September 28, 2008

Dear Children,

Here is a picture that Heidi sent of Rebekah out in front of Primary Children’s Hospital the day she received her cast; a washable hot pink cast!

The good weather has been kind to us. We have had some rain this week, enough to water our thatched lawn and garden vegetables but mostly we enjoyed temperate weather and especially nice days this weekend. The forecast is for a few warmer days ahead. Dad needs a couple of good weather days to finish some difficult concrete pours this week. It is perfect “project” weather which has been a great benefit as Dad and I prepare this week to leave for Las Vegas and Utah.

Everything is ready for the rock man to come (although now he is stalling!) as Dad and Mike prepared the footing for the front pillar this past week. Mike was almost to his shoulders in the hole that they dug to hit solid ground. What they also hit was gold! Yes, we have a rock from the hole with what looks like real gold veins. We laughed about getting a backhoe and excavating the front yard in search for more! We have actually started reshaping the front yard in one of the many, many steps to having what Dad calls, “An attractive front to look out on”. Dad framed in a planter box where the plum tree used to be; it will be for my lilac tree and lilies. The fence in between the old Larsen home (now Faulkner) and our property needs to be redone so Dad has some new ideas for that. We are leveling off the grass that will stop with a wall and walkway below top the side gate. We need to rebuild the small side fence so we may make a rod iron fence instead. These could be great winter projects that will keep Dad busy in the slow months ahead.

Dad and I finished the last touches on the storage room this week. What a great feeling! When President Uchtdorf talked last night about the happiness that is gained by creating things, I thought of my lowly storage room and the great feeling that I have as I take a peek in it when I pass by. Also, I have a sense of peace knowing what exactly we have and that we have enough to eat this winter if jobs are scarce. What a great blessing it is to have food storage for uncertain times.

I just may run out of frozen jam this year since the girls have been regularly asking me to replenish their supply. I don’t think it helps that Adrianne makes wheat bread every Sunday. She wonders why two of her loaves disappear before Monday . . . who can resist the smell of homemade bread???

Amid all these projects, Dad and I relaxed last Monday for Family Home Evening and took advantage of some free preview movie tickets that I received at my institute class for the new movie, “Forever Strong”. What a treat it was! We had a coupon from one of the summer concerts at Bridgeport for a great restaurant next to the theater so we had a real “dinner and a movie” date! It was great. The food was fabulous and the movie was even better. It was a great movie with several wonderful messages. Even though most of the movie takes place in Salt Lake, it wasn’t a LDS-produced movie as one of our YSA sisters in Relief Society so eloquently put it, “This movie has ‘real’ actors.” She was serious but we all laughed at her description. I hope you all get a chance to go see the movie; it would be nice if we all try and support good movies when they come out. There are so few.

I helped Ramona Jones with a bridal shower for Laura Ludlow early this week. She is getting married next Saturday to Tyler Green. We will miss the wedding and since I am the visiting teacher in the Green family and Dad is the home teacher for the Ludlow family, I am feeling guilty for not being here to help. I made tons of little frosted sugar cookies which I delivered the leftovers to Jaime Jorgensen afterwards to take to Mutual to be eaten up by people other than Dad and myself! Ramona came over and I showed her how to make Aunt Julie’s fruit compote. I haven’t talked with her for awhile so we had a good time. They have been planning for years to go on a mission and they have a goal of leaving this summer. So, even while I was teaching her how to make the compote, she turned it around to be useful for future missionary knowledge.

The garden keeps on giving. I have had great success with some beautifully, large tomatoes that I have tried to share with anyone who wants them, made lots of salsa with the Romas and was even able to freeze lots of them. What started a very difficult garden year has yielded lots of great meals.

The neighbor, Mike Faulkner (the Larson’s son-in-law), was in a motorcycle accident this weekend and broke his pelvis in three places. Luckily, I had taken out a turkey when I defrosted the freezer and wondered what I would do with all that meat. Their return home and need for lots of help, answered that question! Even so, we still had lots of turkey leftover dinners; Dad has been on cloud nine.

Wendi had her senior pictures taken and I see that she sent several options to many of you to help her decide which pictures are best. My favorite is the close up with the flower garden in the background but I also thought the one with the mirror was very interesting. I remember how hard it is to choose senior pictures.

We had a most incredible Relief Society General Conference meeting on Saturday evening. Dad and I were not done with our projects so I stayed home and watched it on TV while I finished some jobs. My favorite speakers were Sister Beck and President Uchtdorf. President Uchtdorf’s message and delivery were amazing. I watched it again that night after asking Dad to sit and watch with me a second time. If you missed it, you could go to the BYU-TV website and watch a video of it. It would be a great idea for any of you men also; it was a profound message for everyone.

President Uchtdorf taught us to not devalue our abilities or accomplishments, no matter how small. He asked us to quit focusing on what our accomplishments lacked. He said he wanted to teach those who ever felt inadequate, discouraged or weary (all of us at one time or another) how to taste of God’s happiness. The rest of his talk was about the two elements of God’s happiness: creation and compassion.

