Week #62 - Talking About Teotlaltzingo

Teotlaltzingo ... I know. It is a mouth full.

To tell you all a bit about the area, it is a lot like Apizaco. A lot of area, and a lot of pueblos. Although Apizaco is about twice as big as Teotlaltzingo, we don't share the ward with anyone. It is all ours. And the fact that it is a ward and not a branch is quite surprising.

When I saw the church that we use, I said "Wow, really?" During my whole mission, in every area I have been in, the church building have always been good sized, and fairly new! But our church building here is super small! And not very new.. But it does the job at least! 

Generally every Sunday, there are about 60 to 80 people, which fills up the little sacrament meeting room. The members are great, there are 3 pueblos that we generally work in, with a family that basically owes the whole pueblo! Haha it is pretty funny to contact someone in the street, and ask them their name, and to say Castro, or Atlixqueño, or Gamelia (the three families that make up 90% of the ward.) Now you know all about Teotlaltzingo!

We sure got hit with rain this week... Everyday, it would just come and go! On Saturday, we got stuck out in the rain.. I even brought the raincoa tmy folks sent me several months back, I and think this was the real test.. But it failed.. I got super wet.. At least my books and all that made it through without damage. 

I am still using my beloved Underarmour sling bag that bought about six years ago! Haha everyone comments on my bag, saying that it is cool and ask if it is new, I say "Nope! I had had this thing for 6 years!" And they are often surprised. Haha I guess that $30 was worth it, right? :)

*** Step Stats ***

Catching up on Step Counts ...

Monday, April 11 - 22306

Tuesday, April 12 - 13058

Wednesday, April 13 - 19372

Thursday, April 14 - 18430

Friday, April 15 - 15773

Saturday, April 16 - 26069

Sunday, April 17 - 8252

Monday, April 18 - 12005

Tuesday, April 19 - 21159

Wednesday, April 20 - 17791

Thursday, April 21 - 14364

Friday, April 22 - 14231

Saturday, April 23 - 15654

Sunday, April 24 - 11246

Super Cooper is STILL at the top of the list! Landon has dropped beneath his active brothers. Aunt and Uncles beat out Grandpa and Daddy on the Top10 this past week ...

We also got a note from the mission president, posted on the mission Facebook page as followed ...

Dear Family and Friends, we want to advise you about the recent news that has been published about the Volcano Popcateptl and its recent volcanic activity, it is true that there was a little of said activity but we want to tell you that all is under control and that you can be calm knowing that everyone of the missionaries of the Mexico Puebla North Mission are well. We love you!!!

I hadn't heard anything about volcanic activity ... I guess it wasn't big enough news to surpass the earthquake in Equador. Landon had posted a picture of PoPo a while back (Week #11).

*** Between Brothers ***

Dear Landon, all of the SAGE writing is over, but next week starts the reading. I don't really care about the reading. The writing is just annoying. It's pretty much SAGE prep in all of my classes now. It's the worst time of the year. We ran the mile on Friday and I got my new best time. I got third in my class at 5:37. The two guys ahead of me were both some of my soccer friends. It's always soccer guys that are good at the running, but I was only behind by about 20 seconds. Last week, Dad used the smoker for the first time and we had ribs. This week, he's trying pulled pork. It makes the garage smell amazing. A week from tomorrow is the due date for the little ducky eggs to hatch. We candled them last week and all of them showed signs of life! One of them even moved. We went to Grandpa Gordy's grave yesterday and then Crown Burger's. Crown Burger's is a lot better than I remembered. I guess that's because I actually eat burgers now lqtm. So yeah... Wuv, Keat

