February 21, 2010

Dear Children,

We have had some fun surprises sent by Aubrey. They have a Flip camera now and have sent several video clips of Gregory and Bryson. What a fun treat new technology can bring! Katie has a darling Sunbeam that reminds me of Gregory each Sunday.

The day before Grandma went to Mexico, we all headed downtown for a theater performance of Legally Blond (inspired by Katie’s excitement of course). Katie has seen it in New York and Katie and I saw it at the Fox Theater in St. Louis last winter. I LOVE that old theater; it has a great atmosphere. We had the bargain seats at the top of the theater in Portland; they were still good enough seats. Live theater is so much fun. Dad noticed that he was one of the few men in the theater, at least the top balcony community!

Grandma is in Mexico with a high school friend for a week. She was pretty excited and this is a dry run for her to be out of the country before Spain in March!

Katie has sent you information about her graduation in April. We will probably drive to Utah for those dates, April 22 and 23. Grandma Maldonado is planning on coming with us and Morty and Aaron have already bought flights to come celebrate with Katie. Katie just told me that she will probably be driving to the Olympics tomorrow and staying with her friend for a few days. How fun is that? Her friend, Emma, is working for NBC and wants her to come up. How exciting! She would have probably gone earlier but she just received her passport this week. I wish I could go!

We have been watching lots of Olympics. I don’t know which is my favorite, summer or winter Olympics. I love them both. It has been especially fun to have visited the locations last March. Whistler is one of my all time favorite places to visit.

Jenna turned three this week on Thursday. Heidi made her a princess castle cake that Heidi herself said was amazing and worth all the time to create. We talked to (actually interrupted Olympic ice dancing at their home) Jenna right after they returned from their “progressive” birthday dinner by using several different gift cards that they had been saving. That sounds very ambitious with three little girls!

I enjoyed my institute class this week. We were studying Helaman but got stuck on Helaman 5; I love that chapter. I was reminded from the class to get rid of the clouds of darkness by praying UNTIL you have enough faith. My teacher also quoted the familiar thought from President Benson from back in the eighties, “The Lord works from the inside out. The world works from the outside in. The world would take people out of the slums. Christ takes the slums out of people, and then they take themselves out of the slums. The world would mold men by changing their environment. Christ changes men, who then change their environment. The world would shape human behavior, but Christ can change human nature.”

Dad and I had a great visit with Scott this afternoon. With our new church schedule and working in Primary, we have to try to leave church as quickly as possible, packing something to eat, to get to Salem as soon as possible. Sunday afternoons are the busiest visiting times so we may have to be on waiting lists some days. Today the sun was shining so we sat outside. That was great. Scott reported that he moved this week with his cell mate. They learned of a better cell coming available so they quickly did all the right moves, talked to the right people and got paper work done miraculously fast to make it happen. They are now on the bottom level which will be nice on hot summer days. Scott also has a better view of the outdoors from his bed. Another great feature is that this cell has a high ceiling so he can sit up on his bed, in fact stand on his bed without his head touching!

Dad spoke in sacrament meeting today. He did a good job; his topic was “being converted.” He also accepted a new calling, an additional calling to his Primary class. He will be the new Webelos leader. Throughout this coming year he will get all the boys in his Primary class in his Webelos group.

I totally indulged myself this evening by viewing the three hour epic tale of King Arthur, Camelot. I had my name on a waiting list to rent the old classic from the library. I only wanted the copy with Richard Harris standing at the beginning and ending with the beautiful Segovia castle in the background (my favorite castle in Spain)! I think it was filmed back in the sixties. I sang lots of those songs in seventh grade choir! I had planned to attend a fireside tonight but decided to shut out all my “shoulds” and just enjoy immersing myself in the show.

I will close with something I read or heard lately: Find joy in the hard times. Feel optimistic and excited with an abundance of gratitude. The future is bright for those who are obedient.

I love you all. Have a great week ahead. DO YOUR BEST! Love, Mom