April 17, 2011

Dear Children,

This is the first weekend since February that we are home and alone. It feels that we have been traveling a lot and had lots of fun visitors. We had a very enjoyable visit with Jack and Judy Hoagland last week. Jeff Hoagland’s home was full since Amy, Amanda and Jeremy also came into town so Jack and Judy stayed with us. It gave us a great chance to catch up on seeing photos and videos form their mission to New Zealand. We had seen many of them on their blog throughout their mission but it is always more enjoyable to hear their own narration.

Hearing their love and enthusiasm for their mission rekindled the hope that someday we could do the same. We had always planned on Dad retiring in 2016 and had saved and invested generously so that we were building up a nice retirement plan of our own. The last three years changed that situation so we plan to start rebuilding again as soon as Dad’s business picks up more and we can do more with our SendOutCards business. We are very hopeful. Our goal is still the 2016 retirement but we know we can’t do it with just the concrete business any longer.

Jack and Judy were on their children’s schedule so they never knew if they would be here or at someone else’s place for meals. I kind of felt like Grandma Bitter, trying to be prepared for everyone that needed a meal at a moment’s notice, which was kind of challenging at times since we eat so differently these days. The Hoaglands are planning on moving to San Antonio, Texas with Jenni and Rob’s family if they can sell their home. They learned of the Allan’s move from Denver the day they signed the papers on their new home there! They would like us to visit their part of Colorado before they leave this summer. We think it would be nice to visit, especially since it is a Southwest airport, but just need to find the time.

Speaking of visits, we had a nice one with Scott today. It was great to wake up to the sun shining. I think we are all very weary of rain, cold and clouds here. As we drove for the morning visit session Scott called on the phone! He doesn’t call much so that worked out perfectly to give him a heads up that we were arriving. It is not unusual to wait 30 to 40 minutes in the waiting room for them to get him there but we both arrived at the same time today. He mentioned the morning sunshine and said that his new cell allows him to look toward Mt. Hood on clear days. I think he said that he can’t actually see Mt. Hood but he knows it is there behind some trees. It is great that he gets some glimpses of the outdoors. He is training for a marathon on Katie’s birthday this month. He said they bring in other runners from outside the prison system since it is a qualifying marathon. I thought it would be cool if some of our family runners could plan that some year but, if you are on an inmate’s visiting list, you cannot join in the marathon.

Heidi is coming for a visit this week. She wanted to be in Oregon close to Scott’s birthday. She will be here over Easter Sunday so, although I hate to see her miss Easter with her family, it will be fun to have her here for Easter dinner. Hopefully, we can get Grandma and Katie here also. I leave that evening for Las Vegas for a week. Morty’s birthday present was a request that I go sit at the TV shop in his place while he goes on his trip to the Dominican Republic that last week in April. It is doubly good since that is also Aaron’s birthday so I will get to be there for that. Flying home standby on Saturday (Katie’s birthday) does not look good so I may need to stay until the following Monday. In which case, Dad may try and fly down to Las Vegas also for that weekend.

Katie came by today after her church. She has been in San Diego this past week for a friend’s wedding, Emma. It sounded wonderful and the weather sounded heavenly!

Morty was in Oakland this week. He and Shawn went to a Portland Trailblazer versus Warrior basketball game. Shawn had bid on great seats at Gregory’s school’s auction. Aubrey was very nice to let Morty go in her place.

Jace Green came home from his mission to Lisbon, Portugal. He looks great. He was only able to stay home a few days since the BYU soccer team was leaving for a tour to Puerto Rico and surrounding countries. Since he was only home for Fast and Testimony Sunday, he bore his testimony. The first place he said that he wanted to go when he came home was the temple. He wanted his whole family in the temple so they did baptisms so Tanner could be involved. He was in Portugal when the Church announced that there would be a temple there. He said everyone was so thrilled. He bore a strong testimony of the temple and the fact that it was a great place to feel God on this earth.

