May 31, 2009

Dear Children,

What incredible weather we have experienced this week! It smells like summer and is so beautiful. We have gone on many walks and bike rides. Dad’s goal is riding at least 50 miles each week (for his own personal riding).

Last night we went downtown for the Starlight Parade. After quite a few years of rainy parades in Portland, the mild, short sleeved temperature of last night’s viewing made up for them all. Isn’t that just like an Oregonian? You really appreciate the sunshine. We had lots of Saturday projects so we didn’t head downtown until 9:30 at night so we situated ourselves at the parade’s end. We even found great parking (although it was a tow away zone but we felt safe with hundreds of other violators in company). Everything was easy: getting there, viewing it even several rows back and getting home.

Dad worked on the sprinkler system for the newest planters in the front and I ignored my excel training, which I had planned on doing, and put together the General Conference Jeopardy game for our Empty Nester’s Family Home Evening here this Monday night. We have rescheduled and postponed that night several times so I wanted to be sure I had everything ready this time. That game always takes me a long time to create and it was just killing me to waste an absolutely beautiful day inside working at the computer. I have been re-listening to the conference messages on my iPod to get ideas for questions and answers. I hope that everyone has a fun time with it.

Dad and I went on a bike ride that morning before heading over to the stake Provident Living Fair at the church. We took parts of the Greenway bike trail of which I hadn’t traveled. The park department must have smoothed over many rough areas; it was quite nice. I think we will take Sunhee and Meeja over there when they visit next month since there are also playgrounds. We have had a tradition of biking to all the parks in our neighbor while they visit so I am sure this bike trail will interest them.

The Provident Living Fair was enjoyable. Most of the faces were very familiar since the person in charge was from our Preparedness Now group. So, on display there were all the evidences of the previous meetings, discussions and group purchases that many of us have all made: rocket stoves, chia, quinoa, square foot gardening, pot in a pillow, coconut oil, etc. I got some more ideas on how to use my quinoa; I really like the taste of it and it has so much nutrition.

With this great weather, we started the week off with a bang. We skied in the most wonderful spring ski conditions. The weather was warm but the snow stayed amazingly nice. Although, the first runs felt like skiing on crunchy corduroy. Since it was the Memorial Day holiday, there was no traffic so we reached the resort earlier than ever. We were skiing as soon as the lifts opened. The ski racing camps have started on the mountain so they salt their areas. By afternoon, when all the rest of the mountain was getting too slushy and the racing camps had left for the day, I skied where they had been and it was such great snow from the ice preserving it. The Palmer glacier was very nice, especially up at the top. It took all the nerve I had to try it the first time (it has been a few years since I have skied it) but I liked the conditions better than most of the Magic Mile. On Dad’s first Palmer run he started at the top of Palmer and skied non-stop to the bottom of Pucci. Now, that was the only time either of ventured onto the Pucci lift since the bottom of the mountain conditions would be less than desirable during the last week of May! Can you believe we have these great conditions and all this snow so late in the year? Oh, and we also learned that our ski passes work for another two weeks! So, since Wid canceled his work for tomorrow and Dad was working on a job for him, we may take a chance and ski tomorrow even though we have a house full of guests coming in the evening. Maybe staying inside on a beautiful Saturday to prepare for Monday night will actually pay off already!

Hey, let us know the fun things that you are doing! On Monday I called Nate for something. I figured since it was the Memorial Day holiday that he probably went on a hike. He answered in the affirmative and said he had hiked Squaw that morning. I asked if there was a Squaw Peak by Las Vegas and learned he was really in Provo! I just can’t keep up! This weekend he and Morty are in the Bay Area going to a ball game, specially a Cardinal game, with Shawn and Aubrey.

Adrianne told me that Aunt Carla and Uncle Scott with Laura and Andrew came through Las Vegas and spent the night there. Aunt Carla was impressed with the work that Aaron had done on the house and the host that Morty was with the clean sheets and towels all ready for the guests (and his completely organized room and closets). It was lucky that Nate was in Provo as that allowed Adrianne to sleep on his bed and give the guest bedroom to the Toblers and the spare room to Laura and Andrew. I appreciate you all making them feel so welcome.

The rest of the week I tried to keep plugging away on my Excel training. I spoke with Brother Jones since he has not given me his spreadsheet of overdue accounts as planned. He has been so busy tying up loose ends with their home and all their rentals and their different businesses. Plus, everyone of their children and all their grandchildren came home this week. It must be very hard to leave! Anyway, once I get that list I will be able to work on it at home which will be nice.

