March 29, 2011

Dear Children,

What a time in our family’s life this has been! Everything with Adrianne and Blake’s wedding turned out as we hoped and we were especially happy to know Adrianne was so pleased with the events surrounding her wedding. Dad and I were so appreciative that many family members were able to travel to the wedding both here in Oregon and in California. Thank you all for coming out; it was such an important family time for us. I appreciate all of your effort to get here even when it wasn’t easy.

Aunt Carla had come a week early to help with so many last minute preparations, which was a HUGE help, then on the Wednesday prior to the wedding weekend, everyone else started coming into town. Morty and Aunt Denise came in the morning and Blake and Adrianne came in at night. Shawn and Aubrey and the boys were supposed to come in on Thursday morning but the predicted snow storm enabled them to change flights and come in very late Wednesday night. Most everyone else arrived between Thursday afternoon and Friday evening.

We didn’t get much snow but boy was it cold! On the morning we took Adrianne and Blake to the temple to do a relaxing temple session (which was wonderful) we did wake up to a couple of inches of snow and I sat up in bed saying, “We will have to warm the swans in the bathtub!”(reference to Father of the Bride movie) Dad thought we should have squeezed into the week’s agenda a viewing of that movie to prepare us. The day of the wedding we woke up to a cold 18 degrees but it warmed up to lip-freezing, nose-reddening 28 degrees for photos.

An added bit of fun for some of the relatives flying in was our family’s “personal Southwest representative” greeting them as they arrived in Oregon! Katie found several of the aunts and uncles and surprised them by the gate. Dave and Karla said that was incredibly fun.

Thursday afternoon was a lot of fun at Grandma’s. She, Katie, Aunt Carla and Aunt Denise hosted a bridal shower with fun games and incredible food. It was wonderful to have many friends there but even better to have so many relatives. Kyre and Alina road the bus from Albany, Grandma Bitter and Aunt Carolyn came as they arrived from their drive from Utah and the Seversons came directly from the airport toward the end of the shower. That was nice so we were able to visit after the rest of the guests left.

The entire wedding weekend was so wonderful. Thank you to all of you for making it that way. Everyday was full of family and lots of activity; a perfect way to celebrate such an occasion. There were even several visits to Scott which made it nice since he was sadly missing out on such an important family event.

This feeling was especially brought to my mind when, last Monday, I went to an all day event and heard prominent speakers such as General Colin Powell, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, Steve Forbes, Terry Bradshaw and more. Aaron would have really loved hearing the economic views and opinions of Steve Forbes as they aligned with many of the views I have heard Aaron express. I was completely surprised that so many of them spoke of the prime importance in our times of cultivating and restoring relationships and the importance of showing that you care for people. My favorite speaker was Laura Bush and I was quite shocked that one of her remarks resurfaced such sorrowful personal emotions from the past. She was describing what she described as the best part of President Bush’s Inauguration Day when she said, after all the balls and gala events, they finally settled in bed and she was so at peace at the moment that she realized that all of her children and extended family were safe, tucked in and accounted for under one roof. That means so much to a mother. Her remarks exposed the sting of knowing that is not possible in our family with Scott gone for so many years; making it more vivid than it had been for a couple of years. It took many, many months of hard work and counseling to reframe my world back then so I wouldn’t carry that sadness into everyday of my life after Dad and I realized that it was becoming our “whole world” in 2007 and 2008 and that it was having a negative affect on our health and in other areas of our lives.

We had a similar twinge as we looked at all of the wonderful family pictures we received from the photographer and realized how our immediate family had grown but there again, seeing a spot for Scott and Baby Jack who will not be able to physically join in our family celebrations. We are SO thankful for all of our family that CAN be with us and enjoy these precious milestones together. We are so blessed with all the goodness that we feel when we are together with all of you and the remembrance with a temple sealing that all sorrows can be lightened with God’s eternal plan of happiness.

Friday evening we hosted both families here for an informal dinner gathering which was a great chance for most everyone to meet each other. Just minutes before everyone was to arrive I felt like I was about to lose my sanity for even agreeing to it being at our home the night before our daughter was getting married but it ended up being quite nice since it was a relaxed environment where everyone could stay and mingle (which wouldn’t have happened in a restaurant setting). The Seversons bought the food so Dad picked up Chipotle burritos and luckily Grandma, Denise and Carla offered to make the salads which saved me. I had made fruit compote for the weekend so we used that for the dessert.

Adrianne had asked President Child to be the sealer and it was so nice that he said he was excited to do it. The temple sealing room was full of mostly family, many of whom had traveled far to be with us, and with a few friends like the Chandlers, the Daniels, Angie Bleazard, Jo Black and Carol Stanger. It was perfect.

Adrianne was gorgeous all day. It was wonderful to see her excitement and smiles. Everything for the reception turned out perfect. Everyone that said that they would be there, was there! It was unbelievable. The restaurant was incredible; the service was perfect and the food fantastic. Everyone who says anything about the evening says that they thoroughly enjoyed themselves and it looked like all the family was having fun. I mentioned that Dad and I looked through over 800 photos from the photographer and it was like reliving the event since it was kind of a blur to both of us.

The best compliment came from Aunt Carolyn and Uncle Jim when they said that it was the best event that they had been to for a long time because of how the bride and groom made everyone feel. Adrianne and Blake did a great job of talking with everyone and making them feel that they were so excited that they were there. My two favorite parts of the reception was the song, “Families Can Be Together Forever”, sung by the nieces and nephews and when Dad handed Blake and Adrianne the mike to speak after they cut the cake. They were perfect and a mom and dad especially love to hear a son-in-law express his love, admiration and devotion to their daughter as Blake so eloquently did.

We arrived home that evening at a decent time since everyone helped with the little bit of clean up that we actually had to do. The best accomplishment of the clean up was the brothers packing up two large suitcases to send with the Severson family to Hughson so Dad and I could fly to the open house. Dad would like me to add that we stayed up that night after midnight to watch BYU basketball win; we had recoded it earlier that day. I love to watch them win. Most everyone had to travel home on Sunday but Heidi’s family was able to stay until Monday which was extra nice. We had a family dinner after church and Denise, Jim and Carolyn were able to still be here. We have all the photographer’s photos now and it would be fun to sit with all of you and relive that day together looking through the photos. There are some great family moments captured.

