October 20, 2008

Dear Children,

Happily exhausted! These two weeks have flown by; we were kept very busy! The weather had just started getting colder here so I looked forward to a warmer temperature in Las Vegas. After arriving there and working on Aaron’s new home, I was wishing for Oregon weather again. Each time I went to work upstairs I wished that I had done the upstairs work earlier in the day because of the heat up there. The boys kept saying how nice and cool it was!

Aaron and Morty have already done so much to the home. It looked beautiful when we walked in the very first day so it was hard to have worked so hard while we were there but not see much difference, since it was so nice in the beginning!

Aaron had some great ideas for his backyard but received more advice from Dad. We hope to be able to go back in late February to help with the concrete work. They ave a small backyard, many of the homes there are like that. I guess, with the heat, there are not so many people who want to relax in a large backyard much (and also care for it!). Aaron plans to buy trees to add some shade to the home; that will be nice.

The first order of work was to finish painting the doors and paint all the closet doors. They painted all the trim, shelving, baseboards and doors a chocolate brown. It is very nice looking. Dad organized the paint job in the garage so that we had all the closet door lined in a row, standing, to make it easier. I really wish I had a picture of it; it was a great idea (he had seen the professional painters do it before). In fact, I feel badly that I didn’t get pictures all week (I was too busy to think of it)!

Each day there seemed to be more painting to do as we concentrated on finishing up all painting odds and ends. On the last day, I scrubbed the bathroom sink that previously looked impossibly stained from being the paint brush cleaning station and left it looking like new. That was a relief! Actually, each day Morty left for work early in the morning and would “organize the crew” by writing a job list on a white board. It kept us on track! Thankfully, he rushed through his stops each day so he could come home to help. The boys had a carpenter add shelves to some of the closets so Dad used the wire shelving to add to the guest room closet and an upstairs bedroom closet.

The hardest job was scrubbing. Washing and sealing all the new tile floors. The sealant didn’t work as expected so Dad rented a buffer from Home Depot thank goodness. I have a finger tip that is still numb from that job! A lot was accomplished and there were lots of improvements made.

After landing and going out to lunch, I didn’t leave the house until Aunt Denise came into town on Thursday and we went to help the boys pick out house plants. That evening, the last night there, we went to a yogurt shop that had several flavors and toppings from which to choose. It was fun.

Next visit, we will definitely go to a show or two! Do we say that each time?

Morty flew with us to Utah for homecoming weekend. It was a fun family weekend. Shawn, Aubrey and Gregory flew in from California so we had a great family gathering. Besides it being homecoming weekend, there is always much to do and see in Utah.

Katie picked us up from the Salt Lake airport. We had to leave one of our boxes at the airport (but remove all of its contents) to fit everything in her car. We had an early flight so we headed to a breakfast spot towards the canyons about which Katie had heard much. It is an old fashioned diner called Ruth’s. There we enjoyed homemade-type meals like biscuits and gravy! We knew Heidi would be very pleased to see us next with the special cargo we were carrying. We stopped in Daybreak with Heidi’s “missing-in-action” golf clubs. We found them in Aaron and Morty’s garage while looking for a travel case to bring Katie’s clubs from Las Vegas to Utah. Someone had inadvertently put Heidi’s clubs in Aaron or Katie’s traveling case so they were a stowaway with all of Aaron’s belongings carted to Las Vegas! Rebekah danced around to see her uncle, probably more than her grandparents! She was so excited to show him how her new blue bear could slide down the star rail and not fall off! It was a perfect demonstration as Morty’s had packed away for Jenna and Rebekah, two new little bears bearing the name of Las Vegas, of course, on their overalls. They had to be put to the test of sliding down the stair rail also. I wish I had a picture of that.

In Orem we settled in at Grandma’s home but not for long. We rounded up as many of our children that were available for an early celebration of Grandma Bitter’s birthday at none other than Tucano’s (Flesh Café). That late lunch always stays with you for dinner and snack time combined! That night, Dad and I went to Homecoming Spectacular. It is always amazing to see all the BYU performing groups. “Going the Distance” was the Homecoming theme for the year and the slide show tribute to Rex Lee at the end of the performance was especially touching and meaningful as he was at BYU when I was there and he was instrumental in starting the law school. The start-up-community-feel in those first few years at J. Reuben Clark Law School was a special privilege with which to be so closely involved. As a baby, Morty was a bright smiling face in those halls; he always attracted a lot of attention there. I was especially filled with really great memories upon hearing the music to the tribute, “A Hero’s Welcome” or “Going the Distance” from Disney’s Hercules movie. It brought tears to my eyes with the great memories of putting together Nate’s slide show for his Eagle Court of Honor to that song. Special family memories; they are the best!!!