My institute classes are coming to an end for the summer. I have loved concentrating on the conference addresses this term. Last week it was President Eyring’s message about “customized challenges” in dealing with adversity. I liked the thought he suggested that the Savior could have known how to succor us in our infirmities through revelation but instead physically bore our sorrows that he might know, thorough the flesh, how to succor us. I guess that I never paid close enough attention to the scripture passage n Alma 7:11-13 which states this idea. This week we discussed Elder M. Russell Ballard’s talk on lessons from the past so that led into a discussion on the pride cycle which sounds very close to where we are going today:

Righteousness, then prosperous, then material comforts, then greed, then pride, then wickedness, then collapse of morality , then calamities and bondage, then humility and then repentance.

We went to Julie Dougall’s engagement party this weekend. It was a nice backyard party at her parent’s home. She is living in Salt Lake and getting married in Draper so her reception will be there. She is marrying a Scott somebody but I suspect all of you who know her, know that through Facebook. She asked about many of you but knew tidbits from, where else? Facebook!

We attended the home ward today since Ivan and Ramona were speaking. That meant we got to hear the Sunday School teacher that I enjoy also! She used a great quote from Mark E. Peterson back in January 1974:

“I ask you here today—where do you want to spend eternity? Where would you like your family to spend eternity?

If you knew that by living the gospel you may have celestial glory rather than a lesser one, would it not be worth the effort to obtain it?

Who would be satisfied with the subdued twinkle of a star if he could enjoy the brilliance of the sun?

Who would be content with the reflected light of the moon if he could have the radiance of the sun?

Who would exchange the privilege of becoming like God for the very questionable and temporary advantages of this world?

Who in his right mind would prefer the corruptions of the flesh, the sensual pleasures, and the false excitement of sin, rather than the opportunity of becoming like God; rather than having inspired intelligence, or of some day wielding some of the powers that God uses as he walks in his majesty?

Which of us would sell his birthright for a mess of pottage?

Isn’t it advisable that we direct to our own selves the question raised by the Savior: “… what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?”

Whether we realize it or not, we answer that question every day of our lives by what we think and say and do. Our actions demonstrate whether we are working toward becoming like God or the world.”

Then, in a combined meeting of Relief Society and Priesthood, we viewed a portion of Elder Bednar’s talk, Things As They Really Are, at the beginning of May; the talk that I sent you a link to last week. It is exceptional to hear him speak it. Did any of you listen to it?

We spent much of today and this week trying to visit everyone on our singles list. Today we were melting in this heat, searching for apartments that don’t seem to exist and waiting at doors where no one answers. But, I like this better than in the rain and cold or dark! I love these longer days of light.

Oh, I made an upside down hanging tomato plant bucket-planter thing with Jaime Jorgensen this week. It will be interesting to see how it grows. I will take a picture IF it takes off. Interestingly though, the tomato braches are starting to turn upward even though it is hanging upside down – still reaching for the sun! I think there is a lesson somewhere in there!!!

Have a great week ahead and be your best self. Strive for excellence in everything you do. Here in Beaverton we are looking forward to a week of sunshine and warm temperatures. I love the summer! My beans and beets seeds are already growing. Yeah! Come visit for some pickled beets!!! HA!

I love you! Love, Mom

May 24, 2009

Dear Children,

Dad and I are enjoying a gorgeous Memorial Day Weekend. It has been nice to be home and work on our singles ward callings and also get some yard projects done while the weather is so wonderful. Dad has been working on the front planters to finish the fence project. I am anxious to be able to plant in those areas. I would like to move the lilac bush and any lilies that survived the winter to the front yard. The lilac is starting to bloom nicely so I hope it doesn’t get shocked to death to finally move it from its longer-lived-than–we-expected-temporary spot in the garden. The apple tree will also be moved this week. Dad added a concrete wall to level out the bottom section of the garden; it looks so nice. The apple tree will be moved to that corner by the sandbox. I hope many of you have a chance to come and see it this season; it looks so nice.

With the nice weather, our sandboxes have gotten more use from the neighbor children. Eden, the only Whisenant girl, rides her bike over whenever she sees us in the yard and plays and talks (non-stop). She loves Sammy and Sammy knows when she is in the yard that means a bone treat. Yesterday Eden kept finding ants and asked if I would like to hold one!

On our last couple of trips away, because Tammi Whisenant had just had a baby, the Jorgensen family took care of Sammy and the mail so they got to know the yard better and found that they like to use the sandboxes. Jaime said that they were going to put in a sandbox but heard that the house gets full of sand (I don’t remember that). So, she decided they would walk to our house and use our sand instead. With children visiting the yard I need to take over Adrianne’s old Saturday job more religiously to clean up after Sammy!

I got most of the garden in yesterday. I would have been able to finish except that I started so late in the day. Dad and I went for a bike ride in the morning but it was delayed by trying to find my sunglasses. With Katie and Adrianne’s help, I did some detective work to try and trace the last time I had worn them (after I looked all over the house and all through my ski stuff). With everyone’s help, Aaron found that I had left them in his car!