The next weekend we were in Hughson for the open house that Blake’s parents planned. It was lots of fun; there were a ton of people to meet. We couldn’t get over the smell of the almond blossoms all over town. Dad walked outside and said he could smell marzipan! It was also warm from the moment we landed in Oakland; so good to stand and feel the warmth of the sun. The open house was on our anniversary so we celebrated by going to lunch at Los Compadres and I got my chili relleno and chicken taco fix. We also went to Grandpa’s gravesite and left flowers from the wedding there. There was a mariachi band playing for one of the four funerals scheduled there that day!

We helped clean up the Hughson church building so we didn’t drive back to the hotel until midnight. Both of us had been too busy at the open house to eat much so we stopped at the In and Out for a burger and milk shake. Dad said that we were just doing what you all would regularly do at midnight! We had a wonderful stay at the hotel and we used Marriott points so with Katie’s flight benefit and her letting us park in her employee parking spot, this trip to Hughson was pretty inexpensive. In the morning we walked on their treadmills, swam in the outside pool and soaked in the hot tub. If I had more time I would have just sat and fell asleep in the sun; again, it felt so good to have the sun warm our skin.

We met up with Blake and Adrianne at the Severson’s home after checkout and they opened the gifts from both events. Everyone was SO generous with all of their gifts to them; we couldn’t believe how much they received. It took most of the afternoon and then we helped them pack their rental car to drive everything to Utah on Sunday.

We drove to Martinez to spend Saturday night and Sunday with Shawn and Aubrey. We had an incredibly fun time with them. They have an un-bounding energy that is so wonderful to be around. They have made a nice home in their new apartment and the boys absolutely love it. Going to our children’s wards is always a delight and especially visiting Primary and watching Aubrey and even Gregory there. It is wonderful to see how you all contribute to your wards; you are all so talented. Before flying home, we squeezed in a bit more paying time with the boys and had dinner at the Hawkins and then we were on our way in a rush of course since it is always hard to leave any of you.

In between the two wedding events, Dad and I kept the celebrations here going by taking advantage of a free night at the downtown Embassy Suites for an early anniversary celebration. It is an exquisite remodeled old hotel and a very fun place to stay. We enjoyed swimming, relaxing in the hot tub, and walks in the rain while exploring downtown and even poking out heads into VooDoo Doughnuts to get that glimpse of the weird and brash culture of Portland. I also was able to use a coupon that I had been saving for a Lebanese restaurant that I love. I went off my eating program for the weeks of wedding celebrations and I love all Mediterranean foods.

Our next big family moments came with the Spring Break visit of Sunhee and Meeja; it was nice that they were able to stay the whole week. We didn’t plan much except going to the zoo of course and games, games and more games. We played games at any free moment and even when we should have been going to bed a couple of the nights! Sunhee and Meeja love doing just about anything. Meeja said she became oatmeal buddies with Halboji. Even n errand to Home Depot was more fun with them along. When they caught a glimpse of Chuck E. Cheese in the same parking lot, they changed their minds and thought that is where we should go. But, Dad showed them that Home Depot must be more fun since there are always more cars parked in front of Home Depot!!! The girls were also a huge help in the kitchen; they love to help and learn new skills. Speaking of new skills, Sunhee loves our SendOutCards service and amazingly is quite adept at the card editor (like a simplified, mini Photoshop) with very little assistance. She had fun creating several cards from scratch using some incredibly cute wedding photos of her!

We traveled to the zoo twice while they were here, turning around and going back home the first time since there was no parking and no shuttle service plus it had started raining. The next day was a far better day. We have a fabulous zoo. Interestingly, have you noticed how few public phone booths there are anymore??? I forgot my cell phone the day we were at the zoo and Katie had mentioned the night before that she might catch up to us. I worried how we would connect (How did we used to do that?) We worked it out but boy, times have changed!

We brought Katie to our home after the zoo. That was a fun treat for Sunhee and Meeja as they were able to stay home with Katie (and the trampoline) while I took Aunt Denise to the airport. Then afterwards, the girls and I drove Katie to her downtown apartment so they could see where she lived and eat some of her candy!

Aunt Denise was here for a couple of days helping Grandma Maldonado. That was a huge help since my week revolved around grandchildren when Grandma had her surgery on her hand. The girls and I visited with Grandma a couple of times during the week to include her on the game playing (for just short periods of time). Her ward has been treating her so well. They brought in lunch and dinner for most of the week and many of the people sat and visited with her while she ate. They are a great ward.

The first weekend that Sunhee and Meeja were here, Kyre, Alina, Adam and Klaire came up on the train arriving in what looked like real spring like weather. It is always lively when all the siblings get together; they love gathering and playing together so it was nice to have the sun shinning for that day. We had a fun Sunday brunch birthday celebration for Dad and Klaire. Klaire lights up with all the attention of her older brother and sisters. Right after church we had a short time before we took them to the train station.

That very weekend we also had a visit from Morty so he turned up the fun especially when Kyre and Scott’s children were here. He organized some ping pong play offs and it looks like I am going to have to practice before they come again as they become so skillful after all that ping pong. We are now ready for our next wave of visitors since Sunhee and Meeja were so good to help clean the bathroom and change sheets on all the beds after their visit. They have grown up so much and they just are excited to be helpful. I think our next visitors will be Judy and Jack Hoagland in April. Fawn Hoagland’s son will be getting baptized the second week of April.

At the end of Spring Break we had the privilege of taking a quick trip to Utah to celebrate with all the birthdays there (and use up Dad and Adrianne’s Tucano’s birthday cards). I almost didn’t get there since I realized upon loading into the shuttle at the airport that I had forgotten my purse after leaving home at 5:00 am. So Dad headed to Utah alone and I was able to catch up later luckily. There is always lots of family fun going on in Utah; it is always good to be there. Rebekah was having a makeup and nail polish party with 15 girl friends when Dad landed and we were able to return to Daybreak on Sunday for their church and a family birthday party with lots of fun and yummy food. Adrianne was able to ride horses on her birthday and get her fill of red (I mean RED) meat at the “Flesh Café” that night. We almost didn’t get out of Utah with it being the end of Spring Break. We never realized how many families choose to miss the first Monday back in school so they can get a better price for airplane tickets. Our Monday morning flight filled up over the weekend and then our evening flight was oversold within a few hours of checking it so we were crossing our fingers to get on. Even with Morty checking the internet for us and trying to reroute us (his specialty) as we were driving to the airport, there was no other option to get home. Luck was on our side and the fact that we got on the list at the airport early.

