September 16, 2009

Dear Family,

After such a beautiful summer, it has looked like fall weather with two days of almost none stop rain last week. It will give my tomatoes and my surviving beans, zucchini and cucumbers a good drink. The garden has done so well this summer; I have frozen and canned quite a bit of vegetables for the winter already. Dad loves meals from the garden. I must have been away while most of the volunteer cherry tomatoes starting looking too much like a full blown living thing for me to pluck them out. So we also have tons of cherry tomatoes surrounding the other vegetables. That makes for a nice snack as I am working in the garden.

Having not written for quite some time, I have a lot to say. This is going to be a long one! Especially since I visited several of you, went to Education Week, and had some great times here during that absence.

We had a couple of enjoyable visits with Scott on Sunday mornings. We read our Sunday School lesson on the way down since we aren’t in Sunday School anymore and, on the way back, we practice our Primary ideas on each other. I have been responsible for Sharing Times this month. I have learned that I over-prepare. Fifteen minutes goes by way too fast! But, I do love studying all the materials and having ideas flow about possibilities to teach the doctrine in interactive ways. Our ward has a challenging Junior Primary so I need to keep lots of variety going with as much movement as possible while keeping their minds engaged. The Senior Primary is smaller and loves to be challenged; it is especially fun. Today I shared my “Oh, We Made a Hand” trick for remembering the book of the Book of Mormon and made it into a mystery puzzle that I didn’t reveal until the end of Sharing Time. I just remembered, we didn’t finish that thought.

It is all very fun but extremely intense planning and preparations which explains all the messes around the house. Dad refers to the office as “his” primary room since that is where he stores his materials and works on his lessons. He refers to the rest of the house as “my” Primary room. That is supposed to be funny. It should also calm down as we get our teachers all called (dream) and the CSMP is more underway. Plus, for two months, I won’t be in charge of Sharing Time. . yeah!

I have been especially busy orienting new teachers since we had more than half of our classes without teachers. The bishop also is calling team teachers for most all of the classes since our men teachers all must have another man or their wife in the room while teaching. Bishop Daniels decided that it would be good to have team teachers for everyone and have one of the team be someone that needs to learn how to teach. It makes more work for everyone but the vision is a good one. I also am in charge of the Faith in God program that has been neglected in our ward. Just as with Cub Scouts, it is oriented towards the family accomplishing it but all families need reminders and help implementing it. Lastly, I have been spending much time on the Children’s Sacrament Meeting Presentation. I am in charge of writing it which has been tough since I don’t know the children well enough yet and I also don’t know what was emphasized throughout the year in Sharing Times by the old presidency. Oh, well; I am doing my best. I do hope that I can learn when Adam, Alina, Sunhee and Meeja have their Children’s Sacrament Meeting Presentation. It would be fun to go see the grandchildren (we went to Adam’s last year) if it would work to get back to our own church also.

The children in Dad’s class already feel attached to him. Last Sunday Jo Black was bringing us over some slices of her home made apple pie and HOME MADE ice cream. Nathan wanted to come along to be the one to give it to “his” teacher, Brother Bitter. It was funny as he stood in our living room and, while studying the leg lamp (from The Christmas Story movie) that Shawn gave Dad for Father’s Day, said, “Now that is an unusual lamp!” We learned that the Black’s had never gotten through the entire movie since they felt it was too negative. Oops, I hope Nathan didn’t get the wrong idea by us having a lady’s leg on our piano!

Scott looks really good and is upbeat as is usually the case. He is losing his cell mate, Kelly, since Kelly will be moved to a minimum security prison for the last four years of his term. Scott still has hopes to move into A Block but hasn’t found the right combination yet. He says he has lots of good choices facing him right now about which he is praying.

Scott continues to exercise and enter all the running races. He came in third on Friday but ended up with heat stroke due to the record temperatures that we had for part of this week. He placed second in the last race; they are 10K runs.

Scott relayed some funny (not really so funny) updates on the notes that were confiscated when I left the prison a few weeks ago. He was called into the office of the head of security threats and gang related problems. He was interrogated concerning the notes and “code” I jotted down during that visit! It was their belief that Scott and I are part of a much larger conspiracy (Scott suspected they believe drug trafficking) and that he and I were being extorted to do such things! Scott feels like he squelched most of the lieutenant’s concerns but was told that he would be under their radar. Scott’s last question was, “How do I get off your radar?” and he was told not to draw any more maps of the prison. Scott gave his word!

Scott also described to us details of his polygraph test. It sounds horrible to be hooked up to all the devises he described. His arm was hooked to a blood pressure type cuff the entire time that they kept inflating. That would be so painful that I don’t know how your body could possibly react in a normal manner to get a fair reading. Scott is not sure of the outcome since he hasn’t received the report.

Dad and I had a great time in Las Vegas during the latter part of August. It was a more relaxing trip this time. We didn’t get many projects to do except helping Morty hang some curtains he had purchased and a small amount of yard work. Morty treated us to a Mexican dinner the night we arrived. Adrianne made her famous (to the boys) salsa that they love. She learned it from one of the girls who is Mexican in their ward. The boys call it “24 hour salsa” since it is always gone within 24 hours!

One of the days in Las Vegas, Aaron took us on a tour of Red Rocks. It is beautiful. We like it so much that we decided it would be a fun outing to come back to Las Vegas at Thanksgiving time. We planned that we will put the turkey in the oven on Thanksgiving morning and then go for a hike at Red Rock Canyon while it cooks! How about that? Do any of you other children want to join us? We plan to get to Las Vegas late Tuesday night, celebrate Thanksgiving there, do very early morning Black Friday shopping in Las Vegas and then travel to Orem Friday night so that we can be at the BYU-Utah game Saturday afternoon to celebrate my birthday. I hope they win!!! Then, on Monday morning, we will travel home to Portland.

While in Las Vegas, Dad and I appreciated that Nate invited us to go along with his work buddies on a hike. Even though we went in the morning, it was miserably hot (over 110 degrees) and there was no shade! When we talked of hiking, I instinctively visualize trees and such. No, we hiked between hot rocks (Dad said you could fry an egg on them) on the way to the Colorado River just past Boulder City by the Hoover Dam and Lake Mead. I just love having children who are more prepared than I. Adrianne had brought gloves with her which she let me use since I hung onto rocks for balance much more than she needed. With her working out each night after work, she is in very good shape to have balance to bound through the trails.

Being with Nate peers was incredibly interesting to me as his mother. It is obvious the respect that Nate has earned. He is the “go-to-guy” in his group. Every question was directed towards him; every bit of advice was requested from him. His coworkers really rely on his leadership talents. He is definitely a natural leader. I am glad that his talents are recognized and used. He and Adrianne also ended up hiking out for water to help some dehydrated hikers some suffering from heat stroke. With their attention to healthy habits, their bodies were stronger to make the extra treks to get the help needed. Dad and I had not hiked the entire distance so they called to us when they had cell connection to bring back water to the trailhead.

