February 23, 2009

Dear Children,

It is unbelievable to me that next Sunday begins the month of March. Is time going slow for any of you or is it racing ahead like my days? I guess my hesitancy of turning the calendar page to a new month is the things I have not done in the previous months. Now, Dad is looking forward to the pages flipping ahead so the weather will be conducive to homeowners thinking about concrete projects. He does need work and amazingly and sadly, trying to find jobs costs our company just as much, or more, each day in revenue and his time spent!

But the signs that spring is approaching are here and they are good signs. In the morning I love hearing the birds singing. Today the rain is constant and pounding like a real spring day! Morty was here this week and he helped me measure out our front yard for our spring project that includes the stamped concrete entry way to match the stonework from last year and flattening out the front lawn, which Dad has always wanted to do. It will look very nice. With Dad having less work, this winter would have been a perfect time to do it but with less work, it is also smart to be very cautious about the future.

Morty’s visit here was great and he was very excited to finally get a chance to get his chipped tooth fixed. He had lots of options in Las Vegas to do it but preferred waiting until Doctor Griffiths could take a look at it. He is a great artist as well ass a precise dentist. The fact that Morty’s temporary fix over 20 years ago lasted so long is proof of his good work. Besides getting his smile back to normal, the best news Morty received when he went up to pay for the work was that he did it for free. Morty went in to his office when he learned that and Dr. Griffiths said to consider it “warranty work” and that it was just fun to be able to visit with him. He told him a memory of Morty that meant a lot to him. He was Morty’s Blazer Scout leader and took him to Champoeg Park for an overnighter. It was miserable as it rained the entire trip. As a leader he was feeling like a disappointment to have not provided a more fun overnighter when at the end Morty said to him, “Can we do this again next weekend?” Now that is amazing and I would hope that Dr. Griffith would realize just how amazing it would be that Morty would ask to go camping two weekends in a row! He must have really enjoyed being in Dr. Griffith’s company!

Morty got to see two Trailblazer games while here. We met him at the first one right off his flight on Wednesday evening. He took MAX to the arena and met us there. It was a close game the entire time but the Blazers did win. Seth Feinauer went to the second game with him, which they won also. And, he timed his flight home last night to be able to watch the first three quarters before we let and the last quarter on the ride to the airport!

With Morty home, we went to Beaverton First ward, although I would have loved to take him to our singles ward but that was too late in the day for Morty’s flight. It was nice to be in the old ward and especially to see Bishop Daniels in action. They are going to be a great bishopric. Morty bought a purple shirt as a joke with a friend, something about McDonald’s Grimace character, so he wore that to church and looked so handsome in his joke shirt! Morty being a great example of restraint by not texting through the entire meeting gave me the courage to not work in my planner!

With Aaron and Morty’s visit this month and Grandma Maldonado going to Las Vegas next month, we have been able to send several things down there from our attic. Yeah! Cleaning out the attic was on my list for last fall and it looks like I just may get it done! Aaron requested his bike on this trip so Dad got a box from the bike shop and spent Saturday morning taking it apart and packing it so Aaron only had to pay the airline $50.00 to retrieve it from here. It Aaron’s box of bike gear there were also some retractable snow shoes from when he worked with Conrad in Utah taking scouts on snow shoe tours. I wish I would have known they were up there; I would have liked to try those out.

Adrianne reported having lots of fun this past Saturday morning on a tubing trip to Soldier’s Hollow with her recreation class. Now that sounds like a fun class to get a bunch of friends together to take. She paid such a small fee to BYU’s rental department to cover the entire semester of renting equipment for all of their escapades. Besides the tubing fun, she said it was a beautiful drive on a gorgeous winter day.

Speaking of beautiful snow, Dad and I decided to take a chance on the weather and plan a short trip to Whistler for our anniversary next week. We will “call it” this Sunday as we look at the weather forecast as we are planning to drive the entire way. It is a lot of driving but that will be fun also with learning to use our new navigation system. By driving, we will be able to change our plans if the weather does not cooperate. Dad has wanted to see what Whistler is like before the Olympics.

