April 19, 2009

Dear Children,

This is a great time to be alive! I have been able to take some sunny walks and the air is beginning to “smell” warm even. Today is beautiful. On my walk yesterday morning, I thought again, “I LOVE the new iPod that many of you gave to us” especially now that I learned how to download the general conference podcast. I have been able to go through the recent talks in the car and on my walks. It has been great. Yesterday, I accidentally touched a talk out of order (I am not used to the sensitivity of the screen yet) and was actually glad that I did. It was Elder Allan Packer where he expressed those same sentiments: that it is a great time to be alive as he talked of the importance of personal inspiration to navigate the times ahead.

It was a comfort to me to hear his words of explanation about personal inspiration as he described that it often comes later, after we get up from our prayers, as gentle thoughts about solutions to those prayer concerns or ideas we haven’t even thought about enter our mind. I had often felt discouraged about my seemingly “lack” of inspiration. Hearing that description validated just how I have felt that the Lord answers and guides me. I have found that when I follow through on those ideas, not questioning my ability, they really were for the best.

I was with Rosemary Green this week and she told me of an experience that her son, Jeremy, had while he still lived in Tennessee. He was trying to sell his car for $1,200.00 since his company had given him one. He had no calls on it until one man called and asked if he would sell it for less. When the man offered only $600.00 Jeremy surprisingly accepted. The man tried to figure out the bus route to Jeremy’s home when finally, Jeremy offered to deliver the car. He drove the car while his wife and all of his children drove his other car to give him a ride back. All the way over to the stranger’s home, Jeremy kept getting the idea that he should just give the car to the man. When they arrived, Jeremy’s wife motioned him over to the family car and said she kept getting the thought to give the car to the man. So they did and then learned that the man was ready to give up on his only good job since he had no car and the busses would take all his family time away from him. His mother told him to hold on one more week since she had prayed about him and told him that she felt not only would he find a car for only the $600.00 that he had but it would be given to him for no money at all this very weekend. The Green’s were inspired to be an answer to a faithful mother’s prayer.

I pray everyday for all of you: that you will be guided by the Spirit, be watched over and be happy. I know that the Lord watches over us by inspiring others to come to our aid or come into our lives. I hope that we can hear that direction in our lives so we can also be answers to faithful mothers’ prayers.

There were plenty of opportunities for service this week to follow the counsel from our prophet in general conference. It is a truth that serving others helps you forget your own struggles; it is very uplifting. I don’t always hear of service opportunities since we mostly attend the singles ward but, thankfully Morty was here last week so we attended Beaverton First Ward. Mary Newell was moving her six children to Kansas and Brother Radford passed away the evening before Easter so I could volunteer for a lot this week! I got Carol Stanger to help me on Tuesday at Mary’s home. I had been there before so I felt I was realistically prepared on what to expect. Their moving truck was arriving in two days and I learned that other people had been helping them for a couple of weeks. I was shocked to walk in and see so much undone especially since Cathy Crandall said Mary asked that only two or three sisters come to help. We could have used 20 sisters! I started packing toys and it took every ounce of strength within me not to organize the toys before packing but I was constrained by the lack of available time and Mary’s request to not throw out anything! I realized that I must adhere to Mary’s carefree attitude and stop worrying about how awful it would be for them at the other end of unpacking to find anything. I at least tried to put all the many puzzle pieces, game pieces and such in one box. It just makes me cringe to think of what it will be like for those children to set up in a new home with such chaos in those boxes as they look for something from home in their new surroundings. I had great conversations with several of the children as I included them in my packing; they were great helpers. Most are sad to leave town. We made a huge dent in the workload and I just had to realize that I left honoring the way she wanted something done; not my way but her way.

We also experienced a tragedy in the ward when Robert Radford passed away on the evening before Easter Sunday. His funeral was set for Saturday: I was glad that Dad and I were finally going to be in town for someone’s funeral. We have missed at least a couple of important funerals this past year (Georgia Harris and Isabel Higgs). I enjoyed helping with the set up and food for the family dinner afterwards. Tracie and Adam had tons of family come into town; it was a great gathering for them. They will need a lot of support; Adam is only 14 and Tracie just came home from the hospital after an extended stay due to kidney and heart problems..

Speaking of service, Bill designed a yard sign for the business and sent it to a sign company here. I picked it up late Friday and for fun placed it on the closest jobsite: our front fence! Tomorrow Dad will place them at his Summerlake pour and the Jorgensen’s back yard. We hope it will get our name out and increase our business right now. We have a couple more jobs lined up but, even so, Dad still wanted to take off on Wednesday and ski again. Each time he says it could be the “last good snow day”.

Boy was it good! It was probably the best ski day of the week. Much of the day it snowed very lightly so it stayed cold keeping the snow really nice through the morning and all afternoon; some of the day we were above the clouds so it was also sunny. I guess I may eat my words and say that I prefer skiing with goggles over skiing in heavy mushy snow. I think I should go more often to figure that out! Dad was skiing at a slower pace since he had a sore on his leg that would hurt every time he went over a bump; it helped me keep up with him. We debated the fact hat he should probably go to the doctor on Wednesday instead of ski. That was not much of a debate for him. Luckily, he saw the doctor the next morning and got it lanced so it can heal faster; it is a big hole now but not as ugly!

I had a job interview with Ivan Jones this week; after the 15^th of course. He still wasn’t ready with his spreadsheets of accounts receivables. It sounds like the job will be flexible so I can continue what I like best; visit my children and grandchildren! I hope I am successful. He realizes that this is not the best timing for their company to finally start actively trying to collect on past due accounts. It will be interesting and it is forcing me to get better at using Excel. I was actually kind of nervous to sit with him to get details about the job. I had read the day before, on the way home from skiing, a Church News article about job seeking and learned about making a “Me in 30 Seconds Statement”. I think everyone should do that! They are easy but they force you to think about the strengths you have that would be beneficial to your employer. I actually had something like that in my letters that I sent out without knowing it. Want to hear mine? It goes something like this:

“Over the past 30 years I have become especially effective in planning and implementing various tasks, events and schedules all at once. I am very competent at multi-tasking. However, I love the challenge to discover the most efficient and effective way to accomplish a task while maintaining a careful attention to detail.”