We road our bikes out to Al’s Nursery in Sherwood to look at their plants. I saw LOTS of plants I want elsewhere in the yard (for later projects after we have the time and money to pour the stamped concrete on the front walkway) but I didn’t like their selection of vegetables. Upon returning home, I left to buy the plants elsewhere. I didn’t return until late since I had to buy some more supplies for my humanitarian project before the week’s sales ended.

I am in charge of the humanitarian classes at Girl’s Camp this year. I had a hard time getting excited about any of the ideas suggested until a thought came to me about doing T-Shirt dresses for little girls. I was involved in a Relief Society project several years ago that made them; they were sent to Africa. By gathering a small amount of cotton fabric at the bottom of a T-Shirt, it makes a darling casual sun dress.

Not even a day after I started researching the possibility of doing them and learning that Salt Lake is not making them anymore to send out, Carol Stanger told me that Darren Stanger’s old mission president’s wife mentioned to her that she wished the Church still sent out the T-Shirt dresses to that part of the country since they really needed them and the girls loved them! I have asked Carol to find out from Sister Mann someone who will be visiting the mission that can bring a suitcase full of dresses since our camp budget cannot afford the shipping. That has been my dilemma; my budget is very small and since there are 150 girls working on these, I would like to make about 100. So, for the girls who do not want to attempt any sewing, we are making scrunchies to match the dresses. Anyway, I have been scouring clearance isles and watching for sales to get enough supplies for the project. I have almost everything thanks to many tender mercies and sales and coupons that “just happened” to coincide with each other. I needed my T-Shirts for less than $2.00 and I found almost 50 for $1.00 at several Target stores in the area!!! I will take a picture of these dresses when I get all my samples done; they are darling! I would like to make some for my grandchildren while I am at it, or maybe afterwards when time allows.

Lots of exciting things have happened in our family over the past couple of weeks. I have been lucky enough to see so many of you in the past few weeks!!! I was home two and a half days last week before leaving again but was able to squeeze in a lunch to catch up with Jeannena (she picked me up from the airport), feeding the missionaries and discussing some of our ward singles and working in the temple. I like when the temple work opportunities come up. I have worked in both the laundry and the kitchen. I am always very tired (and even sore) afterwards but I learn something helpful every time I go.

Most of the last while, I have been in California packing in lots of family memories. Dad and I went to Shawn and Aubrey’s for Bryson’s blessing. What a great time we had! I am looking forward to their visit here in June; they are so fun to be around and the boys are so animated, even Bryson. Staying at the hotel closest to their home shrinks our travel budget but allows us to be just minutes away to have more time with family. Being so close also adds the great benefit of Gregory getting dropped off for some grandparent time! Plus, it allows us to enjoy some fun pool time with everyone. Gregory sure likes the water; well, he likes all adventures! It was a heat wave while we were there so the pool amenity was a big bonus! Once they get their own home, we will be staying with them and most likely, working on home projects!

Dad and I spent some of the first part of our California trip with Uncle Tommy’s family for all the funeral events. It was nice to get that chance to be with them and to have Denise, Carla and Scott all there. The viewing was my favorite part. My three cousins spoke so it was very personal. Usually the meal after the funeral is a great personal family time but, even after we took a detour to Los Compadres (!) to let the crowds die down over at Uncle Tommy’s house, it was still full of all of Auntie Carmen’s family (it is such a huge family). It was good that we did go though as I heard one of the Alga sisters ask Carmen, “Didn’t Vince’s daughters come?” and she could answer, “Of course they are here!”

It was great to see my cousin Vernie, well Verne now that he is grown up. I really can’t remember seeing him since I was a teenager. He has lived his life partly traveling with rodeo circuits. He had lots of stories and he was thrilled to hear that Adrianne loves horses and suggested that he might leave his belt buckles and saddles to her when he died!

It was so nice that Aaron came up to the Bay Area for Bryson’s blessing. He makes things so much fun and naturally, he had solution to one of Kent and Connie’s (Aubrey’s parents) computer dilemmas. He spent the afternoon hiking with Aubrey and the boys while we were at the funeral. He is used to that heat but also enjoyed the breaks in the pool. Gregory called him Morty in the beginning since he has seen Morty more often. By the end of Aaron’s visit they were pals as they both LOVE to play hard. Gregory slaps his leg when he gives a deep belly laugh. If you tell Gregory that he is funny he replies, “No, I’m awesome!”