Today we are headed to enjoy the coast at Otter Crest. Ivan and Ramona Jones offered us a week at their place after we took care of their yard when they left on their mission and the home was not sold yet. They are already back from their mission and we finally found a week that worked (or kind of works)! If we can stay through the weekend, it will be a fun and relaxing place to watch general conference. News from the ward is that Risa Whitaker will probably be passing away this week. She can no longer communicate. They never found the source of her cancer that they discovered last year this time (right after general conference). The good news is that she had a good couple of months just recently just before her liver finally failed two weekends ago.

Well, I am sorry to end this on such a sad note. In institute a few weeks ago, I saw a video clip that I thought was so excellent. It was a Mormon Messages video clip, from lds.org, called “Hope Ya Know We Had a Hard Time”. It is so worth watching. My favorite part was the ending when Elder Cook quotes President Monson with this challenge that I would like to give all of you: “Find someone who is having a hard time and do something for them.” I realize that you all are having struggles of your own but I know that lifting another can lift your own spirits. My prayers are with you. I hope that we all are remembering each other in our prayers. I love you, Mom

February 23, 2011

Dear Children,

We had a wonderful time in Utah. We planned the trip to accompany Adrianne to receive her endowment but we added extra time to help Grandma Bitter make the mints for the reception and attend the bridal shower that Heidi planned for her. Well, Grandma had already finished the entire mint making and even had them all wrapped for us. All we needed to do was to put the stickers on them. She would have done that also probably, but we had to special order the stickers from Arizona and they were being shipped to us.

We enjoyed our Sunday afternoon in Utah at Heidi and Bill’s new place. We went down to pick up Grandma first. She had not seen their home either. We were all in awe at the space they have now. The girls love their own space and their cute play area. Anisley has already learned to get down the stairs (their stairs were very steep in their town home). Heidi and Bill love their enclosed and quiet office space and beautiful kitchen. It is incredible. It was so enjoyable to help in the kitchen (except now I have to ask where everything is)!

Friday was Jenna’s birthday so we had an early family birthday celebration for her. Rebekah decorated the dining area and Jenna’s chair with hearts and Bill made a beautiful apple pie for her. Heidi and Bill made their famous lemon butterflied chicken. I remembered it from years ago when they made it at our home over the holidays.

Blake and Adriane also came up for the birthday dinner and celebration. We arrived first and even though the girls see Blake and Adrianne more often, as they opened the door when we arrived their first reaction was, “Where’s Blake and Adrianne?” Hello, how about being excited that we flew there from Oregon!!! But, I am so happy that the girls love and have a bond with their uncles and aunts really.

We had a low key Valentine’s Day. We had seen a special on BYU sweatshirts online and I do not think I had one any longer so we headed to the bookstore to pick one out. Well, we quickly learned that those specials are not available in the store but it was fun to be among the students and ESPECIALLY heart warming and fun for me to see the huge percentage of men in line at cash registers buying Valentine’s Day gifts. I loved to see all those students knowing it was important to show their gratitude for the sweethearts.

The most rewarding part of my Valentine’s Day was taking Adrianne to the Distribution Center to pick out her clothes for her temple trip the next day. How excited and happy I am that she has chosen to go through the temple. We had a incredible experience in the temple on Tuesday evening.

I am so happy Adrianne chose the Jordan River Temple. It was quite by accident but felt like no accident at all afterwards. She had wanted to go through the Oquirrh Mountain Temple since it was so close to Heidi and Bill’s place but it was closed for cleaning. So she asked for Jordan River since she was thinking it was the one she had gone through for an open house (really the Draper Temple).

From the moment we arrived at the temple with Adrianne and Blake, she was treated like royalty. The women in the temple were so kind and helpful. She was able to use their beautiful bride’s room to get ready and Sister Chamberlain spent a good amount of time with her in the instruction room before we went through a session. Right before we met with Sister Chamberlain, one of the female workers told us she was Janet Lee (Rex Lee’s widow) who is now married to the temple president. I am so glad that she told me that as I would have kept looking at her trying to remember why she was so familiar since her name did not match her face.

She is an amazing woman and her instructions were so perfect. Accompanying a child for the first time through the temple has to be one of the best privileges in my life. Plus, Sister Chamberlain’s message and advice were exactly what I needed to hear and so wonderful for Adrianne to hear. The thing I remember most was her advice to come back to the temple often take advantage of the wonderful spirit there and rest from the cares of the world, to relax and rejuvenate from the stresses of our fast paced world. She reminded us that the things of the temples were two things:

• From God and
• Ancient, in that they were not changed by the fads of the world.

She quoted President Monson when he admonished members to "come to the temple and place your burdens before the Lord and you'll be filled with a new spirit and confidence in the future. Trust in the Lord, and if you do He'll hold you and cradle you and lead you step by step along that pathway that leads to the celestial kingdom of God.” It was such an incredible quote that I came home and found when he said it at the San Diego Temple Dedication in May 1993. We felt lucky that so many family members were able to be there in the temple with Adrianne. Dad and I has a very enjoyable visit with Heidi and Bill at their home afterwards when we stopped to pick up things for the bridal shower which was to be held the next day. We talked mostly about baby Jack since visiting the temple is such a wonderful reminder of the eternities and the opportunity to see deceased family members again.

Our last day there on Wednesday was filled with lots of preparations for the shower that Heidi planned for Adrianne. It was held at Grandma Bitter’s and I think it is funny that it was held with the chance of a snow storm looming and again, the forecast here is the same with a snow storm and Adrianne’s shower here in Oregon that Grandma, Katie, Carla, and Denise have planned for her! The shower in Utah was so fun with all the preparation that Heidi did plus there were old Oregon friends there like Janet McManus and Heather Pierson Bryce. Plus, Wendi was able to be there since she is at BYU. Jenna and Rebekah were fun helpers at the shower also; they were so excited to be there.

