April 15, 2013

 Dear Children,

The two birthday weeks of March were fun for us. Since we had seen the Brady family earlier in the month and all of the Oregon grandchildren over Spring Break, we hoped that we could make a quick dash to Martinez for Easter Sunday to be with Shawn and Aubrey's family. It was a BIG hope since it was Easter weekend and as it ended up, the flight's did all fill up. So, we planned a trip for next week and are happy that we can be there for one of Gregory's Little League games. He will be so fun to watch!

Kyre, Alina, Adam and Klaire came up for the beginning of Spring Break. Alina had a softball game on Friday so they came up on the train on Saturday morning. Did I tell you that Alina tried out for high school softball team and is the only freshman on the JV team! Unfortunately, she hurt her shoulder so she can't play up to her potential right now. We get to see her play in Woodburn in a couple of weeks.

While they were here we went ice skating, went to the zoo and went to the movies. We played several ping pong tournaments and tons of board games of course. We have them all hooked on our game, Ticket to Ride! After they left I received a wonderful report from the Deacon's Quorum leader saying that he enjoyed having Adam in his class on Sunday describing Adam as insightful. In sacrament, a new sister spoke. Having played college softball, she used a sports analogy about forgiveness. She explained that in baseball, a player with a 300 batting average is a good player. That means that they are missing more times than they are hitting the ball. Her dad once told her that you have to have a bad memory when you are up to bat; not reminding yourself of all the times you strike out. She related that to forgiving ourselves.

We celebrated Dad and Klaire's birthday on Sunday. Alina wanted to replicate Katie's famous strawberry cupcakes but, being Spring Break, it was hard to reach Katie. She worked long hours at the airport. Alina made them up and they were fabulous!

Kyre and the children left on Tuesday night and Dad picked up Sunhee and Meeja on Wednesday morning. Again, we played lots of ping pong matches, basketball games, rode bicycles, lots of board games and saw the new baby elephant and the flamingos at the zoo. We also decorated Easter eggs. Meeja and Sunhee went home on Saturday so they could be home to celebrate Easter.

As I stated, we ended up being home on Easter so we made the traditional ham and funeral potatoes at Katie's request. She was able to come for Easter dinner. We went to Grandma's for dessert as she wasn't feeling well enough to come for dinner but didn't want to miss seeing Katie.

We have a wonderful garden full of tulips this year. Dad replanted fresh bulbs for this season and we have more than I can ever remember in a gorgeous array of colors. Dad has been giving them away right and left. Everyone loves them. We have been able to have fresh flowers in the home for weeks. He even brought a full bouquet down to put in front of the TV during general conference saying that we needed to have flowers below the “podium” like the conference center!

I was at an event all day on the Saturday of general conference so I haven't yet gone through all those recordings. I sure miss not hearing all the Saturday messages in order which usually helps me remember who said what. This conference I heard several references to giving our family and loved ones our priority and the need to take a break from being connected from technology. From our experience during the cruise I can personally say that a total disconnection from technology is like a rejuvenating Sabbath, a regular and needed change from our daily routine . . . so refreshing!!! I loved the talk from Rosemary Wixom reminding us that we all can be a good influence to children by allowing them to hear encouraging words often. Her message relating to how we treat children could be general life lessons of our treatment of everyone. I loved the close of her talk when she used a story from many years back about the man in captivity who was finally allowed to send a message to his family of 25 words after much time away from his family. She asked us to think about what we would say in 25 words. This exercise helps us think about what are the most important things to us.

There were great talks on marriage which reminded us that marriage is a gift from God and our gift to God is the quality of our marriage. I liked the reminder that obedience is liberating and needed to be reminded to give Church volunteers a break since God only has imperfect humans with which to work in leading His gospel. I also like Neil Anderson's visual to “paint” a missionary badge on our hearts as we invite people to learn of Christ and to come back and see once more. All in all I loved how most of the messages directed us to loving others.

With conference fresh in my memory, I especially enjoyed our Easter gift from Grandma, Les Miserables on DVD. Dad and I had never gone to the theaters while it was playing. We had seen it a couple of times on stage but we loved following the movie on screen with the ability to follow the story through each person's role more accurately on the screen. We were both riveted through the entire movie! At the end was the message from conference again, “To love another person is to see the face of God.”