Dear Landon, the Playoffs are getting better as we are going deeper in them. Right now, I 'll show you where every team is standing. CLE leads 3-0 over DET, TOR and IND are tied at 2, MIA leads 2-1 over CHA, ATL leads 2-1 over BOS, GSW leads HOU at 2-1, SAS leads MEM 3-0, OKC leads DAL 3-1, and LAC leads POR 2-1. Yep, the Warriors lost the third game against the Rockets with a game-winner by Harden. But the NBA later said that it shouldn't of counted because there was an offensive foul committed by Harden while doing it. There were four other missed calls in the final two minutes. Miami embarrassed Charlotte in the first two games, but Charlotte came back strong in the third game at home. Oklahoma-Dallas and Boston-Atlanta have both been very competitive in all the games. There has been a lot of fights, technical fouls, and flagrant fouls. That basically sums up the Playoffs, but there is still many stuff that has happened. Awards are being handed out right now for the NBA. So far, Jamal Crawford won 6th Man of the Year, C.J. Mcollum won Most Improved Player, and Kawai Leonard won Defensive Player of the Year. I am jumping much higher than I have at the beginning of the school year. I could barely touch the rim on >7.5 feet. Now I am able to touch that easily, and I can touch 8.5 feet. At school this week, we did Ryan and I (the best players) against everybody, because of something Ryan had done. So we had already picked teams and then Ryan said, "If I make this, it is Cooper and I against all of you!" He shot it from about ten feet above the three point line, and banked it in. I got like three and-1's in that game. Then the game after, I had one of my best games. I had 18 points, 10 assists, and 7 rebounds while going 8-9 shooting, in windy weather! I started with 6 assists before I took my first shot. Finally, we candled the eggs. So far, all of them seem to have veins and are still alive. Are we going to get seven ducks out of seven eggs? I guess we'll have to wait and see... Love, Cooper 

Dear Landon, the playoffs having been really interesting. GSW lost the third game by a game winning shot from James Harden. C.J Mcollum got the MIP (Most Improved Player) of the year award! Jamal Crawford got 6th man, and Kawai Leonard got defensive. I had three games this week and won one of them. In the first two game we got obliterated. But in the second game we only won by 39. Not a lot. I don't know exactly know how many points I got in that game but I'm guessing 18. I hit a three pointer in the first and third game. My passing is still really good. We have seen the duckies a lot but sometimes there will only be one stopping by once in a while. We are going to have a good dinner is about an hour so anyway, I personally didn't have much to write this week unlike Cooper who probably wrote 17,000,000 lines so love ya! ColtBolt

• Dear Keaton: Poor, poor boy with all the SAGE testing.. Haha just kidding.. it is miserable. Just wait until you have to take AP tests or the ACT, now THAT is fun stuff.. I hated the ACT with all my heart.. And the AP tests are just so stressful! First, you pay a bunch of money, then you have to pass with a 3 or higher to even get the credits ofr the whole year! Luckily, I passed my two AP tests.. :) I remember being able to run.. (I am not saying that I am fat, okay?) We actually went running last Tuesday in the morning, and it felt great! My companion died out.. But I loved it. But I can't remember my best mile.. I think it was around 5:40-ish.. Maybe, honestly can't remember. But I can remember that my longest run was like 10 miles! I felt pretty boss for doing that. Haha
• Dear Cooper: Wow! That is a pretty in-depth review of what is happening for the Playoffs! Haha I can't believe Dallas and OKC are head to head.. AGAIN! Make sense for why is it super competitive between the two! Haha if you like playing so much at school, why don't you want to play on a real team? You would do awesome! Although I am sure that Mom appreciate at least one son that doesn't need rides to games and money to join.. But whatever. Haha. And I have thought of a name I want for one of the duckies! Alondra, it is a girl name, I like it. Haha but I don't think you guys can even tell.
• Dear Colton: Dang.. I guess that it is a bit tougher in the super league, right? But it doesn't sound like you care much for losing, so that is good, just enjoying the game! Have you guys named those two duckies that are stopping by yet? Hahah because it sounds like they are coming pretty regularly!

... and just FYI, Colton DID get a haircut this past week!

Week #61 - Get a Haircut

I took this phone from Adan (the young man at my side),

took a picture, and am now sending it to you!

(This is the first "surprise photo" that we have received from Landon! I keep telling him to give out our email address to anyone he's with who is willing to take a picture and send it to us!) Not much a letter today, no group letter, just a small note to the brothers (below) and this small note to me ...

Not much to report about the area for now.. We had a hard week.. But the work goes on! We arrived late to our meeting on Wednesday, so I wasn't able to send pictures off. I got the package finally! I could tell that they have opened it, but I don't know what could possibly be missing.. It was so full! It was basically exploding! Love you lots!