Jenna had a great birthday day this week. Heidi took the girls to a jump house that afternoon and then she got to pick her favorite dinner, stake and potatoes (she is her Daddy’s girl)! They invited Adrianne up for dinner and a family birthday party. Dad and I called their house after we met up with Morty also he could talk to the girls also. He said that Rebekah left a cute message on his phone the day after his birthday.

Dad has enjoyed watching the Tour of California bike race this week. It has inspired him to get on his bike more this week which is good so he keeps working out so he stays strong for when work returns. When Morty got here, he told us that Scott Tobler was planning on wearing a devil costume as he lined up to watch the race come through Clovis. We watched intently and actually did see a man in a devil costume running after one of the riders but it was not Scott. Aunt Carla said he didn’t wear a costume and was able to watch from a friend’s balcony. Lance Armstrong moved through the Clovis streets in the middle of a pack so he wasn’t easy to see unfortunately.

I like my institute class each week as we are going through Revelations in the New Testament at a nice slow pace. When we read through Revelations 11:18 “the nations were angry”, we read a quote form Brigham Young who warned us not to get caught up in the anger of the world as the sprit cannot dwell with anger. He also suggested that we never get so angry that we cannot feed an enemy or pray for others.

Wendi emailed the good news that she has made a decision about school next year. She will attend BYU and plans to get her housing after March. She also received her driver’s license this last week so she must be feeling very pleased!

