March 15, 2009

Dear Children,
Dad and I had such a great time on our anniversary get-away in Vancouver and Whistler. I would love to go back in a moment. British Columbia is so gorgeous with all of its evergreens and snowy mountains. It reminds me of the landscape around here except on a grander scale; that is a VAST countryside.
We had some challenges trying to get away with our computer screen completely shutting down and our furnace going out the night before (it is a blessing though that I needed to get something from the storage room so I could smell the gas and know something had done wrong). Luckily, Ron Whitaker came over late Monday night and thought he could have the furnace going again with a few new parts (this is not the time to have to buy a new furnace!) while we were away and so we just needed to find a repair shop to take the computer on the way out of town. Our plans to leave early were changed but that also was a blessing. I woke during the night feeling very worried that my stomach pains that had been getting worse the last few days might be something to get checked before leaving the country the next day. When I called my doctor early that next morning for advice on whether it was safe to travel with the symptoms, she scheduled lots of blood tests, an ultrasound and even a CAT scan (one right after the other; I have never experienced such quick service!) to rule out any of their concerns. They did just that and said to go on our way!
So, with the later start I realized I could be disappointed with all of our changed plans or to look forward and be happy with our rearranged adventure with adjusted new plans! Dad kept mumbling in a “sick” sort of way about the disbelief of the road conditions from the last time he drove north to the Seattle area (that December trip really traumatized him). We arrived in Vancouver, British Columbia after dark. Thank goodness for the GPS; it was a time saver! Especially when we couldn’t see the tiny WorldMark sign on the building in Vancouver but the GPS lady said, “You have arrived!” We actually put the GPS manual that was on a disk in the lap top and went through it on the drive up. We learned a lot more applications.
Even though it was dark, we walked down some of the streets around our place. We were blocks away from a huge shopping area called Robson Street. The shops were all closed so we just looked at the window displays. We saw the cutest candy apple dipped in white chocolate with covered marshmallows to look like cheeks! We were on the 22nd floor right in downtown Vancouver. Amazingly, for a big city, we were able to park our car without cost in the underground parking structure. The apartment-type units have floor to ceiling picture windows to view the city lights. It really is a nice place to stay for only $42.00 a night!
The next morning we took a walk along the sea wall by English Bay. They have clean beaches and the water was very clear. I wished we had bikes so we could have traveled the entire sea wall around Stanley Park. We bought our Wonderbars that all Canadians rave about and checked out. Sally Farb used to always bring back a bunch but they sell them in the cute candy store in Seaside we have found. I am not a Butterfinger fan, so they don’t impress me since they remind me a little of that taste.
Luckily our place allowed us to keep the car parked until we left town so we walked to the water again and took an Aquabus across the False Creek to a darling little shopping area called Granville Island. In reading about Vancouver, I heard that the best fish and chips in the world were sold there at a shack called Go Fish. We searched them out and they were as we were told, the best “we” have had since we are not world travelers and don’t usually order fish and ships anyway! It was fun to find the place and walk around the island. They have an incredible market with every imaginable fruit, pastry, main entrée, etc. Dad bought roasted chestnuts.
We traveled up to Whistler, about two hours away, with the water on one side of us and the mountains on the other much of the way. The road to Whistler is under construction with a ton more that needs to be done before the masses of the Olympic crowds next winter. I hope they will be done! Our place in Whistler was just across the street from Whistler Village, the cutest little ski town with pavers for streets (no cars allowed). It was our anniversary but we decided to eat inside after a little walk in town under a light snow fall (so pretty!) so we would have time to rest our sore feet (from all the walking in Vancouver) in the hot tub before it closed. Our feet actually needed rejuvenating more than resting since Dad was watching the weather to see if we would ski the next morning!
By 7:15 the next morning Dad was ready to ski. I was nervous, not only to ski that enormous mountain after not really skiing for two years but also because I feared I would turn into a popsicle! It was 10 degrees Fahrenheit on that mountain (It warmed up to about 20 degrees during the day even though the sun was out)! It was beautiful ski conditions and there was a covering of fresh snow from the night before. Thank goodness I had Katie’s old skis and boots (my boots fell apart at Bachelor years ago) so I could put on an extra pair of socks (otherwise my feet are too loose in them anyway). The frigid temperature gave a good test to my new Patagonia thermals that Dad bought me for my birthday (with a special deal from Zappos!) and they really worked!!! In this picture, dad is standing by an Inukshuk at the top of the gondola. It is the symbol of this year’s Olympics. This one is ice since it is on the mountain but most are in stone; they are all over the area. Besides this symbol having deep roots in native culture, you can’t help but think it looks kind of like a hockey goalie!