He reminded us that as Spirit daughters of our Heavenly Father, God’s happiness is in our heritage. We are the Spirit daughter of the most creative Being in the universe. He spoke about creation and creating in a most interesting way and reminding us that we were created to have joy, he promised us that the more we trust and rely on the Spirit, the greater our capacity was to create.

He spoke of compassion and creation in the most simplest of terms; even the creation of smiles in others by smiling at people. Telling us that we are surrounded by opportunities for service, he told us that as we improve the world around us, we improve within. He quoted the author of Peter Pan, James Barrie, “Those who bring sunshine to the lives of others, cannot keep it from themselves.” One of the last things that he said was that the number of prayers we say may contribute to our happiness but the number of prayers we answer may be of greater importance. He acknowledged the many sorrows and trials that we all our facing and then quoted President Hinckley who said, “Work will cure your grief; serve others.” You just have to go to the website and listen to this talk; it is so inspiring! I cannot do it justice.

Sister Julie Beck’s talked about the Lord’s expectation to increase our offering, saying that we have done so much but there is still much to do as an organization. She said the purpose of Relief Society was to organize, teach and inspire the Lord’s daughters to prepare them for the blessings of eternal life by:

• Increasing in faith and personal righteousness
• Strengthening homes and families
• Serving the Lord and His children

Sister Beck asked us to defend and practice the truths found in the Proclamation. She also talked about the importance of personal revelation saying that without personal revelation we cannot succeed but with it we cannot fail.

I hope that you all enjoy the week ahead. This is Adam’s birthday week. He turns nine this Sunday and is having a birthday party in the park on Saturday afternoon. Klaire was returned to Kyre this week when the DHS dropped the case saying that they didn’t have enough hard evidence. Unfortunately, the DA is not dropping the criminal charges of child neglect. She has two more court appearances scheduled on December 29 and January 14 or 15.

I understand that some of you already have midterms. It seems too soon! Some of the students in our ward are just starting classes this coming week. Good luck and DO YOUR BEST! I love you! Love, Mom

September 21, 2008

Dear Children,

I had a great weekend catching up on some home projects. It feels like I haven’t been home for many weekends. The home is now a step closer to the entryway rock project; the rock man is supposed to come next Monday-let’s cross our fingers! With the weather turning more fall-like these days, a project such as this could get stalled again. Now “all” that is left so things are ready for the rock man is the breaking out of part of the entryway and putting a new footing in for the rock post that will replace the old wood post. Dad had one of the siding workers that he knows come to finish the prep work on the walls on Saturday. Dad said it would have taken him all day had he tried to do it himself. Instead, Dad and I went on a bike ride and stopped at several garage sales to look for canning jar rings for a Christmas project, took Grandma to the airport (she will be visiting Denise’s family, Shawn and Aubrey and some high school friends this week in California), defrosted the freezer, cleaned the garage, replaced the garage light fixture and went to the symphony. That is much better than Dad working on the siding project all day!

I took over on the defrosting the freezer job this year. I love Dad’s way of pushing it out to the edge of the driveway and taking the garden hose to it and then the best part: drying it out with the leaf blower! It is FAST! I can do everything now except getting it out to the edge of the garage. The freezer job had to wait until the YSA took all their hamburgers and hamburger buns out (all 150 of them)! Defrosting the freezer allows me to know what I have and even helped me to know what to fix for the missionaries tonight; I combined several packages of frozen berries from last year to make a cobbler for dessert. I invited the missionaries twice this week since their Sunday dinner fell through at the last minute. And since one of the missionaries said at the Wednesday night dinner that his favorite dinner was sour cream burritos, that is what was served on Sunday. On Wednesday I was dying to try out homemade hot mustard that one of Dad’s clients made for him so I had a stir fry to go along with it.

The symphony on Saturday night was absolutely beautiful. The guest artists were Michael Harrison on piano, Patrick Lamb on horn (oh, I love how he sounds) and Katie Harmon singing. Beautiful piano music is so amazing when backed up by the symphony!!! It was a great night. I am so grateful that Dad enjoys doing things like this.

On Wednesday the swelling on Rebekah’s broken arm was down enough that she was able to go in for more evaluation at Primary Children’s Hospital. She came home with a “hot pick cast”. Her only request to me was, “Tell my cousins that I have a hot pink cast!”

Morty called and he has made arrangements to also come to Utah for the homecoming weekend in October; he will come on our flight from Las Vegas. He is trying to get Shawn and Aubrey to plan their trip to come in a day earlier so they can be together longer. I don’t know if that can be worked out since Aubrey is in charge of a big event on Friday night. As a mother I am just very happy that my children love to be together. Maybe we should make it a tradition to try and get to the BYU homecoming game each year. I know that Dad and I would love to be there. I understand that this year’s game is sold out now.

I had the best start to institute class this year. We will be studying just the Gospel of John; it should be very interesting. I came away from this first class with such a greater appreciation of the Bible; now I am even more anxious to read the book, “Fire in the Bones.” From that book, Elder Ballard, in a talk from the 2007 April General Conference entitled The Miracle of the Bible, quoted from William Tyndale saying, “The nature of God’s word is, that whosoever read it, or hear it reasoned and disputed before him, it will begin immediately to make him every day better and better, till he be grown into a perfect man.” I will enjoy studying John since he had an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ and his purpose was to chronicle the divinity of Christ and the power of Christ’s Atonement.