While in Las Vegas, their ward had stake conference with two visiting authorities since they changed their stake president: William R Walker and David E. Lesueur. It was an excellent meeting. And Adrianne was disappointed to learn that the very next Sunday, the only one that she was going to be in Beaverton, we also had stake conference. Not only did she not get to see the regular old crowd but stake conference starts earlier in the morning and she felt justified to sleep as much as possible between her job ending in Las Vegas and the start of school! Actually, she reports that she is on a very good schedule this fall of arising earlier than usual and exercising before classes. Way to go Adrianne!

The enjoyable visit in Las Vegas with the boys and Adrianne, the recent visits of Katie and Adrianne, plus the fun reports we get from Aubrey and others of you who love to get together has made me especially thankful for our family. This is going to be fun to have all adult children! I just love learning about your adventures and it is so much fun to have you come back home. The visits are all the more enjoyable as you all have become accomplished in your lives and are willing to share your talents and abilities to help us and make things fun. It was especially fun to partake of some of the creative abilities in the kitchen and to have Katie share her excitement over her Martha Stewart cupcake quest (and very tasty). Adrianne left us with some “24 Hour Salsa” and made a special treat for Dad when she saw scallops on sale at the grocery store, knowing that he loved them. I am also excited to get started working on the business website when we get home from our trip since several of you have given us such great ideas.

After Las Vegas, Dad came home to a job and I headed to Utah with Adrianne. She drove to get her car back to Provo before she flew to Portland for a summer visit before starting back at BYU. At the last minute, Carol Stanger had convinced me to come up to BYU for Education Week. I have always wanted to go. I remember going when it came to Portland years ago. Morty was a baby; I took the bus to the east side of town with him. Of course, I used to watch it at the church when they used to broadcast several speakers there. So finally, I arranged to go with Carol. I really would prefer to go with Dad; maybe next summer!

I attended some great classes. I already sent you one of my best experiences there as I felt such a profound witness of the First Vision. Besides Susan Easton Black’s class I attend a great series on the Creation by Jerry A Wilson; it was so interesting. I also liked Randy Bott’s class; I think Nate told me to go hear him. Grandma and Grandpa Bitter opened their home to both Carol and I; that made the days there much more comfortable and affordable. Our first night there we had determined to go to late classes but it was so much fun to be with Katie and Adrianne, that we stayed with them instead. Both girls were leaving the next day. I also got a chance to see Heidi and the girls on my way home from an airport run and also when they came to Orem one night.

Adrianne had a chance to see almost all of her old horse buddies while home for a week or so. We even squeezed a camping trip while she was here. I think we totally wore down Sammy. She isn’t used to so much hiking and she didn’t even go on all the hikes. She didn’t move all evening the night we returned! We camped at the place that is so close (about 30 minutes away), Stewart Stubbs. It is the place we took Adam last year. We were able to get a cabin; that is easy camping!

I came home in time for our stake conference. Our visiting authority was Elder Hinckley (he has a sense of humor like his Dad did). Both the Saturday night and the Sunday meetings were fantastic. I have a tons of notes from which I will try and pull some tidbits of knowledge!

From the Saturday night meeting I loved a piano moving analogy that President Greaves used. He described a time when their Elders Quorum was moving a piano for someone and it flipped out of the truck and was totally destroyed. He related that the quorum had ignored safe and careful practices over and over again and yet nothing bad had ever happened before. They drew the wrong conclusion: that the smart and safe moving practices that they really should be using didn’t really matter. He compared this to our lives going well even though we neglect the regular private religious practices to which we should be clinging.

Elder Hinckley’s Saturday night message was to take advantage of the temple.

There were so many fantastic Sunday messages. At the top of my notes I wrote, “Adversity is a cauldron that boils away those things that are not important.” Then by that quote, I wrote two reminders:

1-Avoid selfish ease

2-Extend ourselves to others

In between regular life these past few weeks, Dad and I have had lots of fun making final plans for our dream trip to Hawaii. It is unbelievable that it is finally right around the corner since we have thought about doing this for years and it is finally coming true. We booked this a year ago (good thing)! Recently, we had to choose some side trips fro the cruise so we tried to do lots of research. We want to learn about each island that we will stop on but also, we want time to explore instead of being on a bus most of the day. We opted to use the travel service just for two of the days so that will allow us to do things like just hop on a city bus to take us around some of the islands. We also hope to snorkel in several places so we have even been to 24 Hour Fitness to practice with our fins and masks. The last time I used them, I had problems with my legs cramping. I may have to take my Zoomers which are shorter fins. There is a lot to do to be able to be gone for so long. We leave Saturday, September 26 and return Monday, October 12! Many of those days we will be without cell coverage or internet. Yikes!

It sounds like Wendi had an enjoyable birthday week with lots of celebrations. She planned to have a cream filled donut since she said that it was National cream filled donut week!

We have been totally enjoying BYU football this year and luckily, we have been able to watch it on TV so far. Katie remarked how there would be testimonies about BYU sports the day following the Oklahoma win. There was only one sportimony in good old B1 and it was a BYU enemy who confessed to rooting for the blue . . . too many of those in this ward . . can't figure out why that's the case. This explains why I CANNOT help with Rebecca Whitaker’s wedding until after the Florida State game! Well, I am helping on Thursday and all day Friday. But, I cannot chance going to set up before the evening reception so that someone doesn’t spoil my chance to watch the game unfold.

Jaime Woodruff had her baby girl, Isabel, on Sunday, August 23. I believe that Grandma Bitter said she had red hair. Solomon Rosen left for basic training in the Air Force this week and James Orme left for the Washington DC Spanish speaking mission last week. Dad spoke with him in sacrament meeting (he was his hoe teaching partner). In speaking about the blessings of the gospel in the home, he added some ideas from Adrianne as he was preparing while she was here. She had some great insights as she suggested that she enjoyed the stability, order and predictability that a gospel centered home provides.