*** Between Brothers ***

Dear Landon, I forgot to tell you last week that it was Jake's homecoming. I'd say the only thing different about him is that he's got gold hair like a stallion. I finished the first SAGE writing test, but the second one is tomorrow and Tuesday. This one should be easier because it is an informative essay so it's, like, three paragraphs. I do better on argumentative essays though because I actually know the structure to it. I don't really understand what to do in an informative one. I don't really care about it though. The Battlefront people gave some information on the new DLC that's releasing in June. It's going to be taken place on the Cloud City of Bespin and the two new heroes are Lando and Bounty Hunter Dengar. I don't know who he is. I'm excited about Lando though, and they also said that there will be a total of 8 heroes and villains after all the DLCs. That probably means that they'll change Heroes vs. Villains so everybody will start as a hero. That'll be cool. Dad is making a rib dinner tonight in his new smoker. It takes about 5 hours to cook. The smoker is in the garage and I can literally smell it from here. It's torture! My mouth is watering. They look so good! So yeah... Wuv, Keat

Dear Landon, so the regular season is officially done, and it is time for the Playoffs. But before I talk about the Playoffs that have already started, I need to talk about the last day of the season. Sadly, Houston won Sacramento, so they clinched a Playoff spot over Utah, so they aren't in the Playoffs (again). The Warriors made history with a win over the Grizzlies, getting the best record in NBA history, 73-9. That is absolutely crazy, and the Jazz had a chance to beat them a few weeks ago, but they missed thirteen free-throws in the fourth quarter. Thirteen easy free throws!! The Jazz went against the Lakers in their final game, Kobe's final game. Ever. Keaton had told me his coach did not care how much he shot, because it was Mamba Day. Since I had already heard Houston won, I was rooting for the Lakers and Kobe in his final game. The Jazz blew a lead as much 17 points in the fourth quarter. Kobe had 23 points in the last quarter in his career, as he went for an NBA season-high, and a new career high against the Jazz, sixty points. That had to be the best farewell games in sports history. Only the first day of the Playoffs has happened so far, and nothing very big has happened. I hope you remember your abbreviations, because that is all I am going to type. IND won the first game against TOR, GSW won HOU, ATL won BOS, and OKC won DAL. I was happy about all of those games, but I don't care about the GSW-HOU series. I got a new Charlotte Hornets shootaround shirt. I paid with my own money, and it is quite comfortable. The DiFran Family came to town this week! No, we did not go to Jump 'n Bounce, but it was still fun. We played outside more than half of the day. We played a basketball game, but we were not really trying, so it was funny. Then we played handball. We didn't really try in that too, but it was really fun. And that is when they went to visit other places. There was one really fun game this week at school, where I was one assist of my second triple-double. We did not keep track of the score at all, so the other team's goal was to stop me from getting a triple-double. I had 19 points, 7 assists, and 14 rebounds at the end of the first recess. I did not take one shot (even though I'm the best player) and came up one assist short. There is still plenty I could talk about, but this letter is long enough, right?     Love, Cooper

Dear Landon, this was a pretty interesting week. Keaton and I are playing a game where we have a mini basketball and we go on Jacob's yard and shoot it from all the way of there. I have made it about 4 times and he has made it like 7 times or something. Kobe had his last game of his awesome career on Wednesday. He got a game winner to go along with 60 points! That was the season high of the league. Golden State beat the record for wins in a season. They were 73-9. Which beat the 1995-1996 Bull's 72-10. I had three games this week and 2 of them went into overtime! (Each overtime game we won.) In the first overtime game, I got a game winning three, I was about to pass it, but then this guy was about to steal it, so I jacked up a three and banked it in! We won the undefeated team in the second overtime game. We just had the most amazingeresteresterest dinner in the history of dinners!!!!!!!! We had AMAZING ribs, AMAZING mashed potatoes, and AMAZING brazilian cheese rolls. The playoffs has just started yesterday. I want the Clippers to go all the way! Cooper likes Charlotte... ugh. I don't have really anything else to write about this week, so Love ya! ColtBolt

Hey guys.. Sorry.. But another week with not a lot of time to write all you midgets.. But I do have to say something to Colton. I just saw the pictures that Mom sent me... GET A HAIRCUT. Hahaha Love you all!

Week # 60 - Adios Apizaco

Hola todos!

Well... Changes!

It was Saturday night, and we were enjoying a little bit of dinner from Hna. Antonieta, who was baptized just a few hours earlier. It was a good time, and it was already so late (9:10 pm) and we hadn't received any call from the assistants, so I was thinking that we didn't have changes. But then we got the call. While my companion talked to Elder Puente, he took out his planner. I had changes.