I heard a great presentation from a woman who helps people love their work or transition to new work. The lessons are also helpful life lessons. She said to embrace difficult conversations. She asked, “What is the impact of continuing to not have an important but difficult conversation?” She teaches a great job skill: that being to know what your manager is measured by and let them know you are there to make them look good saying occasionally, “What could I do to make you more successful today?”

It is hard to believe that this year could be screaming by as fast as last year. I already have a feeling of a pit in my stomach as I anticipate figuring the food for Girls Camp in June. I need to add some warmer dishes to the menus since we will be in a colder part of Washington (by the Puget Sound) earlier in the summer. We are expecting some rainy days.

The family April birthday weeks started today with a visit to Scott. He looks good and was successful running a marathon last weekend. He asked for a blessing from his Branch President as he has a court date scheduled for Thursday to bring up his defense for not understanding his plea bargain. Please keep him in our prayers.

We will be in Oakland this weekend and then Heidi comes right after we return next week. Dad and I may head to Seattle over the next weekend but return to celebrate Katie’s birthday Sunday evening. We talked with Aaron whose birthday is next Saturday. He just may come to Beaverton for a good portion of the summer if Dad has enough work to give him part time work while he works on some computer projects. I have a lot of computer projects myself with which I could use his help!

It will be May before we know it. Dad and I still hope to get in enough training to be in a bike ride in Clovis in the middle of May. Our convention is in Salt Lake City this year at the end of May and then Girls Camp is around the comer starting June 17. Yikes! Summer is here before we know it.

We love you and look forward to anytime to be with you. Love, Mom

March 18, 2013

 Dear Children,

I still have the music from Seussical the Musical in my head!  Rebekah and Jenna were darling in their school play as fish and circus performers. Their school is in a partnership with the South Jordan Community Theater so the set looked professional. It was all so cute and a real blessing to be able to travel to watch them participate.

It was great to be in Utah this past weekend. We realized that we were there last St. Patrick's Day also and were able to celebrate some of our family's March birthdays: Dad, Bill, Adrianne and Rebekah. Heidi and Bill made an incredible Sunday dinner AND luscious German chocolate cake but she burst our bubble when she told us it wasn't really a German tradition.

Saturday and Sunday was extra fun as we took Ainsley home with us after the matinee on Saturday. She was SO excited to be going to Grandma B's place. She loved playing in the yard and getting all the attention from the grandparents and Aunt Adrianne. She loves to laugh. On Sunday after church Ainsley enjoyed playing with Natalie's children before back home for our family dinner. She was thrilled to be included in the Robertson’s leprechaun tradition of having candy treats left for each of the children.

At the Brady's we were entertained by William's new army crawl and Jenna's violin playing. We almost got to hear Rebekah on the piano but the Brady family had some fun gifts that they wanted to see get opened before we left for the airport. They (well, Bill) got Dad a whole box of clay pigeons and ammunition for a shot gun so that Dad would go play with him next time we are in Utah! Heidi provided Dad with lots of bike riding and traveling treats. We could have sat around all evening watching the children and talking with the adults but we had to fly home on Sunday evening for Monday work.

Arriving in Utah on Friday morning allowed visiting time  in Orem with Grandma and Jerry before running down to the Spanish Grove Costco to see an old college roommate, Shannon Smurthwaite, at a book signing for her new book, Mormon Momma's Italian Cookbook. That evening we went to a Mexican restaurant to which I would LOVE to return, Maria Bonita. Their food was very tasty and provided dinner for the next evening!

Saturday morning we went to the Hoofbeats to Healing barn in Saratoga Springs and then onto the Brady's play. Hoofbeats relocated there to a nice facility. We saw the stallion that Adrianne will be showing the day before Easter. Adrianne assures us that this stallion is well behaved! The owner is certainly lucky to have Adrianne available to volunteer more that she is working part time as Shelf Reliance's Marketing Project Manager. She is enjoying her new position except the part where she is training her replacement. Really? Who is going to work as hard as Adrianne.

Interestingly, at the play, I ran into a friend from my Spain Study Abroad program that I had not seen in almost 40 years. She acted and talked the same; it was amazing and fun to she her.