Dad has been “enjoying” some pretty grueling bike rides lately. In honor of Nate’s three peaks hike, Dad did a three peaks bike ride including Chehalis Mountain, Bald Peak and Cooper Mountain. It took him about four hours. Unfortunately, he chooses to do many of his long rides in the worse heat of the day! Let us know what you are all up to. We love hearing from you. I guess Morty was in the Bay Area this weekend. I received a couple of pictures from him with the Bitter boys, Greg and Bryson. It is hard to keep up with Morty! I love you all. Love, Mom

Remember Nate

September 8, 2009

Wednesday evening Nate will travel to California with several of his work associates. It is the intense hiking "race" for which Nate has been training for many, many months. He will camp on one of the mountains Wednesday night. The hike begins at 5:00 am on Thursday morning and ends at 5:00 am on Friday morning. I believe it involves three different mountains and is organized by Jansport for their retailers. Please, let's all remember Nate in our prayers that he will be safe. Thank you! Love, Mom

Thirsting For Knowledge September 8, 2009

Wow, I don’t know when I am going to sit down and write the many events and happenings over the last several weeks. Dad said today that we are too busy living life to write about it. My weeks are getting away from me and I have so many things about which I have wanted to write. I fear the distance will make me forget.
There is something that happened to me while at Education Week that I do not want to forget so I think I will take the time to write a mini blog. I attended lots of great lectures; I guess that I was really hungry for learning. Education Week was the right place to be. I enjoyed many classes but this is my most profound memory.
I listened to Susan Easton Black talk about the First Vision. She’s an incredibly knowledgeable teacher and excellent speaker. I know several of you have had the privilege of taking classes from her at BYU; an entire term with her, how lucky! In that hour’s time I learned many new things and new ways of looking at this great event.
It was a factual, information lecture. I was quickly jotting down notes so I could retain some of her detailed research. I was hurriedly writing until she started describing the Sacred Grove. The moment she mentioned that the grove was sacred ground, I felt an undeniable witness. It was not fleeting as are so many of my feelings like this. The feeling was all encompassing and lasted long enough that I was able to ask myself, “What is this feeling?” and realize that I was having a most profound witness that what Sister Black was saying was really true.
I have, for many years, wished I could travel to the Sacred Grove. Someday I may. But, without ever seeing it and experiencing it first hand, I know that the Prophet Joseph Smith did see God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. I know that Joseph was called by name in that grove, not because he was to be the Lord’s prophet, but because he, along with all of us, is a child of that very God and He knows all of us and loves us equally.
I felt a huge sense of gratitude after that class, not for what I heard but for what I felt. I am grateful to my Heavenly Father for the tender mercy of allowing me to feel such a profound witness of the First Vision. I wish I could say that those feelings are a part of my everyday experience. I know my days are directed by the Spirit when I make that allowance but this experience was an undeniable special gift from a loving Father in Heaven.
I love you all. Love, Mom

August 13, 2009

Dear Family,

It is hard to believe that the end-of-the-summer trip to Las Vegas that I planned many months ago is this week! Dad and I leave this Friday and then planned to return on Tuesday night. He will still come back home since he is in the middle of a job. Plans changed last week for me when Carol Stanger begged me to go to Education Week with her at the last minute. After a bunch of rearranging, I will drive up with Adrianne when she drives her car to Utah (Tuesday morning) and then stay at Grandma and Grandpa Bitter’s along with Carol. Adrianne leaves from Utah to have a visit in Portland on Wednesday. I told her since I don’t get back now until Saturday morning, she would need to do all her horse visiting while I was still in Utah. Katie also leaves Utah for Los Angeles on Wednesday. It sounds like the last minute rush of vacations before school starts.

I have enjoyed this summer; it has reminded me of the kind of summers I had growing up in California. And with all this heat, my garden has really been amazing. Dad and I have enjoyed several meals with corn on the cob from the garden. The green beans need some attention before I leave town as do the beets (but they may not get it). Friday is coming so fast and I have promised to help with Lorraine Floyd’s wedding flowers. She is having finger jello at her reception; doesn’t that sound just like her? I just made all of that tonight. Suzie Ludlow also is getting married this weekend; Dad and I will miss that. At Suzie’s shower the other night I told Becky that I have been out of town for the last two Ludlow weddings so if she wanted to guarantee us being at her wedding, she might have to marry one of my boys! The only thing I am doing for Suzie is having her fiancé’s family stay at our home while we are gone. That is a little weird but it works.

With all the sunshine and heat, it was quite a shocker to sit at an outdoor concert Tuesday night in Carolwood Park with our umbrella. It rained lightly most of the day on Tuesday and again Wednesday. I can’t complain about the rain; it helps me water Ramona’s yard. They believe that they have a buyer. I hope it closes soon! Chris Jones announced his engagement; he is getting married October 6 I believe in the Timpanogas Temple. I liked the girl; he introduced Dad and me to her when his parents spoke in sacrament meeting before they left. They will get to come back for two weeks for the wedding. Chris is not having anything in Beaverton.

Heidi and Bill had a great family reunion with the Sabey family in Island Park, Idaho (that is his mom’s side of the family). It is the reunion that they have talked about before that has those big Rook tournaments; that sounds so fun (Our tournament would have to be Hand and Foot; that would be a fun looking trophy)! Unfortunately though, they were rear ended their first night up there. No one was badly injured but they had a real scare. Their car is in the shop of course to repair the damage.

My week was filled with children; grandchildren and Primary children. Dad and I were released on Sunday from the Singles Ward assignment and both called into the Primary. Dad will teach the Valiant 9 class (a class that needs a strong presence) and I will be the first counselor. I am excited to be back in Primary. On our way home from Albany on Saturday evening, we stopped at the Temple’s distribution center and I picked up the Children’s Sacrament Meeting Presentation and Sharing Time Outline and Dad picked up his own mini Children’s Songbook to learn the songs. I woke up Sunday morning so excited to start studying the scripture and Church resources to teach in Primary. When in Primary before, I remember the feeling in July when the new outline would come out each year. I love the detailed direction of gospel study that it gives me. I volunteered to be the first one to take a month of teaching sharing time (in September). I hope I can get back in the swing of things!

Dad and I had a full week of fun with Meeja and Sunhee here. They love playing outside and riding bikes. Meeja’s accident last Saturday didn’t decrease her determination in the least to learn more bike riding skills. They both love to hop on a playground every chance they get. When we found out that the neighbor girls go to the elementary school for lunch each day we decided that would be a fun outing. The day we went to the zoo, we started at Vose. We peaked around the school too find where I dropped off the children sometimes for kindergarten. The second time we went to Greenway School and then stayed and played on the playground until I pried the girls away. I think Meeja would make a fun little gymnast.

Meeja was the one who really wanted to go to the zoo. She wanted to see the bird show again but, being that it was Wednesday, they were setting up equipment for the zoo concert on the lawn so they didn’t have the show. We still had fun and one of Meeja’s highlights was getting to ride a school bus from the overflow parking lot since the zoo was so full of children.

Eileen Daniel’s father passed away so I attended his funeral one morning so the girls spent the day with Grandma Maldonado. They liked that since she treated them to both Taco Bell and McDonald’s! That night we took the girls to Bridgeport to hear the concert there. And guess what, Dad and I sat on a bench by the playground so the girls could play within earshot of the band. Meeja liked the bubble machine from the concert.