Shawn had his hands full with responsibilities while we were there. He had to finish an online class for his work (which he aced), speak in sacrament meeting and prepare for Bryson’s blessing. HE was awesome. Dad and I had a fun and relaxed time despite his stressful circumstances. On Sunday morning Aaron, Dad and I drove to Antioch to hear Aunt Denise’s choir sing in her sacrament meeting. They sang a pretty arrangement of “Consider the Lilies.” We left in time to make it to Shawn’s ward for Sunday School and then their sacrament meeting (their schedule is reversed). I enjoyed his Sunday School teacher’s lesson on tithing. She suggested that tithing is a good self mastery tool as it is a most important lesson that we not allow ANYTHING to control our thoughts, not even materialistic things.

Aubrey planned some great meals at the Hawkins home over the visit. I have a new love; a barbecued sweet potato slice! Her dad dips them in sesame oil and grills slices of sweet potato. I am trying to get the procedure down; we had them last night.

Dad, Aaron and I moved over to Aunt Denise’s home on Sunday night; the price jumps to almost double at the hotel and I was anxious to she her remodeling. We had a great time there with Aunt Denise, Wiley and Michelle. I learned that Michelle loves (and is very good at it) playing games and she can get Wiley to join in also. She is a great card player. On her first time playing Canadian Salad she earned no points in the last hand. Wiley had gone shopping for all kinds of food including linguisa so we had a leisurely breakfast including barbecued linguisa.

Our greeting home in Portland was rain. I couldn’t believe after all the warm weather I had every where I had traveled that it could be raining somewhere! Oregon is consistent. Despite the rain, the sunshine came when I opened the front door very late at night and saw my Mother’s Day package on the doorstep. I love my book! I have read it over and over; it is so fun to look at. It holds so many great memories. Thank you very much! I know how difficult it can be to get something like that put together.

Great news! Katie sold the Taurus in St. Louis and for exactly what she asked for it! Dad and I are SO relieved. We worried about Katie getting off work on her last day of her internship and trying to drive alone to California for Reshea’s baby shower in less than two days. This way, Katie is safer, there are fewer miles on the car for resale value AND we do not have to try and sell it during our next trip to Utah. The family that is buying it agreed to not take ownership until Katie’s last week of work so I am crossing my fingers that they do not change their mind. And . . .finally . . .a picture of Katie by the Channel 5 sign! Thank you Katie!

With the Taurus sold, we may just drive my car to Utah at the end of June instead of flying since we know the Taurus for sure will not have to be driven home to Oregon to be sold. Having my car there will make the trips to Daybreak easier. Grandma and Grandpa Bitter have agreed to go to the Oquirrh Temple Open House with us. We reserved 10 tickets to the open house so let me know if any of you will be there. Adrianne said that the Draper Temple did not check tickets but we learned from Heidi that caused such long waits at times that you must have tickets for this open house. Heidi was scheduled to be a volunteer last Monday for dignitaries going through early but since it was quiet during her shift, she received a personal tour and learned many stories and insights that the normal tours will not hear. She can tell you all about them when you visit “her” temple!

More great news! Adrianne has a full time job. She is working in Morty’s warehouse. She works with a group who speaks Tagalog all day but it is decent money, Monday through Friday work and close enough to their home. Thanks Morty! She is looking for some volunteer work with horses on Saturdays.

With my travels these past few weeks, I am caught up on Church News articles. I made some notes of course . . . DON’T QUIT READING HERE! These are some great thoughts. I read some summaries of messages from President Monson at two different commencement exercises:

• Vision without work is daydreaming. Work without vision is drudgery. Vision coupled with work will ensure your success.
• To find real happiness, we must seek for it in a focus outside ourselves.
• The past is behind; learn from it. The future is ahead; prepare for it. The present is here; live in it.
• Quoting Will Rogers, "If you want to live a happy, successful and fulfilling life, you must learn to love people and use things — never to use people and love things."

One last article that is a must read (please!) is the one in the May 3 Church News by Elder Bednar. You could read it and give me your input??? Here is the link but I would suggest that you down load it on your computer or an iPod so you may hear his voice; he is such a great speaker:

http://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/57299/Devices-that-distract-from-things-as-they-really-are.html

His talk considers the idea that because Satan is denied a body he strives to entice us to minimize the importance of our physical bodies, using the very useful forms of new technology to negate or maybe not fully live the true benefits of person to person communication. He said:

“Please be careful of becoming so immersed and engrossed in pixels, texting, ear buds, twittering, online social networking and potentially addictive uses of media and the Internet that you fail to recognize the importance of your physical body and miss the richness of person-to-person communication. Beware of digital displays and data in many forms of computer-mediated interaction that can displace the full range of physical capacity and experience."

Scott’s choir sang today and won’t be meeting until this fall again. He has enjoyed the group so much that he asked us not to come visit him this morning so he could be part of the this last performance. He keeps up his running and enters all the races. By placing in a race, he wins money to buy envelopes (since he gives all his library earnings away).

