Dear Kids,
      . . . and the award for big spending (this week, at least) goes to Nora and James!! They bought a new car (a Honda Pilot) and a new house! Well, the car is three years old, but it’s really nice–silver with a leather interior. Sort of a cousin to Vanessa and Trent’s Odyssey. And the house isn’t new either–it’s maybe 10 years old. I’m going to look at it with Nora this morning. It’s in West Jordan, about 2 miles south of where they live now. So the preschool kids can transfer without too much trauma. How it all came about was sort of bizarre, so you’ll have to call Nora for the details. Mark Ulrich had a hand in it. He can charm the socks off a cat.
      Speaking of cats, Monica reports that Ramona is doing fine. She goes on walks on a leash (sometimes) and is learning to poop outside, like a dog. She digs very big holes, Monica says. And speaking of Monica, some of you have probably heard that she had a melamona scare, almost identical to Grandpa Allen’s. She had a mole taken off a couple of weeks ago, and it was sent to the lab. It came back positive for melanoma, so the dermatologist took out more tissue in the same area, but was pretty confident that it hadn’t spread. Both she and Grandpa have stitches now. She goes back in 12 days to get the stitches out, and find out the latest lab report. If you want a graphic description of skin layers, fat layers, and all the gruesome details, call Monica. It’s pretty interesting.
      Saturday night we went to Shanna Spencer’s wedding reception, held in a greenhouse in Sandy called Le Jardin. It’s all overgrown inside with trees and vines and exotic flowers, a regular jungle adventure. We saw all the usual old friends and former ward members, like Turcsanskis and Brent and Delores Anderson and Paxmans. It was really fun. Chris Spencer, who has a lot of charm now, talked to me about snowboarding. (Martha has told people about our new hobby.) He asked if I did jumps, but I told him no. He seemed disappointed. We saw Colleen Yorgason’s husband Maté, and their four cute little black kids, but Colleen was working. Ken Paxman had had knee surgery and was using a cane. Talk about making us feel old! Terry Coon came from an Eagle Court of Honor, with all his scouting badges on his jacket, and his silver beaver hung around his neck. He just received an award for 50 years in scouting. He said he’s had 28 Eagles in the ward he’s in now (by Nora’s house), plus 24 more Eagles from the Utah Boys’ Ranch. I told him they ought to have a platinum beaver for guys like him.
      Sunday we had stake conference at the lighthouse church, and because it can get sort of dull, I picked up a headset to listen in Spanish. Kenny Newton’s neices and nephews were in line behind me to get headsets. I remember that they all sang songs in Spanish at Kenny’s homecoming. Kenny’s brother was translating, and he’s very good, but he was sort of whispering. Like the still small voice. All together, it was fun, trying to figure out what he was saying, and it made the time go by fast.
      A blizzard is raging outside. I wanted to go snowboarding today, before winter is totally gone, but it looks like I’ll have a lot of good days, now. Usually I’m eager for spring, but not this year.
      I love you all! Mom