In between our trip to Utah and our cruise we have still been basking in the glow of the incredible vacation that the cruise gave us. Dad has been lucky to get more work. We were joking that he worked a whole day last week! The sun is starting to peek out here and there so homeowners are beginning to think about home improvements. Plus, dad just received work from his Facebook business page that we are trying to get going again. If you haven’t already liked it, do so please! We will try to start putting more content on it.

I had a great event, the Portland Women's Expo, with SendOutCards the Saturday following our arrival home that gave myself and my newest team member over 200 good leads. The beauty of my service is that I was able to use the product to do my follow-up from the event.  All those ladies that attended and entered any drawings at this event (from over 1000 booths) are receiving emails, newsletters and phone calls from all the other vendors. Within days they received a real card in the mail from me and this week, I am following that up with a phone call. I am standing out from those businesses that even bother to follow up.  When I call this week, instead of them treating me like just another caller from the many that must be following up, they say, “Oh yeah, I liked your card!” I LOVE SendOutCards and feel so lucky to have it!

Besides being Bryson, Klaire and Bill's birthday this week, Dad's birthday is this Friday. He wants to do an "indoor" triathlon at 24 Hour Fitness for his birthday. I would like to join him but am hoping the weather is good enough to do the biking and walking outside. I don’t really enjoy exercising in a stinky gym. If Katie is still working for Southwest in May, we are planning to be in Clovis on May 18 for a 35 mile bike ride with the Toblers on one of their freeways (part of the ride) down there. Well, I think Dad and Scott are doing a longer ride. My goal this year was to ride 40 miles comfortably. There is a nice bike trail from Banks to Vernonia that I want to do. Since I haven't written much this year, many of you may not know that I finally bought my bike so I need to get riding.

Speaking of May plans, Grandma Maldonado is going on an Alaskan cruise with one of the ladies from Hayward First Ward, Marge Simard, May 12-19. We are jealous but shouldn't be. Someday we want to go on that cruise. We are now cruise convinced! We also want to see the Panama Canal by cruise; now that is a family history must since that is how the Maldonado family heard about the US when Jose Maldonado worked on the canal. We also learned that Adrianne and Blake's fall Hawaii trip is moved up to May. They are going about the 17th and ending their trip for one day on Oahu to be at Pearl Harbor on Memorial Day. Isn't that cool?

Most of the rest of the month we will have grandchildren visiting. Kyre and the children come this Saturday and Sunhee and Meeja come on Wednesday. Everyone is gone by the Saturday evening before Easter.

I know that I still owe a family news from Christmas and January; I will get that done one of these days!  I love you, Mom

March 7, 2013

Dear Children,

Spectacular! The cruise we took to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary was worth the wait and now we want to do it again as soon as we can! As we saw many families traveling together, we both thought that would be a fun adventure to do with the rest of you also!

I have not written a family newsletter since before Christmas but I thought I had better get some thoughts down about our recent trip as the days are already starting to blur together. We took good notes of what we would bring or do differently for our “next” cruise!

We did so many fun things and visited so many wonderful places. I would turn right around and do the same cruise again. The nice thing about our cruise starting in San Juan was that we were able to visit more islands than other 7 days cruises that leave from Florida. We only had one day at sea (without stopping at a port) so we saw 5 different islands in the Caribbean and Virgin Islands: St. Thomas, Barbados, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, St. Martin and also Puerto Rico.

We started our trip almost two weeks ago with a short stop in Fort Lauderdale for some SendOutCards meetings. We stayed right on the beach at a small hotel that Dad found for a very good price considering the location. We took an overnight Thursday night flight on JetBlue to New York and then an early morning flight to Florida on Friday. On both flights, we were the last two seats so we were VERY lucky to be there. On the red eye flight, a stewardess traveling to work took a jump seat so we could be on; that was amazing!

The moment we stepped off the plane we began to enjoy beautifully warm, sunny weather. It was paradise. Our meetings were great in Fort Lauderdale plus we made time to do some walking on the boardwalk, dip our feet in the Atlantic Ocean and watch some beach "foot" volleyball.  It was like hackie-sack with a volleyball and net; one team being from Spain! We used the trolley and bus system and got around well during the day and a half in Florida. We want to come back and take the water taxi that goes up and down the canals for an all day experience to see the sights. We need to go back!