Tomorrow is Grandpa Bitter’s 91^st birthday. I am sure that he would be pleased to hear from any of you this week. His phone number 801-225-0798. Dad and I are celebrating Grandpa’s birthday by skiing with our spring passes for the last time this season. I hope that I can do Palmer after my bike ride yesterday!

I love you and hope you have an enjoyable holiday and great week ahead. Love, Mom

May 12, 2009

(There is a picture of the Fox Theater that I cannot get onto the beginning of the blog . . .rats!)

Dear Children,

What a whirlwind of travel this has been since last I wrote! At one point as I was still very tired but my body kept waking me up, I relaxed that my body had no idea what time zone I was in. Thank goodness all our immediate family locations only cross a few time zones!

Grandma, Adrianne and I had a great time in St. Louis and on our side trip to Nauvoo. As wonderful as all that travel was with so many fun and great experiences, I think the most notable experience that stands out in my mind, oddly enough, was the great Sunday church service that we attended in St. Louis. We looked for a close ward meeting in the morning since we were driving to Carthage and Nauvoo that day (and everything still closes early there) and found the Pagedale Branch. It looked like it was in a renovated old funeral home as we drove up. The small room was packed so we had to separate in small groups to fit in.

Conducting that day was the branch president, a very animate large black man. I witnessed the most colorful sustainings I have ever seen. It was most enjoyable and allowed us to get a flavor of the warmth, love and acceptance of the great diversity that attends this branch which is so close to inner-city St. Louis. The meeting was very interactive and even the chorister, who was actually white, led the music with such enthusiasm like she was leading her own gospel choir. It was testimony meeting so you can just imagine how boisterous the amen’s were! Grandma noted afterwards that it was the first time that she had participated in a sacrament service in which every priesthood member providing the sacrament was black.

As a bonus, the Elders all bore their testimony that day and one of them was Elder Benson Payne, Ben and Heather’s son. I introduced myself to him afterwards and he said that he remembered playing on our air hockey table as a child.

We had arrived in St. Louis late Friday so Katie picked us up on her break and took us back to the news station so we were there for the 10:00 news broadcast and saw the taping on the early morning sports broadcast. We learned a lot about Katie’s work from the producer and the news anchor there that night. It was most interesting. We were all very hungry after her shift was over at 10:30 so we stopped at a pizza place in the U City district about which Katie’s station had done several broadcasts since it was Obama’s favorite pizza and the owner had been brought to the White House to make it. It was very good but I guess the irony of it all is that Obama found Chicago style pizza that he likes in Missouri over that of his own home town, Chicago!

We had an enjoyable time walking the St. Louis Zoo on Saturday. It is beautiful; Katie said that it was voted best in the nation. Our zoo is so wonderful here that the thought of traveling to see a zoo is almost absurd but it was well worth it. It would be nice to spend the day at the park that the zoo was in with its many lakes and museums. The weather was very favorable. That night we had tickets for Riverdance in the beautiful Fox Theater; I love that place! Riverdance was amazing also! We held a belated birthday celebration for Katie after the theater at a place by our hotel where she had a free appetizer coupon!

The timing was beautiful for our Nauvoo trip; very few tourists and very mild weather. We were able to have a private tour of Carthage Jail and visitors’ center (I remember huge crowds there ten years ago in July!). It allowed us to see everything about which the guide was speaking. It was very enjoyable to spend some quiet time there before traveling onto Nauvoo. We arrived in Nauvoo just after everything closed so we planned a quiet evening at the condo to rest up for the next day.

I feel like we saw just about as much as we could see with our timing. In several of the historic homes, we were the only visitors at the time. We were able to spend some time in the Family Living Center where they have demonstrations of everyday living in Nauvoo at the time of the early church. We made rope and saw the weaving and cooking demonstrations. We visited the bakery of course, the blacksmith shop and brickyard, some of my favorites. We started our tours on Monday morning with the carriage ride and wagon tours to get a flavor for the area and Nauvoo history through pioneer stories. They were great. On Monday night we attended the Rendezvous performed by the senior missionaries there. It was a very fun event with additional stories of Nauvoo histories. Prior to that, but just after all the homes closed, we walked down parley Street past all the plaques with quotes from the people who had to leave their homes behind. Every tour or event we attended reminded of the great tenacity, industry and sacrifice of the saints.

Grandma and I were able to have the privilege of attending a session at the Nauvoo Temple on Tuesday morning. That was a great experience. It looked like much of the furniture and decorations were from that time period. There was a beautiful spiral staircase that I would love to see up close next time I visits. I would love to return to Nauvoo in the winter sometime; I don’t know why . . maybe to get a better flavor of the early saints’ surroundings. I think it would be beautiful in the winter since I have the ease of staying warm in such surroundings!