It was time for me to leave Apizaco. I was really looking forward to one more change (where there would have been 4 other baptisms), but the Lord has called me to another area. Saying goodbye to Apizaco was pretty hard. At the end of the sacrament meeting, I ALMOST cried.. I didn't really cry, but I did have to hold it back. Many families and different people that I have met here, that I care about a lot. But it is part of the missionary life.

Adios familia Gutierrez

Adios familia Reynosa

Around 9:30 am, Elder Cocom, and another elder dropped me off at the bus heading for Tlaxcala ALONE. That's the new thing now. That the missionaries can travel in public transport alone.. It was pretty weird honestly. But for being a bit introverted, I enjoyed it a bit. :) I took LOTS of photos upon leaving Apizaco! I just need to wait until Wednesday to send them, or just some of them, because it just takes too long through email.

As for my new area, I am in Teotlalzingo.. A place that is even more "pueblo" than Apizaco! They say that Teotlalzingo is even bigger too.. But I will have to see a map to believe that. My new companion is Elder Trillo. He is from Peru! And he has only got 4 months left in the mission, but is looking forward to work to the end together! So I am excited for that! 

That will be it for now, until next week I will be able to tell you all of the adventures of Teotlalzingo!

*** Between Brothers ***

Dear Landon, Golden State is is most likely going to beat the record for wins in a season because they just beat San Antonio and ended their chance to break a record. Warriors are now 72-9 and their last game is at home against Memphis. We had first sage test a week ago and I'm going to have another in about five days. In my three basketball games this week, I would consider that I did pretty good. In two of the games I hit a three pointer. In the third game, I had a little comeback part for myself, I got 6 points in around 18 seconds. At first I hit a three, then my teammate got a steal, passed the ball to me and I got and AND1. I also hit the free throw. I did win only one of the games. Dad got us seven new duck eggs! We can't wait for them to hatch. At school nothing is really happening besides me winning over and over again in Tornado. I don't have anything else to write so, Love ya!   ColtBolt

Dear Landon, it was finally a full week of school, and I got to do a lot of new assignments for school as well. As I have been telling you these past few weeks, SAGE testing is coming up. I'm lucky I got an easier assignment than other people. I got an argumentative essay on whether we have the right amount of homework, or do we need to lessen the hours of homework. I always pick the side with more information, and the side on why we need less homework had plenty of information. I learned a lot of new things about homework, like studies have shown that math and science homework don't even improve students grades. I finished early while writing a lot too. So I now have to get ready for my next SAGE test. My friend Ryan was gone the whole week on a Disney Cruise, and he is pretty much the only the person who could defend me in basketball, so I was ready to go on a roll. I scored double-digits in all of the games I had played (including a 25 point game). But my best game was on Friday. I managed to keep track of how many rebounds, assists, and points I got, and ended with a triple-double. I got 17 points, 12 assists, and 17 rebounds. I have been seeing how high I can jump in basketball, and I could barely hit the rim on 8.5 feet, but that is higher than all of my friends though! Keaton assembled my new soccer goal, and it is definitely better than the crappy one that can't even stand on its own, so we leaned it against the wall in order to play with it. Warriors are now 71-9 and need to win their final two games to maintain the best record in NBA history. Earlier this week they lost yet again at home to the T-Wolves in OT. After that loss against Boston, they had just fallen apart at home. They are going against the Spurs at San Antonio, (who are still undefeated at home) and might lose this game, and will have to settle with tying the record.    Love, Cooper

Dear Landon, arena scheduling for Copper Hills was all last week and it was very stressful. Seniors did it on Monday, juniors on Tuesday, and sophomores did it on Friday. I had a couple schedules written down, but I got my number 1 schedule because Mom is pretty fast. A lot of my other friends got their schedules too. The most stressful class for me was getting Mrs. Beatty's math class. She's Amanda's mom lol, but she's really good. She teaches at West Hills, but I don't have her. She only taught two classes and one of them was during 4th period basketball (which was no other option). She was my first priority because I had no backup for math. I ended up getting her and it all worked out. Whew! We got duck eggs again! They've been in the incubator since last Monday, so we're 1/4th of the way through. Mom didn't seem too thrilled about the cleaning-up-duck poop-and-cheeping-all-day-long part. I'm really excited though because they were really fun and it was cool to see them dive completely underwater in the bathtub. I don't know if you remember, but our best buddies, the Difrancesco's, are coming over tomorrow as they're visiting from California. We gonna party tomorrow! My first SAGE is tomorrow. It's the first of two writing tests, and I suck at writing. We did do a practice SAGE last week on Shakespeare, and I got the highest score in the class! It was really confusing to everyone too because I only completed four of the six paragraphs that we're supposed to do. I hate SAGE though. So yeah... Wuv, Keat