I invited the Jensen girls one day to come and play. I thought they would enjoy jumping on the tramp with the sprinklers like the girls had been doing most days. But, this time, the girls mostly stayed in and, since the Jensen girls love playing make believe, Meeja and Sunhee joined in. It was nice to see them play differently. They had a blast and the Jensen girls seemed to find all my dolls around the house. They found old jewelry and all had fun prancing around it that. They had a blast just being little girls.

I was worried that nine days would be too long for the girls to be here so Dad asked Sunhee if she would rather be here for the short weekends that we normally have them. Sunhee thought for a minute and then said, “I think a month would be long enough!”

The girls saw all the dresses for South Africa that I had sorted in piles from the Girls’ Camp Humanitarian project. I had bought extra materials to make my grand daughters dresses so I asked them if they wanted me to make one. It wasn’t until the last day that they remembered about the dresses and asked me to make some. They picked out their fabrics and helped with some of the steps. Sunhee wanted to try sewing with the machine so she put in her entire hem. She was so pleased to show Kyre on Saturday afternoon when we saw her. We made a dress for Klaire so I got a picture of all them at Kyre’s house. Adam surprised us; he was there when we arrived so we got to play one last game of Uno with him before leaving.

On the way back home we stopped and visited with Scott. It is always great to see him just after having the children so he has a chance to hear about all the little details. He laughs a lot at all their personalities. He is doing well and he is making some progress (in the VERY slow process) of the chance to visit with his children someday. He is very determined and has been endowed with the Bitter patience gene. After my brush with the prison guards I decided that my personality could not survive there. He is very wise.

I finally was able to pack up all the dresses and deliver them to someone who is heading to South Africa. I hope that they get there. We sent them with one of our attic suitcases that we didn’t need to see again! The mission president’s wife has promised to send pictures of the girls with their dresses. The Young Women will love that. Speaking of the Young Women, I forgot to tell you that Robin Whitaker is the new RS president in our ward with Kathleen Westhora and Jaime Jorgensen as counselors. Jo Black is the new Primary president with me and Brittany Westhora as counselors. It is a big ward shake up and since all our Junior Primary classes are without teachers, the Primary intends to shake up Young Women. It is a domino affect!

Well, I am off to help with the wedding and then I pack for Las Vegas and Education Week. I just laugh at the things I had planned to do in my first summer with no children home; NOTHING on that list got done!!! I got the creative bug last year for Christmas so I had so many gifts planned to make . . . Ha! I love you. Enjoy these last weeks of summer! Love, Mom

August 3, 2009

Dear Children,

This week has just flown by with lots of activities. As I drove out of Beaverton on Monday with the thermometer climbing through three digits I realized that it was a PERFECT day to leave town. What a dramatic difference; the coast was gorgeous. It was crystal clear most of the time we were there with temperatures in the 70s and 80s. We also had an excellent room location. I remember not liking the Depot Bay place since you can’t walk to the beach but I can’t wait to go back. While there, I realized that it is a perfect place to take out bikes since Depot Bay is so close. I love watching the fishing boats coming in and filleting their catch so I could easily ride to the beach early in the morning if I had my bike.

Our room was on the cove side so I was kind of disappointed to hear that until we got there. We had a spectacular view of both the cove and the ocean. We saw whales most days and sometimes whales can be spotted in the cove (not this time though). We were on the ground floor so we could walk out of our room onto the grass. We ate our breakfast on the sunny grass one morning. We chose to swim in the pool that overlooked the ocean; it was great. When we weren’t swimming, we were playing games or visiting Depot Bay. We visited the whale watching station and learned more about whales. Grandma and I also went to a class about whales at our place given by a marine biologist. It was quite interesting. On the night of Grandma’s birthday we had dinner at Tidal Raves. It is always a great meal there and the view was spectacular.

The day after we returned from the beach, Aunt Denise left and I prepared for a visit from Adam, Meeja and Sunhee starting Friday. I was able to visit with Scott on my way down to pick up the girls in Albany. We had a very nice visit but I made the mistake (something that I have obviously done wrong hundreds of times without knowing it was wrong!) of carrying a paper out of the visiting room. I always take notes as to the things Scott requests me to do (otherwise I would forget some of the things). I write names with a letter in a circle just like I used to do on the family calendar: it is fast and helps me know the letter is a name and not part of a word. Scott also drew a diagram of the prison on the back of my paper to give me a visual of where he works showing the reason why it takes so long for him to come to the visiting room since he passes through several rooms and guard stations and he is held up when there is a movement through one of the rooms. As I walked out of the visiting room, I reached into my coin bag for the key to my locker and put the paper in the bag. One of the heretofore borderline nice guards asked me what I was putting in the bag and had it been signed off by the sergeant. I didn’t know it needed to; there is no rule posted about that. She grabbed it and asked me what it was. She was so angry as if I was trying to sneak something out of the prison. She didn’t believe me at all of course since, in our Oregon justice system, they have forgotten that simple foundation of being innocent until proven guilty (and we are quite often treated like criminals when we visit all the while the system professes to realize the importance of visitation). I told her she could keep it if I could reread my notes to remember what Scott asked me to do for him. She mumbled something about her being able to confiscate my belongings. She called me over to the main desk when I was getting my car key out of the locker and told me that this “sort of thing” is what could “land me in handcuffs and in a patrol car on my way to the courthouse” and "my son shipped off to a different location.". It was hard to wrap my brain around the intimation tactics being hurled my way. Then the officer at the desk told me he had been “professionally trained in code” and that my paper was full of “code” from my son. Again, he didn’t bat an eye when the truth was made known that Scott didn’t write a word of it and all it was a “to do list”. I should have engaged him in the whole history of trying to cram ten family member’s schedules on one little refrigerator calendar and that is where I “professionally” learned code I guess! It is all such a ridiculous nightmare to step into the prison system of our free country. And all the time I am thinking, “Don’t you dare cause me to be late picking up the girls and cause problems with the unreasonable Lane family!” I felt like I was in a sandwich from hell with both sides pushing me into a Neverland of utter madness. Hmm, maybe that is how Scott feels every moment in there. After they got their fix of bullying they let me go while saying “no worries”. So I turned to them on my way out and said, “No worries; you have got to be kidding me!”

So, a little rattled, I hurried to Kyre’s home where it was the plan for all of us to meet there. They enjoyed playing with Klaire so much that we decided to stay for several hours so the girls could swim in her little turtle pool and Adam and Sunhee played with water balloons. It changed my plans for the evening but they all loved the extra time at Kyre’s place.