On our last day there we were also able to get a tour from the Community of Christ church of Joseph and Emma Smith’s homes. I wish I had read the letters from Grandma Bitter’s uncle, Samuel O. Bennion before going and seeing the new gravesites. Grandma gave me the letters when Adrianne and I stopped there on our way to Las Vegas. Grandma only learned about the letters (she already had heard the story through her uncle) when she was in Nauvoo herself on the tour and she mentioned to her guide that her uncle was a witness to the reburial of Joseph and Hyrum Smith. Her guide said that he was a missionary under her uncle and held a copy of his letters to President Heber J Grant and Joseph Fielding Smith so now she has those pieces of important family history!

Samuel Bennion was the mission president in Independence when he heard that Fred Smith of the Reorganized Church was digging up the secret graves that Emma had prepared and moving them. Samuel rushed to Nauvoo with three other church leaders so that the church had somewhere in attendance. In those days, travel was not as easy and the president of the church would not have been able to make it. Joseph Fielding Smith also wrote to Samuel to thank him for representing Hyrum’s family there since Joseph was his grandson and their family had not been notified in time.

We planned to get back to St. Louis in hopes that we could get into Busch Stadium for free during the last innings of the Cardinal game but they do not do that anymore. So we rested, well, not quite. After we got settled, Adrianne and I went to Katie’s place and packed up several boxes to take to Utah for her. This idea came about so that she could try and sell the Taurus in St. Louis before she comes back. That would be SO wonderful if that could happen. We had brought very little luggage with us since we knew that would be four of us traveling to Nauvoo so we were able to take advantage, coming home, of every bit of carry on and luggage limits for Southwest Airlines. We brought back so much for Katie to help her leave St. Louis with as little as possible; it turned out great.

On our last day in St. Louis we visited the Arch and Katie took us to Ted Drewes Frozen Custard which has been there since 1929! It is on the old Route 66 highway. It is a popular spot. Dad would like it since one of their specialties is called concrete, which just means that all the sundae toppings are mixed into the frozen custard instead of poured on top.

Speaking of Dad, Adrianne and I came home from St. Louis to fresh baked bread and omelets when we arrived from the airport. Plus, he had gone shopping for us for “car snacks” since he knew we were leaving very early the next morning for our trip to get Adrianne and her car to Las Vegas. That was so nice of him!

While Adrianne and I traveled to Las Vegas, Dad spent the weekend with Adam at Adam’s stake’s Father and Sons campout. They had a great time of course. They stopped beforehand to pick up some Mother’s Day gifts and naturally, a big net for salamanders! They had fun with cooking and building fires plus they did a big work project to improve the property where they were camping. Adam loves catching salamanders; he is holding two of them in this picture. Dad said that they were the last people to leave, except a few leaders and that the last thing Adam did again this year was to ring the big gong. Adam loves being busy and squeezing as much fun as he can on any of his visits so it is always in question whether he is satisfied with a visit with his grandparents. So, Dad felt really pleased when they drove away and Adam sat backing the van chair and said, “I had fun.”

After traveling most of the day on Wednesday to return from St. Louis, Adrianne wanted to leave the next morning for Utah at 4:30am (we needed to pick up her things at Grandma and Grandpa Bitter’s in Orem)! We had so much to do that last evening that I talked her into an extra hour of sleep. Her car traveled well and anyone of you who know Adrianne, can guess we only stopped three brief times (she never needs a rest stop . . . that is why we call her a camel). She was very smart to buy the car in Portland so it got Dad’s attention, he did some nice things for her while we were in Missouri and Illinois. She said she could make the drive alone but we convinced her it was a good idea to have a companion while driving that long with a new-to-us used car. We stopped in at Heidi’s to make a delivery to the girls, a pioneer outfit from Nauvoo for their new Barbies. Rebekah was impressed with the “modest” style! The next night they were looking forward to a sleepover at Granma Bitter’s; they were so excited to tell us about it. It sounded like so much fun; I wish that we lived closer to be able to do that with them.

I am anxious to be able to spend some time with their family after the baby is born. Since there is no room to stay there right after the baby’s arrival, Dad and I are going to go to Utah a couple of weeks after the birth and help out Heidi by entertaining Rebekah and Jenna during the day and maybe even with some overnighters down in Orem. We have tickets right now to fly in on the evening of June 27. That puts us in Utah to hear Ben Bitter’s talk in sacrament meeting on the 28^th (Nate’s birthday!) before he leaves on his mission. We have tickets for the Oquirrh Temple open house at Monday the 29^th at 10:00 am and are planning to take the girls with us plus Katie said she wanted to go with us also. Hopefully her class schedule will allow it. Let us know if any more of you would like to do that with us. We have a flight out on July 6 at 1:00 in the afternoon so we will have to celebrate Heidi’s birthday early but will need to get back to real life and work!