We returned on Thursday morning with a sense of urgency to finalize all wedding plans and preparations for out of town guests’ arrivals. Today Morty, Blake and Adrianne arrive. Aunt Carla has been here since last Thursday also and she and Grandma have been a HUGE help to me every day. Yesterday, Carla was here most of the day helping me clean and organize the house but one of the most fun things she did for me last week was help me go through my closet and all my boxes of different sizes of clothes that I have saved for years. She could be the host of “What Not to Wear”; the three of us had some good laughs as I wanted to hang on to some familiar clothes and she instructed me that they were from a different era! Besides being such a big help to me, they have planned some fun things for the Oregon bridal shower that will be tomorrow when more of the family arrive. This morning they are all convening in the kitchen to finish the baking for the shower. Isn’t family the best!

I guess you all probably heard the wonderful news that Laura and Andrew are expecting a baby in September. This is such an answer to many prayers. It will be nice to see and congratulate them at the open house in Hughson.

Well, everyone pray that the snow storm isn’t as bad a predicted so everyone can travel safely to Oregon. Dad told me that Heidi and Bill have now planned to stay an extra day in Oregon and won’t leave now until Monday which is great news.

Sadly, Uncle Doug will not longer be coming for the weekend. Aunt Elaine’s mother passed away yesterday so the funeral will most likely be this Saturday. They would probably love to hear from all of you. Their address is: 272 North Ocean Avenue Cayucos, CA 93430.

Here is a quote from Elder Christofferson that I liked from some of my “catch up” Church News reading on the plane ride home. He was talking about living life well and getting through the challenges of our days: He said, “Take it one day at a time. The Spirit can guide us when to look ahead and when we should just deal with this one day, with this one moment. To deal with something very big, we may need to work at it in small, daily bites.”

I love you all and am excited to be altogether to celebrate with Adrianne and Blake.

I love you! Love, Mom

February 13, 2011

Dear Children,

We are in Utah again as was the case the last time I wrote (which was a while ago I admit)! This time Morty gave us the crazy notion to stop overnight in Las Vegas to celebrate his birthday. We feel so honored that he would suggest that to us. What a fun idea! And, all the while we realize what a huge privilege that we have through Katie to be able to fly and connect with all of you. We are so grateful.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MORTY!!!

Today is Morty’s birthday; big 33. As we were joking last night as we were laughing about some Jimmer Fredette mania happening in Provo, he is Jimmer plus 1!He was kind enough to get up at 6:15 on his birthday to shuttle us to the airport. He provided great service even informing us of our gate number and its location from security with a few tricks to get around the crowds. We learned last night when he looked up our chances of getting on our standby flight this morning that had only 4 seats available for 16 standby passengers, that Sunday is a difficult day to get out of Las Vegas on standby. He rerouted through a flight first to Reno and then onto Salt Lake. The late night nonstop to Salt Lake was very open but then we would have missed Jena’s family birthday party (her birthday is this Friday).

We had a fun visit with the boys last night. They all have a unique sense of humor and keep us smiling. It was very refreshing to me to be there. Aaron picked us up a the airport and then we met Morty and Aaron at a beautiful new resort called M not far from their home. We went to dinner at a very tasty restaurant known for its home cooking style and huge servings. We all shared a few entrees and took a HEAVY take-out bag home afterwards. I made a yellow cake with chocolate frosting and the boys and Dad all enjoyed warm cake dripping with thick chocolate frosting at midnight as we sang happy birthday to Morty. We slept, not long enough, in their beautiful guest room. They have it fixed up so comfortably.

I don’t know where to start this letter as I really do not remember much about the last few weeks. Dad and I did travel to Utah in mid January to help Heidi with some of her packing. They were blessed to be able to find renters for their town home so that they could move into their friend’s home who will be on an eighteen month mission. For that period of time they will have more space and a yard! We are so thrilled for them and especially the girls to be able to play in their own yard. The new place is just down about a block from where they were. We are excited to see it.

We were hoping to get in on a family night deal at Sundance ski resort while we were there in January but they weather was not good enough; it was raining at the resort. We haven’t skied at all this year and our usual anniversary trip to Timberline will be replaced with celebrating our anniversary at the open house in Hughson. Maybe we can hope for some late snows this March like a couple of years ago, just as long as the weatherman gives us a beautiful last weekend in February!

We did more wedding planning in Utah in January and made some interactive TO-DO lists to alleviate some of the stress of one person remembering everything that must be done. Blake and Adrianne have made several documents that need to be watched closely, like the wedding budget, into Google documents so we can all view and update them. This has been very helpful. I heard someone refer to Adrianne’s sit down dinner reception as extravagant and I thought how little they knew about the power of careful and creative planning with a lot of leg work. I know that we have accomplished this wedding with a smaller budget than most of our friends have put on a reception at the church.

Most of our weeks since that earlier Utah trip have been focused around wedding details. Dad hasn’t had any concrete work so he has been able to help more than usual. I think that he has made more dinners in the past month than our entire married years; it has been very nice for me. Dad is starting to do more bids now so the spring is looking more positive. We don’t expect that the business will ever be the same again since the builders are just not as active anymore but we have received a good amount of referral business from previous customers for homeowner work by using our SendOutCards business to help market the concrete business. It is nice that we have that reference as we show other businesses the incredible tool that it can also be to business. Through the wedding planning, I have tried to stay as active as possible with SOC to keep the momentum going. I have a couple of distributors that have also made goals for their own that has boasted my business. I LOVE the fact that I can be working on the wedding part of the day and my business is still growing elsewhere!

Morty came for a Blazer weekend just shortly after we returned and we met one of his cute friends Abby. She is from Cannon Beach. She is also a fun game player and was very wiling to learn some new ones. He got in a couple of Blazer games and was gone again. While he was here, Dad and I went to a meeting in Seattle. We flew there in the morning and returned that afternoon; SO COOL! We rented a car and it cost us so much less to do it that way. Thank you Katie again.