In my institute class we discussed the conference messages from the prophet. He had some repeating themes: Pray always, express love, to the temple often, get out of debt and give service. He also gave a stern warning about the internet and pornography warning us that it will destroy the spirit. Strongly his words were, “Cease now!” He also had messages of hope, telling us to be of good cheer and promised us that the future is as bright as our faith.

We also talked of family relationships in class and Brother Stark made a point to say that relationships are built, not born. He went on to say that they are built by serving one another, playing together and making good memories. Which reminds me of how anxious I am to see many of you this week for Nate’s graduation and Aaron’s birthday and then visiting Katie in St. Louis and taking a side trip to Nauvoo with Grandma that next week. It is very exciting to welcome one more graduate in the family. Excellent job, Nate!

We will also get to watch Adrianne at this new barn at which she has been taking jumping lessons. They are having a show and she may be jumping at about 10:00 am and then again at 2:00 in the afternoon on Saturday. She was thrilled with the horse that she has been able to ride the last week. She feels like his canter is like a Tennessee Walker and he (or she) jumps great. She has three days of finals left and then starts looking for a job for the summer. She has her sights set on finding one in Las Vegas so she can live with the boys and have some of her school friends close by.

I learned today that Christie Christensen is leaving for a mission at the end of May. She is going to a Texas Mission. Maybe I told you that when I reported on the Christensen wedding that we attended a few weeks ago. But, if I knew before and told you, I had forgotten!

One last thing I wanted to share with you: When Dad and I went to the temple on Saturday evening, a woman sitting in front of me had earphones on to listen in a different language. I remembered using a set of those headphones when, several years ago, we accidentally went to a Spanish session. We wore headphones to hear the English. I propped my earphones so I could hear it mostly in Spanish (ONLY because I knew what was being said; not that I could understand that much Spanish anymore). I love the Spanish language but I feel sad for them that when the Savior is referred to as the Son of God that they miss out on that rich layering of the word son since in English it sounds the same as sun (but in Spanish they are two separate sounding words: hijo and sol). I love the imagery of thinking about Christ as being the center of our lives and also the sun being the center, both also giving us life and on and on. I love hearing the Spanish accent and especially enjoy hearing Gospel messages given with heavy Spanish accents like this past conference, or any other accent. It makes me listen more closely and I just love hearing the Lord’s message from the Lord’s children from all over the world.

To start Scott’s birthday week, we visited him this morning. I hope he gets some recognition; several of his friends know his birthday is Tuesday and Heidi is coming here so that she can be with him on his birthday. He is staying healthy and ran another 10K. He placed second in his age group. He talked about his love of learning and all the good books available to him since he works right next to the lending library. He says that the regular library receives beautiful picture books but does not lend them; he borrows them and gets to read them in the law library since he is there everyday. He is learning a new job starting on Monday. It is a promotion since he will take the place of the other returned missionary that works in the law library. Fraser is being transferred to a minimum prison (probably due to his sentence being only three or four years left). He will be the boss’s assistant. He enjoyed some of the pictures that I was able to print of his girls visit here. He said the campfire picture was very meaningful to his family since both Scott and kyre loved a campfire from their youth so they instilled that love in their children. Kyre’s love was toasting marshmallows in Molly Holt’s fireplace at her home in Korea. Scott’s family used to do that for a family home evening treat in their fireplace and then, of course, he built that fire pit in his backyard also.

Wow, this is long! I love you and am anxious to see you all soon and also celebrate our April birthdays (Scott 21, Aaron 27 and Katie 30) !!! Love, Mom

April 12, 2009

Dear Children,

HAPPY EASTER! We had a different Easter this year, more quiet than last year with an egg hunt including the neighborhood children, a visit from the grandchildren and the several March birthday celebrations since Easter landed in March last year. We had our Easter dinner this year on Saturday evening since Morty was visiting and his flight was this afternoon. We did enjoy a great Easter breakfast, at Morty’s request, and even a showing of chocolate eggs. Our Easter bunny outsmarted the retail world of See’s and picked up the highly sought after Mayfair eggs before they sold out, as is always the case each Easter. I am hording mine!

I hope that you all enjoyed the family fun of the holiday and also the gratitude for the reason that we celebrate, that we may all be resurrected and have the ability to live with God again if we will take advantage of the Atonement.

Shawn reported that Gregory was signed up for an egg hunt at a nearby park. Shawn and Aubrey “practiced” with Gregory at home beforehand so he would know what to do. Shawn said, “We weren’t going t send a slacker into the court!” Klaire went to an egg hunt at Adam’s school and, with her fireball personality, had an overflowing basket of eggs. Rebekah and Jenna’s Easter activity was cancelled due to a storm warning so they went down to Orem and colored eggs with Jenni Marchant and her children before they leave for California and then Viet Nam. They went to Uncle Jerry’s Easter Egg hunt in Alpine afterwards. Rebekah was most anxious about her Easter dress that she picked out at Costco this year. We hope to get some pictures.

Katie said the St Louis Easter Bunny left her an Easter Basket with lottery tickets in it; not the usual Easter Bunny to which we are accustomed! She started her day with stake conference. It was a satellite broadcasted meeting including many Midwestern states in which they heard from President Monson, Elder Oakes, Elder Snow and others. She joined the Underwood family for her Easter dinner. Adrianne was invited to Heidi and Bill’s for Easter dinner. This weekend Bill worked on a design for us to print our first yard sign so we can advertize our business while dad is working at a customer’s home. Bill says that he has other ideas to show us about which we are very excited to learn.

