August 4, 2011

Dear Children,

The last couple of weeks have been filled with fun with the grandchildren. I drove down and picked up Alina, Adam and Klaire on a Thursday and they stayed until Sunday night. The fun thing was that Sunhee and Meeja came on Saturday so they had two days of playing together.

We lucked out on the weather for most of their visit. I took Alina, Adam and Klaire to the zoo on their first day here. We walked the zoo opposite of the way we normally walk which was nice since the crowds went the traditional way.

Wow, we were awaken during the night with an incredible lightening and thunder storm very early last Monday morning. We woke up to the house shaking with some of the thunder. The rain was even loud and as thought my hopes of picking boysenberries with Sunhee and Meeja were dashed, Dad was worried about his pour at the temple. Luckily, by morning the rains were done and we had a nice day for concrete and berry picking.

Dad’s work at the temple is not only labor intensive abut time sensitive. There are so many contractors working there that it is causing Dad delays. Two of the towers are being sandblasted and that cloud of gritty dust is falling everywhere. Even so, Dad has been persistent and been at the temple in the wee hours of the morning until late. Meeja kept asking him why he couldn’t stay home and play. Today was the last actual pour there and he came home saying that he felt he had just rode another 100 mile bike ride! I will be anxious to seethe finished product.

Sunhee and Meeja were good helpers picking Marion bad Boysenberries. We came home that day and made our jam. We also made a couple of pies. Sunhee wanted to learn how to make pie and she wrote it in her Faith in God booklet. She made a beautiful pie of her own after watching me make two. I suggested that she freeze it so she could cook it at home later but instead, she decided to give it to Grandma for her birthday. Sunhee was so excited to surprise Grandma.

As you may imagine, we did a ton of game playing while they were all here. We also played a lot of ping pong. Sunhee is getting quite good; I will have to work really hard to keep winning. The girls also loved playing in the yard. They attract lots of neighbor children so it was like old times here with a yard full of children. They put the sprinkler on the tramp and down the slide. They also were good to pick the blue berries and raspberries. We froze much of their pickings and made smoothies with them. We now have lots of zucchini and also the green beans will be ready while I am in California. Meeja remembered that Sunhee was in charge of Family Home Evening last visit so she kept asking if she could be “in charge” each night. She was in charge of Family Home Evening the last night that they were here. Sunhee was assigned the lesson and to teach us a song about FHE (both Faith n God goals) and Meeja was in charge of the campfire and roasting marshmallows.

I believe that the most fun day we had while Sunhee and Meeja were here was the day of Dad’s Tour de Cure. Thank you for all your donations to make his participation possible. His ride started at 6:30 in the morning from the Hillsboro Stadium. The girls and I headed out there about 8:00 and volunteered at the stadium until he came in (well, and played quite a bit also). Dad was so thrilled to be able to finish a 100 mile ride. It is quite a huge accomplishment.

I was feeling a bit overwhelmed to be gone for almost three weeks straight so I am coming home for a day in between California and Utah and then Utah and Las Vegas. It also allows me to do some follow up from a great event that I went to two Thursdays ago, the Portland Business Journal’s BizGrowth Expo. I met with several businesses who were interested in learning more about SendOutCards. Plus, a real bonus was that the keynote speaker, Harvey MacKay who wrote Swimming with the Sharks without Getting Eaten, told everyone in the audience that they should Goggle SendOutCards and start using it to stay connected with the clients and prospective clients. I like what one speaker said about treating your customers like fans. He reminded us that loyal fans protect a business. The speaker I am referring to was the owner of Keen Shoes. I really enjoyed him; he reminded me of Nate. We also heard from someone from Disney and learned their strategy to get repeat business. As most of the speakers gave tips on how to treat their customers and clients I just sat in awe of how SendOutCards teaches the same thing and is the tool to make that all much easier. It was a very positive day.

The girls and I had fun experimenting with a new cupcake idea I read about in Mandy Heaston’s blog: mini cupcakes in a push up tube. They are a cute little novelty and we also experimented with cupcakes mixed with ice cream in the tube. I was attracted to the idea at first to tell Alina about it. She is taking orders to make cupcakes to sell to raise money for her trip to Washington DC next year.

I had a great time with Gail Bowman over a long lunch today. It was so good to listen to her express her feelings over Michael’s death. One thing that was extra hard for her was that she was not allowed to see his body. He wasn’t found for about five days so his body was badly decomposed. They couldn’t even use fingerprints to do a positive ID on him.

The Brady family could still use us remembering them in your prayers. Jenna’s pneumonia was spreading to most everyone except Heidi. Bill is still quite sick. They have their niece form Canada staying about a month and then they are also hosting some French teenagers here for a dance event. I love you all! Love, Mom