We had a bit of an unplanned-home-project-urgent-situation the other night that left both Dad and I exhausted. For the first time in many, many years, we had both the front and back lawns aerated and thatched. To save on the costs we opted to rake and haul away the grass after the company was done thatching. Wow! That was a huge job since the grass was so packed. The service man came at the end of the day so Dad and I worked furiously but were still out past dark trying to see what needed to be done by the light of the decks. Mainly, we just beat the rains which was perfect since the lawn definitely need some rejuvenation after all of that.

I am attaching this picture even though it really does not do this tomato justice. I am getting the largest tomatoes from one of my plants this year. And, they are so yummy also. I have made lots of salsa but again this year, many of the jalapenos are not spicy. And thanks to Grandma Bitter, I have cooked lots of batches of green beans (I had given up on them)!

Dad and I were finally back in the Singles Ward on Sunday; it feels like we have been so back and forth this summer. As much as I really do miss sitting in Beaverton First ward, one must admit that it is highly unlikely to hear Professor Dumbledore from Harry Potter and Jack Handy from Saturday Night Live (I had to Google his name to even know why everyone was laughing) quoted in a most interesting and actually, spiritual, sacrament talk on the topic of agency! It was from a new guy, a first year dental student, in the ward who seems very likeable and certainly captured everyone’s attention. He ended his talk with some great thoughts on what he called the enemies of agency: debt, addiction and depression. So true!

“Happiness is a choice” was the theme of our visit with Scott this morning. He is doing well and showed us the brand new jeans that he was pleased to be wearing. He only wears them for choir performances and visiting so he doesn’t need to send to them to the laundry, as he knows that he will never get them back. He received them recently since one of his choir buddies asked if he had better looking clothes for the concert and when he said no and explained other clothing needs that he had been hoping to get, the next week everything he asked for showed up in his laundry bin. The prisoners really do run that prison!

He had a good visit with the Washington County counselor that comes every other week. The counselor said that he appreciated that Scott is prepared to ask for things that he needs. Since the legal dealings that Kyre is going through right now don’t shred a favorable light on Scott many times, Scott has asked for a psychological assessment which has never been done. This may even come through this counselor. Scott learned a couple of weeks ago that his A.C.R.S. score (a score that is assigned to every prisoner that uses age, nature of the crime, behavior in prison and prior history to indicate the risk to offend) is so low, and their work load is so high, that he will rarely see his assigned prison counselor. He has never actually met with his new one and probably won’t unless he is a problem. So, Scott is using this outside counselor for the things that probably wouldn’t get attention in the prison system for quite some time anyway. Scott is very smart and resourceful.

With the anticipation of state ballot initiatives being passed this November that will affect prison population greatly, there has been a lot of moving of prisoners. Scott will lose his cell mate probably by the end of this week. He has a list of possible new cell mates. He will likely move to C Block, the block where all the prisoners have jobs. The cell mate that he is planning to have is a former BYU defensive tackle who played with the New York Giants for a short time, Kelly Hoyer. He is also LDS and has 6 children.

Scott was recently asked to be one of eight prisoners to meet with all the Oregon prison chaplains as they met with the president of the International Prison Association from Sweden. They held a day of training and group orientation which Scott enjoyed and of course, made his contribution. I asked, “And did anyone there say to you that you shouldn’t be in prison?” His reply was that one of the chaplains, after spending some time with him, told him that she felt that they weren’t much different people and that she knew she made mistakes as a mother that might also put her into the prison system.

He also asked Dad to donate any old concrete tools to the Oregon State Penitentiary saying that he was asked if he would like to work on a concrete project there or at least help to plan it. He thought it might feel good to get his hands dirty!

Enjoy these last warm days before the weather completely turns! I love you! Love, Mom