I hope that you are enjoying some of the early signs of spring! Love, Mom

February 15, 2009

Dear Children,
It is a very good thing that Aaron was here this weekend; otherwise we wouldn’t even have heard that we have a new bishop in Beaverton First Ward! He was out in the hall during Sunday School talking with Malia Hite and ran into someone else who was saying, “Congratulations” to Randy Daniels. Aaron strikes up a conversation with everyone! So, that is how he learned that Randy Daniels is our new bishop as of today.
On the way home, we called Carol Stanger to get the details! Randy’s first counselor is Steve Mackley (the Young Men President) and Bill Knowles (the High Priest Quorum Leader). Most of you probably don’t know either of them since they moved in after most of you were gone.
Other big news is from Wendi. She emailed that she has also been accepted to BYU. She said that she would have a hard decision to make on which school she should attend. Both are good choices but there are pros and cons to both of course. This may be old news for all of you; she may have made her decision by now!
We had a fun visit with Aaron. He arrived here on Thursday afternoon. That night I captured some time from him and had him go through a stack of old pictures that I had wanted dates and explanations for his scrapbook. I have had that stacks for at least a couple of years. It didn’t take long and it is such a relief to me to have that done after all this time! Now, the trick is finding the time and space to add the random pictures to scrapbook pages that are already done! He also helped me with my iPod Touch learning curve this weekend.
Aaron covered a lot of territory while he was here. He went to dinner and to an OPB taping on Friday night with one of the girls from the singles ward. He went to Gresham to visit with his old missionary companion and snow shoeing partner, Conrad. Conrad and his family moved here a couple of years ago so that was nice that they could get together. Aaron said that they swapped home improvement pictures.
Before Aaron left for Gresham, he found a recipe for a vegetarian crock pot dish that he could start cooking and drop off on his way to visit Conrad (so that it would be ready for the organized YSA dinner group that he was attending that evening before going to the dance with them). His friend that he went out with the night before is vegetarian so that was nice that he made the effort to prepare something she would eat at the potluck.
Dad and I also went to the Valentine dance. We started our Valentine celebration with a late lunch at a Mid Eastern buffet. I am glad that Dad loves that food as much as I do! Earlier in the week I went to lunch with Jeannena and we went to Abu Karem downtown; I don’t think I had been back there since Mindy passed away. Mindy is the one who used to accompany me to several Lebanese restaurants; I have been hooked ever since my very first falafel in Israel in 1976! Our personal guide, Daniel Rona, excitedly introduced the group of us to a street vendor that made the best falafels.
After Dad and I stayed over an hour at our lunch buffet enjoying all the different flavors, we went to see two different movies to kill the time before the dance that night. I had wanted to see the Shopaholic movie and the one with Drew Barrymore, “He’s Just Not That Into You.” They were cute movies; I liked the Shopaholic one the best as it didn’t have any raunchy scenes. But I did like the ending of the other one where the man realized that he was the happiest by seeing that his girlfriend was happy. That is what it is all about.
The Valentine’s dance was not as glitzy this year; no live band, no room full of fancy desserts and not as many fresh flowers, draping and lights in the decorations but it was still nice and there is something rather satisfying when you know they worked hard to stay within budget and there weren’t fifty to one hundred families whose parents were gone for several days to set up and decorate for a one night event. It felt quite timely and the dancing and the mingling were just as fun sans the glitz.
The only picture we took all weekend was of a cake that I made. Brad Jorgensen made this cake for Jaime’s birthday in December and Adrianne got the recipe from her last week to make one for her roommate, Rachel. Adrianne described the process so I could make the same ice cream cake for Valentine’s Day. With everything else that was going on, I opted to make it for our Sunday dessert instead. There was so much left over that we are going to use it for some of the refreshments for our Empty Nester Family Home Evening tonight. We are going to read some scriptures that have the word heart in them (I received a list from my institute class last week) and then play some Mormon Mad Gab. I printed the cards on 11 by 14 sheets of paper since most everyone is over 60 in this group . . . NOT ME of course! If that doesn’t go well, I printed some Sudoku off of the New Era section of lds.org. I hope it is a fun evening. Some of my favorite people are out of town.
Morty had a fun weekend in Clovis. Nate flew in the day after Morty but his flight was so delayed he missed the trip to Dog House Grill. I am sure they had tons of fun at Reshea’s. Morty said that he spoke with Shawn on his birthday and learned that he has a new calling in his ward. Shawn is a counselor in the Young Men’s presidency.
Most of our family was actually scheduled to be in California this weekend with Katie in San Diego for a wedding on Thursday or Friday, Morty and Nate in Clovis, Shawn and Aubrey of course there and Adrianne was suppose to travel to Los Angeles with two other friends. Although, it took them all day to travel to Las Vegas on their first day due to bad road conditions and accidents so they gave up and stayed in Las Vegas for the weekend. They made it fun by riding the roller coaster on top of the Stratosphere and getting tickets to Blue Man Group.
The latest article from the old Church News stack that I enjoyed and wanted to share was called, “Faith Unwavering” from the December 27 edition. It used the bible story of Peter walking on water to point out that we all falter in our determination to follow Christ from time to time but what a blessing it is to know He is ever ready to rescue us. Saying that when Peter realizes that walking on water is much harder and scarier than he first imagines, Peter takes his focus off the Savior and begins to falter. The article teaches us that we must continually remember, even in all the storms of our life, that Christ is our partner and makes all things possible. It states, “We do our part by keeping our eyes on Him and continuing to put one foot in front of the other, even if the storm rages on without relief and we don’t know the full outcome of our efforts.”
Scott wrote and mentioned that he was able to talk on the phone with Kyre on their wedding anniversary. I am glad that HE made that connection. She had warned Dad and I previously to not remind her of her anniversary (last year we took her flowers) but of course she would remember it and feel some sadness for them being apart no matter how she feels at this point. But, Dad and I must abide by her feelings and support her wishes. When you love someone so deeply in a committed marriage and give yourself to them, counting on them as your best friends; sharing yourself and becoming so vulnerable to another human being, it takes great effort to quit loving them and having feelings for them. It is against our divine nature to stop loving someone when our heart is right. It makes Scott so happy to hear her voice. And especially since she was more upbeat as she shared the news of Klaire’s case being closed. I am so glad that he heard that from Kyre before hearing it from me. That also makes Kyre VERY happy when she is the first to share any news with anyone.
I love you all and hope for a great week ahead for each of you. Aubrey has announced that she is “done being pregnant.” She is less than a month from her due date now! The time went fast for all of us!
I am looking forward to Morty’s visit this week. Dad and I will go to the Blazer game with him on Wednesday night. I love you all. Love, Mom

February 11, 2009

Dear Children,

We had such a great visit with Morty, Aaron, and Nate in Las Vegas. We came home very exhausted again and with aching bodies but feel lots of wonderful accomplishment. They take good care of their home and are always making improvements so it is fun to see progress every time we are there. This trip was planned at the end of our trip last fall as we came back to put in concrete sidewalks and a sprinkler system for the trees that Aaron plans to plant at the end of February. They hope to start working on shading the house in the future. That is a smart plan.

