get on one and they drove us to the airport. Last time we flew into Mexico it took about three hours to get our luggage from baggage claim so this time we didn’t check bags and were able to leave once we finally made it into the airport. I took a picture of their ladder while we were waiting for the bus to leave, it made me laugh, “Excellence from touch down to take off”. Ok Mexico.
This is the view from the pool I was in. Pretty awesome!sunrise
After the first day the weather wasn’t really to bad. It got a little windy sometimes but it was warm enough to enjoy the beach or pool. They resort had different restaurants or a buffet to choose from. I thought the food was decent, and I didn’t have to make it so that makes it a win too! Ryan likes to wear his KC hat at the pool to make friends and I like to put my headphones it and sit by myself in peace.
I didn’t look before we went but I was thinking I would be halfway closer to Matthew than in Kansas before we left. I was still further than I thought. I was only 950 miles closer. Because of our flight times I didn’t get to talk to him as much as I usually do on Mondays so I am looking forward to talking to him next week.
Ryan has always worked hard and pushes himself in his career to be an amazing professional in his field provide a great life for his family. He has always wanted to be an owner in the company he is at and has been aiming for that for a long time. A few years ago, the process of what that would be started taking shape and this past year he has been making it happen. The offer and plan for ownership was presented to him and two other people at the company he work at in December. After a few tweaks and negotiations the final contract was signed and it became official a few weeks ago. He has been at this company since it started. He was the first employee and 12 years later it is still a great company and has grown and become very successful and has a great culture. Ryan has been a big part of that from the beginning.
I am proud of him and really appreciate all his hard work. I am very very grateful to have a partner that is driven and sets and make goals for himself and then achieves those goals. It is one of many great qualities Ryan has and I am super proud of him for working so hard to accomplish this. I am also glad he has such great people to work with and they all want to create something that is good and meaningful for their clients and the company. Congratulations!!
Matthew decided that he is going to go on a mission as soon as he graduates from high school. He started filling out the paperwork for it and submitted it this week. He has an interview next week and then within a week or two after that he should find out where he is going! We did a couple practice photos to submit with his paperwork. A lot of his friends have gotten there calls or have already left. They are going to Brazil, Sweden, Singapore, Philippines, Panama, Utah and Italy. He is really hoping to get somewhere out of the United States. He is worried that having asthma will make it so they want him to stay in the US. I think he could easily go to Europe or Australia. We shall see!
It has been a few weeks since I wrote the first part and it is time to find out where he ended up getting called to! Several people told us they usually found out on a Monday between 10-14 days after submitting their paperwork. When we were in that window we were anticipating it coming on a Monday, so I made some snacks and treats, Matthew put his friends and family on alert to come over Monday night when he opened it. Ryan was going out of town on Wednesday of that week so we were hoping it would come before he left too. Monday came and went…Tuesday came and went. The Stake president checked the status and it said it was still waiting for assignment so we figured it would be the next week on Monday. Wednesday came and went. We had the missionaries in our area over for dinner Wednesday night. They told us a way to check and see if the call was on the way. We did it and it still didn’t show us anything. Thursday evening I was sitting in Emilee’s room talking with her and Matthew called me. When I answered the phone he asked where I was because he had just gotten his call. We were all pretty surprised!
Matt decided he wanted to open his call with just his immediate family first and then read it again when he invited the rest of his family and friends over later. He said in case he was going somewhere lame he didn’t want to open it with everyone first. I think that was maybe a small part of it but I think most of it was he was nervous and wanted to be able to process it a little first. Which is just fine. The bummer part was Ryan was out of town, but he left the conference he was at for a while and found a quiet place he could face time with us.
Once we had Ryan on the phone he opened his call and found out he will be going to the Brazil Recife South Mission!! He starts online training in our home on August 11, 2025 and then will go to the Brazil Training Center on August 20th. I thought it was pretty touching that the day he starts happens to he his brother Aaron’s birthday. I like to think that Aaron will help Matt and be a companion for him throughout his mission from heaven.
After he read his call with us, we invited his friends and family over to read it later that night. We did a zoom call for friends and family that were not here in KC. Several of his baseball and school friends that aren’t members of our church came. It was really cool to see them support him and be excited for him. They all wrote their guesses on a white board before he read it. Many of them stayed for a while after he read it to start researching and finding information out about Recife.