Dad and I had a nice time at the temple last night. It is always great to be able to run into President Child when we go there. He has a lot of love for our family. It was a nice Saturday. Dad and I did our last long training walk for the half marathon walk for Risa Whitaker; it was 8 or 9 miles yesterday. That is this coming up Saturday at Hagg Lake. Lots of you have run or biked that route around the lake. It looks like it may just be good weather next week; yes! After our walk Dad was able to go finish the job he was on this week and then we headed to Lake Oswego for a conference on the family with sessions taught by professionals. There were a couple of marriage classes that looked good but we only attended one since they needed earlier than planned. But, it was nice to be able to see and talk with Pat Aanderud. Her husband died this year unexpectedly. I remember that he was Aaron’s Primary teacher when Joe left and he would take his son and Aaron out occasionally for ice cream. After class we used a dinner coupon at a fun place in Tualatin called Famous Dave’s BBQ. That place was crowded but good!

This week Dad was in charge of Pack Meeting in our back yard. He and his Webelos planned a campfire with marshmallows, obstacle course and hot dog feed. It was very successful even though it poured rain and even hailed during the day. Dad put plastic on the deck and put up one canopy but the rain stopped long enough for the meeting. It started raining as we were cleaning up and the last die hard marshmallow roasters were still around the fire.

Have a great week ahead. We are looking forward to a warm weather forecast. Good luck in all that you are doing this week. I love you, Mom

April 6, 2011

Dear Children,

We drove back from Otter Crest Monday in just enough time to pick up Grandma Maldonado and take her to her first doctor visit since her hand surgery. Her wound is healing up just fine and she was very pleased to learnt hat she has the OK to drive now. The doctor though noted that her surgery may not have gotten rid of all of the pain that was intended. Afterward, we picked up Miss Kitty and took her to the vet. She had, what the doctor described, a seizure during the night. Grandma was very worried but learned that it just might not happen again and Miss Kitty’s health seemed good for her age. Dad and I were in a rush from the beach to pick up Grandma since our very quiet and relaxed week at Otter Crest ended with unusual excitement that day.

Even though we woke up to rain, we had decided that we wanted to end our trip on the last day with a walk into Devil’s Punch Bowl at low tide. Many of you may have done the same on our various trips to Otter Crest but, even at low tide, as the water is sloshing in that arch facing the ocean, it is a bit unnerving to be standing in the area that experiences such forceful waters regularly when it is filled. Our picture doesn’t do it justice.

On our Sunday walk, we ran into a couple that suggested another path to the beach so we walked that afterwards and spent some time traversing rocks, mud and little streams over by the surfer’s beach, Beverly Beach. We planned to end our walk with a shortcut back to the condo so we could spend the last couple of hours relaxing in the hot tub and packing but changed our mind at a cross road opting for a larger loop we had taken before. That decision was a blessing.

Minutes after we headed in that direction, we could see a woman carrying a child. Our first thoughts were that she looked homeless and was muttering to herself. As we got closer, she started crying out for help and we could tell that she was really in a state of panic as she was covered in blood. Her 2 year old daughter had been attacked by a large American Bulldog. We called 911 immediately and got her sitting down so she could concentrate on calming down her baby and putting pressure on some areas around her daughter’s face. Luckily, her car was right there and full of clothes so we pulled out towels and blankets to keep her and the baby warm as we waited for the ambulance. The child’s wounds were horrific enough that each time she was quiet for a minute were worried that she had quit breathing. As we fielded questions from 911, we learned that the dog belonged to a friend with whom she lived and the mother wrestled away the dog and fled the house with her daughter to get away from the dog before starting to wander the street looking for help. We learned from the news after we arrived home in Beaverton that the girl was taken to OHSU and until just last night, they had been reporting that she was still fighting for her life. She was upgraded that she will live.

We have never witnessed an attack from a dog and noting that it was a family dog, I would now never leave a dog alone with a young child. Now, Scott and Kyre’s family might not think we were being too protective to not allow your children in the backyard without an adult when we used to have Sammy.

After the ambulance took them away, we realized that, on that quiet street, the mother was not walking toward anyone of her neighbors that would have been home. It was another example of how the Lord is aware of each of us and our needs since it was a split second decision to change our plans for our walk back that way. I don’t know if we were truly “prompted” but after the adrenaline settled down and we were walking home wondering why we changed our original walking path, the words from President Uchtdorf, “Turn down the volume of the world to hear the promptings of the Lord. It is vital to serve each other and the Lord meets others’ needs through us.”

