Here's a little something from Brian if you are not on his blog.



Hey Whatsup?

So its the first day that I'm allowed to actually write letters, though you should have gotten the one they let us write the first day. We've done a heck of stuff since then. If I was to tell ya'all how much stuff we've done this would be a really long letter. Though I'll give you an idea of what our schedule is like.



Monday is our P-day, so we get up at 5:30am to go to the temple, then we have time to write and do laundry, play basketball and stuff. This morning we were at the temple for over three hours. It was good. But, anyway, on a normal day we get up at 6:15am and have breakfast at 7:00am. We get a half an hour for each meal as we have lunch at 11:30am and dinner at 4:30pm. Every meal always feels way too early, but the food isn't too bad. Though it already feels like Montezuma's revenge is working on me. Anyway, after breakfast we have class time in which we spend an hour of personal study and an hour of companion study for gospel stuff. Then we have an hour of language study. After that we have class with one of our teachers for and hour before lunch. At noon we go back and have class for 3 or four hours. During the afternoon we are either in class or in the RC or TRC. After dinner we have another 4 1/2 hours of class time with planning time at 9:00pm and we go to sleep at 10:30pm. During the day we are in class around 11 hours (and this is always in the same small classroom, though during our personal study we are allowed to study on couches on our floor). We are almost never in our residence halls except when we are sleeping.

Overall it's not bad. They assign a lot of things you don't have time for and they expect a lot, but we have fun. The Spanish is coming along alright. We don't really get into it for three more weeks (because we study lessons in English first, sorta)., but we already pray, sing and share testimonies in Spanish. So it will be really cool when we really start focusing on Spanish. Although, if you can't tell by all the words I've crossed out, it gets hard sometimes to use English words and to spell them. I'm guessing this will get worse. We're supposed to use [Spanish] for everything so it gets mixed.



I am in a trio. Both of my companions are from, like two minutes from here. They are good guys. Everything takes so long with a trio.



It snowed pretty hard the last day or so. Our first temple walk yesterday was pretty blizzardy. It's nice to finally be on our second week. Our schedule will finally be the same, more or less, for the rest of the time we are here. We learn a whole lot and though getting to Mexico sounds really good we aren't ready yet, but it will come. In a couple of days we won't be the newbies anymore, which is really nice because people know and your like at the bottom of the totem pole. Elders that have been here for longer than us seem so much older and more advanced, that's how much they change and learn in the MTC.







I have two Spanish teachers, Hna. Scaife and Hno. Shulca. They are really good and fun. They make those long classes go by a little faster and I usually just want to keep studying Spanish. They teach us partially by not speaking English and they tell us not to translate what they say so that we associate things. This is kinda hard, but it works I guess, that's how we had it in sign language. They always tell us not to worry about Spanish, I guess we'll see. Oh, and you can tell Ari that my teacher Hno. Shulca is from Ecuador. He's from a city called Ambata I think, or something like that. He's really cool, he played pro soccer midfielder down there before he went on his mission. Fun stuff.

Anyway, I'll probably send you guys an email today, so you'll get this later and they might have a lot of the same stuff, but it's all good. So, I'll write next week.

Adios, Brian

We made it through Christmas! It always amuses me that I look forward to this crazy time of year so much but, I love it !

We had everyone home for a least a week which made this mom very happy. Alanna and Ricky drove up from L.A. for a week. Ariane flew home for a week then spent a week in Alabama with the Stoker family. Brian came home with the last of his stuff for storage and is with us for a month, and Garrett was here for two weeks (though as usual we did not see him that much).
We had our traditional Gingerbread House get together the first day everyone (except Alanna & Ricky) where home. After the usual collapses, some from awkward hands and some from abundant goodies on top, everyone went home with quite the creation. The missionaries and older kids (Ariane, Brian, Garrett, Becky M. & Sam C.) came up with some pretty fancy abodes.

The week before Christmas was filled with the typical last minute shopping (for dad) and the usual dr. & dentist appointments for college kids home on break. Christmas Eve found us enjoying a nice dinner with Grandma and Grandpa Black, the traditional pj opening that is always a hit and the Christmas story reading that helps us to remember where our gratitude should be directed.

Christmas morning has become quiet funny in the past few years. The two little (actually not really so little anymore.....they just get stuck with the title) boys are up and ready to go fairly early in the morning. However, the older kids (not all of them as old as they think they are!) want to sleep in, shower and take their time getting to the "good stuff". So, there is a battle each Christmas morning, little boys against big kids. The real problem is usually getting Brian up. We will be thinking of him next Christmas as he gets up at 6am to do his morning study!

After a fun morning that included some fun homemade gifts (a family tradition) like long swords to practice Tae Kwon Do, a soccer goal and Zed the pinata with a soul patch. We spent the afternoon with Grandma, Grandpa and the "other" Black family - Dave, Christie, Peyton and Ethan. The kids got way too many presents and we all ate way too much excellent food.

The day after Christmas we took Brian to the Temple. It was a beautiful day and memorable experience for all of us. It was fun to see and visit with President and sister Hunter after our session. Brian is just about ready to head off to the MTC and then on to Mexico. We will start his mission blog in a couple of weeks.

Our Christmas celebrations came to an end after Grandpa Bob and Penny came to visit. Everyone was thrilled with the traditional Sees candies and Penny found out she was made for speed. After trying Rock band and deciding that wasn't her gig, she gave racing a shot (on the new wii) and took right to it. Grandpa says he has PTSD from years of working in the electronics industry with gamers and would not try out his skills......next time Grandpa!

Well, its been a week and a half since the big day. Garrett went home yesterday and Brian is all packed and pacing around waiting to head to the MTC in a couple of weeks. The little boys started school work today and I start a new quarter next week. So, in this rare moment of quiet and contemplation, I thought I would take a brief look back at this our last Christmas all together for the next several years and recelebrate the joy of family and the fun times that celebration and tradition bring to our family.