Also in Utah this weekend was Nate who planned to travel up there so he could train on Mt. Timpanogas with his friend Adam (a previous roommate from Portland) for a hike challenge that he wants to enter from his work. Their vendor, Jansport, sponsors an 8000 meter 24 hour challenge for all of their retailers. It is held in California on three separate peaks on the first Thursday of September. It is suppose to resemble the 40 mile hike up Mt. Everest. He plans to accomplish this goal and then get on a plane for Texas to be at BYU’s opening game against Oklahoma at the new Dallas Cowboy’s stadium. Morty asked us to go along to the BYU game. We would absolutely love to but, with business as slow as it has been, it would be irresponsible to add that extra to the already family travel commitments we have made. Unfortunately, if we feel more secure as it gets closer, it may be prohibitive to get tickets and a place to stay! Nate learned that it was not wise to hike Timp since the snow was so low for this time of year and the avalanche danger was relatively high. I appreciated knowing that he wasn’t going to hike it after all. He will have to do most of his training in Las Vegas.

It was fun to have Morty here. He helped me with my idea to Google the addresses onto a map of the single adults we are trying to visit. I hope I can remember what he showed me. He also helped me out with my iPod that I could have probably figured out by reading my “iPod for Dummies” book that Katie sent us for our anniversary. On Friday we had tamale pie at Grandma’s and then he went to the Blazer Laker game and loved all the action. He said it was VERY loud and crazy. On Saturday he searched the town for a Blazer playoff game shirt for Katie with no results. Now that G I Joe’s (Joe’s most recently) has been forced to liquidate, there is not a reliable local place to pick up Blazer merchandise except at the game. We had our Easter dinner and Morty went home with Grandma to hang out with her all evening and watch the Blazer game on a high definition TV. Dad and I went to the concert to which I have been looking forward since last fall, Ten Grands. It was the tickets that I gave Dad for Christmas. It was ten grand pianos on the same stage at the Schnitzer Concert Hall. It was SO good! Dad and I were so glad that we went.

Last Monday looked like our best chance to ski this week; we are trying to go once a week now. It was a typical spring ski day: lots of sun, skiing in sunglasses with just the shell coat layer unzipped and avoiding certain runs that the sun is hitting (as much as possible) so the snow was as firm as possible. The snow became very wet by mid afternoon since it was so unusually warm on the mountain. My skis felt VERY long that day as I tried to control them in the slush! Dad said the snow would make good snow cones. It was fun but also a lot of work.

Katie had a brush with snow the same day when she sat freezing at the opening day of the Cardinals baseball season in Busch Stadium. But it was worth every shiver to her to be there on opening day. Is there anyone in the entire city of St. Louis that loves the Cardinals more than Oregon-grown Katie? She is doubting how she ever stood living in a city without a major league baseball team!

Speaking of transplants, we had a nice visit with my cousin, Janice Maldonado and her daughter Taylor on Tuesday. They were in Portland and Eugene to check out the University of Oregon. Taylor is a senior at Head Royce private school in Oakland (where my high school friend, Mary Rodrigo Fahey teaches) and she is looking for a college. She wants to go into medicine so she liked the U of O biology department. I learned that even Jeff Concannon was one of Taylor’s basketball coaches at Head Royce. The thing I remember about Jeff was that he could peal an orange in one piece. Do you remember that Denise? The silly things that a high school boy does to impress the girls! The silly things that impressed us!!!

This week Dad is sharing his notes from the priesthood session of conference with me. I like the message from President Packer as he spoke specifically to the young men. He said, “A life of fun and games and expensive toys has come to an abrupt end. We move from a generation of ease and entertainment to a generation of hard work and responsibility. . . It will not hurt you to want something and not have it. There is a maturing and disciplining that will be good for you . . . Learn to work and to support.”

In my institute class we concentrated on messages about the Atonement and Easter, Elder Holland’s recent conference address being our focus. It was such an excellent talk; this was the perfect week to review it. Discussing Christ’s solitary journey to the Atonement, for OUR salvation, where He had to experience even divine withdrawal so He could know how we feel when we lose the Spirit, I realized that truly divine compassion is NEVER absent. We do not ever have to walk alone.

As we talked about the last week of Christ’s life and specially the betrayal by Judas to sell Christ for 30 pieces of silver, our teacher posed this question also, “Who will betray the Savior and His teachings for money?

On the way to pick up Morty on Thursday night, Dad and I attended another preparedness meeting. There was a great presentation on “old fashioned” preparedness ideas. It was quite a change from our other meetings. The presenter reminded us to have our out of state phone contact, which has always been Grandma in California. Although I realized that our out of state contact person moved to our state! I guess now that we are spread between four different states, we need to collectively decide on one out of state phone contact so we are all checking in with the same person. Let’s put our heads together. Too bad Morty doesn’t still have that easy phone number!

Dad and I hope that you all have a great holiday weekend and good luck with the week ahead. I love you. Love, Mom

Remember that Scott’s birthday is on April 21; he would love to hear from each one of you! So would Aaron on April 27 and Katie on April 30!!!!

April 5, 2009

Dear Children,

Wow, conference weekend was so good and we also had a turn in the weather here . . . sunny all day! The windows were open and it smelled like spring. Wait, it is spring and has been for a couple of weeks now (but you wouldn’t know it)! Dad skied in a blizzard on Thursday! He was so anxious to go up so I insisted he could go alone since I had class and I was committed to cleaning Grandma’s home that day since I was planning to ski on Friday with Dad (promised to be better weather). You know Dad, he was in seventh heaven on the mountain on Thursday even though the ski lift chairs were covered in ice and snow but you know what a blizzard gives you: fresh snow and that is what Dad LOVES.

This week Dad and I had planned to ski on Monday and Friday (Monday probably being the best weather day) but when I finally got to bed very late on Sunday I just couldn’t fathom the idea of getting up at 6:00 in the morning and skiing when I had so much Excel training yet to finish to give a report to Ivan Jones. He has been kind enough to try and figure out a job for me. He loaned me his training CD series (for Excel and Quickbooks) that he bought himself for training for their mission and wanted me to preview them since he hasn’t had a chance during tax season. Also Dad hadn’t finished some leads on some future jobs that he was bidding so we really both needed to be working instead of skiing on Monday.