It was a special treat for Dad and I to have Nate still at Grandma’s; we were able to be around him more this trip than ever before. He has been so busy with his jammed packed last semester of classes and his work at Orangesoda.com that he hasn’t had time to move into his apartment yet.

Dad and I couldn’t interest anyone else to accompany us to the homecoming parade Saturday morning. Our children tell us that only freshman attend!!! Dad has memories from his years of being in charge of homecoming parades that were on a much grander scale. I remember heading down the hill to watch the parade on University Avenue in my days; I guess I do only remember going as a freshman though. The parade these days surrounds the street closets to the campus. We watched again this year by the pizza place that used to be called Heaps of Pizza (I can’t remember the new name). Next year Dad wants to run in the race right before the parade. He wants to know if any of you will join him. They were making blue pancakes at various spots of the parade route which we enjoyed this year.

With a threat of snow, we bundled up for the football game. Grandma Bitter gave me her wool BYU blanket; now that is a treasure! That saved me as I did not think of packing for icy weather as I headed for Las Vegas first! Morty had lent me a coat to bring when he looked ahead and saw the weather predictions for Utah. The game was great and luckily, someone in Jerry’s family didn’t come down for the game and Ben Sparks was curtailed by a blizzard so we sat in their chair seats again. Our seats were on the freezing cold metal benches. We learned after the fact that for the last half of the game, most of our children at the game bunched together with some of the cousins and enjoyed the game in the end zone. I couldn’t see where they were sitting so I missed Morty and Nate’s trademark streamers after the first touchdown.

Dad and I ended the whirlwind trip with a Canadian Thanksgiving feast on Monday night thanks to Heidi and Bill. They organized a great event to celebrate both Canadian Thanksgiving AND Grandma Bitter’s birthday. They gathered 39 people at Grandma and Grandpa’s home for a complete Thanksgiving meal! Grandma had about 10 different kinds of luscious pies for her birthday candle! It was wonderful; everyone loved it. It made a perfect ending to our trip.

And we came home and collapsed! But we have had fun here this week also. We kept up the “BYU” theme and went to the BYU Ballroom Dancer’s Performance on Saturday night. It was fabulous; they always are! They have such energy. Dad made a fun date of it; we went to dinner downtown and then to the show. I think it was the first time we used our Entertainment Card which is a good thing since it expires in less than a month! It was a wonderful evening. The only thing that spoiled the week for us was watching a VERY disappointing BYU football loss to TCU on television Thursday evening. Yikes!

Dad and I enjoyed our visit this week with Scott and learned an interesting detail about OSP. Scott tells us that envelopes are the preferred form of currency among the inmates. They pay each other with the pre-stamped envelopes that they can buy at the canteen, which cost 49 cents. They are not supposed to and most prisons in the system make the men write their return address right at purchase. But, again, OSP has their “traditions” and the system that has been in place for a long time just does not get changed. This conversation all started when he expressed disappointment that the barber never cuts his hair the way he likes it; it just gets buzzed. He said the reason is because he does not slip the barber money (which is envelopes). So they sneak the envelopes to each other or have another person deliver envelopes to a person’s cell to pay for any services. Scott gave someone some financial advice and found envelopes in his cell afterward.

Scott is doing well. His cell mate has not left and he learned that he may not make a request of a cell mate since he has not been there for 12 months. Twelve months is coming up soon, though that Scott has been in state custody (November 20). I remember those two days very vividly. I found something recently that I read that reminded me of the absolute horror I felt that Monday and Tuesday as I tried so hard to regain a sense of peace. Dad and I gathered much strength from Scott at that time.

Scott reflected on the decision to divulge and confess all his worse thoughts and said how important it was to him to be free of the guilt that had plagued his for years since thoughts are the heart of the matter as we read in Matthew 5:28 “But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.”

We mentioned the comings and goings of many of you around the holidays. His visiting list filled since he has so many siblings and he would like to know, after the holidays, how likely any of you that live out of town may return to visit him. It takes much longer to get someone on the list these days (the new system was supposed to make it shorter). If he removes you, he can’t put you back on for 3 months. He recently received a letter that Shawn was going to be removed when he tried to add Wid Payne, which he did not request so he is going to write to fix that since he knows Shawn will be here for the holidays. He asked if Aubrey and Bill wanted to visit him and said there is a way to request a special one time visit since you are out of town, without affecting the 15 on the list. The process needs to start now. You can get an application at Oregon.gov/odoc and then I believe that you must mail it to him. It is the regular application but you check the box for special one time visit. That does not prevent you from another one time visit again or being on the list later.

We love you all! I want to close with one idea to remember from General Conference. Elder Cook said President Monson was asked on his birthday what his ideal gift would be that members could give him. He said to “find someone having a hard time and do something for them.”