My annual girl’s weekend with my previous Young Women group was at the end of January. It was so nice. We played tons of games, ate, walked on the beach, ate shopped, ate, talked and laughed, ate and just had wonderful time together. We all look forward to the break each year; it is rejuvenating. I didn’t completely put a halt to the wedding planning while there as I brought some things to brainstorm with them. It was at the beach that we designed our “bargain” centerpieces.

Our family had two big moves this month with Heidi and Bill’s move to 11491 Wexford Way with their city and zip code staying the same. Heidi also received a new calling in her ward Relief Society as the Second Counselor. That will keep the Brady family moving at a fast pace. Shawn and Aubrey’s family moved into the apartment complex that many of their friends live at 143 Virginia Hills #C keeping the same city and zip code also. They have been watching for an opening there in a particular spot and then Aubrey luckily heard it through visiting teaching before anyone else knew. She is going to fix it up so cute; she sent me one of her pictures. We are anxious to see it. We just might be able to on our way home from Adrianne’s open house if we don’t fly. We are planning on driving since we will have all the unopened gifts to take down for them to open the day after the open house. But, we would love to fly; it would be cheaper and easier of course. So, we are going to try and send some boxes of gifts home (pack them up right there after the reception) with some of the Severson’s returning to California. We can’t send any with Shawn and Aubrey since they are flying Alaska and have to pay for luggage.

Adrianne came home the first weekend of February for a special shower given by her good friend and mentor, Sharon Gueck, for all of her Cheveaux Training Stables family. They planned a very nice event for Adrianne and included some of the friends that she grew up with. After the shower her best friends of the group took her on an overnighter to a spa resort and treated her to a very relaxing time.

We have had a couple of days of nice weather this week, which gives us hope of a beautiful weather day next Saturday . . . hope, hope! One gorgeous day the sun was shinning and the birds were singing and it even smelled like spring was not too far off. When the sun is shinning, it makes even the grays and the browns look more beautiful. Dad was at the temple for a bid and the daffodils, heather and even early rhododendrons are in bloom. Yes! Oddly enough, Dad is working on a summertime bid, during the closure, for the bride’s door. The brides and grooms no longer exit from the main doors of the temple. They go out one of the lower doors so there is not so much congestion and they want to make that area where people now need to wait, more beautiful.

Lately, I have been catching up on my important reading by walking at the gym instead of outside. There is a book slot and I am happy to say that I think this is the first month that I have finished the whole Ensign in the very month that it was received. I know that sounds crazy since I should be able to accomplish that in any given month. So I hope to keep that going. I feel so lifted when I leave the gym after having just exercised AND read something uplifting. You all know me well enough to know that I do not LIKE exercising but like the feeling after the fact. Reading something uplifting while walking takes my mind off of what I am doing. It is great! Right now I am reading a book called The Single Voice by Kristin Oaks. It is SO good; I would suggest it to everyone. I felt odd buying it but my good friend, Jeannena, suggested it to me saying that her thoughts in the book are great suggestions for everyone.

My last institute class was so good. It seems that lately, as soon as I get close to arriving at class, I get a phone call that I need to take and it keeps me from attending. This week we discussed Elder Holland’s general conference message. We played a Mormon Messages video clip called, Good Things to Come, depicting a message from one of his talks awhile back (about the young family driving across country in a car that kept stopping and needing repairs in the same spot just outside of their departure city). It was very moving. I would suggest that to everyone also! His message was: Don’t quit; don’t give up. For those who love and follow the Lord, it will be alright. There are more good things to come.

Trust God and believe in His power to help you live fulfilled lives and return to Him. As I told my Primary children last week, it is absolutely amazing to think that we all have the Godhead rooting and pulling for us to live so that we may be happy and fulfilled and return to them.

I love you and am so happy that we will be together in a couple of weeks to celebrate and support Adrianne and Blake on their wonderful day.

Love, Mom

January 11. 2011

Dear Children,

We are traveling back from Albany tonight. We have two birthdays to celebrate this weekend in our family: Gregory turns four and Alina thirteen! Since we will be in Utah for the next week, we drove down to take Alina to dinner and have her open her birthday gift. I was wishing I could have her up here for her birthday so we could practice with one of her gifts, a decorating set. She is a good little baker and enjoys making cupcakes so she will have fun with this. She is having some friends spend the night on Friday and then on her birthday, she has a church basketball game. Her ward has a women’s basketball team, most of them Beehives. She said it is so much fun since most of the girls have never played basketball before. We haven’t heard any plans about Gregory’s birthday but did you see the picture of Bryson’s new hair cut? No curls; he looks like a little man!

It is always a delight to be with Alina. We went to Red Robin and she ordered a burger that she could hardly get her mouth around. She is taking half of it to school tomorrow for lunch. That is, if they have school . . . the BIG storm is supposed to come!!!

Big storm! We rushed back for an appointment I had with the florist to finalize pricing so I knew how much was left to create 18 low cost centerpieces (not using a florist for that many flowers!) and learned it was cancelled due to freezing rain. The florist lives minutes from my home. I was not happy. In fact I started to feel like I was going to lose it like George Banks in Father of the Bride. I had already cried much of the way down to Albany out of sheer frustration. Today, few people were coming through with the simplest tasks I have asked of them. No one seems to be on a deadline except me and everyone seems to think I should help them remember their assignments even when I have asked for so little help.

My George Banks moment came when I ran into Albertsons since the roads were NOT the treacherous obstacles that caused everyone to hole up. I just needed some frozen shrimp that was on sale this week and we are leaving town early Thursday morning; my tomorrow being packed with preparations to leave with additional deadlines due to being away for a week. I originally had only planned to be gone a few days. When I ran to the frozen section and found only one bag of shrimp for the BUY ONE GET ONE special I thought I would start crying right then and there. Luckily, I found some more in another freezer or I think I would have let out a blood cuddling scream; the one I have suppressed all day long.