September 15, 2008

Dear Children,
The beginning of this week Dad and I filled with projects. It felt so good to engage my mind in a project. For Family Home Evening we tackled the huge job of reorganizing the storage room (and just the food part!). Dad had worked in the hot sun all day and I had unloaded two of the shelving units so we both were low on energy and decided we would give it a good hour and a half. We took out the old brown shelving unit that was in there when Dad built the wall to divide the room to make a summer bedroom for returning college students. So, we realized we had to take the shelves completely apart to get them out. Dad would have just preferred to chop them apart but I had already promised them to the Farb family . . . rats! Our project went late into the night as all projects seem to have a way of doing! The rest of the week I have been working on small portions of putting the room back together. I haven’t tackled building the rolling shelves yet; there is so much to do. In cleaning out one of my boxes I found something I thought I had misplaced (for which I had searched many, many hours). It is the letter signed by President Benson to me about my sealing cancelation. Even without knowing that Dad and I wondered about the sealing of our children, the letter gave us the answers and inspired counsel that we needed. It explained things beautifully and when one of you had a question about it, I wished that I could have found it to read to you his exact wording. Now I am so happy to know where that is.
I also have cleaned out some excess sporting equipment except I did save three large pair of soccer cleats in case anyone wants to get out the soccer nets someday and have a fun family game when you visit. I also found a net that looks like a golfing net. I think it was a Christmas present many years ago from Grandma Maldonado to one of you. Do you remember it and to whom does it belong?
My other projects were researching about pruning some of the bushes and trees in the yard. I worked on the calla lilies (we had a great crop this summer), the blueberries and I pruned the pom pom tree. There is something about pruning that I love; it is very therapeutic to me and it also makes me think of several gospel principles as I am chopping away. I was thinking recently about the currant bush pruning analogy when I was weeding Grandma Bitter’s rose bushes and they just kept attacking me with their sharp thorns leaving me with bruises and bloody cuts (in fact a couple of little thorns are just working themselves out of my hand still). I wondered why the roses didn’t realize that I was helping them by ridding them of the weeds so they could get more nutrients and light that the weeds were robbing from them!!!
Last week, the thought came to me that I wished those in our ward who attended BYU Education Week in August could give a synopsis of some of the things they learned. I had meant to watch some of it on BYU TV but something was going on that week that directed my attention elsewhere. I used to love going over to the church and watching classes there so I felt that I had really missed out. Some day I would love it if Dad and I could be on campus for that together. Then on Sunday, because Nate was here and we went to Beaverton First Ward, I heard that we were having Relief Society Enrichment this week and that was going to be one of the classes, different sisters sharing information from their Education Week classes. Here are a few of ideas I learned from them:
Robin Whitaker, from a class by Rob Line quoted this: Jeffrey R. Holland in the book, “However Long and Hard the Road.” Said, “You can change anything you want to change, and you can do it very fast. Another satanic suckerpunch is that it takes years and years and eons of eternity to repent. That’s just not true. It takes exactly as long to repent as it takes to say, “I’ll change” and mean it. Of course there will be problems to work out and restitutions to make. You may well spend – indeed, you had better spend, the rest of your life proving your repentance by its permanence. But change, growth, renewal, and repentance can come for you as instantaneously as they did for Alma and the sons of Mosiah.”
He also gave this quote from an October 1999 Conference Talk given by L. Tom Perry, “Some Christians carry their religion on their backs. It is a packet of beliefs and practices which they must bear. At times it grows heavy and they would willingly lay it down, but that would mean a break with old traditions, so they shoulder it again. But real Christians do not carry their religion, their religion carries them. It is not weight; it is wings. It lifts them up, it sees them over hard places, it makes the universe seem friendly, life purposeful, hope real, sacrifice worthwhile. It sets them free from fear, futility, discouragement, and sin—the great enslavers of men’s souls. You can know a real Christian, when you see him, by his buoyancy.”
In a class by a Mark Beecher he taught that we should look at our scripture reading as an opportunity to strengthen our relationship with Deity. He also pointed out that the main theme of the Book of Mormon is: Who asks for forgiveness, receives it.
Carol Stanger went to a great lecturer, Carol Wrigley Wright, on the subject of depression. She taught, “Think differently, act differently, and feel differently.” This teacher has a website with a CD offer from her lectures.
Speaking of the Stangers, Dad and I had a fun weekend in Seaside with them. Of course, they had to be subjected to the infamous “90 minute presentation” in order for the marketing team to give me the weekend on one of the top floors with a great view. They said it was worth it! The weather was pristine; beautiful blue skies and great temperatures for the coast. We swam, played Skee Ball and Air Hockey in the game room on the corner, walked the shops on Broadway, drove bumper cars and played lots of games in the room until all hours of the morning! We took a page from our fun Christmas trip there with all of you and rented a surrey. Wow; I didn’t realize how nice it was to have all those “young” legs pedaling back then . . . it was a lot of work! One ngiht we took a very late walk along the promenade and saw many groups with fires on the beach. We need to do that next time!
With the weather so clam, Dad and I even sat on the beach and read. It was a very relaxing trip. Dad and I stayed to watch sundown on Sunday afternoon. It was quite nice; we sat on a bench eating clam chowder as the sun dipped into the ocean. On the way home, a bright harvest moon had already risen; it was a beautiful sight in between the trail of tall trees that lined the highway home. It made the VERY slow ride home (with all the other Portlanders who escaped the weekend heat to the coast) both picturesque and tranquil.
In my beach reading I thoroughly enjoyed the first page of one of the recent Church News editions; it was the regular column of inspirational messages from the prophet. I must embarrassingly admit that, since the death of President Hinckley, I have been a bit reluctant to wholeheartedly dive into absorbing and loving every word from the prophet, President Monson. It is taking me a while to shift that attachment from President Hinckley. Well, when I read these comments I had the same comfortable feeling I had when President Hinckley spoke; it was a great feeling. Here are a few:
“There is no better time in all the world to make important choices than at the beginning of a new semester, and particularly at the beginning of a new year, for we literally become the product of our choices. Our choices determine our destiny.”
“The Spirit must be freed from tethers so strong and feelings never put to rest, so that the lift of life may give buoyancy to the soul. In many families, there are hurt feelings and a reluctance to forgive. It doesn’t really matter what the issue was. It cannot and should not be left to injure. Blame keeps wounds open. Only forgiveness heals. George Herbert an early 17th-century poet, wrote these lines: ‘He that cannot forgive others breaks the bridge over which he himself must pass if he would ever reach heaven, for everyone has need of forgiveness.’”
“Each one of you is living a life filled with much to do. I plead with you not to let the important things in life pass you by, planning instead for that illusive and non-existent future day when you’ll have time to do all that you want to do. Instead, find joy in the journey – now.”
Aren’t those great?
Adam called my cell phone while Dad and I were at the beach. He was kind enough to call us back to report on Aunt Lynn. Dad and I have been very concerned about her since her heart attack last Sunday. Luckily, she released on Wednesday and she is doing better. She sounded good as we talked after our conversation with Adam. They could not find a clot but saw some damage weakening the left side of her heart. Her doctor expected that she could completely heal which is wonderful news. There is not any change, that I know of, with Kyre’s situation. Klaire is staying with Aunt Angie (with Sunhee and Meeja) until Kyre’s final court dates at the end of this month.
While coming home from the beach I heard the sad call from Rebekah reporting that she went to the hospital because she broke her arm. She has a new bike and unfortunately lost control on Saturday, falling and breaking her arm. That’s two broken bones for poor Rebekah already!
Aubrey called to tell me some great news: they decided to come to BYU’s homecoming game while we will be in Utah also. They booked their flight so they can also stay for Grandma Bitter’s birthday and Bill and Heidi’s Canadian Thanksgiving! I am looking forward to a great gathering.
Adrianne reports a good start to the new school year. She loves her organ class and practicing with twelve other people in the same lab with the twelve organs is not as intimidating as she had thought as they all have earphones on listening to their own work. Her stake had regional conference last Sunday with President Uchtdorf and Packer. Her organ teacher was the organist at the broadcast that was filmed live there at the Marriott Center. I think she enjoys having a kitchen; she has already made ganache with her roommates!
Dad and I are enjoying a beautiful summery September and all the benefits in our garden that comes with the sunshine! I love you, Love, Mom

