November 23, 2008

Dear Children,

There is so much to tell you about in the last two weeks. I feel like I have hardly been home; but there has been much done here also. I enjoy this time of year: finalizing the garden harvest, preparing the yard for the winter, looking toward these great family holidays and visits and preparations for Thanksgiving and Christmas. This year I have been busy trying to include more homemade gifts. I used to love making most of my gifts so I thought I would try to do a few “gifts from the heart” (not saying that much heart isn’t put into all the other shopping and planning the hopefully “perfect” gifts). Lately, we have enjoyed some experimentation in planning our friends and neighbor gifts for the year; a soup mix. I have made it several times to get a good recipe prepared; it is quite delicious. I thought people might prefer that over more sweets right before the holidays. Soup just feels like a good theme for the world’s woes and my quest to make this more of a homespun Christmas (if only a little). Plus, I have had fun being busy with some sewing for a humanitarian project this month; I really would like to get back to more sewing in my life. I love the feeling of accomplishing a creation.

Dad has been very busy also trying to get much work accomplished before mid-December (that is his deadline on a huge project). It is odd; he has absolutely no work lined up for the winter but has so much right now. It is a wonderful blessing after such a slow late summer. He leaves in the dark and comes home in the dark and tries to line up as many extra workers as possible. He has even added Saturdays into some of his work weeks. His favorite extra worker, Jesus, has a regular steady job Monday through Friday so he asks Dad if he can work some Saturdays. Did I tell you that his brother, Francisco, is now working with Dad?

Being this busy this time of year is cutting into Dad’s home project time. I had to postpone our attic cleaning weekend to early in December; I am hoping that I can send a couple of your storage boxes home with some of you that are living in more permanent situations now. The rock man is about a third of the way done so Dad hung one of our new lights in the front; it looks great. He had to stop and make an emergency adjustment to our large gate over the driveway since the rock wall sticks out farther than our original wall on that corner. Dad did have to spruce up the yard since Aunt Carla and Uncle Scott were coming this week. He is hoping he took care of one of our last loads of leaves. When Morty was here he remarked that we probably have more leaves in our yard that most of Las Vegas has leaves.

I am sure that you have all talked to Shawn and Aubrey by now and heard their disappointing news of losing his Wells Fargo position. Aubrey says that he has been very proactive to seek new employment immediately. He is being very smart, as the job market is sure to get worse before things turn around; especially in the financial world (at least that is Wayne Pierson’s projection since that is his expertise). Aubrey said that Shawn was on his fourth interview with one of the companies in which he is interested. It appeals to him as it will teach Shawn even more things he wants to learn to achieve his goal of going into financial planning.

Katie’s plans are to graduate this summer so she is earnestly trying to set up an internship. A good internship seems to be the best key factor in getting a job right now for graduates. She flew to St. Louis to interview for an internship at a news room. Although she was disappointed that the whole interview was just a group interview and the questions they asked her did not allow them to understand her strengths in the field, most of the interview time was spent explaining the expectations of the job which Katie really loved. She is not really seeking an internship until this spring since a winter internship would delay her graduation a bit as th

ere are classes that are not taught in the spring that she needs. She was doing some volunteer work at the BYU basketball game this weekend and Grandma and Grandpa Bitter were thrilled that she made a point to come up in the stands and visit with them.

Nate says that his job is still waiting for him. He has decided to go back to Utah in April to walk through graduation ceremonies so we won’t be having an open house over the holidays to celebrate his graduation; just maybe a dinner out.

These two weeks were also filled with other sad news besides Shawn and Aubrey’s news. Last Sunday Bill’s Grandma Sabey passed away. Bill drove to Canada for the services and to be with his family plus he was able to spend some alone time with his Grandpa Sabey. I believe that the funeral was in British Columbia and the burial was in Southern Alberta. He did a lot of driving. Thank goodness he was able to meet up with Rob, his brother, to share the driving time. He returned to Utah this past Monday night after midnight.

