May 10, 2010

Dear Children,

I am SO happy. I was able to get to the store, buy most of my plants and get back in time to be at the temple for Jim Floyd’s sealing on Saturday morning. Then after their open house in the afternoon, Dad worked with me to get all the plants in. I love having most of the garden done. I just have to get some carrot, pumpkin and bean seeds and find an Early Girl tomato plant. I tried a new one this year, Willamette, but I still have to have the old faithfuls!

Sister Floyd died last year and he met someone from Virginia. I think she looks a lot like Marie. Two of his girls were here; the children had a hard time with it being so soon and the fact that it was their first Mother’s Day weekend without Marie. Plus, Miriam is having a rough year as she also lost her husband. Well, he didn’t die; he just is addicted to video games and does not want to work or be married or have a family. For a time she was going to move into the empty Crandall’s home until they got back. That would have been nice for her since there are so many neighbors who she knows here.

So, we had garden-planting weather on Saturday but we are back to the rain today. I think everyone here is so ready for it to warm up. Is it unusually cold everywhere?

While Aubrey was still in Utah, she and Adrianne ran a half marathon, in the pouring rain! That was May Day in Utah!!! Adrianne is “training” for a half marathon here in Oregon on June 12. She is running it with Sharon DeFord.

That same day, Kyre moved to a new place in Albany. She is very excited about it now that she has a garage (which she wants to convert into a play room for big toys), her own washer and dryer and three bedrooms. That will be very nice since Adam is there every weekend and will be moving in after school is out. They are walking distance to his new school in the fall. She has the same phone number and her new address is: 968 22^nd # C Albany, Oregon 97322 We saw her place on that first Sunday and she had already done quite a bit of organizing.

While we were fighting the wet spring, Katie was enjoying the sun in Hawaii. She reported that they saw and did quite a bit all over the island with a vey low budget. All six of the friends were very happy to pack their lunches and cook meals in the condo to save money. They only ate one lunch out and that was on Katie’s birthday. Katie also fulfilled a dream and went skydiving on her birthday, in Hawaii no less.

They stayed at Aunt Denise’s home again on the way back and went to an A’s game with Greg, Bryson and Aubrey, San Francisco and even at the last minute, got $25.00 tickets for Wicked that night. How lucky is that!

These past two weeks, Grandma and I have started going to several of her follow up appointments. Since she lives alone and has suffered a stroke, the doctor said that they wanted to be extra careful and test her for many things. I think that is great; I wish we had Kaiser sometimes. All these tests would be costing us an arm and a leg. That has given me more waiting room time so I have tried to catch up on some of my reading.

I found a great article from the Church News about President Monson’s advice to Weber State graduates. It is great advice for all of us. His message was about the choice to be happy and finding joy. He talked about the importance of believing in ourselves, knowing that we CAN achieve what we believe we can do. He admonished us to have courage to live decently.

President Monson taught that we gain courage, strength and confidence by every experience in which we really stop and look fear in the face. He wants us to be able to say, “I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes my way.” His last challenge to us was to work toward a worthy goal.

I read his message the day after I had a business presentation to a room full of realtors. I worked hard to gain the opportunity but was scheduled at the end of the month so I knew I had weeks to prepare a 20 message in just the 10 minute time slot. Last Monday afternoon I learned that manager had made a mistake and had me on the agenda for the next day’s meeting! I spent the rest of the evening practicing talking fast and deleting much of what I usually would say. I was very nervous but excited for the challenge. I had Dad give me a blessing and that calmed my nerves. It went well. I wouldn’t say that I lived through horror but I did face a challenging situation and came away feeling stronger.

My institute class was on a similar topic as we discussed 4^th Nephi. Our main discussion was that we can’t find happiness but we must make our own happiness.

I had a great Mother’s Day because I was able to really relax and received calls from every one of my children!!! Dad made omelets for breakfast that were loaded with mushrooms and our sacrament meeting was fantastic. Jaime Jorgensen and Andrew Westhora spoke. The bishop called them the designated Mother’s day speakers when they both said that they had already spoken on Mother’s Day in the past. Andrew (Andy to all of you) had some great lines. He said that Dayle told him his topic should be “the sacrifices he made in his life to make his mother look successful”!!!

Grandma came for dinner and we invited the four missionaries so we had a full table.

Adrianne had an interesting Mother’s Day weekend. She and Blake drove from Utah to Sacrament for a Saturday wedding of one of Blake’s cousins and then onto Hughson, where he lives. They spent Mother’s Day there and then drove back to Provo through the night Sunday night. Ouch!

I love all of you and thank you for all the calls. Love, Mom