FYI watch out for the next issue of the BYU magazine. I just got a phone telling me I have a picture in it. :)
trip pictures to come!
-Katie

September 7, 2008

Dear Children,

We packed in lots of fun this weekend with a visit from Morty and Nate. The day before Morty arrived he called and suggested that we add a day to our Seattle (BYU football against University of Washington) trip on Saturday and also go to the Mariner game the night before. It turned out to be a great idea.

Morty arrived Thursday and Nate on Friday. Thursday we conveniently stopped at IKEA on the way home from the airport. Morty wanted to get a look at some things at which he and Aaron had been looking online; I cannot believe that Las Vegas does not have their own IKEA! I rarely go there so that gave me a chance to get an up close look at their kitchen cabinets. I had read an article about remodeling a kitchen without the high cost and it was suggested to buy cabinets through IKEA. They are pretty nice looking.

I made my first batch of salsa for Morty’s arrival. It was pretty good if I do say so myself. Once again, though, our garden jalapeños are not very spicy. I haven’t figured out that problem yet. I also picked our first batch of green beans for Sunday’s dinner; I am so relieved that the third planting actually worked. I thought it would be too late in the season. We visited up at Grandma’s on Thursday night once we came back to Beaverton and planned the rest of the weekend.

Nate took the MAX once he arrived on the plane on Friday morning; that allowed time for Morty and I to stop by Triple A and get all new road maps for the new Accord. I just might to take some road trips with my comfortable new car especially since we were excited to get 32 miles per gallon on our trip back from Utah! We immediately went to the DMV since Nate’s license had expired while he was in Las Vegas. I thought it would take forever with all their new restrictions but it was amazingly fast; fast enough that we called Grandma so we could pick her up and take her to the Black Bear Restaurant for breakfast. That is the restaurant that we liked to stop at in Yreka on our trips to California. They now have one in Beaverton; they have huge meals so luckily Grandma and I shared one. The boys ordered the largest meals of course!

We headed for Seattle in the early afternoon. It was a beautiful night for a ballgame. Nate’s friend, Mike Corrigan, was also in Seattle for the BYU game so he met up with us at the Mariner game. They were playing the Yankees so it was very nice that they won. What made it even better was that it was the pitcher’s first major league game and he pitched a no hitter until the seventh inning!

We stayed in Tukwila, by the SeaTac airport, since there were no decent prices in the city. I would have loved to stay in the city; I think that Seattle is a fascinating town. We stopped with the traffic on a freeway exit overpass so Morty could get a picture of the Seattle skyline; it was so pretty. Dad was good at heading south to our place quickly and getting away from the traffic at both the Mariner and BYU game. Seattle can be a traffic nightmare and we had heard that the Husky game causes the worst bottle ups. We arrived two hours early for the football game and already the parking lot that the BYU alumni suggested we use, was full of Husky tailgaters. That caused us to drive quite a way away to park and that saved us after the game. They stack the parking in the school lots so you just sit in your parking spot until everyone in front of you returns.