The shrimp represents my frustrations over this silly diet (oh excuse me, lifestyle change) that I have been on since the week before Thanksgiving. I am getting sick of it! OK, so I wasn’t going to tell anyone because I am embarrassed that I am out of control enough to have succumbed to the desperation of one of those crazy diets that you pay a terrible price to eat unreal prepackaged, forever preserved, dehydrated, powdered substances in the form of chalky shakes, freeze dried soups and “delicious” bars of soy (Hey, maybe that is what is tipping me over with all those female hormones in the soy but, maybe that is an old wives tale. HA!). Today all I can say is yuck. Well, maybe it is not actually forever preserved food as I have tried some of a friend’s old food to try and save a buck or two since Dad hasn’t worked since Thanksgiving. It was hard for me to get used to the taste of eating preserved food and then I introduced myself to the added pleasantry of eating old preserved food. Maybe that is why I am “slightly” cranky right now. Anyway, to look on the bright side of things, I am losing a lot of weight. I wonder how much my mind weighs since I am certainly losing that!

Well, there you have it: My update for the week so I may leave for Utah with a clean slate on the family newsletter home front.

I forgot to mention that Morty was in Phoenix for the championship football game. He called to have me record KOIN TV since he is on it. How does he get on TV so often; hey, he should be home selling them!!!! I did see him on TV talking to me on his cell phone at that very moment. But when I get time, I need to rewind it to some point to see his more than one minute of fame, live from the Dick game. Too bad they had to lose such a disappointing loss.

I love you. Promise, next newsletter will be more upbeat! No pictures this time since we left our camera in Albany at the Red Robin. I hope someone is honest there and put it aside. Too bad as there were some cute ones of Alina! I am putting my body to rest for a better tomorrow. In the middle of it all is a funeral in Hillsboro for Lori Kygier’s husband. He was in his 30’s; diagnosed with brain cancer this year. Love, Mom

January 4, 2011

“Because of the Savior’s birth, life and Atonement, there are no unsolvable problems. There are temporary tragedies and difficulties, of course, but they need not be permanent or unconquerable. Can you imagine anyone having a problem that God cannot solve? . . .

The Atonement is the vehicle to solve life’s major problems. With the Atonement, God puts us in the driver’s seat of our divine destiny, provided we follow His will.” Elder Tad R. Callister December Ensign

Dear Children,

What a Christmas season this has been. With baby Jack’s passing, the birth and subsequent life and Atonement of Jesus Christ held so much more meaning this year. While I ache for the sorrow and emptiness felt by everyone in the missed opportunity to hold and raise that darling baby boy, I love the knowledge of Heidi and Bill’s temple sealing to know that this little boy is part of our family forever. Such a perfect baby boy lay in the miniature little casket, it seemed to me he only needed to open his eyes.

Dad and I felt so lucky to be able to join with the Brady family and many other Payne and Bitter family members at John Robert’s graveside in Provo. Morty also traveled to Utah with us. Thank you Katie for the flight privilege! She had hoped to go but couldn’t get all of her shift covered. It was a perfect day. Dad gave the family prayers and Heidi shared her feelings about Jack being such a gift to their family. Bill dedicated the grave. It was a very sacred experience.

Early in the week our holiday celebrations included time in Seaside with the family that was here early for Christmas. The trip was strategically placed in between holiday Trailblazer games. We tried our hand at crabbing off of the bridge but had no luck. Dad and I will have to practice our crabbing skills by going to the coast more often. We played a ton of games and ate equally that much food. Grandma and Katie joined us for the first night but Katie had a heavy work schedule with holiday travel so they returned early.

We all gathered back in Beaverton in time for Christmas Eve day and planned an early evening for Bryson and Gregory. We added shrimp cocktail to our traditional clam chowder and spinach salad dinner which I think we should keep each year. Adrianne added the most delicious smelling homemade rolls which is another keeper if we get to have her for Christmas next year! Gregory was so cute to leave cookies for Santa by our fireplace. And then, surprise, we found some time for more game playing before we headed to bed so Santa could visit.

Aaron came in late Christmas Eve so Katie brought him home from the airport and guess what; they opened their Christmas Eve gift also. Morty and Aubrey were campaigning to open all the gifts so Katie wouldn’t have to miss it! Luckily for all of us purists, Katie reminded us that it was not Christmas yet! Katie had a 12 hour day on Christmas so we got up earlier than we normally would have so she could see what Santa brought her, eat breakfast with us and then open up her other gifts. The rest of our day was fairly relaxed and our gift opening lasted surprisingly quite a while. It was a fun filled but also relaxing day.

The rest of the holidays were spent playing lots of games and doing a lot of eating. With the food carts getting so popular in Portland, most everyone wanted to try several of them and there was also a stop at VooDoo Doughnuts of course to be reminded of the famous motto of our fair city, “Keep Portland Weird”! I preferred the stop during the holidays for warm doughnut holes at Sesame Doughnuts!

Except for not getting to the Encore fireside, I think we did just about everything we had hoped over the holiday. Christina Brandt held a benefit concert for Risa Whitaker. The doctors have turned Risa over to an organization that helps families prepare for death while Risa has been trying some alternative medicines and feelings some strength, having better days. The concert was fabulous. Christina is ready to go back to school as a continuing voice student after having her TMJ jaw surgery this fall so the concert was a validation that she is ready. It was beautiful. When she sang “Think of Me” from the Phantom my mind went to Nate as a very young boy. Phantom had come to town and we took some of the older children. In his school assignment to draw something for which he was thankful, he drew ears and labeled it: “I am thankful for ears to hear Phantom of the Opera.”

We were able to say goodbye to the Dougall’s over the holidays. They left this week for their mission in Washington D.C. Their son will live in the home while they are gone.

We played games on New Year’s Eve at the Stangers with the Waltons from Summerlake Ward. We took Grandma with us. She wasn’t going to go at the last minute since she didn’t want to stay late but we convinced her to go for an hour promising that we would take her home. We kept asking if she wanted to go home all night. She lasted until 3:00am! We broke our rule of not starting Progressive Rummy after 11:00pm!

So, I AM the reigning ping pong champion of 2011 of our ping pong table. Before we put up the ping pong table, Dad and I played a 2 out of 3 match for the championship. Hopefully, next item you all visit; the table will not be covered with projects so you may try your hand at beating me! HA!