Our flight to Puerto Rico left at midnight so we arrived at the San Juan airport at 3:30 am their time. We thought we could sleep in the airport until our bus transfer to the ship but it was very cold (they like their air conditioning)! Needless to say, I am not sure we will take a late night flight to save time in the future.

Luckily, when we arrived early on the dock, we learned that we could board early. We checked in, had the first of our never-ending buffet lunches and then headed into old town San Juan for some exploring. It reminded us a lot of Spain with its cobblestone, narrow roads. We took a city trolley tour and then found a local music festival and enjoyed watching the people dance. Our ship had a large group of Puerto Ricans so we continued seeing a lot of salsa dancing throughout the cruise and tried to learn some.

We sailed away to St. Thomas at 10:00 in the evening and had fun learning some new dances, Cupid Shuffle and Gangnum style, and celebrating the beginning of the cruise. There was entertainment each evening and comedy shows to enjoy. We tried to take advantage of so many activities on board and exploring the islands so most nights we were exhausted as we headed to bed.  It was a fun exhaustion!

On the island of St. Thomas we had scheduled a 6 hour tour including shopping, island history and beach time at Magen’s Bay. We were not really interested in the shopping part but used that time to get in a lot of walking as we went up and down all the streets in that part of town. The historical tour was great and the beach time was fabulous. We learned about an even better beach for the next time we return!

After St. Thomas we had a day at sea as we traveled to the southern most island of our trip, Barbados. We both got very sunburned that day since we waited about an hour to put on your sunscreen, not realizing how intense the sun was even in the morning hours. We have already peeled from that sun exposure! This day was relaxing and fun with lots of lounging around, dancing and going down the water slide. Our day at sea was also a dressy evening for dinner. It was our second night to eat in the formal dining room. The food was so good. I think it was lobster night and Dad ordered three lobster entrées! We both enjoyed picking out several dishes and appetizers so we could taste things we have never had before like alligator!

Barbados was a favorite island. We had a formal tour lined up on this day; it was a catamaran tour and snorkeling adventure. It was beautiful and because we booked it on a site other than Carnival’s main site, it was a small group. Dad and I love to snorkel and this started days of snorkeling for us. Besides the fun of snorkeling off the side of a boat to see turtles and other fish, it was also so beautiful to see all the beaches from the catamaran ride. On the way back we got a taste of racing as our captain was giving strategy advice to one of the people on board as he raced some of the other sail boats back to the harbor. The weather was amazing. Dad said it was never under 75 degrees but you wouldn’t know it since there was usually a slight breeze.

We didn’t have anything planned for St. Lucia. We both like learning something of the history of the island but also wanted to just get to a beach and snorkel. On this day we walked off the ship and started talking with a taxi cab driver who made a deal with us to drive us around to some of the best spots, take us to a nice beach and then pick us up when we were done. Of course, they like to do the tour part since they take you to all the spots that have their friends as vendors! We stopped at an interesting batik “factory” with a gorgeous view of the island. This is the day that we stopped by the side of the road where they were growing bananas and bought some fresh bananas. They actually didn’t taste any different than what we have here. We ended the afternoon by taking a short ferry ride to a beach at the Marigot Beach Club. It was good that it was later in the day since we had lots of sun the three days prior.

On St. Kitts we found a wonderful beach, Carambola, that I would like to return to someday. We rented chairs and an umbrella and relaxed or snorkeled the entire day. The place was kind of new and it even had warm showers! If we were hungry, everyone reported that they had great food that they brought out to your chairs.  Now that is luxury! On this day, Dad and I took advantage of the clear, calm waters and did some long swims out into the ocean in between snorkeling. We both saw squid in these waters. This island is known for its monkeys. Dad saw some by the beach and at the ship dock, islanders had their pet monkeys in diapers and ready to earn money for the photo opportunity! This is the evening that we stood on deck and watched the ship come out of the harbor. We both decided that we would be less scheduled next time and miss our dinner hour to be on deck while the ship moves out of the harbor and for the sunsets.

Our last island was St. Thomas. We were slower to get off the ship as we were getting tired! We found a beautiful beach just minutes from the dock and stayed there the rest of the day. We snorkeled our farther than on any other day. We rounded a cove and found a floating bar out on a point in the ocean. We swam so long that I was getting cold so we swam to a beach covered in rock to warm our bodies form being in the water so long. This beach was in front of a resort that I would love to come back to also!!! There was a regatta going on all day around the island so there were thousands of sailboats in the water and I tried to get a photo of them.