Saturday was our annual neighbor hood party with a pot luck, bouncy house and triathlon for the children. Before it got too hot everyone helped picked blueberries and green beans then proceeded to jump on the tramp with the sprinkler under it until the very last minute before the party started. Adam, Sunhee and Meeja played well with all the neighbor children (half of them are in our ward amazingly). The Jorgensen’s put a pool on their front lawn and that is where everyone spent most of their time. Sunhee and Adam entered the triathlon but Sunhee had to use the bike we have for Meeja since the bike we have for her had an irreparable flat tire. We would have stayed longer just relaxing at the Jorgensen’s but Meeja crashed her bike right on that hill by their house. It actually is a miracle she hasn’t done more damage to her body before this. She is determined to perfect her biking skills no matter how many falls she has. This time, though, her fall involved the sidewalk meeting her upper lip so she needed lots of clean up and some down time (although she did not take much down time). She was hoping to get back under the sprinkler when Adam and Sunhee put it on the slide later on but I decided her lip needed time away from the waterslide!

Adam wanted to complete some of his Webelos requirements so we cooked our dinner in Dad’s firebowl. We sat around cooking biscuits and roasting marshmallows just as if we were camping. Dad and Adam set up a tent and slept in it even though it was still VERY warm late at night. Sunhee reminded me that besides Meeja, she also got hurt on Saturday. She slid down the slide onto a bee and it stung her foot! The entire stinger was in tact in her foot; it looked like a thorn. Adam joined the pain cycle when he came down the slide too fast and hurt himself!

Sunday was a game playing day. Sunhee left her Clue Game last time that we bought for her birthday so we had some fun with that also. With the grandchildren here, we had a good excuse to go to the home ward which is so nice since it is now just minutes away. We learned all the new classrooms and they all had someone they knew in their classes. Grandma Maldonado came over for our shrimp pasta dinner; it was also a great excuse to use my homemade berry pie that I was saving in the freezer. We played games right up until the minute that Adam left to go home.

President Harris was at our ward and he spoke at the end of the meeting. He left us with a quote by Joseph Smith that was something like this: “Everyone is plagued with weaknesses. It is the progress that makes us perfect, not the achievements.”

Adrianne reported that she had a great weekend being able to see some old school friends at her roommate, Rachel’s, wedding in the Bay Area and especially being able to play with Shawn and Aubrey. I think this is the first chance for her to see Bryson. Aubrey invited her to come along on two Nike runs that will help Aubrey qualify for a half marathon in the fall. She received extra points since she showed up with Adrianne’s Nike shoes. On one of the runs they jogged nine miles from the Golden Gate bridge, along the Embarcadero to the Bay Bridge and back! Without Adrianne in Las Vegas this weekend making her homemade goodies, Aaron got a craving for cinnamon pull aparts. He called me after midnight, on his way home from work, for the recipe!

Katie tells me that Nate was in the news, the front page of the Deseret News Sports Page! Here is a link so you can see it: http://www.deseretnews.com/sports/byu-cougars/ I wonder it that was the Seattle game that I went to with him last fall?

I hope you are enjoying this great summer weather also. My garden has never grown so much with all this hot weather; it feels like the kind of summer I had growing up in California. I am going to get my bathing suit on and go jump in the sprinkler with Sunhee and Meeja. I love you, Mom

July 27, 2009

Dear Children,

Tomorrow is Grandma Maldonado’s birthday so Aunt Denise is visiting and we are heading to Depot Bay for a couple of days. It should be a nice break from the heat here. We are in the middle of a heat wave. It is suppose to be triple digits for the next few days. Now, don’t make fun; I know most of you have that kind of weather all the time in the summer months.

I have had a great couple of weeks since last I wrote. The weeks have gone by so quickly with making curtains for Rebekah’s bedroom, Katie’s visit and last minute preparing for Girls’ Camp.

I am so anxious to see Rebekah’s room with the finished curtains and see if she loves them as much as I do. Rebekah picked out the fabric and Heidi sent me a picture so I could purchase it here to make. The fabric was a fuchsia linen-like fabric with embroidery and sequins. They will look very glittery when hung. They are made with the same room darkening fabric as Heidi’s nursery room curtains.

I feel such a feeling of accomplishment when I sew something to completion; I love when I get a chance to sew, especially for my family. I realize why it gives me such a good feeling when, this week I was sewing beside a young girl and as she expressed how good it was making her feel, we talked about the whole creative capacity within us.

Katie made things extra fun while she visited and she was a huge help to my several projects. She is cupcake crazy you know. She bought herself a Martha Stewart Cupcake Cookbook and is experimenting with all sorts of homemade cupcake recipes. Dad and I were the recipients of three separate kinds: peanut butter, blue berry and zucchini. I think zucchini was my favorite. I loved that she used things from my garden for the recipes.

This picture, of the blueberry cupcakes, shows some of the jam (behind Katie) that Katie and I made that same day. Dad, Katie and I went to the berry fields off Scholls Ferry and thought we would get a few buckets of Marionberries or boysenberries. We started on Marion berries first but I wish I had picked the boysenberries first as they were perfectly huge and I like boysenberries more but they have previously been so hard to pick and find ripe ones. We picked over fifty pounds in less than two hours! Katie and I made tons of jam and froze several pie fillings for later. The freezer is sufficiently full of berry jam! In fact, on Saturday, Dad and I had to defrost the freezer since it struggles to freeze that much jam. Now everything is organized in the freezer also; I love that!

The weekend Katie was here was also the Young Single Adult conference. She helped us at the Ryan Shupe and the Rubber Band Concert. One of their most popular songs is called Corn Dogs! We were selling merchandise like T-shirts and CDs. Katie also helped me with my camp set up on Monday. She and I traveled up to camp to take all our sewing machines and supplies. That was a huge help since I had to be ready for my first class early Wednesday morning and that is when I was driving up there.

Before Katie left to return to Utah, the “cupcake queen” herself made a great zucchini cupcake with cream cheese frosting. It was scrumptious. With all these cupcakes, we had plenty to share. Katie let me use many of them for treats for visiting teaching and sick friends.

Katie also got her hair done while she was visiting and convinced (or inspired) me to finally take the plunge and do the same. Yikes!

The morning after Katie left I was headed for camp. I had a great experience at camp working with the girls and leaders on the T-shirt dress project. We got 100 dresses done and I was very surprised to learn that so many girls loved trying to use the sewing machines. The dresses will be sent to Durban South Africa. They also made 106 scrunchies. I am sending those to the Humanitarian Department in Salt Lake.

