I finally just spent the day in my garden and it feels great. The garden has had a weird year; with our unusual weather, so we haven’t harvested much. In fact, when Dave and Karla visited they brought blueberries. I froze some of those since we didn’t get enough blueberries from our plants to freeze this year. Today will be the first batch of tomatoes that I am freezing also. It has been slim pickings. But, our raspberries are sure growing. I have the scars today to prove that I tried to prune the old to help the new shoots for next year.
My early morning was spent in Marilyn Shayegi’s yard. She has beautiful hydrangeas that start turning a lovely bronzed eggplant color that will look wonderful for decorating Adrianne’s reception if I can get them to dry well. I have the garage lined with buckets and vases on this second round of drying; I did some last week from another friend. I am trying to figure out some creative ideas for decorations and such that will keep the costs down. Adrianne and Blake have chosen a date which is Saturday, February 26. She hopes that they can be sealed around 1:00 and then have a dinner reception at Oaks Park Historical Dance Pavilion. Oaks Park will let us do our own food which keeps the price down; Dad and I are in the experimenting phase right now for developing a nice looking but economical dinner for the reception. We had a great chicken Alfredo dinner last night that could work in the budget. Now I am having a bit of heart failure over the thought of finding someone that can run the kitchen and get 150 dinners out at the same time and be hot!
Speaking of food, do any of you have Newport Bay Restaurant by you or is that just in Oregon? They had a special day this week that you could have their fish and chips dinner and “name your price”. It was crowded of course but quite fun and now I know I like their fish and chips. I usually don’t order fish and chips!
In Adrianne’s last year of college she has finally earned a Pell grant; yes! She was so thrilled to learn the news. I told her that I was so pleased that one of our children was able to qualify and she responded by thanking us for not having any money this past year so she could! She also earned a life science department scholarship this year so she has worked hard to help pay for college expenses this year. You know that she is rooming with Grandma this year since she and Blake did not want to get into a housing 
contract since they were planning on getting married. She is going to be able to learn even more great tips from Grandma. She already loves bread making and has inherited Grandma’s affinity for making things with chocolate. She and Blake have made several dinners there with Grandma and they made yummy apricot jam that we tasted last week.
All of you know the Brady’s good news from last week. They are having a BOY! Heidi looks great. We were there for three days the week before last. After our fun visit with Ben Sparks and Kay Lewis, we decided that we don’t see our cousins very much. When a Spendlove wedding invitation came, we decided to take advantage of Katie’s “travel service” and we flew to Utah from Thursday to Saturday morning. Everyone couldn’t believe that we were leaving before the game but we wanted to get back for Holly Payne’s wedding reception.
We got a real bonus since both M
orty and Nate came into town for the game so we got some visiting time with them also. Nate had an interesting girl with him, Heidi Peters, but I guess they are not dating. She was cute and seemed nice, plus she laughed at Nate’s jokes! It was fun to get caught up on all of Nate’s excitement concerning his job possibilities. I told him that he must feel great to be in such demand for his skills. He interviewed with Omniture in Orem, Utah, an online marketing and web analytics company from a lead that Morty game him. He liked the career move for himself and was offered a lot more than he was making from Zappos. He loves Zappos though so he was having a hard time making the decision especially since Zappos offered a new assignment for him to work with FaceBook and go to London for a month or so! He was honest with Z
appos that he had been looking elsewhere so they came back with a financial offer that made it too hard for him to leave. So, I guess we are all still able to buy shoes!!! Really though, it must be wonderful to be such a valued employee.
Aaron is working on his web design skills so that he can interview with Zappos. He would be great and would also have fun working with Zappos. His friends from here keep asking when he is moving back but with the housing market as it is, he will be in Las Vegas for awhile.
Aubrey reported that Shawn had another interview with Goldman Sacs. They like him and are trying to figure out where they can put him. I believe that means they would be moving to Utah, although I think that company is also in the Bay Area. Katie told me that she might be flying down to Oakland to see them this week. We are jealous; we have been trying to figure out a time to go there also.
Bill may also be looking at some job changes. The company that he has worked to build on his own is being looked at by his major competitor so Bill and Heidi have some hard decisions to make in the next little while. There are definitely some pros and cons to working for yourself. Bill ran his first half marathon; the Top of Utah in Logan. He looks good running across the finish line.
Speaking of work and working 
for ourselves, Dad has kept very busy the last month or so. It is great news; we hope we can keep this going for the next several months. Every indicator is that we are supposed to have a very cold, snowy winter.
We did another fair this Saturday with our SendOutCards business; this time it was just Dad and I. It was at Cook Park in Tigard. It was a celebration for the 41st Brigade that just returned from their second tour of duty in Iraq. We offered a free souvenir with pictures of their family and the several pictures that we took from the parade. The day was beautiful for a parade and festival. You boys might be interested in the little fact that I borrowed the canopy that I used from Dan Lucas, son of Maurice Lucas! He looks just as tall as his dad but not a big.
Kyre told us that Alina is in the road show in their ward, can you believe that she is that old? Remember that I told you I was leaving the ping pong table down so Dad and I could practice so we could play the grandchildren? Well, it is still covered with scrapbook supplies and lots of photos. I am trying to finish catching up Grandma’s books to this year. She knows it will be her Christmas present from us. I have ten years to go! A lot has happened in those ten years.
I saw in the ward bulletin this Sunday that the Portland Temple will be on a one hour schedule instead of every 30 minutes during the week days. That is kind of sad to know that th
e sessions are small enough to fit on the hour. I get too busy to go to the temple if I don’t schedule it in. That is a great Back to School goal: I want to schedule in more temple attendance!
Now this picture was hard to get! I have wanted a picture of Katie with her uniform on since she started with the airline. She was at the front desk when we came home from Utah. We BARELY cooperated for this picture. And there was no one around so don’t feel sorry for Katie that she was being humiliated!
I love you! Love, Mom
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