Dear Children,
We had such a great visit with Morty, Aaron, and Nate in 
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
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 Zap
pos customers on their specials of the day for their discount site,
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 
re 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 watchin
g 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
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
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
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
Kyre called me with great news while in
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
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