The Husky stadium is quite large so it was a very noisy game. We went to the BYU tailgate party by the baseball field and then into the stadium early. Our general admission tickets allowed any seating in the end zone so Nate and Morty chose to sit on the front row with Mike and his friend. They had gone to Wal-Mart the night before, five minutes before closing, and bought all the blue crepe paper streamers they could. At the first touchdown they threw the streamers to celebrate, reserving just a few for the end of the game. Dad and I sat about six rows up with what we considered pretty great seats.

We thought by BYU’s touchdown in the first few minutes that it would be a BYU blowout but the Huskies kept coming back and matching our score after every touchdown. It was a good game though and I hope BYU has made all of their mistakes for the rest of the season! The Huskies have a very excellent quarterback and with only two seconds left in the ballgame, he ran the ball in for a touchdown. We knew, with his running ability that they would probably go for the win with a two point conversion but he was called for excessive celebrating when he threw the ball high in to the air in the end zone so the penalty pushed the Huskies back far enough that they needed to kick it instead for only one point to tie. Amazingly, BYU blocked the kick and won the game. It was a great ending; it is always nice to win!

We drove home as quickly as we could so we could pick up Grandma and go to Mongolian Grill for a celebration dinner for Nate’s job offer with Zappos. This picture was from Morty iPhone so it may not come through so well. On the trip he also received news that he was offered a part time job for the fall with Orangesoda.com in American Fork doing about the same thing he did at Zappos. In his interview he asked for $15.00 per hour and they explained that only their fulltime employees receive 12-15 dollars an hour. They must have really liked him as they gave him an offer for $13.00; he has become a “pay per click” specialist. I hope I wrote that correctly; when Nate says his job title, it sounds like “paper clip” specialist! He will work in American Fork everyday until noon and has adjusted all of his classes to fit that new schedule; his last semester will be as loaded as all the rest.

With Nate’s knowledge about optimizing search engines to get a website noticed, he talked a lot about getting Bitter Concrete on the internet. It sounds like a lot of work to get started but something worth trying. Dad and I never realized the science behind getting your website noticed. Nate left us with some homework to start a blog developed around answers to many of the questions asked on the Yahoo Answers website. This should be interesting but it needs to wait until next week. Our projects this week are organizing our storage room by cleaning out the REALLY old food storage, getting rid of those old brown shelves and setting up our new rolling shelves plus, for the concrete business, developing a new format for our invoices since Dad is almost out and we need to add some more information due to the fact that much of our business these days are not contractors anymore. We need the family experts here in Beaverton to help us with these projects!

Morty had to leave early Sunday morning. The Las Vegas Gift Show starts this week and his boss is in town to get things set up. Also, Morty needed to help Joe with some projects before the show. We went to Beaverton First ward and many people enjoyed talking with Nate. After church Nate called Grandma and said he was ready to play games. We had his favorite request for dinner, hash, and then he offered to set up a Face Book page for Grandma before playing games! She is one lucky grandma especially since Nate noticed some pretty cute girls in our singles ward and could have stayed longer for the rest of the singles ward mingling time! Anyway, with Nate’s early Monday morning departure, Dad and I are pretty sad to look ahead to a regular work week after such an entertaining weekend with the boys! But, this next weekend we are actually going to the beach with Carol and Davis Stanger. They have agreed to subject themselves to the 90 minute harassing of the Seaside marketing group in trade for two nights vacationing there!

Katie also had an entertaining week as she closed her cross country ride this week through so many exciting places. The night that they attended the Boston Red Sox game they couldn’t find parking by their friend’s downtown apartment so they decided that it was so late, and they wanted to head to Palmyra so early in the morning, that they just drove through the night. Katie called saying how beautiful it was in the Sacred Grove as it was so early in the morning that there was a fog as the sun rose above the trees. Their other stops this week included Columbus, Ohio and Kansas City. Maybe Katie will send some picture for the next newsletter; she said she took a bunch.

In church I heard a great lesson about studying and how important it was to pray before any kind of studying, not just studying the scriptures. It reminded me of my freshman year at BYU. I remember thinking as I was walking down the hill from Deseret Towers to take a test on campus that I no longer had the advantage of probably being the only person who prayed when studying for a test like I had at Hayward High! Anyway, since it is the start of a new school year, that is a great habit for us all to remember in our search for any kind of truth.

I read an article by Emily Watts who regards September 1 as a “real” new year instead of the January 1 New Year’s Day with the end of the summer chaotic schedules and the new beginnings with fresh boxes of colored pencils, just-bought clothes and clean lockers. With this clean start it is a time to have a renewed resolved for improvement in all our lives. She writes:

“One thing I’ve discovered is that today’s best choice does not necessarily carry over into tomorrow. Circumstances change, and if I don’t change with them I find myself feeling increasingly out of kilter. . . This takes attention, prayer and even some experimenting. That’s why I’m grateful for an “extra’ new year’s day in September, a time to pull myself together and rethink some things and ask for guidance for the next leg of the journey.”