Staying home paid off for both of us. Dad returned a bid on Monday and made such good contact with the owner that when he received lower bids he called Dad and they negotiated a compromise so he will have that Summerlake area job. It was from a Yellow Pages call (that means a whole new set of neighbor and friend possibilities; we just need to get a sign up as he works and we haven’t designed that yet). Studying all day on Monday and part of Tuesday gave me good feedback to report to Ivan so we talked about a job for which I will receive training after tax season: calling for accounts receivable. It is not the easiest thing to do but it is a possibility of an income nonetheless and the best part is that it sounds flexible so it shouldn’t interfere with my most important job of visiting with, playing with and helping my children and grandchildren.

We still skied on Friday so Dad went two days in a row. It was suppose to be nice weather on Friday but it snowed most of the day on the mountain. There was so much snow and Dad said it was like Snowbird powder so he was thrilled. For me, I did best after the powder started to get skied out in the middle of the runs while Dad stayed on the sides or in the trees.

On Tuesday night Dad, Grandma and I saw Wicked! It was a last minute idea. A couple of weeks ago I thought I heard a radio announcement saying there were last minute $25.00 tickets. I did some research on it and even wrote to the radio station to learn that two hours before each performance they were handing out the tickets for cash on a lottery basis. On Tuesday we showed up two and half hours early and put our names in the witches’ cauldron for a chance at luck. They were only giving away 20 tickets so they went fast and our names weren’t called. But, they offered everyone who had lost out to be able to purchase ANY leftover seat for $41.00 (great marketing strategy since there were at least 100 people there and most of them bought the $41.00 tickets; seats they probably wouldn’t have sold at the last minute). We decided to do it instead of try another night since it was the last week that they were in town. We were able to sit all together and be on orchestra level; they were great seats.

It was SO worth it. Wicked is so good and it was really fun to share it with Grandma and see someone else enjoying it so much. Plus, I saw lots of things I had missed before. I would see it again!

I have been continuing to fine tune our food storage and add new products, seeds and grain that contain protein and amino acids, even vitamin C, that will add to our protein variety since I am low on meat ideas in my food storage. This week I added a new very dark chocolate (very essential you know!) with lots of flavonoids and antioxidants plus chia, quinoa and canned heritage seeds (for gardening). Our preparedness group is pretty edgy, no run-of-the-mill wheat and milk orders but I do plan to skip the gun meeting! Today I put the quinoa in the turkey dressing and Dad put chia in the bread. We should feel so healthy! We had the Chandler’s and Grandma over since I cooked a turkey after conference. It is Brother Chandler’s birthday this week. Oh no! It is Aunt Carla’s birthday too; I forgot!

I didn’t take as many notes over conference weekend; I just mainly enjoyed trying to sit back and listen to hear what I need to hear for myself. I took notes to help me remember (writing helps things stick in my brain) and noted some things that spoke loudly to me. One of the main things I heard to improve my life was pointing my life toward the temple, attending the temple more often and taking advantage of the power of the temple. Having meaningful Family Home Evenings (our FHE have mostly been entertainment or home projects) could be improved in my life, serving more and having faith/hope for a better future. Some of my favorite quotes were:

• Neil L. Andersen’s “Become what your spouse thinks you already are!”
• President Uchtdorf’s “As we walk in the way of gospel discipleship, we can find joy.”
• Robert D. Hales’ three thoughts in his great message about provident living: “Live joyfully within our means.”, “We can’t afford it even though we need it.” and “We can afford it but we don’t need it.”
• Kevin Pearson’s, “Faith requires us to DO not just believe.”

After he said that we need to learn to get on with our lives, I loved how Steven E. Snow taught us how to prepare for change (It summarizes lots of the messages of the weekend):

1-Follow the prophet for counsel to weather the storms

2-Keep eternal perspective about trials

3-Have faith and hope (faith and doubt cannot exist together)

4-Be of good cheer: laughter can soften the bumps

Gratitude is one thought that I had over and over during the weekend messages. I am so grateful that I already have the gospel in my life and can expend my energies towards a list of doable steps to gain more peace and happiness and come closer to the Savior. I love you all and hope you have a great week ahead, energized from the hopeful messages of the weekend.

These were some of my favorite pictures from Heidi and Bill's family photo shoot this winter. Most of you already saw this since they sent the Costco photo file to everyone.

I love you! Love, Mom

My Institute Class Today April 2, 2009

Dear Children,
This is the first time that I have written directly on the blog; I hope that this works. I had such a great institute class that I wanted to write about it. I am sure that is was better due to the fact that I have been "conference cramming" right now to meet "my own" challenge to the family to read last October's conference this month. Brother Stark, my teacher, compared conference to the Liahona so we read from 1 Nephi 16:28 where we discussed that the Liahona (like the conference messages from our prophets) work to help us personally if we have faith, diligence and heed their counsel. So the question we would ask ourselves is, "We will follow the direction we receive?" We can ask, "What are they saying to ME?" President Hinckley had told us that we CAN be uplifted, we CAN find solutions to our problems and we CAN be thankful for what we hear.

We watched President Monson's message from last conference in which he talked about finding joy in the journey of life. It was so excellent to see it again. Quoting Joseph Smith, Brother Stark said happiness (not a big house or a big portfolio) is the object and design of our existence. President Monson suggested that we quit planning for that elusive future when we will have all the time to do whatever we want but have JOY in the JOURNEY. President Monson quoted the Musicman saying, "If we pile up enough tomorrows, you have a lot of empty todays." The prophet counseled us to MAKE THE MOST OF TODAY!

He said what is most important most often involves the people around us. And my favorite quote from his talk, "Never let a problem to be solved be more important than a person." He added that we should relish life as we live it and express gratitude for our blessings. So many great lessons in one talk!

Our teacher added, "Remember that having joy is different than having fun."

I am so looking forward to conference this weekend. I pray that all of you will hear messages that you will love and you will feel like you have been personally edified and helped. I love you all and send a wish of warm cinnamon rolls your way (Don't worry, I am not making them without you this year)!!! Love, Mom

March 29, 2009

Dear Children,

This has been a great time of birthday and Spring Break fun. Thank you for all your reports of the exciting events in your lives. Our biggest news in this letter, of course, is the birth of Shawn and Aubrey’s son, Bryson Kent Bitter on Thursday, March 19. Now, he begins the string of March birthdays in our family since he is one day before Klaire! He weighed 9lbs 11oz and was 21.5” long. Aubrey went back home as quickly as they would let her and looked great. I love this family picture that shows Bryson staring up at his mom! There are more pictures of Bryson on Shawn’s Facebook. Dad and I are anxious to see Bryson and family andhave tickets to travel to the blessing on the weekend of May 17th. We will go down on Thursday and stay in the hotel by their home for three nights, stay with Aunt Denise in Antioch on Sunday night and then she will take us to the airport on Monday.