Have a great week and DO YOUR BEST! I love you, Mom

December 21, 2010

Dear Family,

What a mixture of feelings it has been this past week with everyone starting to come home to be together to celebrate Christmas and also the passing of baby Jack. We are looking forward to flying to Utah for the graveside service this Thursday at 1:00 at the Provo Cemetery. Thanks to Katie’s benefits and Morty and Katie’s sleuthing for some flights that might have a couple of extra seats right before Christmas, Dad and I are so happy to be able to be with Heidi and Bill for this special time; scared time.

On Friday, Heidi went into her regular doctor check up but because the doctor could not hear a heartbeat, she was sent to the hospital for further tests. She learned there that her baby was no longer living. He had just been moving the very night before when Blake and Adrianne were visiting. She of course was devastated; we all are. Being a month from his delivery date, she needed to be prepared to deliver him. The hospital told her that she and Bill could go home to explain to the girls what was going on and then come back to the hospital for the delivery in the afternoon, warning her that the delivery could take a long time since her body was not ready yet. Before leaving the hospital, they gave her a drug to start the process.

On their way to pick up Rebekah at school Heidi started hemorrhaging so they rushed her back to the hospital where she received a blessing and the hemorrhaging miraculously stopped so that she did not need an emergency Caesarean. They kept her there and started another drug to start contractions so she would deliver Jack. He was finally delivered at 2:25 am Saturday morning. The hospital allowed them to keep him for many hours so they could say goodbye to him. Heidi told us that he has a perfect body and just looks like he is ready to wake up. He was 18 inches long and 5 pounds 2 ounces (not much smaller than Rebekah).

There is a service in the Salt Lake Area, “Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep”, that comes to the hospital to take pictures of families with still born children and make plaster casts of his feet and hands. The family that was babysitting the girls woke the girls up at 3:00am so that they could go to the hospital to see Jack. The girls were quiet and loving; the nurses were amazed at their behavior. Heidi said it was a very sacred and spiritual experience. After the girls went back to the friend’s home, Bill said that they could feel Jack’s spirit and knew he was a mature spirit. Bill held his little boy until the mortician came in the early afternoon to take him.

As we look back, there were many miracles associated with this tragedy. They found out that Baby Jack bled to death when his umbilical cord ruptured from the membrane. Actually, the connection was very weak since his cord was uniquely attached to the membrane and not the placenta. In most cases like this, after the baby bleeds out, the mother starts bleeding unknowingly. We feel very lucky that Heidi’s regular appointment was right when this was happening, although it was not diagnosed before she left the hospital. But it sounds like the drug they gave her before leaving the hospital caused enough pressure that it forced that internal hemorrhaging out of her body so they knew to go back to save Heidi. We feel very blessed.

Sacred is the word that I keep associating with all these feelings. When the Primary children sang the words from the song, Picture A Christmas, “Picture a stable in Judea. Picture a sacred, silent night.” my mind was picturing the sacred, silent night that Heidi and Bill had just experienced in the hours after John Robert’s delivery. I know the veil was thin and his spirit was close as he wanted to comfort his dear mother and gentle father in their pain. What a meaning this gives to our Christmas as we realize if not for the Savior’s birth and subsequent mission fulfilled in the Atonement, our little baby Jack would be gone forever instead of ours forever. How grateful I am to know without a doubt that these things are true and I have a loving Heavenly Father who with His Son, created a wonderful Plan of Happiness so my family can be together forever. What comfort this gives to me.

Another tender mercy of this past weekend was the fact that Shawn, Aubrey and the boys were driving from California at just the right moment that they could stop and send Shawn in to visit with Scott for a few minutes so he could be told of the news in person. Family news such as this is so hard for him to bear all alone.

On a light note, on their trip up here, Shawn’s family stopped overnight in Medford and went to the Harry and David store there before leaving town. They noticed a Santa and real reindeer there and went over only to be filmed on camera and broadcast that night on Medford’s local news as the one child interviewed about the Santa. When Greg was asked what he wanted Santa to bring him he replied matter of factly, “bubble gum and candy”. Here is the link if you would like to watch it (click on Pictures with Santa; it was a broadcast about the local softball team fundraiser):

http://www.ktvl.com/

Morty has gone to three Trailblazer games while here already taking various family members with him. One night he invited Grandma Maldonado and was able to sit in seats down much lower than his ticketed seats!

On Saturday, Dad, Grandma, Blake, Adrianne and I went to Vancouver for the Portland Mormon Choir and Orchestra concert. It was beautiful again. As I sat in listened to the beautiful music I couldn’t help but feel sadness that I was there enjoying beautiful music as our daughter was sitting to talk with a mortician at the same time but then, gladness that the music tells the story of the power of the event and joy for that message that is so personal to us all. After the concert we looked for a bite to eat before heading to the waterfront to watch the Christmas ships. Adrianne came up with the idea to go home and make a batch of cioppino so we crazily stopped at the store to buy what was needed and did just that; a late night cioppino dinner.

We had a wonderful Christmas program at church; it was nice to have so many family members with us. Shawn and Aubrey asked to have a night away as a Christmas present this year so they left shortly after church. I was a little worried as to how Bryson would do since they haven’t left him before but luckily, Morty was a huge help. Morty has traveled up to the Bay Area enough that he and the boys are close buddies. At 5:30 in the morning when none one else could console Bryson, Morty could do the trick. He is so kind to those boys.

We tried something crazy after our Sunday turkey dinner. Katie had invited us all to come out to the airport and have our picture taken with Santa. Besides a free picture at the Southwest gate, Southwest gives you, in the picture packet, a $20.00 coupon for a future flight. She arranged to meet us at security with passes for all of us and take us through quickly. Even running through the airport didn’t get us to Santa in time; just missed him by minutes! But, it was kind of a fun adventure even so.

Yesterday morning Bryson and Gregory helped me make wonderful loaves of bread while Blake and Adrianne made our chili (Bill’s chili). The boys love helping and they made our visits to all the widows and widowers in the ward a lot more fun especially when Gregory was so cute to hand them their bread and say Merry Christmas.

We leave this morning to go to the coast to try our hand at crabbing. A couple of years ago when Dad and I were in Newport, we noticed all the crabbing going on off the pier there. That Christmas Grandma Maldonado gave dad a crabbing basket and we have never had the chance to break it in. We will do that this time since December is a great month for catching crabs.