• Dear Colton: wow! Pretty cool week! Apart from SAGE testing.. That part always sucks.. But oh well. Sounds like you did pretty well for your basketball games! More ducks?! No way! Okay okay okay... I want one named . . . I don't know, but I will think about it! Ah tornado.. I miss that game.. 
• Dear Cooper: SAGE testing.. I think when I was in elementary school, I believe it was called CRT's or maybe that is something else.. I don't remember. Ugh.. I HATED those essay tests more than anything! Why can't I just have multiple choice and call it done? Hahaha wow. Are you talking about games that you are playing at school? Becaust that is pretty crazy! Haha you better practice your soccer, because I am getting pretty good... Just kidding. At least better! 
• Dear Keaton: I remember only having to do Arena scheduling one time, after that, one of my friend's mom hooked me up big time. She worked for Herriman, specifically for registation, so I just made the schedule I wanted, gave it to her, and she got it for me! Pretty awesome of her! Haha I remember Dad loving the ducks, so it doesn't surprise me that they are back, ahah. The question is if all 7 will hatch this time? Hopefully yes! But it would be a lot more work! Haha good luck with the future ducklings, and SAGE!

*** Step Stats ***

Two weeks ago, Elder Blackham didn't send me his steps. This past week he did, but I forgot to input them into Fitbit to get my step stat comparison. Here are his steps for the week, I'll try to get to inputting them and making sure everyone else is updated so we can see where everyone stands on steps again! Especially in a new area ...  as I don't have my usual Fitbit image, I'll just post MY steps in parenthesis after Landon's, so we can see how the two of us lined up anyway.

Monday, April 4 - 17780 (Mommy ... 30720)

Tuesday, April 5 - 16659 (Mommy ... 26843)

Wednesday, April 6 - 10550 (Mommy ...26590)

Thursday, April 7 - 9171 (Mommy ... 23108)

Friday, April 8 - 19830 (Mommy ...14552)

Saturday, April 9 - 15822 (Mommy ... 11620)

Sunday, April 10 - 8200 (Mommy ... 6078)

Being a SAHM with kids in school, I do have oodles of time to exercise. Mon-Thurs I almost always get in an hour on the elliptical (in a few sessions throughout the day) and an hour of Zumba. The weekends ... not so great, as I get distracted with other stuff, and take Sunday as a rest day. Cooper STILL had me beat this past week, but I do think I passed up Keaton, Colton and Callahan. Although, as I didn't officially check the numbers ... who knows?

Week #59 - General Conference

Lot to report for this week.. Sadly, so little time.

But I guess that I will skip to the best part...

GENERAL CONFERENCE!

The whole change, our biggest changes has been find investigators, that actually progress.. But we finally had a better week concerning that point! This week we found 5 new investigators, and now three of them are already progressing! We set the big goal with these children of God, who He had put in our path with baptismal dates. Also, these three people also came to (at least) one of the sessions of General Conference!

As for General Conference, it was a blast! It is that one time every six months when you get to together with all the other American missionaries and have a little English reboot. Haha just kidding, it is a lot more than that. Many of the missionaries (and members in general) love the talks from Elders Bednar and Holland. And their talks did not disappoint! Not to mention the hilarious joke made from (someone) about the Chewbaca costume.. Hahahah!! If you don't know what I am talking about, that means that you didn't watch conference! So you will have to go through each one of the talks to be able to find that quite hilarious joke.. :)

Last week of the change this week.

You will all know by next Monday if I have changes or not!

*** Between Brothers ***

Dear Landon, I was playing on the trampoline earlier, and I did some nasty dunks! I did a behind the back 360, under the legs 360, off the backboard 360, and others. I had a game this week and only got 2 points, but I did some really good passing. On every Tuesday, I'm going to have 2 games because only 3 teams signed up for the league. Boston beat Golden State! It was in Golden State too! They had a 54 home game winning streak but Boston stopped it. Cooper thinks that every single Golden State fan is a bandwagon. Keaton finally got his cast off. There is a bump right under his hand. I am getting really good at ball handling and Cooper is indescribable. I did not have much to write this week because I was REALLY lazy this week. Not much going on at school either. So anyway, Love ya! ColtBolt