Everyone I asked promised me that there were plenty of easy runs and they were right! I love the green runs on Whistler; they are really green (not the Utah green that makes Oregon green look like the parking lot incline)! They are also very wide, a lot like Stormin’ Norman at Timberline and I love that run. They were enough of my “no-guts-comfort-zone” that Adrianne might claim there wasn’t enough of an incline for a marble to roll! We got on the mountain after 9:00 and I figured I might make it a half day but we skied until the lifts closed at 4:30 with only one stop for lunch. Most of the day we skied on the Whistler side but we also took an amazing tram ride called Peak2Peak that did exactly that, crossed the valley between the two huge mountains and we skied down the Blackcomb side! In this picture we are suspended in midair across the canyon.
Our other goal in Canada was to sample some poutine, a Canadian “delicacy” of French fries, cheese cruds and gravy, “aboot” which Dad had learned in his readings. It sounds like an awful combination of foods but in the middle of one of the 100 (38 lifts) or so ski runs on Blackcomb Whistler we stopped and had it for lunch at one of the several restaurants on the mountain. It actually felt good to have that a weird sounding combination of foods; kind of a stick-to-your-ribs comfort food combo!
Exhausted, we opted to stay in again that night and hit the hot tub after skiing all day. On a grocery run for dinner rolls Dad ran into and of course, struck up a conversation with a member of the Canadian skeleton (like luge but on a small disk going down the ice tube head first!) team. He was invited to go view their practice that evening, which he did. I was already out of my ski clothes and dressed for the hot tub when he came back and announced the chance to return to the ski slopes and stand watching the team practice whooshing by at break-neck speed in the ice covered. It sounded too frigid of an adventure to me so I opted to meet Dad in the hot tub when he returned.
Dad came back with the excitement of a little boy after his first major league experience where he might have snagged a foul ball. He had the wiggly voice to prove it as he joined me in the hot tub (with a couple that we had met the night before) to describe his personal viewing of the team practice. We learned the next day that Dad had passed many of the security barriers that are normally in force during the day and viewed up close and personal like no one else can! He described the team members huffing and puffings right after their 40-second-or-less-runs as he was right next to them and talking with some of them. The next day, after check out, we went back to view their next practice time but this time we had to obey all the rules and security regulations. We still got closer than most people will be able to get at the Olympics so it was kind of unique. It is an amazingly crazy sport. They ride down the ice chute on what looks like a cafeteria tray, head first getting speeds up to 150 Kilometers (about 100 miles an hour) an hour in some spots! I was lucky to capture some of them with my camera. I do have a picture showing how part of the run they are sliding on the slide (where that lettering is!) of the tube but Dad isn’t in that one.
After lunch in the village we stopped at the Olympic cross country and ski jumps venues before leaving town. We missed seeing anyone practicing there. We also drove past the winter area for eagles. They are usually gone by March so Dad wants to come back next year earlier to spot some eagles even though we can see them in Oregon on Sauvie’s Island! It was a beautiful drive back to our next destination, Blaine Washington, right across the border. We stayed that night in Birch Bay, a VERY small beach town, in which we couldn’t find anything of interest to keep us there past check out the next day. So, we traveled through some quaint towns in northern Washington and a beautiful drive through Chuckanut Drive, catching a beautiful sunset over the San Juan Islands, on the way home Saturday.
Along the drive we read began reading the November Ensign since it is our goal to read it all the way through before this April general conference. We read all of the priesthood session and were left with a renewed sense of the importance of being more service oriented. It reminded me of a quote from a previous institute class from Bishop Burton that went something like this: The things you do for yourself are gone when you die but the things you do for others are your legacy (very simplified).
We returned to a very cold house since the furnace had not been fixed; we should have figured such since we were relying on a “potato chip person” to fix it while we were gone. For the next couple of days we stayed close to the fireplace and Dad even wore a jacket liner and ski cap in the house. I gained a new found appreciation for the gas fireplace and our gas-run hot water heater.
Our leftover Canadian money and the Wonderbars that we bought for the family members who are attached to them (the Brady family of course!), was sent in an early birthday and Easter package to the Brady’s home since Bill is headed to Canada this week for his annual ice fishing trip with his brother at their cottage in the wilderness. He just learned though, that the fishing season was cut short last week in an effort for some sort of fish preservation this year.