We celebrated Klaire’s birthday with Dad at Red Robin in Albany with Kyre, Wendi, Adam Sunhee and Meeja. It was so much fun to observe the children and see how good they are with each other and how the were buzzing with news to share with one another. Dad and I observed that the three grown ups could have disappeared and they would not have minded a bit since they were having so much fun being together.

Dad also celebrated his birthday on the actual day, Sunday, with a dinner of his choice and the chocolate dream cake that he loves. This time I used ganache to cover it. I was so glad that we would have Sunhee and Meeja here the next day to help us eat it! I invited Grandma to dinner and at her church meetings there was a

young woman from Alaska working here for a week, so Grandma included her in the party. She was very grateful to have somewhere to go on a

Sunday. She had some interesting stories to tell about living in Alaska and also about growing up in other countries since her father is a contractor that builds church buildings mostly in Central and South America. Dad’s birthday goal was to bike his age in one day. He met half that goal and decided maybe he would just bike his age around his birthday. He is getting in much better shape and says it is all ski prep.

Bill came back from his Canada trip in time to celebrate his birthday with his family.

I am sure the girls had lots of fun plans for him to enjoy. Heidi and the girls have been sick quite a bit so Heidi was worried that she could handle all the preparations for Rebekah's fun "Old Stone birthday party on Rebekah’s birthday on Friday but she managed, as always. Rebekah was so animated as she described her birthday to Dad and I. They ended the day by meeting up with Bill in Park City at some type of conference he was attending. The all got to stay overnight there on his last night.

Adrianne was surprised the morning of her birthday by a visit from Grandma Bitter with a doll cake that she made for Adrianne. She had made great plans to have a campfire in the canyon for her birthday. She planned for S’mores and banana boats.

Adrianne called during the day as she was scouti

ng out places in the canyon that might have a little wind protection for the party since they were experiencing very cold weather and high winds that day! As expected, the party turned out successful with her determined personality to meet her goals! Her roommates gave her a farm animal waffle iron. I can’t wait to see it. She ended the birthday celebrations by going to a David Archuleta concert on Friday night with some of her friends.

Dad and I teased Adrianne that we were celebrating her birthday by skiing for her. Her birthday, on Thursday, was the most perfect ski day. The weather was very cold but the sun was shinning the entire day. Therefore, the snow stayed perfect all day long despite the sun. We invited Ella Dahlgren to go with us since she hasn’t been able to get her parents to take her this season. In fact, she also bought a spring pass hoping we would take her up again. I thought that she would have fun going when Adrianne comes home for a few days after Nate’s graduation. Dad and I also skied on a pretty decent day the week prior realizing that we have now skied more times this season than any season for many years. In fact, it was the prior Tuesday and that night I had some friends over for a girls’ night out to play games here. Jo Black asked me if I had seen Shawn’s comments about the “parents getting ski passes”! I am glad that I am Facebook challenged so I miss all of that! Dad does enjoy sending pictures of the mountain to Shawn since he is the most fun to tease. After the very sunny picture last time, Shawn threatened that he wouldn’t be Dad’s ski buddy anymore. So, I guess I will have to be!

Digging deeper, skiing has been our Walden Pond as Elder L. Tom Perry described in his October conference talk. It is our place where we can go to forget the complications of life. He said of his visits to Walden Pond, “It offered us so much hope for simplicity and provided such a renewing escape from our overly complex lives.” Like Dad says, “When you are on the mountain you put everything else out of your mind.”

The perfect ski day on Saturday was an excellent birthday treat for Dad. I am more of a fair weather skier but Dad says it is a perfect ski day and long as the snow is not a glistening sheet of ice! He can ski on anything and in any kind of storm. A snow storm to him just means fresh powder. During these two weeks, Dad worked on “my” (really Katie’s) skis since they would get stuck if I stopped for any length of time (snow would freeze to the bottom). I would have to keep shuffling my legs to keep friction working on my side. After he worked on them I realized I had been scoo

ting, not skiing. It was such an improvement!

It sounds like Aaron has the backyard project finished. Morty called to talk last week when he was waiting for the gravel truck delivery for the area around the air conditioner and the planter boxes. Katie spoke in sacrament meeting last Sunday but I forgot the topic. I was impressed though, that she was looking for some text to an earlier talk she gave and she was doing it early in the week, not at the last minute! I taught Relief Society last week. Dad and I are tired of missing some important Beaverton Ward family milestones so we had already determined that we would be in Beaverton First last Sunday for Jace Green’s talk (leaving for Portugal on April 1) and Josh Brandt’s talk (came home from Puerto Rico). By the way, Josh spent much of his mission on the islands that used to be part of Nate’s mission. I was a little disappointed to have to teach when I was looking forward to feeling relaxed and at home for once at church. But, the good part was I wasn’t asked until three days before so I didn’t have to spend a long time worrying about it. Anyway, both young men did an excellent job. Jace especially was impressive in his preparation and his best comment I believe was, “Working to do better is all that is asked of us.”

Ivan and Ramona Jones’ mission cal to the Dominican Republic to work in the temple there has been changed. They now leave earlier, on June 1 and will be the executive secretaries to the area authorities there. They will put their talents to good use wherever they are.

Sunhee and Meeja were here at

the beginning of the week. We all had a great time; they are so much fun. We squeezed a lot of activity in a few short days: playing games, biking, visiting the parks around our home, jumping on the tramp and playing on the bars, making cookies for all their siblings, teaching Sunhee how to play the piano, roasting marshmallows and going to the zoo. Sunhee helped teach Meeja to use her brakes instead of skidding her shoe tops to stop. Meeja is a very determined soul. We had to restrict her bike riding to the driveway (good thing it is so long) as she has no fear! At one point she yelled back to Sunhee, “You can take the training wheels off my bike now!” There were no training wheels!!! When we rode around to the parks around our house (and played at each one), Meeja rode in the bike basket behind Dad’s bike. She is not yet street ready to ride!