Dear Landon, it was great to be back at school again and play basketball with my basketball buddies. But the bad thing is that some of my friends weren't there for most of the week. McKay missed one day, Hunter missed two days, Rachel missed one day, and Bridger missed three days. But on one of those days, my friend Ryan and I had our best games yet. I ended up getting 34 points and making 6 three-pointers. Ryan ended up getting 39 points and getting 4 three-pointers. SAGE testing is in about a week with writing as the first assessment. It will be an argumentative essay and we will not receive the topic until that day. Golden State's home win streak ends at 54 with the help from the Celtics. The Warriors were doing good, only their turnovers were bad. But Boston did absolutely amazing on offense and defense as they shut them down in the fourth quarter. They had the lead for nearly the whole game, and had a lead up to ten points, as they won 109-106. Now I keep bragging to Colton, because he's a bandwagon and likes the Warriors. I think is kitty is out of heat now, because she isn't rolling around as much and isn't meowing a lot. Whenever she rolls around, I can't help but resist but fall on the floor and just rub her belly. Plenty more teams have been eliminated from contending in the Playoffs, but the Hornets and the Heat have clinched a playoff spot. I am really happy that the Hornets have clinched the Playoffs, but now we need the Jazz to clinch a playoff spot. They are currently 38-38 (.500) and in the 8th seed. I have been working on my ball handling with two balls, learning new tricks. I am definitely the trickiest person to guard in my school, because you never know what I'll do. Love, Cooper

Dear Landon, I got my cast off on Tuesday and it was so awesome to scrub and scrape all of the dead skin off. Idk why, but I just really liked washing it and seeing all the dead skin come off. I kind of made a dead skin ball. Yum! It was really disgusting, but still cool... and disgusting. Battlefront got a new update. It comes out on April 5th. I'll probably buy it and it's only 15 dollars. There's a new mode, Extraction, and I'm pretty sure the goal is for the Rebels to get this really slow moving shipment from start to finish, and the Imperials have to stop it till the time runs out. I'll probably play this game mode a lot since it's the first mode that has heroes and not a lot of players (I think 8-10 on each team). There's only two primary hero modes. The first is Hero Hunt where one person is the hero against everybody else and whoever kills the hero is the next hero, so the player with the most hero kills wins. There's only 8 players in that mode. The second is Heroes vs. Villain where all heroes are used in a round and the first team to kill all the heroes wins that round. To win the match you need to win 5 rounds. There's usually 3 heroes and 3 soldiers on each team, but with the new dlc, it'll be 4 heroes and 2 soldiers. The original heroes are Luke, Han, and Leia, and the original villains are Vader, Palpatine, and Boba Fett. The dlc takes place as the Outer Rim, aka Jabba's Palace. The two new heroes are Nien Nunb and Greedo. I didn't know who Nien Nunb was, but I found out that he's Lando's alien buddy that looks like a pancake. They're both pretty good and similar to each other from what I've seen. But seriously? Nien Nunb? Out of Obi-Wan, Yoda, Chewbacca, Lando, and R2, they pick Nien Nunb! The 2nd of 4 dlcs will launch in the Summer. It's a Bespin Cloud City dlc, so there's a likely chance to see Lando in that one (so much better than Pancake Face). Anyway, I'll most likely play Extraction since you can be a hero as a power up. There are two other modes where you can be a hero as a power up, but it's 20 vs. 20. Those modes are really hard for me and I've never gotten a hero power up before. You could also roll from side to side in the dlc. So yeah... the 3rd quarter ended and I maintained a 4.0 the whole quarter. Wuv, Keat

Week #58 - Semana Santa and Puppy Pictures

Well honestly... not much to write about today. This week was pretty slow. We got no work done because here it is "Semana Santa" and everyone is on vacation. But we will get back to work this next week!

Semana Santa is Mexico's second most important holiday season of the year, behind only Christmas, and runs from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday. In addition to attending Mass on Good Friday and Easter Sunday, many Mexicans will also take advantage of the holiday to go on vacation. If you're planning to visit Mexico during Semana Santa, make sure you checked on availability in advance. Semana Santa 2016 is March 20 - March 27. Semana Santa, or Holy Week, celebrates the Christian holiday of Easter. Mexico is nearly 90 percent Catholic, so this religious holiday takes on a special meaning that the entire community shares and participates in.