This time I actually helped pour the concrete. I was the mucker; it was fun but a shovel full of concrete is very heavy for my back. Here in Las Vegas, the concrete is mixed as the gravel and sand gets poured through the shute so it hasn’t started the hardening process as it is mixed during travel time. Therefore, the concrete took a lot longer to set up so Dad was brooming it in the dark after Aaron was already at work! It still looks great and now the boys can move their barbeque out of the garage and into the backyard. They set up a nice storage area in their garage so they are anxious for that extra room.

My projects were to clean the lower cupboards, and with their permission, I reorganized the pots and pan and baking cupboards. I made it so the things they use the most will be the most convenient. I also put away the bake ware that Santa brought Aaron! I used the bundt pan for cinnamon pull-a parts on several of the mornings. While I was working in the kitchen Dad found the problem behind their low hot water pressure. That improvement saved them a big plumbing bill and made the rest of the week so much easier for me in the kitchen.

They have their regular frozen foods they heat up, Popcorn Chicken, Taquitos, Pizza . . . but don’t really cook meals together. When we were planning our first full day here, Nate offered to bring something home for dinner. I declined and said I would be fixing regular meals. Nate replied, “But we love take out!” When I asked if they EVER cooked and ate a meal together Nate said, “Once, Morty made lasagna and I brought home lettuce.” We all cracked up! But it is true that they are all on different schedules.

One of my other big projects was painting their old kitchen table. That was Aunt Denise’s idea when she was here for a class when Dad and I were here in October. They were talking of buying a kitchen table set but Dad had nailed the chairs so they were in better shape and she suggested painting the chairs and table legs black. It looks beautiful with their dark red chair pads and tablecloth. Plus they have black granite kitchen counters and a dark red wall in the kitchen so everything looks very sharp together.

We took Nate up on bringing us home dinner the first day as Dad and Aaron were exhausted after digging and setting up forms all day and I could hardly move after weeding and pruning their front yard area. Nate leaves early and comes home close to seven at night. He is very busy at work. One of his marketing jobs is sending out two emails a week to all the Zappos customers on their specials of the day for their discount site, 6:00 PM. He likes the work there.

On Friday afternoon, Nate had scheduled a tour of Zappos for Morty, Dad and I. What a lively place it is! It was quite a fun tour and upon entering the door of the main building, it looks like you just stepped into a party. Nate says that sometimes the culture there is intimidating even to him. We all agreed that Zappos is a perfect fit for Nate with his creativity and ability to think outside of the box. We learned from one of his coworkers that Nate got his picture in the local paper which wrote an article about the unique working conditions within Zappos. He copied the portion of the article that he had kept (he had kept mostly just the picture part saying the rest of the article wasn’t important because it wasn’t about him)!!!

That night we finally got to a Las Vegas show and what a great treat that was. We all were able to see KA at the MGM which is a feat in and of itself to get all three of them together and I don’t even \have a complete picture of all of us! It was an incredible display of acrobatic talent and pyrotechnics. I had heard about the amazing tilting stage theatrics but it is too amazing to describe all of the details. It was incredible and I sat in my seat (everyone of them equipped with speakers in the head rest area) thinking, “Who thinks of all these possibilities?” It was very entertaining and even “sit on the edge of your seat” acts. It was even family friendly which I was relieved.

Luckily the rain didn’t begin until two days after the concrete had a chance to set up. It really poured all day, quite unusual for this area but nothing we aren’t all used to in February. Even so, Dad and Aaron kept working on their projects and laid all the sprinkler pipe and hook ups for the new trees to come. Aaron has spent much time figuring out all the details to lay pavers and build raised planter boxes around the trees. It will look so nice and be such an enjoyable place to sir and relax. Before the rain began I sat in the back yard watching them dig the trenches and was amazed at the warm sun in February. I could like living here between October and April!