I love you all and am so glad that we will be seeing most of you by the week’s end. Love, Mom

December 14, 2010

Dear Family,

It feels very quiet. We had Sunhee and Meeja for the long weekend (They had no school Thursday and Friday) and on the way back to Sweet Home, we stopped at Kyre’s home to have an early Christmas dinner and celebration. We brought the dinner and fruit ice cream that their family loves and Alina made a special treat that she learned at a Young Women’s activity. They were vey cute; a pretzel covered with a melted Hershey Kiss and M&M. I didn’t know that Hershey Kisses came in candy cane flavor! The children really love to play and laugh together. They had such a great time.

Kyre had stockings for the girls and between Alina’s, Adam’s, Kyre’s and Kyre’s gifts to Sunhee and Meeja; the girls traveled home with a huge bag each of toys and treats. It was heart warming to watch Adam and Alina so excited to have Sunhee and Meeja open their gifts; they had earned their own money to buy the gifts. Alina was so pleased as she was in charge of all the wrapping and had wrapped even every candy item in the stockings! We thought we would have time to play games in the three hours but eating and opening gifts took almost the entire time.

Sunhee and Meeja’s visit to our home was so much fun. Plus, they were such a big help with our weekend projects. Dad ground flour and the girls helped me make 20 loaves of our wheat bread with seed and nuts. We put them in cute Christmas baskets with some of our jam and delivered them to our neighbors and friends. I don’t know which they were more excited to see, the treat we were bringing them or Sunhee and Meeja. Everyone is always so delighted to see the grandchildren.

The girls helped me make two batches of sugar cookie dough, and eat a little also, for the holidays which needed to be made that first day they were here since I had an appointment with one of the boys in Primary about to be baptized (and baking cookies during my visits is part of my tradition).

We spent all Saturday morning making several bathes of Aubrey’s famous caramel corn and packaged that up in bags for all 30 of our Primary. We attached the “Parable of the Popcorn” with a note thanking each one of the teachers and leaders. The girls were so excited to help with gathering supplies and all the many times we had to stir the caramel. I had to make an extra batch after they went to bed and it was so much more work without them.

I would have to say that this was Sunhee and Meeja’s “spaghetti” weekend. I made a big batch of spaghetti on the second night (the first night we went to Zoolights) and the girls tried to eat it every chance they got. They even convinced Halboji to have it for breakfast; which they did! But one morning Meeja had oatmeal with Dad. He was so thrilled to tell me how much Meeja loved his oatmeal filled with raisins and Chia. He said, “A grandchild of my own blood!”

When Adrianne was in her senior year of high school I questioned what I would do without any children at home during the holidays to help with all our traditions and she said to invite Scott and Kyre’s children to come over which sounded like a great solution. But then, that summer is when they moved so our plans were foiled.

The girls also sat in on Dad’s Webelos meeting and helped the Cub Scouts stuff Christmas Tree Recycle flyer hangers. Plus, Dad was teaching Citizenship while they were working on the flyers and I think Sunhee knew more of the answers than most of the boys.

But we didn’t work all the time. We played SO many games!!! We played each morning and each night and any chance in the middle of the day that we could. Given the choice between watching a Christmas movie or playing games, the games won out every time. We taught them Sequence and Meeja won the first time through. When I went to Grandma Maldonado’s to clean her place, they played games with her the entire time. Plus there was even a short break in the weather and they were able to play a little outside; Meeja even rode her bike. Plus, they had a great time on the piano. Dad taught Sunhee a couple of songs and Meeja watched intently. Then, when it was her time on the bench, she plucked out those same songs with not much help. They both have incredible memories and a great ear for the piano!

The weekend before Morty and Adrianne were here. Morty’s visit was a last minute surprise as he was able to obtain Civil War tickets at the last minute. When he called to tell me about it, he said his heart was just pounding since he was so excited. I suggested that he feel that for a girl instead of a football game! He also took Katie to a Duck basketball game on the Thursday night that he arrived. They play Missouri so Katie procured Missouri Nike wear from Brock so they could show their true colors! Adrianne was here to do some wedding planning and go to a beach overnighter with her horse friends. We squeezed in all we could. Two of the nights we closed down Macy’s as she worked on her wedding registry. That was so much fun to see what and why she chose some of her dreams and requests. Grandma Maldonado went with us the first night.

Our ward Christmas dinner was the Saturday that Morty and Adrianne were in town. I had asked Katie if she would make some cupcakes for my dessert that I was supposed to take. She had friends over that morning helping her and they, with Morty’s encouragement made the most darling green and gold Oregon cupcakes since it was the day of the Civil War game. They made the batter swirl and that created some “O” designs on the top! After Morty left we called and said that he had done some figuring and he has been in Portland 33 days this past fall!

Katie has a double round of good news. She is going full time this week with the airlines and she has found a studio apartment to lease downtown by PGE Park. It is right by a MAX line so that will be a real help during the winter months of commuting to the airport. She now needs a couch and kitchen table.

Alan Ludlow came home from his mission in the past couple of weeks so he spoke on Sunday. He has changed a lot. Encore also sang for the ward that day; they sounded wonderful. It was great to have the girls at church with us. I was conducting in Primary and they blend so well in with the children that they already know that I forgot to introduce them as guests!

We had a great visit with Scott this past week. He has moved to the new level of the A Block to a new level of honor housing. We are thrilled for him. Dad will be emailing you a copy of his 3 year running log where, in his mind, he ran the miles to “visit” each of you! He planned it so he would be in your cities on many of your birthdays or special events! He keeps his mind thinking!!!

Dad and I went downtown Monday night specially to see the gingerbread display at the Benson Hotel. It was only one village; well, it was incredible but we are used to seeing all the variety in past years at Pioneer Square. So, we decided to go walk and look at the Macy’s windows. We even did a little shopping and bought something for Jack for Heidi’s shower in January. Heidi is having a bridal shower for Adrianne the first week of January and I will have a “blue shower” for Heidi while I am there. Thank you Southwest airlines (and Katie of course)!

I hope that you are enjoying some fun holiday traditions this week. I love you! Love, Mom