We were one of the last groups off the ship when we docked in San Juan. We weren’t in a hurry to go to the airport. Our flight ended up being full so we spent an extra day in Puerto Rico. We stayed in kind of a dive but it was close by the beach in a beautiful area called Isla Verde. We walked on the beach quite a ways right before sunset and then stopped in a hot tub at one of the beachside resorts. On the way back to our place we stopped at a local small restaurant for some real island found with plantain and yucca root.

We spent quite a while rerouting ourselves and not flying Jet Blue back since we couldn’t see how full they were. We flew Air Tran into Orlando, then Southwest into Las Vegas. Our Las Vegas flight to Portland was very delayed so we called Aaron and he picked us up and took us back to the airport the next morning. I had to cancel some appointments on that Tuesday but it was worth it to stay at Aaron’s overnight. Since we were flying west on our anniversary, we gained four hours to the day so our anniversary lasted 28 hours!

We came home to rain and cold and are ready to go back! It has been hard to get back into a routine. Our trip was so wonderful. We would love the whole family to be able to experience a fun cruise together. I will catch up and write about our holidays one of these days! We love you.

December 3, 2012

 It is not really December 3 but I need to just send this without trying to update it!

Dear Children,

This fall we have done a lot of fun little trips.  The first weekend in October we had a great visit in Clovis with Aunt Carla and Uncle Scott.  They both went out of their way to make our stay extra nice with lots of great food and doing our favorite things.  We were able to enjoy their new patio to eat breakfast and dinner lazily outside in the warm sunshine.  The weather was so nice.  It was perfect for the Triathlon Sprint.  Carla and Scott did a great job of planning and mapping it out and then Scott and Dad ran it on Saturday morning.  We started in the dark so we would be done by the time the general conference session started.

I was the only one who took a wrong turn!  The sun was in my eyes and I didn’t see one of the signs but, once I realized I was headed in the wrong direction, I decided to just ride out 6 miles on the bike and then head back, making my own trail!  It worked out fine except for having to stop and phone in to tell them what I was doing.  I felt OK afterwards and surprisingly, my hip felt more of the affects than did my knee.  My doctor said I couldn’t run at all until after the MRI on my knee the following week so I was the pokey little puppy!  Carla is planning for another one next year at her place.  Swimming in a pool makes for a lot easier swim segment!

In the afternoon Dad and Scott went for a 30 mile ride and Carla and I visited with Laura and Andrew and also David came by.  Dyllan entertained us with her gibberish language.  We got to see Laura’s new home during the Sunday morning session of conference.  We had breakfast at their place.  Adrianne would like her place; she has beautiful gray granite counter tops and decorates with lots of gray tones.

I enjoyed the feeling of general conference this year; lots of basic living the gospel; serving others, power of prayer, loving others, following Christ.   I loved the prophet’s always emphasis on the positive as he admonished us to count our blessings.  I am trying to live more positively which shouldn’t be so hard in this wonderful life we live in!  There were some great talks on the Holy Ghost and living by the Spirit including Craig Christensen’s thoughts on living to be open to hear the Spirit and Quinton L. Cook’s teaching that being unkind to family or having impure thoughts hinders us from feeling.

I guess I just felt encouraged after conference.  As always, President Uchtdorf’s message on Regrets and Resolutions is so worth reading over and over again.  As he encouraged us to give our best personal self, his three points were:

• Spend more time with people I love.
• Live up to my potential.
• Let myself be happier.

            We had to leave during the afternoon session to get to the airport.  Getting home this time routed us through Seattle.  Lately, we have taken some different routes to get back to Portland; the last one being to fly from Salt Lake to Phoenix and then back home.  I have found it interesting that there seems to be so many people who live elsewhere but fly into Oregon to work each week.

Each time we were home this fall we had three days to work and then get ready to leave again.  At times, I had a hard time remembering what day it was, especially when you come home on Monday afternoons!  Dad had lots of work and bids as people started to panic wanting things done in their yard before the weather turns poor.  Now, the work has been very slow in coming.  Homeowners are already in their winter mode of thinking.