Adrianne also received a surprise phone call last Tuesday that Mrs. Gueck was not expected to live more than 24 hours. She felt much conflict as that has been a big part of her life to run to help with the barn needs for so many years. The next day she had three mid-terms scheduled so she had to be far away during those last hours. Mrs. Gueck had taken a turn for the worse last Friday; her relatives from England were preparing to leave on Saturday. She passed away on Tuesday night and a family burial was planned for Friday. Because Adrianne has been away from school quite a bit lately, she opted to fly in Friday morning and back the next day. As soon as she came into town she began helping with all the arrangements. I had made arrangements with Bishop Orem to use chairs from our church building since the quiet family burial at the pio

neer cemetery by Mrs. Gueck’s place was turning into a larger event than planned as news spread of her death. Adrianne went directly to the cemetery to set up the chairs while I dropped off food for the luncheon. I arrived to help Adrianne at the cemetery just in time to be a “pall bearer” to assist Adrianne, Katie Born, her mom and the funeral home men carry the casket to its spot (since their are no regular cemetery workers on site). We remarked that it would probably be the only time we would perform that duty! Adrianne stayed back to be with the casket while everyone else left for other duties. She said it gave her the opportunity to “boss around” the funeral home men in the proper placement of the floral arrangements around Mrs. Gueck, a skill she said that she learned best from Mrs. Gueck!

The small gathering for lunch aft wards turned out to be huge so I am glad that I was there to help, especially since they allowed me to stay at the home during the service so I could get the food ready and set up while the family was at the cemetery. Working in the kitchen gave me the opportunity to understand better the workings of the horse community. Even the old client who called the house during the burial, not having heard about Mrs. Gueck’s death, continued to ask me what Cheveaux used in the stalls to prevent the horses from getting muddy! I offered that Sharon might be called in a couple of weeks to learn that information. I realize that the care of the horse cannot stop but all too much business was being exchanged during the luncheon I thought!

Adrianne has learned valuable leadership while in Mrs. Gueck’s employ. Combined with her knowledge of gospel principles, I witnessed how many other horse community rely on Adrianne’s calm authority. No wonder she loved working at the barn more than at home since she is the youngest of our large family who might feel a lack of respect for her authority! I did some reflecting on Adrianne’s Cheveaux Training Stable experiences during her pre-teen and teenage years. Laughingly, I pointed out to Adrianne that, for a girl who cannot seem to close a kitchen cupboard behind herself, she always took the extra time and care, with exactness, to close barn doors and gates to protect the horses. I also noted that, through those years, it was sometimes a struggle for Adrianne to want to complete her responsibility to pick up Sammy’s messes in the backyard and yet, one more than one occasion, I observed Adrianne, with bare hands, picking out specks of fecal material from a horse’s behind right before it was to go show in the area!

All in all, I would say that Adrianne was very lucky to find such a passion in life, to love and care for one of God’s beautiful creatures. And especially, to have such a wonderful opportunity to say goodbye to Mrs. Gueck while helping Sharon to give her mother such a grand tribute (and opportunity to say goodbye to so many friends and associates). The tribute was a great gift to not only Mrs. Gueck but everyone who came to celebrate her life and say goodbye. That sadly usually happens after a death. Adrianne ended that weekend at the beginning of November with the great chance to visit one on one with Mrs. Gueck and have dinner with her closest relatives at Sharon’s home. What a blessing to Adrianne and Mrs. Gueck!

Ramona Jones had given Dad and I the chance to use their place the weekend of Mrs. Gueck’s burial so we left a day later and packed our one night there on the coast with lots of fun events. We happened upon incredible weather. In fact, the day we walked around Newport it was 68 degrees, the warmest place in the state that day! The night we stayed at the condo was such a clear beautiful sky, Dad even saw a shooting star as we walked to the hot tub. It was gorgeous and relaxing. We just booked our long awaited and planned cruise to Hawaii so we imagined that there will be many more nights such as that on the cruise! When you have five “marriage-able” children you rarely book something out so far in advance but we chose a September date thinking that should be safe. Alt hough, I did learn this weekend that Adrianne has a favorite barn friend that is getting married around that time. I just warned Adrianne that she might be on her own getting back to the airport!