Otherwise, our past week has been the most quiet and relaxed time we have experienced for many, many months. We spent lots of time walking, swimming, warming up in the hot tub, watching movies and playing LOTS of games. One of the best movies that we picked up from RedBox was Les Miserables 25^th Anniversary Concert. You have got to rent that one; it is fabulous. It is not the theater showing but the music is incredible and don’t stop it before the end since at the end is one of the best treats you will hear! It is always fun to hear those songs again and remember when Heidi was in high school and sang that high soprano solo of Cosette’s with her choir. When Les Miserables came to Portland when you were all younger, after going I played the musical score a lot and I couldn’t believe that Nate (about 5 or 6 at the time) chose to pick up on the only song I wouldn’t have wanted him to repeat, Master of the House, out of all the other wonderful pieces!

On our longest walk we discovered a little lookout and gift shop we had never noticed before. It was Cape Foulweather and that was a great description. It was socked in with fog when we walked past. But as we walked farther along the Otter Crest Loop (the long way to the highway) the fog began to lift and we saw some beautiful scenes along the coast, scenes we miss while in the car since most of that road is up high on the cliff line. We liked the walk (it took us about 3 ½ hours including a little meandering) as it had lots of hills so it was helping us prepare for our half marathon walk later this month, the Run for Risa. We loved our time at Otter Crest. We love it when Ivan and Ramona feel like they owe us a favor! We had kept their yard watered after they left on their mission until the home sold plus Dad was on call to check on a few of their rental homes to give Ivan advice while they were serving in the Dominican Republic.

Sadly, we learned that Risa Whitaker passed away last Thursday. Our cell phones have not worked while at Otter Crest and we had been in areas to check our messages just a few times. Her funeral is planned for Saturday, April 23, the day of the run since all of her family was planning on coming into town for that event. It was just after April General Conference last year that Risa was diagnosed with cancer from an unknown source and not being able to detect the source, made it difficult to treat.

We experienced some bumps watching General Conference since they didn’t have it on TV here so we finally figured out the most reliable formula was watching it muted on the computer screen but listening to it on KSL radio since the video streaming kept going out. Dad was able to go into town for the priesthood session so we were very pleased to get so much of conference considering the Saturday morning problems.

All the messages of conferences were so timely and inspiring to me. I hope all of you were able to listen to some. I want to download it onto my iTouch so I can listen as I walk. I came away knowing I want to be make myself more able and willing to help others. Much of conference, for me, could be summed up in a few sentences, the main one being that my greatest joy will be found in following the Savior as I serve, keep my covenants and be sensitive to other’s needs as we treat others as He would. I liked Walter Gonzalez’s comment that the power of our covenants is more powerful than any challenge we may face. I thought it was surprising when President Uchtdorf taught how to use social media to spread the gospel and then I loved his comment, “By becoming the answer to someone else’s prayer, we can find the answer to our own.” My favorite talk of the weekend was Elder Dallin H, Oaks and I want to re-listen to that several times as he taught us that desires dictate priorities, priorities shape our choices and choices determine our action. There was so much in that talk; I hope you all have a chance to re-listen or reread it.

I wonder if any of you recognized the story of Liam from Sister Jean A Steven’s talk on Saturday morning. Liam is the son of Laura (Griffiths) and Paul Yaussie. Besides being so real to us, it was an incredible analogy plus lesson on what we can learn from children who seem to more naturally exhibit Christ’s attributes.

On Sunday, Dad enjoyed viewing a little of the “Darwin Barney show” as he saw one of his hits and his run during the Chicago Cubs game. He is their second baseman.

We were sad to hear of the difficult week that Southwest Airlines had while having to pull so many of their planes in to be checked after their one scary incident. We feel VERY connected and dependent on their success! Katie had just returned from a short trip to St. Louis to be at the Cardinal’s opening game of the season and so came home to a very intense weekend as they moved travelers to flights that didn’t have to be cancelled.

We received some cute photos of the Brady girls at a children’s museum. The subject line said something about being on a life flight helicopter which was a bit of a scare since it flashed in my mind that we were out of cell phone range! But the helicopter cabin was in a museum happily.

We love you and hope that you have a great week ahead. Do your best! Love, Mom

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