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