After attending the ward in Newport, we walked around that town and observed all the fun activities around that bay. I had never really noticed that area of the coast. We saw lots of people with crab pots catching a good amount of crab. I would like to go back.

I was only home part of a morning and returned to the coast, to Seaside, with Grandma, Carol Stanger and her mother. We have been trying to get away together for many months. We had great time and enjoyed pleasant weather there also. We played tons of games, did lots of eating and a little shopping. We learned a new game (to us), Sequence, and Grandma couldn’t get enough of it. That would make a great Christmas present for her.

Aubrey’s birthday was this week and per their tradition, Shawn took Aubrey to all the free birthday meals that

they could squeeze into a day (well, actually more than a day!). To top it all off, she and many other ward friends went to the midnight showing of Twilight! She will have to give us all a review.

I had a nice visit with Kyre and Klaire last week when I traveled down to Albany and had lunch with them. The main purpose was to pick up Kyre and take her to see her payee (though the state disability program) in Corvallis so I could cash the tax refund checks for Scott’s family and put them in n account for the children’s future. It is a relief to have that behind me; it never ceases to amaze me of how something simple turns into such a complicated mess. Klaire is just adorable and a great eater. She is going to a preschool twice a week and her teachers all love her of course. She was tested this week to see if she is up to level. The testers were blown away I would imagine! When we visited Adam’s ward in Jefferson for the Primary Sacrament Meeting Presentation today, Klaire sat with us and had a cute, pouty look at first. Her facial expressions reminded me of Alina when she was that age.

Dad and I visited Jefferson since Adam had a talk in the presentation and he told us about it months ago. He did an excellent job; his talk was well prepared and had a great message about covenants and being guided by the Holy Ghost. He is an excellent speaker and didn’t sound nervous at all. Dad and I were very happy to be able to be there.

Aunt Carla and Uncle Scott arrived this afternoon for Thanksgiving week celebrations. Carla was genuinely disappointed to learn that none of our children were going to be here! We are headed to Long Beach, Washington to try out a new place and do some exploring. For example we plan to go to a Cranberry Museum and see some real cranberry bogs. We also plan to visit Oysterville and walk through the little shops there. There are also several lighthouses in that area we hope to see. It should be fun. We will return before Thanksgiving.

Dad and I wish a fun and happy Thanksgiving to all of you. We are thrilled to hear many of you plan to meet in Las Vegas for Thanksgiving. Adrianne was going to plan a Thanksgiving feast but Morty called her and said that they were all invited to the family Thanksgiving dinner at N9ne Steakhouse! That should be great. Maybe we should all plan to meet there next Thanksgiving!!!

This time of year I am reminded of the challenge from Elder Bednar this past conference to pray with gratitude, not asking for things but pray for others. My institute teacher suggested, in light of the world financial affairs right now, we concentrate on what we still have and not what we may have lost. I have so much for which to be thankful; especially all of you!

I had two visits with Scott recently; one on my way back from visiting Kyre and Klaire last week and one with Dad today. He seems very settled in his new cell with his new cell mate. He has made the best of his situation and everyday we thank the Lord for his protection and for Scott’s ability to work where he does. There is much to be thankful for with the blessing to work. I was able to send lots of legal papers to him through his boss so no one else could see them. Scott has also arranged a locked file I the legal library. That gives me great peach of mind.

Scott would love it if you all would consider sending Kyre a birthday card next week and include a Baby Ruth bar. She would be so thrilled. He also would like to know whose number is 801-319-3088. Does that sound familiar? He still enjoys his assignments with the OSP LDS Branch as host and his teaching assignments that he gets. He taught this week’s lesson again and used the talk, “Lessons from Liberty Jail” which Grandma Payne copied and sent to him. He loves getting anything like that.

Kyre called very relieved this week to say that her court appointments with the DA’s child neglect case is postponed until further notice. I hope that it will be dropped altogether but even so, her attorney can make a fairly strong case that the court was not worried about Kyre’s abilities with the care of Klaire if they postponed the case.

I love you! Have a Happy Thanksgiving! Love, Mom