Being football season, Morty visited quite a bit to come for Oregon Duck games.  A couple of times he was able to double up and see the Blazers play while here in Portland.  He and Katie went to a crazy exciting game that was fun to hear him talk about.  While he visits, we see more sports that we can imagine; our TV gets used!

We had a second trip to Utah this fall to celebrate Grandma Bitter’s 50^th birthday.  There was a nice dinner and program at Dave and Karla’s ward building that Julie and Randy organized and then Jerry and Laurie put on a fun tail gaiting party before the Oregon State homecoming game.  But, I do not like to watch the Cougars lose so I won’t talk about that game!  I appreciate the family gathering for these events; that is the best part.

My business has grown a lot this fall.  Regularly, in October and November I hold several workshops for my customers to give them ideas for their holiday cards.  Now, that is funny since I do not have mine started!!!  Yikes!  I wanted to put a QR code of a song that Dad and I would sing about the year in the card.  Sunhee and Meeja even were helping me write it on one of our long rides but I tabled that idea.

I had several business presentations with some professional organizations this fall but my favorite ended up being the one that concerned me the most.  I was asked to be a speaker at an Entrepreneur Day for a select group of high school juniors and seniors.  The keynote speakers were two Oregon girls who went on Shark Tank with their Wild Squirrel Nut Butter.  That was fun to hear them speak.  After their presentation the students rotated to several other small business owners most of whom had created and funded their own start up businesses.  It was a real eye opener.  My assignment was to speak about the Network Marketing model.

Honestly, one of my reasons for accepting the assignment, besides it being a privilege to be asked, was that I knew if I spent time preparing and teaching about the positive benefits of Networking Marketing myself, I might be able to overcome some difficult feelings with which I struggled myself about the profession.  Which is exactly what happened and I attribute my business growth since then to the things I have learned and for which I have gained much confidence.

One ah-ha moment came as I was speaking to one of my groups.  I explained that I did not create the idea of my business but instead, found a business that I loved and paid a franchise fee to own my business with all of its financial backing.  I then explained all the support, tools, websites, etc that I received from the company upon paying that small fee.  They had just heard the tens of thousands of dollars that others had spent on having the same things that I have at my disposal.  When one young man was flabbergasted after he asked, “Just how much is that small franchise fee?” it finally dawned on me what I had and how lucky I was!

With not much pre-planning, I was able to travel down to be with Greg and Bryson asShawn and Aubrey were able to go to Monterrey for their anniversary.  That was so much fun to be there with the boys.  I love that part of my life.  It is exhausting fun!  They have such a nice group of friends living there and of course, even in November, it was warm enough to play outside with the neighbor friends.  Their common back yard is like a park where the moms gather and the children play.  I love smelling the eucalyptus trees in the Bay Area; it reminds me of my growing up years since we lived next to a canyon full of the trees.  You wouldn’t know that I grew up in the Bay Area the many times I got lost driving around this time.  The boys and I had a fun trip to Bethel Island to see where Aunt Denise is living.  It was very relaxing.

Wow, we had a Thanksgiving holiday filled with laughs with Nate and Morty home to entertain their nieces and nephew.  Kyre and the children were here from Wednesday to Saturday evening.  Alina is an easy target to poke at with her vast knowledge of Justin Bieber and her ability to turn most conversations around to be about him!  Morty stayed over the weekend to travel to the Duck game so he is relentless about the Duck-Beaver civil war.  I told Alina that she was very lucky that Dad was sacrificing being able to watch BYU’s football game while she had precedence over the large TV for the Duck Beaver game.  

Over Thanksgiving we went to the opening night of Zoolights, did some early baking for Christmas neighbor gifts played lots of games, Alina beat me at Ping Pong and even some Black Friday shopping. I was pretty disappointed that some of the stores were opening on Thanksgiving so I refused to go until midnight.  Alina and Adam helped and we got done what we needed then came home and slept until Penney’s early morning opening, shopped there and then we were done.  Morty, Nate and Katie took Adam and Alina to their first Blazer game at the Rose Garden.

On Saturday we took Kyre and the children and cut down our Christmas tree.  They helped me get out all the decorations so almost everything was decorated for Christmas before November was even over!  I love the years when we have an extra week in between Thanksgiving and Christmas! That evening Kyre and the children rode ho me on the train.