I returned from camp on Thursday evening. Aunt Denise had arrived earlier that day to visit Grandma for a week so Dad and I have been doing fun things with them ever since. Grandma, Aunt Denise and I drove to Woodburn to visit my cousin Connie. Her two children Mike and Shayleen also live down there. I can’t believe that there are so many Maldonado cousins so close and I never see them. That night we returned and met Dad in Sherwood for an outdoor theater production of “The Music Man”. Virginia Holt’s dad, from Grandma’s ward, was in it. I noticed on the program that Lendie Bliss, Adrianne’s bassoon teacher, was in the orchestra. It was a perfect night for an outdoor performance with this arm weather.

On Saturday morning, I worked in the garden while Dad rode his bike to the recreation center on Walker to help with a triathlon. To commemorate Pioneer Day this week, all the stakes around here were assigned a service project in the community. Our stake was assigned to be the volunteers with the Party in the Park, which was a game day geared for families. Afterwards, we all went to Beaverton’s Saturday Market to find Grandma some plants for her porch.

Can you believe the corn in my garden? It is so tall and looks almost ready. On Sunday I took a batch of green beans to a pot luck at the Chandler’s home. They are really producing right now. I am anxious for Meeja and Sunhee’s visit starting this next weekend. They will enjoy picking the rest of our blueberries and hopefully the green beans. I remember what a great green bean picker Alina was! We are hoping that Adam will also visit this weekend; we haven’t heard back from him yet.

Erica Ellis married someone from Denver on Saturday so we went to that reception. It was decorated very nicely. Robert Cochrane married someone new in the singles ward (from Canada). Their reception was the same night. All their corsages were orchids so I went and helped Eileen Daniels and Carol Stanger put those together late Friday night (well, very early Saturday morning!) The North Dakota building was decorated so beautifully.

Reshea and Satan’s baby, Joseph Jack, was born on July 15. He was 7 lbs 4oz and 20” long. They will call him JJ. Katie had a chance to drive down there this weekend; she was very excited to be able to see the baby and lend a hand. Adrianne had driven down south to Los Angeles last week with Kenna and another friend. They bought tickets to the American Idol tour and got some deal to stay one night at the Hollywood Renaissance Hotel; a taste of the good life! The rest of the time they stayed at Dave and Karla’s and had lots of fun the whole weekend.

It sounded like Shawn had a fun birthday. Aubrey planned some fun surprises; one of which was to get a pedicure with three or four of his guy friends. Shawn thought that was a great idea! They spent much of their day at the beach on Saturday.

I think that I keep forgetting to mention that we have a new stoplight at the bottom of our gate. They finally put in a stoplight at Brockman and Davies. It was getting nearly impossible to cross Brockman. The stoplight will make things easier and hopefully, reduce the accidents at our corner in the middle of the night now that it will be much more lit up.

I love you. Have a great week ahead and stay cool! Love, Mom

July 12, 2009

July 8, 2009: NOT REALLY!

Dear Children,

Do I always start my letters with expressions of amazement of time quickly passing? It seems so; I just don’t know how to adjust my sense of time to accept the speed of life!

You may notice that I never sent out my family news last week. The date for this letter is really July 12. I never had a chance to return to finish this or catalog all my pictures from my Utah trip; there were just too many other things distracting me this week. So down below, is the letter I started last week.

One of the major distractions was my Girls Camp assignment. With the extra meetings and the work party on Saturday to train the youth leaders to help me, I spent much time preparing the details that may have waited until the night before camp. Thank goodness, I didn’t wait. It was much more than a night’s worth of work since I am trying to break down the project into simple steps for 11-18 year olds to understand. And, you know me and details . . over the top! I am still not finished. I plan to give it one more day and then pack it up. Katie comes the end of this week and her bedroom has been my staging room! Everything needs to be put away. I like that deadline; it is a much anticipated one to have Katie’s visit for the push!

The past couple of weeks I have gained more appreciation for living n Oregon. One day Dad and I didn’t get a chance to walk until after 11:00 at night. It had been a hot day here but it was enjoyable to walk in the cool night air. It felt fresh and I know that many of you live where the night air doesn’t cool like here in Oregon so I was thankful for my blessing.

JULY 8:

This week I will report on my summer vacation in Utah. I had found several wonderful airline deals, even for only $55.00, to travel there but in the end, Dad really wanted to drive. The Honda is very comfortable for a traveling car. In many ways, it was a huge benefit to have the car done there, especially since most of the time we were traveling with car seats for Jenna and Rebekah. We would have been borrowing Katie’s car with only two doors and that just does not make for a happy back anymore! So, it is a good thing that the Honda was there.

Another benefit of driving is the wonderful amount of uninterrupted time to spend with someone. Dad and I even read a book while driving down: Behind Every Good Man. It is a great, fast read, “read-with –your-spouse” book as it encourages lots of great dialogue and couples always need lots of dialogue. But, it is also filled with lots of good interpersonal ideas and approaches. One of my favorite quotes in it was, “The grass isn’t greener on the other side; the grass is greener where you water it.” A little effort and hard work usually makes things better in any situation.

Although arriving later than I had hoped, the first stop in Utah was to stop at Heidi and Bill’s home and see Ainsley Cate. She has the tiniest of features, so much how I remembered her older sister. She has large bright eyes and when awake, is very alert and watchful of all that goes on about her. In the week that I was there, I thought that she changed a lot.

It added to the fun to arrive at Grandma and Grandpa Bitter’s home since Katie is living there for the summer term. I am glad that she in back from St. Louis. I know that it is hard for her not to be on such a busy and exciting schedule, especially busy with the things that she loves (number one being the Cardinal sports program). She is taking only one class right now so she was available for many of the adventures with Jenna and Rebekah and they loved that.

It was lucky to be in Utah to hear one of the cousins, Ben Bitter, speak before leaving on his mission to Brazil; his talk was excellent. In between his sacrament talk in Alpine and his open house that afternoon, Katie and I drove to Daybreak to gather the girls and their things for the big sleepover at Grandma Bee’s. Jenna and Rebekah stayed down in Orem with us Sunday through Wednesday to allow Heidi and Bill some quiet time with their newborn.

Jenna and Rebekah kept things busy. They love being at the Bitter’s with the extra grandparent time and the backyard fun. Monday, though, we traveled back up to Daybreak to go to the Oquirrh Temple open house. It was a great experience and of course, the temple is gorgeous inside and out. Grandma and Grandpa Bitter and Katie went with Dad and I and the girls. My favorite part of the tour was the sealing room experience where a couple had been assigned to speak about their own sealing experience. Heidi told us ahead of time to look through the mirrors in the sealing room. As is the case in most temples, the mirrors are set on opposite walls to allow you to see how your reflection goes on forever. These mirrors are set with a slight tilt to see your reflections move heavenward. I also enjoyed the film that is shown before the tour where Elder Holland, while speaking about families being sealed forever says, “Heaven wouldn’t be heaven without our spouse and children.”