We said a “Hi and Goodbye” to Grandma when we arrived as we took her to the airport the next day after we arrived home. She went to visit the boys in Las Vegas. She reported having a great time. They made things nice for her; they even considered bringing part of Aaron’s bed downstairs for her to make the guest bed more comfortable for her. She enjoyed watching Aaron work in his backyard. He is covering the rest of his yard, around the concrete walkways, with pavers. He also brought is two of the four trees that he is going to plant and making planter boxes out of pavers for them also. The yard is looking so nice.
Grandma missed getting to do a formal Zappos tour while there but she went and visited Nate at work on her way to the airport. Here is a link to the newspaper article called, “A Day in the Life of Zappos” in which Nate had his picture. He is the third picture to the right in the string of pictures. He is in a bean bag chair in his office next to his adjustable desk. Nate sent it to me but I am not certain he sent it to the rest of you. He wasn’t very impressed with the importance of the article since they didn’t talk about him! Nate is in Kansas City this weekend to visit his dad and go to a concert. The link:

http://www.lasvegassun.com/photos/galleries/2009/jan/23/zapposcom/

Katie was also traveling over this weekend; she was in Provo. She was having BYU baseball withdrawals! So, she picked a triple header weekend with the University of Utah. They won two out of three of the games.
Morty was true to BYU and bought tickets to three days to the basketball tournament held in Las Vegas. He got to see BYU win the first game and also to see UNLV lose which is why there were seats available to buy!
Adrianne spent her Friday night representing our family at two receptions; one in Toole for Zen Hathaway’s’ marriage and the other in Salt Lake for Laura Bradford’s wedding reception. Both families were very glad that she came and said to say hi to all of you. She spent time talking with every one of the Bradford family as they reminisced about their memories of Adrianne. Which, obviously, it was a LONG time ago when she was very young and most of them remembered that she wore her bathing suit with most of her outfits! She also spent some time in Daybreak on Saturday with Heidi’s girls so that Heidi could attend the funeral for Tim Dailey (Andrea Payne’s husband) who died last week when his heart stopped.
Dad and I went to a reception for David Christensen (Raleigh Hills Ward Christensen family). I realized that David didn’t remember us but he said he remembered Nate. We saw lots of long time stake families that said to say hello to all of you: Stahr, Dougall, Banks, Hunsaker . . . We even went to one of those “90 minute” seminars so that we could get “free” tickets to Las Vegas so we could see the boys again sometime soon. We are doing crazy things these days with not being on our usual schedule (well, my regular work hasn’t really changed any actually!). I also waited at a grand opening for a bank to open an account. Can you believe it? I waited an hour and a half and then had to get an appointment for a later date (which they were willing to do since they had too many people show up for their great interest promotion). The couple that I sat next to part of the time looked at me and we both said, “Are we really waiting in line to put our money in a bank?” While I waited I got a “free” lunch and chair massage though. That massage was nice since I had gone skiing the day before.
Another out of character thing Dad and I did this week: Whistler reminded us how much fun it is to ski and we have always wished that we could look at the mountain on a nice day and just say, “Let’s go ski.” So, Timberline was offering an incredible deal for an end of the year ski pass (until May 23) and we decided that was a great way to work to get in better shape (It is like doing squats all day and enjoying it) and Dad is available for once! We went to Timberline on Friday and the parking lot was so full but the lifts weren’t crowded since they have another lift. The sun was shinning all day and there was very little wind so we skied on the Magic Mile all day. The snow was best at the top of the mountain so we didn’t ever traverse over to Stormin’ Norman. Dad did a couple of runs on the new left but said the snow was getting slushy because of the warm temperature that day. It was a sunglass-ski day . . . yeah!
Shawn has called a few times about things other than the baby being delivered. Every time I hear his voice I am sure he is going to say the baby is here but no! Maybe they will have a St. Patrick’s Day baby! Aubrey was ready long ago to have that baby. It always seems much longer when you go over your due date.
I had lots of ideas to share from my institute class but this is too long already. We mostly discussed keeping an evil influence out of our homes, one single home at a time. A quote from the day is, “The chain that binds the devil is forged in heaven on the anvil of divine justice and its links are fabricated from hearts of righteousness and acts of faithful servants.”
Kyre is now sure that she is going to move to a larger place on April 1. Her new address:
432 Ermine Street SE
Albany, OR 97321
It sounds like a much better place for her and Klaire to live. The missionaries live next door and she will be right next to the park and Waverly Park Elementary School. Kyre and Wendi were surprised that President and Sister Child were their speakers for stake conference yesterday. The Child's were excited to see them and also Adam, who had gone with Kyre. Dad and I will be in Albany and gather all the grandchildren for a fun afternoon during Spring Break. Dad said we may have daffodils popping their heads out by the time that Sunhee and Meeja stay here next week. I look forward to that. I love you, Mom