Late Saturday evening Katie joined us and we went to the Screen Door in Portland, a southern style restaurant, to celebrate my birthday.  Everything was very tasty.   Even more fun was I think I hooked Nate on the Ticket to Ride game when we returned late from dinner!  After Morty and Nate left on Sunday, we started getting ready for our next visitors and I think, as of tonight, we are ready!  Just a couple more beds to make, decorations to hang and some lighting outside and we are finished.

Before we know it, Christmas will be here.  Sunhee and Meeja come this week for our annual Christmas visit where they help me with Christmas baking and delivering neighbor and friend gifts.  Since the Brady family cannot come for Christmas now, Heidi is bringing William and Rebekah also this weekend, thanks to Katie.  It will be fun for them to go to our ward Christmas breakfast.  I am relieved that Heidi will be with us there since I will be in the kitchen and she can help Dad with the girls at the event.  We will end their visit with a trip to Sweet Home after a visit on Sunday at Kyre’s home.

As far as Christmas travels, it looks like, weather permitting, Shawn and Aubrey’s family will arrive the Friday before Christmas after Aaron and Morty come in earlier that week.  Nate will be coming from a trip to Tahoe so he will probably arrive just before Christmas.  To get the cousins together, we will go down to visit with Kyre and the children the Saturday or Sunday before Christmas.  We are trying to involve Sunhee and Meeja in that gathering also.

Our visits with Scott have been great.  He has a lot of energy and excitement for his fitness plans.  He ran a marathon on Thanksgiving and is planning one for Christmas!  His times are coming close to Boston Marathon qualifying times.  He does everything he can to stay healthy in mind, body and spirit against all odds there.

Grandma gave me my birthday book after she came home from California.  THANK YOU to all those who contributed!  That will be so wonderful to sit and reread all those kind words and nice acts of service that were dedicated to my birthday.  I love it!  Thank you for taking that time to not only do service but to write about it in the book!

I love you all!  Love, Mom

October 5, 2012

Dear Children,

Happy 13th Birthday Adam!!!

            We have had some fun travels since the last time I wrote.  We started by going to Las Vegas.  Months ago Nate suggested we come down to see Wicked at the new Smith Theater.  Nate has season tickets there for their Broadway series so he was able to buy extra tickets before they went on sale to the general public.  We scheduled it to coincide with Dad and Aaron’s Gran Fondo 122 mile bike ride in September.

            We arrived in time to eat dinner and then head to the theater.  We met Nate there as he had a company commitment right beforehand and he rode to the theater on his motorized bike (the kind that you pedal until you use the electric motor).  We had great seats and loved the performance.  It was especially fun to be there with two of our family members, Nate and Aaron, who had never seen Wicked.  I forgot to mention that Katie also went with us since she also arranged for a ticket months ago.  She came with us and then left early the next morning.

            Dad and I thought that we might be helping Morty with the clean up of his store but that is now all in the hands of the landlords.  So, we didn’t have any projects in Las Vegas; just to relax.  Aaron learned at the last minute that his registration for the event never went through so he did not ride but Uncle Jerry, Brian and Chad did all ride.

            Dad left VERY early for the ride which began at 5:00 am as they rode right down the strip with a police escort while it was still dark.  They left in waves of 250 riders with 2500 riders in total.  There were so many riders that Dad had nightmares the night afterwards about avoiding crashing into other bikers.  He enjoyed riding into the Lake Mead-Hoover Dam just at sunrise. This was Dad‘s longest ride ever so he did have some problems with his legs cramping but he still finished strong at about 200 of the 500 riders that finished the 122 miles.

            While he was cycling, I went to Joy Concannon Burleson’s home and had a nice visit with her.  I went to high school with her. She was never a member of the Church but married an inactive member and her three girls are all members of the church.  She told me that she is a better Mormon than her husband! Joy retired from being a PE teacher this summer since she is a new grandma now.

            At Sunday dinner at the boy’s home we enjoyed hearing about Nate’s trip to Israel and seeing photos he took.  Zappos sent him to meet with the person in charge of a company that they use in Tel Aviv.  Then, that businessman for Nate to do some traveling and sight seeing around the county.