We had an early birthday celebration for Morty so he could open his St. Louis Cardinal barbeque cover. We had his favorites, sour cream burritos and apple pie. He is going to finish his celebrations by spending his actual birthday this week at Reshea’s in Clovis. Grandma is still there and Nate will be catching up at the end of the weekend there also. I am sure there will be a trip to Dog House Grill. This house will sit empty that weekend as Aaron will be in Portland the same weekend that they will be gone.

With this last bit of flying I am now officially caught up on my old Church News articles. I have a few more that I would like to share with you. I especially loved an article by M Russell Ballard in the November 22 issue called the Age Old Conflict. It was another article which would be best read in its entirety instead of me paraphrasing it for you. I noticed while visiting the boys that anyone can search the archives of the Church News since I didn’t need my password there to do it any longer. Elder Ballard’s article was from an institute fireside. He explained that we would never be challenged beyond our ability to resist evil if we give equal time to the Lord through study, pondering and praying about the gospel as found in the Standard Works of the Church and that our individual strength comes from our testimony and through service. I have noticed for me that even very important works of service does not give me the same strength as my individual religious behaviors like real scripture study and prayer. Please take the time to read the whole article!

There was a great article from President Uchtdorf’s BYU-Idaho December commencement speech (Hey, why do they have one there but not at BYU for Nate?) where he said, “Your testimony will be your motivation to succeed in life and to accomplish everything your Heavenly Father has prepared for you.” He suggested to the graduates that they draw nearer to the Lord, continue to seek learning by study and faith and organize and prepare every needful thing.

Something I have heard said before but never found it in print was quoted in another November article. The quote was from Boyd K. Packer which said, “Satan cannot create life so he seeks to corrupt and destroy those who can.” That is very poignantly displayed in billboards and posters in a very small area of Las Vegas.

One last article was called Faith Unwavering but I will wait until next week’s letter to share some ideas from it.

Adrianne called to tell us all the fun things that she has been doing. She has that recreation class that sounds extremely interesting. She has been rock climbing, snow shoeing and now cross country skiing. She couldn’t believe how hard that kind of skiing was and how many times she lost her balance and fell. But she would like to be able to do it again sometime. On Saturday she is took her first riding lesson so she can join in the Tuesday night jumping lessons at a stable she found across Center Street. She is very excited to learn on a trotting horse. Well, probably not excited to trot but to learn something different than to what she has become accustomed. She likes the trainer and maybe it will end up being a resource for some work for her. The trainer believes that some gaited horses are boarded there but the horse owners don’t know how to train them. I talked with her after her first jumping lesson and she is thrilled to know that the trainer recognizes her abilities and just to be with horses again. Her roommate, Kenna, was celebrating her half birthday over the weekend so Adrianne was going to bake her a tall birthday cake cut in half! Her other roommate was having her birthday during the week so Adrianne was making her an ice cream cake. Don’t you wish she was your roommate? She said that she had fun baking cookies and watching A Bug’s Life with Jenna and Rebekah while she watched them so Bill and Heidi could go to lunch for an early Valentine’s Day treat. Adrianne is also leaving town this weekend, heading to Los Angeles with a few girl friends. With Katie also at a wedding in San Diego, that covers all of our “carefree” single adults in the family gallivanting around the country!!!! Aaron reported that Katie’s wedding luncheon was going to include Danny Ainge as a guest. Katie just doesn’t get too far from the sports world!!!

In one of my letters I sent Katie’s new address but I got it wrong. Just in case she hasn’t alerted all of you, here is her correct address:

Katie Luman

7461-A Ahern Ct.

St. Louis, MO 63130

Kyre called me with great news while in Las Vegas. She will not have to go back to court as the DA has dropped her case of criminal neglect of Klaire. After this eight month ordeal, she is so relieved and we are also. Klaire’s doctor is running tests on Klaire to understand why she is losing weight instead of gaining like she should. We were relieved that the diabetes test came back negative. They are thinking that she has a thyroid condition and will test her again in a couple of months before prescribing any medication thank goodness.