It has been pretty exciting learning and starting to plan for his mission. The first thing we had to do was get the process started for getting his Visa. It take 4-6 months so they want you to get started right away. There were a few little hiccups but we got it done pretty quick and got the paperwork sent in. He will be speaking Portuguese while he is there so he got a few apps on his phone to help him start learning. It is 138 days until he goes from when I am writing this. We have discovered lots of people that have been to Brazil on there mission, some even the same one Matthew will be at, or have family or experience with sending a missionary to Brazil. It is comforting to have there advice and insight. I am sure Matthew will have a lot of amazing experiences and grow a lot. It will be challenging for him. It is exciting, and overwhelming and a little surreal all at the same time. There are a lot of things going on at school between now and when he graduates and the Summer is already starting to fill up. Ryan and I are trying to soak it all in and enjoy and appreciate the last few months with him before he leaves, as much as we can.
Emilee told me several weeks in advance that she was excited to see what she was getting for Valentine’s Day this year. She loved waking up and seeing what was on the counter for her. So, I took her hint and did the same thing this year. I just leave them a little note with a small gift for each of them. Emilee also mentioned she was specifically looking forward to the candy because the girl has the biggest sweet tooth I have ever seen. I don’t love just giving them a bunch of candy but I did include a treat for them too.
Ryan gave me the flowers. He took me on a date to a new Mediterranean restaurant I had never had before called Meddy’s. It was very yummy. We came home and watched the next episode in the show we are hooked on right now called Severance and then we were going to go country dancing but since we had come home and settled on the couch we decided we were good for the night and saved that for another day.
Well the Chiefs made it to the Super Bowl AGAIN! It is a lot more fun to watch a Super Bowl when your team is in it. We had a family party again and all got together to watch it. Ross and Lauren brought a big balloon arch they used at their gym the day before. That made it festive and fun. Allison and Leah made lots of football themed treats and Ryan, Ross and Roger made lots of food to eat. In the past we have watched it upstairs but we decided to go downstairs this time and watch on the big TV. And I am now told that because we switched up our routine and didn’t do things exactly like we have done in the past we are a contributing factor to why they had one of the worst losses the Chiefs have ever had. It was awful. It put a bit of a damper on the party- that is a downside to having your team in the Super Bowl, if they don’t win, its like handing out a turd at the end of a fun party. Several of us just quit watching, Matthew disappeared into his room for a while. It is the last Chiefs game he will watch for a few years so he took it personally that they lost. Definitely not how we wanted it to go, someday, probably the next day, life will go on. Hopefully we do better next year!
Matt arrived home from a church meeting and was excited to go put on his Chiefs jersey.Both Matt and Allison held their hand on their hearts on their own when they sang the National Anthem. It warmed my patriotic mommy heart.
We have been trying to have a family game night once a week or so. It is a little tricky because all of us have to much going on but we do what we can. Sometimes it is a board game or card game but one night Emilee requested we play hide-n-seek. The last time we played it took all of us almost an hour to find Matthew. He was still small enough to fit under the sink in a bathroom and none of us even thought to look. So he was our current hide-n-seek champion. Allison claimed the thrown this time though. After a few rounds, it was dads turn to find everyone. Allison, requested a little assistance to get up in her spot. She was the last to be found and it took a little clue for dad to see her. Can you see her?
Matthew kept himself busy with the Stake basketball tournament on the weekends in February. The first week we went to our new ward they announced it then were moving on because they assumed no one wanted to play since they had passed on participating the year before. Matthew looks forward to this every year though so he boldly raised his hand and said he wanted to play. The bishopric said they would find another ward or two to combine with so they could have a full team so he could play. He immediately wished he had kept his mouth shut and just played with Heritage Park Ward again. Despite combining with two other wards, when he went to the first game, there was only three of the required five minimum players needed for a team. They borrowed a few people from other teams and had a game. After that Matt just brought his own friends from school to play. They won a few games but usually lost. Ryan coached them when he was home otherwise it was just them, I was usually the only person that came to cheer them on. Not the greatest year of Stake basketball but they had fun. He likes playing basketball for fun not competitively so he has a good time. This picture is the score when they played Heritage Park. They actually held their own pretty good up to half time. Then they got smoked.
Emilee was excited the weather was warmer than usual for February because she got to start her riding lessons back up sooner. She still loves it and looks forward to her lesson every week. There is a new horse called Artemis that is a bit of a stinker to most riders but he and Emilee get along really well so she is always happy when she gets to ride him.