            While we were away, Katie was in New York for a week.  She sent a photo of herself with the Smurfs thinking that Meeja would especially like it since she was crazy about the Smurf movie the last time she visited.

            Our other trip was to Utah for William’s baby blessing last weekend.  Dad has had lots of work so we arrived late Friday evening to be greeted by Heidi and all the children at the airport.  They are all so fun.  The girls all headed to bed as soon as we got home, we worked on Heidi to allow us to take something to help with the Sunday afternoon food and then headed to Pleasant Grove where Adrianne met us with a Mediterranean feast that she and Blake prepared.  Blake and Adrianne have been working had on their home.  They have new carpeting, all the rooms upstairs are freshly painted, a new chest freezer and dishwasher.  The guest bedroom is very inviting all fixed up with new colors and curtains.  I was able to grab sometime to hem up (or prepare them to be hemmed once Adrianne gets a sewing machine) the curtains to help with a little project.  The guest bed is cleverly on top of their water storage.  Both working for Shelf Reliance, they have done well getting their food storage. Dad tried to help Blake attach a new screen door but the store didn’t have the correct size to replace their existing frame.  That happened on Aaron’s home also; they should all be standard!

We, as always, combined this trip with several other fun things while there.  Dad has wanted to go to Snowbird’s Oktoberfest for years.  Snowbird is one of those places that makes Dad’s voice quiver!  We squeezed in a trip to Snowbird in between Adrianne making rolls and myself making brownies for Sunday’s gathering. We went with Adrianne and Blake and met the Brady family there after Bill came home from camping.  It was beautiful with the changing colors.  I would like to do that again.  We met up with the Young family and Grandma Biter for a few minutes.  All the Young grandchildren were having a blast together.

The day of William’s blessing was fantastic. One of my favorite parts was when I drove up to Salt Lake to pick up Katie at the airport since she was flying in for the afternoon to be at the Brady’s event.  The back seat of the car was filled with platters of brownies and rolls.  As Katie walked up to the car and looked in she said, “Uh, oh” and then seconds later Morty and Nate walked up to surprise me!  That was so fun!  One of Katie’s coworkers had switched their tickets for them so instead of returning from the University of Oregon game to Las Vegas, they flew into Salt Lake and then Katie gave them buddy passes to get home from Salt Lake.  Thank you Katie (and Nate and Morty also)!

There were lots of family members at the Brady’s sacrament meeting for the blessing.  After the blessing was testimony meeting.  I appreciated that Heidi bore her testimony about true happiness.  I also appreciated the testimony of one of the men in the Brady’s ward who is a temple worker.  He described an event that happened at the dedication of the Brigham City Temple just recently.  He talked about the session where one of the men giving the opening or closing prayer had been in prison for part of his life.  He said it was a great reminder of the power of repentance and the fact that everyone can change and be forgiven.

After their church meeting, we all gathered at one of their friend’s home who had offered their home for the dinner.  It was a wonderful gathering.  We got a chance to catch up with Wendi’s plans.  She hopes to travel to China with a group of students to teach English next year and then graduate after that.

Dad and I came home to another short week where it is hard to know what day it is (that happens to me when I travel home on a Monday).  We both have lots of work to fill each day and the weather is still cooperating with the concrete work so we must take advantage of these dry days.  We traveled to Albany to pick up Adam for the evening for his birthday.  We took him with us to Meeja’s soccer game.  You KNOW her energy level.  She runs just as far vertically and she does along the ground with her jumping and “hoppy”, happy run!  She was goalie for the last part of the game and saved a couple of goals from going in.  But, as little as she is, that big net looks like it was going to entangle her at times.  We enjoyed talking with Adam over dinner at his choice of restaurants, Izzy’s.  He is sure growing up.  Turning thirteen; can you believe it???

Now we are off to Clovis to spend General Conference weekend with the Aunt Carla and Uncle Scott.  Originally we were scheduled to be in the Lake Berryessa Triathlon but now we are doing our own triathlon in Quail Lakes with some of Carla’s friends.  That will be better for me anyway as I am still trying to heal my knee and hip problems.  I will just have to go much slower than I had hoped.  It should be fun.

We hope that you are all enjoying this warm fall weather and getting excited for upcoming holiday plans.  Have a great week!  Love, Mom