Dad was able to go with us to the zoo. He kept remarking on all the “new” zoo exhibits and I realized that he has not been on any of the daytime trips to the zoo with the grandchildren! He has been to the zoo only after work for concerts and Zoolights! He loved the Northwestern exhibit and being able to be so close to a bald eagle. We all enjoyed watching the new baby elephant. It was also a surprise to get such a close look at the giraffe for once; he was in his enclosure and looking at all the people with his nose plastered to the glass!

We had an additional moment with Adam this week on Saturday. Aunt Lynn brought him to Tigard for a root canal on a problem tooth. Dad and I met them at the dentist office which was by the good bread store so we brought a loaf for their family and for Kyre. It is that yummy cinnamon chip bread. Even the nurse remarked as she brought Adam out that he was the best young man ever! They followed us back home and we enjoyed Mickey Mouse waffles and scrambled eggs to get something soft and warm in Adam’s stomach so he would be more comfortable on the way home when the numbness wore off. He played some ping pong and played us some of his music on the piano. He has memorized lots of his songs, Army of Helaman being one of his favorites!

Aunt Lynn and Adam were anxious to get back to Albany to help Kyre move. She had been given the keys on Friday and the missionaries (her new neighbors) and lots of ward members helped move her things on Saturday morning. We were lucky enough to be able to get inside and look at her new place on Wednesday afternoon after we took the family to Red Robin. She has a lot more room now and a living room which is a real plus. I already like her neighbors better. Irene, her next door neighbor, has already offered to help her with rides.

Uncle Jack (Elder Hoagland) sent this quote and attributed it to Lincoln. I wanted to send it on to all of you so, after some research to learn if it was authentic, I learned that it was from a

Reverend William J. H. Boetcker, who lectured around the United States about industrial relations at the turn of the twentieth century. This wisdom spoken so long ago has stayed pertinent throughout the ages:

You cannot bring prosperity by discouraging thrift.
You cannot help small men by tearing down big men.
You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.
You cannot help the poor man by destroying the rich.
You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than your income.
You cannot further brotherhood of men by inciting class hatred.
You cannot establish security on borrowed money.
You cannot build character and courage by taking away man's initiative and independence.
You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves.

Ben Bitter received his mission call to Brazil. He leaves on July 8. I have a new term starting this week for institute class. We needed last week at the end of the book of Revelations. I realized that the big theme to me in that book is “overcoming versus being overcome”! This term we will be studying the teachings of the living prophets; perfect start with conference coming up.

Dad and I got behind in our October General Conference reading challenge so now I am reading the talks out loud whenever we drive a distance. I love reviewing them and look forward to next weekend’s counsel.

I had two nice visits with Scott this week. I was able to leave the house very early on Monday morning so I could spend come time with him before picking up the girls from Angie at 9:00 am and then Dad and I had fun early Sunday morning relating all the experiences we had with his children and even Kyre this past week. I like those kind of visits where Dad and I are able to share those events with him as I feel I can uplift him best that way. Although there are a few important family observations that are helpful to discuss with him, they can be interspersed with the fun and the joy that I feel and his family feels. Reporting that joy is the best thing I feel that I can do for Scott besides pray, fast and write to him. When you get notes from his family or even Facebook or phone news, I know he would love to hear about that.

Scott looks good. He ran two 10K runs last weekend and felt very accomplished about his times, plus he has spent time on a stationery bike working out. As I talked with him about our chances of late to ski more often, I reminded him that he needs to stay very active and healthy so that he can return to skiing when he gets out! Besides Dad, Scott is one of the more beautiful skiers to watch with his great balancing skills. I remember watching him ski down moguls in one of the bowls at Meadows or Bachelor with Katie skiing between his legs! He had rubber legs that took the impact of those bumps with seemingly ease!

I told him that Heidi would visit him on his birthday in April to make sure that he check that Heidi was not removed from his list. She will return to Utah with Dad, Grandma and I the day after his birthday for Nate’s graduation ceremonies. Scott said that his weekends usually revive him for the following week. He takes advantage of lots of leadership opportunities in his branch on Sunday morning. During the week he continues his leadership in the law library being careful to uphold the trust that is given him there. That level of trust that he has earned has afforded him many more benefits than otherwise would be available to him. Have a great week. I love you, Mom As you can see, I am having some challenges with the blog!