Dad and I went to Heidi’s home afterwards so I could go shopping with her for fabric for the girls’ bedroom windows. Dad took Jenna and Rebekah to the splash pool that they love. Heidi wanted room darkening curtains since the sun is so bright in the early morning hours in the girls’ bedrooms. Our first task was to find fabric that could be both utilitarian for that purpose but appropriately cute for a girls’ bedroom décor. We spent lots of time searching and asking questions and came home actually empty handed. The girls had a blast with Dad at the splash pool much longer than I expected that they would last. Their swimming adventure ended only with a promised dinner bribe at their choice, Chick-filet (I don’t know how to spell it). Heidi and I met them there and even more of their energy was expended in the toy structure there. I was amazed that they were like the Energizer Bunny. Dad and I let them keep playing while Heidi took Ainsley Cate home. Dad and I decided it would be a great plan to bathe and pajama them at Heidi’s so they would fall asleep on the 40 minute car ride back to Orem. Not so, they sang and laughed most of the way home! But, they are very easy to put to bed. In fact, one night, after a story and songs, I asked Jenna if she wanted another song or book and she said she just wanted to go to bed! We wore each other out!

One of my favorite memories from my Utah trip was one morning when Jenna woke up extra early. She really was not prepared to greet the day so I lay down with her on my bed downstairs. We lay down as she asked lots of questions and talked quietly non stop to allow her more time to really wake up. It reminded me of how her mother was slow to wake up as a young teenager.

Katie, Dad and I spent much of the next afternoon with Alisha and Julie and all of the Young grandchildren at a great RV park by Utah Lake. Aunt Julie and Uncle Randy own a very nice camper so they took the grandchildren camping only 10 minutes from home; a great idea! They were having such fun. Julie and Randy had Jaime and Kyle’s children for nine days while they were at a family reunion in Mexico with the Woodward parents and siblings (without any grandchildren). Jenna and Rebekah just loved playing with all the cousins. The park had a great pool facility and Katie became a great “aunt” to ALL the little children in the pool! There again, the girls outlasted any amount of time I believed that they would want to play. That night we had time to play my new Book of Mormon Go Fish game. Katie, Dad and I were in stitches laughing with the girls as we listened to little two year old Jenna say, “Do you have a Go Fish card” after she couldn’t find the requested Moroni or King Noah cards for another player.

Wednesday was another class day for Katie so only Dad and I traveled up to Daybreak so Dad could take the girls to the “lake park” where they could play on the beach there. It also has a very nice playground. I was determined to help Heidi get fabric and start sewing the curtains that very afternoon. We did some more measuring and figuring and determined to use a special room darkening fabric, similar to that used in hotel drapes. Since part of our time together was spent picking up Honey from the vet, we also decided to simplify our project by starting with the baby’s room (Jenna’s room right now). It was easier to match a previously purchased valance for that room than to choose between all the available choices that both Heidi and Rebekah might like (Plus, there are more windows in Rebekah’s room!). That window would be a test window to see if the fabric combination worked. We were successful in finding great fabric but not in time to sew since Dad and I needed to head home to Orem early that evening. After Dad had the two girls for those two days, he said, “When does a mom go to the bathroom?”

Dad and I needed to be back in Orem to go with Grandma and Grandpa to a viewing for Les Arbon, the husband of Grandma’s niece Linda (Dad’s Aunt Jean Miller’s daughter). Thankfully, even though most of that family lives in Grantsville, by Tooele, that viewing was in Salt Lake. There were so many people there to support their family that we waited for over an hour in the line. Even before we reached the family, some other family members told Grandma to come around the back way. We visited with lots of relatives; it was a good event.

I had taken Heidi's fabric home to Orem in hopes to start her project for her. After we returned from the viewing, I started sewing and couldn’t bear to stop. I knew I didn’t have to get up early with the girls that next morning, since we left them at home, so I was able to sew through the wee hours of the morning. The trouble was, when I finally went to bed, my mind started racing with other things that I hoped to do to prepare for the arrival of Morty, Aaron and Adrianne that next night from Las Vegas. I was hoping that Heidi wouldn’t be too disappointed that I finished her project instead of showing her how to do it. I know that she would have preferred to do it herself with my help, but I didn’t see time for that to happen the rest of the week. This might have not been the ideal time for her to try and learn how to sew!

Dad went on a long bike ride to Utah Lake where he visited again with Julie and Randy and then followed the river back to Bridal View Falls. He said it was so beautiful. He had wanted to go on the bike ride in the afternoon while Katie and I went to Daybreak to babysit but the weather was getting too warm for afternoon bike rides. At the same time, I tried to finish up a weed project I started at Grandma’s. Katie and I headed back to Daybreak later that morning so Heidi could leave all three girls home for her dentist appointment. I secretly hoped that we could surprise her by hanging the curtains while she was gone but I couldn’t get Ainsley to settle into a long nap. Katie and I planned to pick up Morty later that afternoon so we went to a movie, My Sister’s Keeper, which Katie wanted to see there in Daybreak. They have a beautiful movie theater where you even pick your seat when you buy your ticket. The movie was a great one with lots of levels of learning about a family coping with a terminal illness but take tissue if you go. It is a very teary movie.

Upon picking up Morty, we tried to maneuver through the rush hour traffic as best as possible to get back to Heidi’s home for Morty to see Ainsley and to help her bring the girls down for a dinner at Five Guys in Orem. Dad and I had never been there but part of the family, especially Katie, loves it. We even ran into Michael Bitter there. It wasn’t long after we returned when Aaron and Adrianne arrived by car from Las Vegas. They got an earlier start than expected; Adrianne’s work was finished since they have been giving the warehouse overtime with all the work that needed to be done by the weekend.

It was so wonderful that so many family members were able to travel to Utah for Ainsley’s blessing day. Thank you so much for being so supportive. I missed not being able to have all our children there but it is understandable that it is quite impossible to gather everyone as much as I would love it. One of the night’s I stayed up brain storming with several of you, a “sibling only” family reunion, like Jaime and Kyle (only shorter), so our young parents could enjoy a good amount of sibling time.

I always plan on going to Cabela’s but never have time so this trip I determined to make that happen. That was our planned rendezvous to pick up Jenna and Rebekah since they were spending the night again on Friday so they could go to the Fourth of July parade in Provo with Dad and me early the next morning. Aaron, Adrianne Dad and I met Heidi at Cabela’s in Lehi right before the fish feeding time. After watching the feeding of the fish (not that exciting) Heidi invited all of us to lunch at her place. While there, Dad hung the curtains and Adrianne went with Heidi to get the girls’ hair cut before going back to Orem to play.