I sent an Easter package to Landon ... but unlike my previous packages, this one is getting held up. I had been informed that because of the holiday, post offices would be closed in Mexico, but even as the holiday has passed, my package hasn't moved. I have a call in, and hopefully we'll find out what the issue is. It was just some candy and silly stuff (some bunny ears, a little basketball set), and a birthday bag (shirt, socks, a couple ties) for Landon's companion. Cross your fingers it makes it through!

A little story about these puppy pictures.. As we walked y a house of a member in the ward, we always saw this dog that was super pregnant! So I knew that she was going to pop any day. And she did! She has got 9 little puppies!

*** Step Stats ***

Monday, March 21 - 20550

Tuesday, March 22 - 20134

Wednesday, March23 - 19478

Thursday, March 24 - 11968

Friday, March 25 - 13217

Saturday, March 26 - 15299

Sunday, March 27 - 14271

Our immediate Blackham Family (all five boys, mom and dad) take the first seven spots on Landon's Top10 this week! Uncle Derek, Uncle Chris and Aunt Wendy fill in the rest. We are a competitive bunch when it comes to steps!

***Between Brothers ***

Dear Landon, I don't have much to write because I do not have a lot of time. I was on a sleepover at Maga's house with Aidan, Amare, Addie, and, Will. It was so much fun. We had a party before the sleepover, we hit a pinata, did an egg toss with raw eggs, one egg splattered all over my pants! For Easter, I got jelly beans, kit kats, new shoes, and cheese balls. On NBA2K16, I now have a team that has a lot of good players. I haven't lost one game yet, considering I have only played against easy teams and on rookie. The little kitty is in heat again. She is nonstop rolling around and meowing loud as thunder. But not as deep. I have to do my homework, so talk to you next week! Love, ya.  ColtBolt

Dear Landon, we had a short week of school, and I kind of wished we did have school. It kind of sounds weird, but I want to hang out with my friends all the time and play basketball. Speaking of basketball, I learned one of the things Stephen Curry does for his pre-game routine. It was really complicated to do, but I nailed it after like 60 attempts, ha. Whenever I want to do it, I can do it because I have basically mastered it. They are now 66-7, so they are close to beating that record. SAGE Testing is almost starting, and the thing we start with is the thing I despise the most, writing. I absolutely hate it and don't like anything about it. Whenever I hear the words "essay" or "report", I immediately do not want to do it (even though it is the subject I am the best at). Today was Easter, and we got some pretty cool stuff. I got two new pairs of shorts, three pairs of sports socks, basketball shoes, candy, and a soccer goal. Mom has been making nests more often, and I love them. Do you like the nests? Because Keaton and Colton do not seem to like them a bit. Keaton made me a team on 2K16 with some of my favorite players. I chose to play as the Milwaukee Bucks, because their jerseys are cool. Some of the basic players I chose were R. Westbrook, K. Durant, G. Antetokounmpo, and J. Wall. We went to Maga's house for Easter, and it was fun. We played a lot of football and and some kind of egg toss game. Yolk splattered all over my hands because dad threw it so high. Colton is not going to write you tonight because he decided to have a sleepover with all of them (we do not have school tomorrow either).  Love, Cooper

Dear Landon, we just went to Maga's house for an Easter dinner. It was fun and really good. Colton asked if he could sleep over because Will and Addie were too. Mom and Dad let him. He's wearing joggers lqtm. He has slept in joggers before though. Cooper, Colton, and I have been playing a little bit more of 2K16 on the PS4. We each made a roster that gathers 13 of our favorite players onto a team (kind of like an all star team). Since they're on different rosters though, our teams can't play each other. The teams that we got the players from have been traded for someone on the team we chose, so now those teams practically suck.  I chose Washington DC because I like the red, white and blue, but the OKC jerseys are cool too. We each have at least one player in common. Coop and I have got five or six same players. Little Kitten is in heat again... she is so annoying. She meows every five seconds louder than a car a horn, she's constantly rolling around on the floor and she's occasionally in the "breeding position" as Coop and Colt call it lqtm. I get my cast off on Tuesday! I'm way excited for that because I can SEE dead skin inside of my cast and I can literally scrape it off. In Spanish on Tuesday, our teacher said she'll let us watch Nacho Libre all of that class period because she likes us and it's the end of the term. Tomorrow is the last day of spring break. There's only three days of school this week for Middle schoolers and High schoolers since there's no school Friday because it's grade transmittal day. So yeah... Wuv, Keat