I love you. Have a fun Valentine’s Day and birthday celebration at Dog House Grill for Morty!!!

Grandma Bitter reported that Jeff and Alicia Young had their baby this week and Grandma Maldonado reported that she went with Reshea to her ultrasound and they are having a boy. Stan is SO excited!

Love, Mom

February 2, 2009

Dear Children,

I came home yesterday after a great visit with my old (previous) Young Women’s Board. We all worked so well together when we had the callings and we really enjoy this reunion once a year. Everyone has things in their lives that makes for a need to “get away from it all” and just have down time and a lot of fun together. We laughed everywhere we were; even with the “pool nautzie” (we were at the Worldmark in Seaside)!

With seven women together for the weekend, we did a lot of eating yummy treats. So much so, that there were lots of leftovers to bring home. Dad and I watched the speed edition of the Super Bowl (we recorded it while at church and skipped to the ball snap after each ball was downed but didn’t skip the commercials of course . . . my favorite part) with a slice of Jaime Jorgenson’s chicken cheesecake that was “to die for.”

I came home to a lot of fun surprises from Dad. I drove into the driveway wondering why the house looked so different and realized that he finished the driveway gate. It looks GREAT! It is a black iron gate that swings both ways now. It is also so much easier to swing. Yeah!!! It looks so much better than the wood one and I also like the change Dad made earlier, out of necessity after the rock wall changed the size dimension to that section of our property. Now the gate swings from the shed so it is angled. I just like the look so much better.

Our attic ladder gave out a couple of weeks ago. It always made me nervous. Dad finished replacing that this weekend also. It is now a lighter weight, but stronger, aluminum ladder. That should be easier for me to use also. He also bought the materials to tilt the head of our bed, as per instructions from my doctor. I like it so much better than using the wedge. I can’t believe that he attempted that alone since our bed frame is so heavy; he used a six foot crow bar!

Dad is also trying to give his workers some jobs by occasionally having them help him with his home projects. They started pruning all the side trees by Brockman and will finish that this week. The trees sustained some storm damage so they are going to look poorly for quite some time. I love to prune also so maybe I will be able to get out there a bit and help.

I had an interesting discussion and activity in my last two institute classes. We followed a scripture chain which has an upbeat reminder on the news of the day and also reminding us to pray for our world leaders to be receptive to the Spirit. The best conclusion to the worries of the day: just live the gospel (simple but not always easy in our day). Remember, the church is the only entity that is guaranteed not to fail in the latter days. Considering the changes in our country and the worried news of everyone’s finances, this scripture chain would be a good Family Home Evening activity. Here is the list:

• 2 Nephi 1:6-9 Our great land of liberty
• D&C 134:5 Uphold laws of the land
• D&C 101:77, 80 Constitution is inspired document (making this county available for the restoration)
• D&C 109:54 Our protection
• 1 Nephi 22:17, 19, 22 Fear not

I have almost completely caught up on my Church News reading and found many articles that were so good. I loved the special issue on virtue and found it interesting to learn of the earlier definitions of that word (strength, valor, courage, conviction) and quite interestingly, the Latin root of virtue being manliness or worth. I liked the one quote in Robert Millet’s article, “Virtue is far more than moral cleanliness and chastity, although these are important manifestations. Virtue implies moral excellence-honor, integrity, courage valor, valiance, inner purity, industry, diligence.” Because it is hard to maintain virtue in our thoughts when we live in seductive and sometimes shoddy surroundings, Brother Millet gave four suggestions to help us.

1-Make a decision. We can’t afford to flip flop between virtue and vice.

2-Pray earnestly and regularly for forgiveness, cleaning and discernment.

3-Search out and cling to that which is noble, uplifting and truly beautiful in our world.

4-Scatter virtue wherever you go.