The parade was packed. My plan was to watch towards the end of the route so Dad and I didn’t have to get there so early. We were very lucky to find a very small patch of grass to watch the parade! It started with a very loud beginning. It seemed that every fire truck within miles was in the parade with their sirens blaring. Adrianne remarked that she doubted that anyone was still asleep in Provo! The girls loved the parade and Bill and Heidi joined us with Ainsley later in the morning. After the parade, we had lots of family over for a barbecue in the back yard. It felt like we have been eating all weekend! In the evening we caught the end of the BYU soccer game and watched the Stadium of Fire fireworks on blankets from the soccer field. It reminded me of lying on blankets to watch the fireworks, as a child, in some park that I do not remember with our neighbors, the Wilsons.

Sunday was Ainsley Cate’s blessing day. Lots of family members were there at Heidi’s ward. We filled the first three benches and that did not include their friends even. It was great to hear both Heidi and Bill have a chance to bear their testimonies after the blessing and witness the joy and peace that comes to a new mother when her husband is worthy to bless his own child. The afternoon was filled with more relatives and more food at Grandma and Grandpa Bitter’s home. It is a good thing that we held a dinner there; we about 40 people and had lots of little children playing in their backyard.

Since Dad and I were leaving right before Heidi’s real birthday, I planned to also celebrate that Sunday afternoon. Heidi’s request was her favorite brand of vanilla ice cream with strawberries. Grandma Bitter bought some very clever candles that were strung together so all would light from the first one (It reminded me of Fallas in Valencia, Spain where I watched them string firecrackers in many continuous circles in the main plaza. Once one was lit, they went off for such a long time, since there were so many.). Since Heidi loves ice cream and we had such cute candles, I made a strawberry ice cream cake. It was a hot day so I waited until just before the birthday song to take it out of the downstairs freezer. Boy, was that a mistake! No one could cut through it! The knife was just left sticking out and it looked like “Sword in the Stone.” I need a picture from whomever got that shot! Thank goodness we could serve the dessert of strawberries and ice cream as Heidi initially requested. It was delicious once we could cut it; about an hour later!

It is good to go away but also good to come home; the trip home was smooth sailing. I love sleeping in my own bed; so do my muscles. And, we came home to very mild weather so the cool at night feels wonderful. Disappointedly, we learned that the sprinklers did not work while we were away and there was a heat wave here, I think we only lost one plant though! The garden has grown amazingly. I spent the first morning picking raspberries. Many were fried by the heat and lack of watering so I picked them all off. They smelled like raspberry pie so I made the neighbors a pie for feeding Sammy for the last week. The Whisenant’s and the Jorgensen’s’ shared the duties so I had two pies to make. Since I ended up not having enough raspberries, I added blueberries to the last one and made two small tarts for Dad and I. It turned out surprisingly great.

I also am still watering Ramona’s yard (until her home sells) so I picked some of their raspberries and made a couple batches of jam. My freezer is just about empty of jam this year; that is a first for a long time since I don’t get many jam eaters at home as often. I will make some new jam, especially marionberry and boysenberry, when Katie comes next weekend. She agreed to help me pick berries. I miss the days of picking berries as a family when you were small.

I wish I could spend the next couple of days just relaxing in the garden as I save it from my vacation week’s weeds but I have to get some things prepared for a camp meeting and training session later this week. It seems that I am wishing I could do something else with my time so often; I need to just love what I am doing at the moment.

I have spent some time on the trip back, thinking about who I really am beyond the tasks that I can accomplish and the “work horse” that people visual that I am. I wish to be much more than a product of my projects and I intend to try and change that because I don’t feel comfortable with the “Lori who does this and that” instead of the “Lori who has worth just because she is Lori”. I hope you all know that I love you for who you are and not what you can “accomplish.” I do notice and appreciate your wonderful characteristics and yes, even your funny or odd quirks! I LOVE YOU and love being around you. I wish I could remember to express that more often to each of you. Although I do love working alongside or playing with all of you, I love the quiet moments when we can capture a moment and relax together; I just wish they were more often.

I love you. Love, Mom

Scott had a great day yesterday. Their LDS church group had invited the head of all the LDS Department of Corrections groups to visit them from Salt Lake. He did, with his wife, so yesterday was like a special ward conference Scott said. He loved the fact that the ward leaders also brought their wives and every one of them was able to bear their testimony. He said that he enjoyed hearing how Brother and Sister Stephens were making a difference to members incarcerated in prisons all over. He listened with anticipation at their description of the program for researching family history was working in Utah State systems and how it had been proven that family history work had helped to change prisoner’s lives. If you think about it, our ancestors are able to help us and that would be especially true to those who have limited other family influence such as prisoners.

As far as the progress on Scott’s case, he received a letter from his attorney this week that the final decision on his direct appeal was denied and the paperwork would finally be finished. We knew that direct appeal was not really a viable option from his first attorney, Scott’s studies, and my hope-dashed conversations with the appellate attorney over a year ago. But, we are learning that everything must happen in a certain order and with much patience for the overloaded and cumbersome legal system. As soon as Scott receives the final paperwork on direct appeal, he can apply for a new attorney and start working on his post conviction case which might have more chances. Dad and I enjoyed reading a paper that Scott sent to us of his yearly review in which it is written that he will earn a 20% reduction of his sentence due to his good prison behavior if his case law is ever changed. That’s five years off! Right now that is a moot point but I believe that the climate in Oregon is slowly changing towards the ridiculous voter mandates. In all the material I read from an organization that Dad and I are a part of, it seems that some voters are starting to realize the error in Oregon’s laws. We did have a small victory last election period when we were able to defeat an even tougher penalty law (although we had to campaign for and convince all of our friends to vote for “a lesser of two evils” reform). I am convinced that that small victory would not have happened had many people not begun to realize the awful mess we made with Measure 11 several years ago. So, things are looking hopeful; not in the near future but with lots of patience.

In the meantime, Scott is making the best of his situation. He is writing to Kyre more often, even has had some good phone conversations with her. He also has more open dialogue with Adam which is great for both of them. Adam writes some very sweet letters to Scott and always tells him that he feels his Dad is with him in particular situations. I so appreciate Aunt Lynn’s allowance of this.

Please consider sending a note to Scott when you think about him; he would love that. Again, we talked about the love, and even thirst, he has to hear about the regular and even mundane realities of our everyday life since prison is not real everyday life. He has enjoyed it when he gets printed programs and pamphlets from family members and shares them with others in the prison. Dad sent him the sacrament meeting program from Ben Bitter’s farewell and an Oquirrh Mountain Temple pamphlet. He said that he loves seeing things from regular life and shows them to inmates who have never experienced things like a temple or organized religion.