We have one more family trip planned before then for Bryson’s blessing this Sunday. Aaron will also meet us in Martinez for that great event. Also, we will be able to attend my Uncle Tommy funeral on Friday and the viewing on Thursday. He passed away early Monday morning; he was Grandpa Maldonado’s youngest brother and the last of that generation to pass away. We will be in the Bay Area from Thursday afternoon to Monday afternoon. We are staying in Martinez Thursday through Saturday night and then at Aunt Denise’s on Sunday evening. Did Shawn tell all of you about his commercial that will be aired on the internet? Yes, while all of us are looking for work, little Bryson has already secured employment! He and Shawn auditioned for a commercial of a military father and baby. They will let us know when to watch for it.

We would still like to try and squeeze in the Clovis trip at the beginning of June but it is looking unlikely with all the other work and travel commitments. We know Katie will be there, Aubrey has said that they want to be there and Morty is interested also!

So, I left us in Daybreak as I described the trip to Las Vegas. Adrianne and I spent the night at Grandma and Grandpa Bitter’s. The next morning she made us those fun omelets in a bag that we had at Jeff and Alisha’s baby blessing a couple of weeks ago. After sleeping in, we headed to Las Vegas. The boys were good to welcome Adrianne in and bring all her things into the guest room which she quickly organized and made her own.

It was warm in Las Vegas. Late Sunday evening when I was on the phone with Shawn, I told him (after looking at Morty’s clock in his office) that it was 80 degrees but that was really 80 degrees INSIDE the home (it was over 90 that late at night). Adrianne and I went with Aaron to help him pick out pots for his plants. He and Adrianne repotted everything and it looks so nice. I wish that I would have gotten a picture of that.

We also all went to Serendipity to have “frrrozen hot chocolate” in honor of Katie (who loves it so much and has had it in New York at the store there). We took some fun pictures of that but with Morty’s camera so you will have to look at his Facebook to see them.

On Mother’s Day I had fruit smoothies and eggs fixed for me before church and Aaron made a pasta dish afterwards with Adrianne’s help and some of Nate’s new healthier grain pasta. He is training for that September climb and trying to eat better. The pasta was made with quinoa so I will send him some chia and quinoa since I can get a better price here (actually, from our storage). I am also sending him some of my new chocolate that is 72% cocoa and loaded with good stuff! Adrianne also made a lemon poke cake, my Mother’s Day request every year! Their singles ward was a very good meeting and they gave everyone two individually wrapped white roses and a huge candy bar!!!

We heard from Wendi and she knows that she will be living in Chipman Hall on the third floor next year. Her graduation is an outdoor event and it is on Wednesday, June 3. I bet that she is getting excited. Kyre told us how excited she was that Wendi gave her a Mr. Bean movie for Mother’s Day. They have a crazy sense of humor!

I am looking forward to more institute classes when I am in town. I love reviewing the conference talks as they are filled with the many small things that I know I can improve upon to help me. President Hinckley once said that the gates of hell swing on small hinges. I promised in my last letter to share some thoughts on prayer from my last class but I am already at five pages so I will close with just a couple of ideas. We talked about how casual our society has become and how that can affect our attitude towards prayer. My institute teacher challenged us to take more thought of our prayers. He suggested we take a moment before our prayers to pause and think about what to pray about.

And one last thought that I heard recently in light of Uncle Tommy’s passing this week: “What I have done matters more than what I have owned. Those I have helped matter more that what I have left behind.” I love you. Have a great week ahead and live this week to be the person that God wants you to be. Love, Mom