Have a great week ahead with the fresh start of a new school year and fall crispness starting in the air! I love you! Love, Mom

We learned from Angie (Meeja and Sunhee’s aunt) that Aunt Lynn had a heart attack this weekend. Dad called and spoke with Uncle Mickey. He said that she came home from church and was experiencing enough pain that she asked him to take her to the hospital. He reported that there was no clot but a weakness on the left side of her heart and they will keep her for a couple of days in the Salem hospital. Her daughter, Danielle, will get Adam to and from school during that time.

Also this weekend, DHS removed Klaire from Kyre’s home and put her in a foster home. We are just sick about this. It almost seems that they timed it late enough on Friday to avoid giving a family member a chance to have her! No one is quite sure why they removed her. Even after the emergency court hearing to give DHS temporary custody of Klaire, Angie still was unsure except that it may have had something to do with Kyre’s criminal case hearing and the fact that she signed a paper from that day saying she wouldn’t have contact with Klaire but that was over a week ago and DHS has visited her many times since then! Angie wondered if it was due to the fact that someone in authority told her she shouldn’t carry Klaire any more since Kyre kept falling. It is all such a bizarre set of circumstances. Luckily, Angie was able to go in today and complete an emergency foster care accreditation so Klaire could go home to family tonight. Kyre will be able to be with Klaire tomorrow since Georgia will have Klaire while Angie works. Kyre’s attorney is still hopeful that she will get Klaire back but truly, it is obvious that this will not stop until Klaire is permanently removed one day or another. I am relieved that Klaire will be with her sisters tonight.

September 2, 2008

Dear Children,

Our trip to Utah was the focus this week and getting all of Adrianne’s things packed into the car! Dad was in charge of making arrangements so Adrianne’s bike could get back to Utah and Adrianne was busy finalizing any loose ends from work. She finally got a picture of herself by the bear exhibit. You can see her “new friends”, Jody and Vivian, in the background. Adrianne was going to the zoo for her mentorship each morning until the day we left so she was there during the big news stories: Rose Tu had her baby, the first elephant born in our zoo for 14 years (when Rose Tu was born!) and one of the Polar Bears was sick and had to be put down. Adrianne said everyone was very sad about the Polar Bear. She said she wished she was a polar bear since they get fresh squeezed fruit and vegetable juices everyday!

A surprise this week was when Adrianne was able to see Alina. She was down in Salem on her last visit with Scott for the summer and was able to take Alina to Panda Express, Pet Co to look at the baby animals and Target. They played with all the games in Target. Alina is moving this week into a different home but will stay in the same school.

The trip to Utah went very smoothly. Luckily we were able to fit in everything of Adrianne’s including, using part of the back seat. OF course, Dad and I were instructed to take small bags! The new car made it a very comfortable ride. We took turns driving and luckily arrived at Heidi and Bill’s before Rebekah went to bed. After getting Adrianne’s bedding, our next stop was her apartment for this year; she was anxious to sleep in her own place. The apartment has an excellent location, just south east of campus and around the corner from J Dogs! Bill suggested that, being that close to J Dogs, Adrianne would not have the need to ever go grocery shopping! But, seriously, Adrianne did a great job of finding a good apartment and it is close to the side of campus that she will be using the most.

Adrianne had a last minute change to her schedule. She wanted to start the bassoon again, taking a class this fall semester, so she rented a bassoon to start practicing this summer. Unfortunately, she learned that the air pressure of playing the bassoon severely affects her TMJ so she thought long about how she could add the music she wished for into her schedule and came up with being more serious about learning the organ. She had taken occasional organ lessons from Sister Jones so she has the special shoes and even some of the music. She is concerned it may be quite intimidating to be in practice rooms near all of the organ majors. But she is now settled into her apartment, has great roommates (2 of them from last year), a good cooking schedule for co-op meals, and ready to start the school year. After being discouraged about how her TMJ was limiting her and not feeling well quite a bit, Adrianne said she is tired of physical limitations and was going to get to the health center to get to the bottom of it. I hope they can give her some answers; I have unfortunately learned that there is a lot of guess work in medicine. She enjoys her new ward and went on a temple trip with them tonight.

Nate is also mostly settled in Utah. He drove in early Monday morning (about 4:30 am) and moved all his belongings into Grandma and Grandpa Bitter’s single bedroom downstairs until his contract comes available in October. It was somewhat tricky to find a contract being that he only has a few months left in Utah. He graduates in December (well, he has yet to confirm that all his requirements are met officially) and the Zappos managers sat him down last Friday and officially offered him a position there after graduation. He was told that, out of the 1700 employees there in Las Vegas, he has made himself very noticeable and impressed the right ones. We are all very pleased with what Nate has accomplished; everyone in the family is excited for him. I knew that a company like Zappos would notice that he was the right fit for their company with both his smarts and personality. His manager said that it was unheard of for an intern to jump into the position that they were offering him. He has until February to decide as Nate does have some valid concerns for himself about his future living in Las Vegas.