March 15, 2009

Dear Children,
Dad and I had such a great time on our anniversary get-away in Vancouver and Whistler. I would love to go back in a moment. British Columbia is so gorgeous with all of its evergreens and snowy mountains. It reminds me of the landscape around here except on a grander scale; that is a VAST countryside.
We had some challenges trying to get away with our computer screen completely shutting down and our furnace going out the night before (it is a blessing though that I needed to get something from the storage room so I could smell the gas and know something had done wrong). Luckily, Ron Whitaker came over late Monday night and thought he could have the furnace going again with a few new parts (this is not the time to have to buy a new furnace!) while we were away and so we just needed to find a repair shop to take the computer on the way out of town. Our plans to leave early were changed but that also was a blessing. I woke during the night feeling very worried that my stomach pains that had been getting worse the last few days might be something to get checked before leaving the country the next day. When I called my doctor early that next morning for advice on whether it was safe to travel with the symptoms, she scheduled lots of blood tests, an ultrasound and even a CAT scan (one right after the other; I have never experienced such quick service!) to rule out any of their concerns. They did just that and said to go on our way!
So, with the later start I realized I could be disappointed with all of our changed plans or to look forward and be happy with our rearranged adventure with adjusted new plans! Dad kept mumbling in a “sick” sort of way about the disbelief of the road conditions from the last time he drove north to the Seattle area (that December trip really traumatized him). We arrived in Vancouver, British Columbia after dark. Thank goodness for the GPS; it was a time saver! Especially when we couldn’t see the tiny WorldMark sign on the building in Vancouver but the GPS lady said, “You have arrived!” We actually put the GPS manual that was on a disk in the lap top and went through it on the drive up. We learned a lot more applications.
Even though it was dark, we walked down some of the streets around our place. We were blocks away from a huge shopping area called Robson Street. The shops were all closed so we just looked at the window displays. We saw the cutest candy apple dipped in white chocolate with covered marshmallows to look like cheeks! We were on the 22nd floor right in downtown Vancouver. Amazingly, for a big city, we were able to park our car without cost in the underground parking structure. The apartment-type units have floor to ceiling picture windows to view the city lights. It really is a nice place to stay for only $42.00 a night!
The next morning we took a walk along the sea wall by English Bay. They have clean beaches and the water was very clear. I wished we had bikes so we could have traveled the entire sea wall around Stanley Park. We bought our Wonderbars that all Canadians rave about and checked out. Sally Farb used to always bring back a bunch but they sell them in the cute candy store in Seaside we have found. I am not a Butterfinger fan, so they don’t impress me since they remind me a little of that taste.
Luckily our place allowed us to keep the car parked until we left town so we walked to the water again and took an Aquabus across the False Creek to a darling little shopping area called Granville Island. In reading about Vancouver, I heard that the best fish and chips in the world were sold there at a shack called Go Fish. We searched them out and they were as we were told, the best “we” have had since we are not world travelers and don’t usually order fish and ships anyway! It was fun to find the place and walk around the island. They have an incredible market with every imaginable fruit, pastry, main entrée, etc. Dad bought roasted chestnuts.
We traveled up to Whistler, about two hours away, with the water on one side of us and the mountains on the other much of the way. The road to Whistler is under construction with a ton more that needs to be done before the masses of the Olympic crowds next winter. I hope they will be done! Our place in Whistler was just across the street from Whistler Village, the cutest little ski town with pavers for streets (no cars allowed). It was our anniversary but we decided to eat inside after a little walk in town under a light snow fall (so pretty!) so we would have time to rest our sore feet (from all the walking in Vancouver) in the hot tub before it closed. Our feet actually needed rejuvenating more than resting since Dad was watching the weather to see if we would ski the next morning!
By 7:15 the next morning Dad was ready to ski. I was nervous, not only to ski that enormous mountain after not really skiing for two years but also because I feared I would turn into a popsicle! It was 10 degrees Fahrenheit on that mountain (It warmed up to about 20 degrees during the day even though the sun was out)! It was beautiful ski conditions and there was a covering of fresh snow from the night before. Thank goodness I had Katie’s old skis and boots (my boots fell apart at Bachelor years ago) so I could put on an extra pair of socks (otherwise my feet are too loose in them anyway). The frigid temperature gave a good test to my new Patagonia thermals that Dad bought me for my birthday (with a special deal from Zappos!) and they really worked!!! In this picture, dad is standing by an Inukshuk at the top of the gondola. It is the symbol of this year’s Olympics. This one is ice since it is on the mountain but most are in stone; they are all over the area. Besides this symbol having deep roots in native culture, you can’t help but think it looks kind of like a hockey goalie!
Everyone I asked promised me that there were plenty of easy runs and they were right! I love the green runs on Whistler; they are really green (not the Utah green that makes Oregon green look like the parking lot incline)! They are also very wide, a lot like Stormin’ Norman at Timberline and I love that run. They were enough of my “no-guts-comfort-zone” that Adrianne might claim there wasn’t enough of an incline for a marble to roll! We got on the mountain after 9:00 and I figured I might make it a half day but we skied until the lifts closed at 4:30 with only one stop for lunch. Most of the day we skied on the Whistler side but we also took an amazing tram ride called Peak2Peak that did exactly that, crossed the valley between the two huge mountains and we skied down the Blackcomb side! In this picture we are suspended in midair across the canyon.
Our other goal in Canada was to sample some poutine, a Canadian “delicacy” of French fries, cheese cruds and gravy, “aboot” which Dad had learned in his readings. It sounds like an awful combination of foods but in the middle of one of the 100 (38 lifts) or so ski runs on Blackcomb Whistler we stopped and had it for lunch at one of the several restaurants on the mountain. It actually felt good to have that a weird sounding combination of foods; kind of a stick-to-your-ribs comfort food combo!
Exhausted, we opted to stay in again that night and hit the hot tub after skiing all day. On a grocery run for dinner rolls Dad ran into and of course, struck up a conversation with a member of the Canadian skeleton (like luge but on a small disk going down the ice tube head first!) team. He was invited to go view their practice that evening, which he did. I was already out of my ski clothes and dressed for the hot tub when he came back and announced the chance to return to the ski slopes and stand watching the team practice whooshing by at break-neck speed in the ice covered. It sounded too frigid of an adventure to me so I opted to meet Dad in the hot tub when he returned.
Dad came back with the excitement of a little boy after his first major league experience where he might have snagged a foul ball. He had the wiggly voice to prove it as he joined me in the hot tub (with a couple that we had met the night before) to describe his personal viewing of the team practice. We learned the next day that Dad had passed many of the security barriers that are normally in force during the day and viewed up close and personal like no one else can! He described the team members huffing and puffings right after their 40-second-or-less-runs as he was right next to them and talking with some of them. The next day, after check out, we went back to view their next practice time but this time we had to obey all the rules and security regulations. We still got closer than most people will be able to get at the Olympics so it was kind of unique. It is an amazingly crazy sport. They ride down the ice chute on what looks like a cafeteria tray, head first getting speeds up to 150 Kilometers (about 100 miles an hour) an hour in some spots! I was lucky to capture some of them with my camera. I do have a picture showing how part of the run they are sliding on the slide (where that lettering is!) of the tube but Dad isn’t in that one.
After lunch in the village we stopped at the Olympic cross country and ski jumps venues before leaving town. We missed seeing anyone practicing there. We also drove past the winter area for eagles. They are usually gone by March so Dad wants to come back next year earlier to spot some eagles even though we can see them in Oregon on Sauvie’s Island! It was a beautiful drive back to our next destination, Blaine Washington, right across the border. We stayed that night in Birch Bay, a VERY small beach town, in which we couldn’t find anything of interest to keep us there past check out the next day. So, we traveled through some quaint towns in northern Washington and a beautiful drive through Chuckanut Drive, catching a beautiful sunset over the San Juan Islands, on the way home Saturday.
Along the drive we read began reading the November Ensign since it is our goal to read it all the way through before this April general conference. We read all of the priesthood session and were left with a renewed sense of the importance of being more service oriented. It reminded me of a quote from a previous institute class from Bishop Burton that went something like this: The things you do for yourself are gone when you die but the things you do for others are your legacy (very simplified).
We returned to a very cold house since the furnace had not been fixed; we should have figured such since we were relying on a “potato chip person” to fix it while we were gone. For the next couple of days we stayed close to the fireplace and Dad even wore a jacket liner and ski cap in the house. I gained a new found appreciation for the gas fireplace and our gas-run hot water heater.
Our leftover Canadian money and the Wonderbars that we bought for the family members who are attached to them (the Brady family of course!), was sent in an early birthday and Easter package to the Brady’s home since Bill is headed to Canada this week for his annual ice fishing trip with his brother at their cottage in the wilderness. He just learned though, that the fishing season was cut short last week in an effort for some sort of fish preservation this year.
We said a “Hi and Goodbye” to Grandma when we arrived as we took her to the airport the next day after we arrived home. She went to visit the boys in Las Vegas. She reported having a great time. They made things nice for her; they even considered bringing part of Aaron’s bed downstairs for her to make the guest bed more comfortable for her. She enjoyed watching Aaron work in his backyard. He is covering the rest of his yard, around the concrete walkways, with pavers. He also brought is two of the four trees that he is going to plant and making planter boxes out of pavers for them also. The yard is looking so nice.
Grandma missed getting to do a formal Zappos tour while there but she went and visited Nate at work on her way to the airport. Here is a link to the newspaper article called, “A Day in the Life of Zappos” in which Nate had his picture. He is the third picture to the right in the string of pictures. He is in a bean bag chair in his office next to his adjustable desk. Nate sent it to me but I am not certain he sent it to the rest of you. He wasn’t very impressed with the importance of the article since they didn’t talk about him! Nate is in Kansas City this weekend to visit his dad and go to a concert. The link:

http://www.lasvegassun.com/photos/galleries/2009/jan/23/zapposcom/

Katie was also traveling over this weekend; she was in Provo. She was having BYU baseball withdrawals! So, she picked a triple header weekend with the University of Utah. They won two out of three of the games.
Morty was true to BYU and bought tickets to three days to the basketball tournament held in Las Vegas. He got to see BYU win the first game and also to see UNLV lose which is why there were seats available to buy!
Adrianne spent her Friday night representing our family at two receptions; one in Toole for Zen Hathaway’s’ marriage and the other in Salt Lake for Laura Bradford’s wedding reception. Both families were very glad that she came and said to say hi to all of you. She spent time talking with every one of the Bradford family as they reminisced about their memories of Adrianne. Which, obviously, it was a LONG time ago when she was very young and most of them remembered that she wore her bathing suit with most of her outfits! She also spent some time in Daybreak on Saturday with Heidi’s girls so that Heidi could attend the funeral for Tim Dailey (Andrea Payne’s husband) who died last week when his heart stopped.
Dad and I went to a reception for David Christensen (Raleigh Hills Ward Christensen family). I realized that David didn’t remember us but he said he remembered Nate. We saw lots of long time stake families that said to say hello to all of you: Stahr, Dougall, Banks, Hunsaker . . . We even went to one of those “90 minute” seminars so that we could get “free” tickets to Las Vegas so we could see the boys again sometime soon. We are doing crazy things these days with not being on our usual schedule (well, my regular work hasn’t really changed any actually!). I also waited at a grand opening for a bank to open an account. Can you believe it? I waited an hour and a half and then had to get an appointment for a later date (which they were willing to do since they had too many people show up for their great interest promotion). The couple that I sat next to part of the time looked at me and we both said, “Are we really waiting in line to put our money in a bank?” While I waited I got a “free” lunch and chair massage though. That massage was nice since I had gone skiing the day before.
Another out of character thing Dad and I did this week: Whistler reminded us how much fun it is to ski and we have always wished that we could look at the mountain on a nice day and just say, “Let’s go ski.” So, Timberline was offering an incredible deal for an end of the year ski pass (until May 23) and we decided that was a great way to work to get in better shape (It is like doing squats all day and enjoying it) and Dad is available for once! We went to Timberline on Friday and the parking lot was so full but the lifts weren’t crowded since they have another lift. The sun was shinning all day and there was very little wind so we skied on the Magic Mile all day. The snow was best at the top of the mountain so we didn’t ever traverse over to Stormin’ Norman. Dad did a couple of runs on the new left but said the snow was getting slushy because of the warm temperature that day. It was a sunglass-ski day . . . yeah!
Shawn has called a few times about things other than the baby being delivered. Every time I hear his voice I am sure he is going to say the baby is here but no! Maybe they will have a St. Patrick’s Day baby! Aubrey was ready long ago to have that baby. It always seems much longer when you go over your due date.
I had lots of ideas to share from my institute class but this is too long already. We mostly discussed keeping an evil influence out of our homes, one single home at a time. A quote from the day is, “The chain that binds the devil is forged in heaven on the anvil of divine justice and its links are fabricated from hearts of righteousness and acts of faithful servants.”
Kyre is now sure that she is going to move to a larger place on April 1. Her new address:
432 Ermine Street SE
Albany, OR 97321
It sounds like a much better place for her and Klaire to live. The missionaries live next door and she will be right next to the park and Waverly Park Elementary School. Kyre and Wendi were surprised that President and Sister Child were their speakers for stake conference yesterday. The Child's were excited to see them and also Adam, who had gone with Kyre. Dad and I will be in Albany and gather all the grandchildren for a fun afternoon during Spring Break. Dad said we may have daffodils popping their heads out by the time that Sunhee and Meeja stay here next week. I look forward to that. I love you, Mom