April 30, 2009

Dear Children,
Today is a great day for our yard. The back yard neighbors are having their last four cottonwood trees removed . . .yahoo! The sticky yellow pods had just begun to fall but the snow (cotton pods), which would arrive in June, will no longer be a problem. This will save us many, many hours of labor each year between the yellow stickies and its stains, the cotton in and out of our home, and the leaves in the fall. This is such great news! It was very interesting to watch them shimmy up those tall trees with their spiked shoes and cut branches off a few feet from where they were balancing themselves.
This was a week of celebrations starting with Scott’s birthday on Tuesday. Heidi came into town for that and arranged to spend the day (both the morning and afternoon visiting sessions) with him. Then to make him even happier, she also traveled to Kyre’s afterwards and took her and Klaire to Sunhee’s indoor soccer game in Sweet Home. They even had a chance to go to Sunhee’s school where Sunhee’s class performed for the school. Heidi’s visit here in Oregon was short but FULL! That night we celebrated his birthday with a favorite fruity dessert which he would love, an angel food cake filled with pineapple. He will take pleasure in knowing that we enjoyed it for him.
Heidi traveled with us the next day, Wednesday, to the airport as Grandma, Dad and I prepared to leave for Utah for the weekend. Heidi had a slightly later flight which came into Salt Lake about the same time as Morty’s flight. Grandma went to Laura and Andrew Field’s in Salt Lake while Dad and I traveled on the commuter bus down to Orem. Adrianne was still in finals and Aaron and Nate were driving that evening from Las Vegas. I was really pleased that Aaron and Morty would come up for Nate’s graduation; it was so good to have so many family members there.
We started graduation and birthday celebrations Thursday afternoon with a lunch at one of Nate’s favorite places, Tucano’s, where he could eat as much red meat as he desired (Aaron and Adrianne ate their fair share also!). Jenna also is a big fan of red meat; she is her daddy’s girl!
After lunch we joined 6000 plus graduates and their families in the Marriott Center for Commencement Ceremonies. It was a sea of navy blue caps and gowns. The speakers were fantastic. Of course, two of them were President Uchtdorf and Elder Russell M. Nelson! Even the alumni president had a great message as he spoke of living true to BYU’s branding and that this day was the “commencement” of the kind of person that the graduates will become.
President Uchtdorf promised that the Spirit of the Holy Ghost could bring focus, certainty and confidence in life and urged the graduates to:
• Use time wisely
• Continue to learn
• Seek the Spirit at all times
He made some interesting comments about time saying that time cannot be saved or mortgaged. Quoting Elder Maxwell, he said, “Either we manage time wisely or time will manage us.” Also, he advised us to be wise and leave unnecessary projects undone.
Elder Nelson suggested that the graduates focus on their ultimate graduation day when we will be asked not what occupation we held but what kind of person we have become.
Nate hiked one of the canyons by the school with two of his friends before his department’s convocation on Friday, the Marriott School of Management. It was also at the Marriott Center. This is where he was handed his diploma, well, not really but the jester was made as every graduate walked across the stage. It was another wonderful ceremony with great speakers.
Because all three of the boys were leaving on Saturday, we moved up Aaron’s birthday celebration to Friday evening. Aaron requested ribs for dinner so Joe and the boys were in charge; they barbequed them at the Bitter’s. Laura and Andrew brought Grandma down for the afternoon and evening and then we traveled to their apartment for games on Saturday evening.
We even caught a horse show while in town this time. Adrianne found a barn that gives jumping lessons. She is amazingly poised on top of a totally new type of horse. She received first place on her very first class of the day. She ended up with two first place and one second place ribbon at her very first Hunter Jumper Show!
I felt right at home at this horse show since it was very cold and wet; just like Oregon horse shows! This show was also the first time I have ever seen her fall off of a horse. I was very impressed that she brushed herself off, got right back on and executed the most perfect jump at the same gate that she came off. Talk about nerves!
Dad and I stayed through Monday evening in Utah. Adrianne also came home with us on that same flight. We had an enjoyable Sunday in Orem with Jeff and Alisha’s baby boy beng blessed and then spending Monday afternoon at Daybreak with the girls. They have a great park by the manmade lake.
One funny incident while playing with Rebekah and Jenna was when Jenna started telling jokes and giving out different punch lines. It is so surprising to hear her talk in full sentences since she wasn’t speaking so much then. She is showing off her talent of curling her tongue in this picture.
Today is Katie’s birthday. She wrote that she was going to start her day at a crepe restaurant. She had a fun day planned despite all of her friends living in another state.
Grandma, Adrianne and I will be in St. Louis to celebrate with her the day after her birthday. We are all excited for that as we will also take a short trip to Nauvoo while in the area. Grandma has never been there. Katie had a scare this week with her debit card number being stolen. Luckily, it seems that the bank caught the problem early since the thief was trying to change the address on the card.
I had a great institute class this week. This week we studied Elder M. Russell Nelson’s conference address on prayer. These classes are really great and the best part is that I can use my iPod touch as I drive and listen to the conference address as I drive to class. I will have to write next time about what I learned in class. I keep fallig asleep sitting here at the computer and I have much yet to do to prepare to leave tomorrow. Much of our evening was taken up in Milwaukie as Adrianne looked at a cute little Hyundai to purchase. She just has too little time here.
I read a very excellent article in the most recent Church News. It came here to Beaverton one or two days ago but I had already read most of it in Utah since it comes out earlier there. It has always been my dream to sit down the day that the Church News or Ensign arrives and read all of the way through it. I pretty much was able to do that in Utah and I would like to challenge everyone to read the article about weathering the financial storm today. It is called, “Financial Storm”. It speaks of staying calm while having a mixture of positive attitude and measured action.
I love you all and hope you have a great week ahead. Love, Mom