We had an enjoyable time at Adam’s pack meeting in Jefferson last Tuesday night. We drove down for it since he was getting his Bear Award this time. He has a fun pack. They had lots of games set up for the boys and their families. Even the refreshments were a game since they had to eat a donut while it was dangling on the end of a string. Afterwards one of the other dads, who had taken Adam to some Cub Scouting events, came up to Dad and told him what a great boy Adam was. Adam is in a very kind ward.

Aunt Lynn’s daughter, Danielle, drove Kyre and Klaire to the pack meeting. Klaire is so cute and gets more verbal every time I see her. When we took them home, she was having a great time in the back seat, singing one of her songs. Both Kyre and Klaire received new hair cuts and Klaire looks much older with her new style.

Another wonderful article I read recently in the Church News was a summary of the January CES fireside by President Monson. It is just a summary but has several wise life lessons and ideas even though half of us are not in the Young Single Adult category. Just google: President Monson Great Expectations on the Church News website or paste this link to get it.

http://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/56472/Pres-Monson-at-CES-fireside-Great-expectations-in-the-race-of-life.html

It was well worth the minutes to read it. In fact, I think it would be fun to get a discussion going on everyone’s thoughts or favorite ideas from the article. If you email our family what you liked about the article, that would be very worthwhile!

I think I told you that we have Miss Kitty back here while Grandma Maldonado is in California. I think Grandma was worried that Miss Kitty would be so sad but she seems to be quite content plus it gave me the chance to trim her nails. She likes to follow Dad wherever he goes around the house.

Grandma Maldonado was able to attend my Uncle Tommy’s 90^th birthday party in Fremont. Reshea and Stan took her and met up with Aunt Denise. She was so happy to be able to go as Uncle Tommy is not doing very well since his prostrate cancer has returned and gone into the bone. Johnny and Alice were there also but even my cousin Vernie was there. I cannot remember when the last time I saw him. I wish I could have gone.

Grandma and Grandpa Bitter are celebrating their 64^th wedding anniversary this Tomorrow, February 3^rd! They don’t have any big plans but possibly to go to Outback for dinner. Adrianne was there on Sunday baking cupcakes to take to ward prayer on Sunday night. She arrived with warm cupcakes!

On our visit with Scott, we talked of discouragement. He has had to push through some difficult messages from Kyre. She is who he most cares about and so is affected but her hurtful words. I try to relate to him any positive thing she says or any happy event with which she is involved or reports to me about.

He has noticed that his tendency is to isolate himself when he feels down and that is more dangerous in the prison. If you think about it, that is the case outside of prison also. Relationships with and for others is usually what can pull us away from discouraging and self-defeating thoughts that Satan would like us to have. Outside of prison, we have the privilege of aligning ourselves with those who can lift us at discouraging times.

Although he has found himself discouraged at times the last couple of weeks, he told us that he has been blessed with something to which he can look forward. He has talked about the strict structure and limited choices within the prison system. Through the group of Christian brothers with whom he now associates, he has learned more about another cell block (Block A) in which they have their own keys to their cell and showers and many more privileges. An inmate must be invited by other block members to join and be 18 months incident-free. Scott has been told that they will ask for him on his incident-free date, which is June 7. He looks forward to an atmosphere of more freedom and trust. An inmate must be “invited” by those in the block because those prisoners to not wish to have anyone that would cause a problem with the higher level of trust there. Scott is a perfect fit for them.

For those of you who remember the Bob and Claudia Jensen family from our old Rock Creek Ward (and Oak Hills), he passed away last week and his funeral was on Friday. I was sorry that I had to miss it since I was gone. His son was the scout that drowned in the scouting canoe accident when Joe was a scout leader; the reason that the Bowron Lakes canoe expedition always gave me extra concern.

Dad and I are packing tonight for our trip to Las Vegas. We are very excited to be able to see the boys and help them with more house work. Dad is helping them pour a sidewalk and patio in the back yard. We should have contacted some of Adrianne’s friend’s families that live there for shovels and wheelbarrows! Maybe I will paint their kitchen table black if they haven’t already done so. We are going to do relaxing things this time also.

Have a wonderful week and don’t forget to read the prophet’s words in that Church News article and get a discussion going. I think that would be interesting. I love you, Mom