Now Katie, on the other hand, is not yet settled in Utah for the start of the school year. Today she is in New Jersey or at a Boston Red Sox game or no, driving through Palmyra and Kirkland on the way to Ohio! Aunt Julie said, “Is she trying to cover all 50 states this year!” Everyone asks, “When does Katie go to class?” This is her last year so she does need to get some learnin’ in. She had a friend that asked if she would drive back from the east coast before school with some friends and they are stopping a friend’s home along the way, also catching several ball parks here and there! So, she started in Kansas City and will end in Kansas City on Thursday, then on to Utah. She has been good to call and keep us abreast of her travels, calling even from the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. She says that she is taking lots of pictures and expressed so much excitement to be in New York twice in one year. They tried to see Wicked on Broadway but couldn’t so she will just have to go with us in Utah this April.

Heidi’s family was a delight to be around in Utah. Jenna has changed so much since last seeing her in May. She is just as expressive as Rebekah so is quite entertaining. Dad and I traveled up to Daybreak to attend their ward on Sunday. Dad calls Jenna Sister Wiggles! We brought Rebekah back down to Grandma Bee’s home after church as she was staying with us for a sleepover. On the way, Katie called so she got a chance to talk on the phone to Rebekah. Rebekah was anxious to tell Katie that she and Jenna were wearing the pretty dresses with which Katie surprised them when she babysat them through Heidi’s week at stake Young Women’s camp. Katie asked if she was ready for school to start. Rebekah replied, “Yes, my summer break is about over and I am just miserable about that.”

After helping Nate move into his room and playing with Rebekah on Monday, we celebrated the start of a school year on Labor Day by going to Jacob and Ben Bitter’s restaurant in American Fork, La Vigna. It is a very nice Italian restaurant. We all felt as if we “rolled” out of there since Jacob insisted on treating us to any desserts that we wished for (and none of us needed!). He gave us quite a good family deal! We had a sufficient number of leftovers to crowd Adrianne’s shared apartment fridge and supply her with lots of future yummy lunches.

It was another great Utah trip with lots of generous hosting by Grandma and Grandpa Bitter. Dad and I drove back all day Tuesday. Well, Dad drove most of the way and I wrote the family news and typed notes so we could have a Bitter Concrete INC board meeting as he drove. Nate gave me some great ideas, with his new web marketing expertise, on starting a simple Bitter Concrete website with ideas on care of concrete and new trends and of course, examples of Dad’s quality work. The care of concrete information sheet has been something on our business meeting agendas forever so I could kill two birds with one stone! We were brainstorming during the car ride home for a short statement of quality for the business, a tag line. Do you have any opinions on any of these tag lines for Dad’s advertising?

1-Strength you can rely on
2-Do it better with Bitter
3-Jobs done better with Bitter
4-Strong foundations worth standing for (but we don’t do much foundation work)
5-Expectations fulfilled

Scott was able to talk with us several times on the phone while we were in Utah. He was trying to catch other family members there also on those calls and spoke to Grandma and Grandpa, Adrianne, Rebekah and Nate. He had a great weekend since he was able to teach again on Sunday. His branch president thanked him afterwards for the environment that he created to feel the Spirit during the lesson. One of the men that has been in prison for 18 years said that it was the best lesson he ever heard. That was pleasing to Scott; I am sure that he worked hard to give a good lesson.

We will be back in Utah in another month after we visit Aaron and Morty and give some help on the new home. We will make a triangle and come to Utah afterwards for homecoming so we will get there on Friday, October 10 and leave Tuesday, October 14. Tentatively we plan to go to Tucano’s early on Friday since Dad and I would like to attend the Homecoming Spectacular that Friday evening. Whether we go for a late lunch or for an early dinner will depend on whether or not any of you are going to a homecoming dance that night (oh, and class schedules of course!); we wouldn’t want to lure you away from your peer social scene! Other plans include a long awaited BYU tour on Monday morning with Grandma and Grandpa with one of Dad’s friends, Don Clark and possibly a lunch of BBQ hamburgers at Grandma and Grandpa’s on the day of the game since it doesn’t start until 4:00. Staying through Tuesday is planned so that we are in town for Grandma Bitter’s birthday on Monday and Heidi reminded us, Canadian Thanksgiving. So, Bill and Heidi have offered to put on a Canadian Thanksgiving feast as a big birthday bash for Grandma that night! Anyway, even though we just left, we are excited to make plans for our return.

Even Miss Kitty had a vacation this week. Grandma Maldonado picked her up and took her to her condo so she could get pampered while we were away. I am sure that the young neighbor children, our regular pet sitters, were very disappointed not to be able to come over and cuddle with Miss Kitty. Some of them prefer the cat and some Sammy. Speaking of pet sitting, that is why Nate didn’t get to Utah until the day before class started. He offered to pet sit for the woman in charge of Public Relations at Zappos. He said he was fixing something on her work computer when she was desperate since her arrangement fell through. She was on her way to a tennis match in New York to be with Serena Williams. In fact, one of the dogs, a white lab, was a gift from Serena.

I love you. Love, Mom