Dear Kids,
      Congratulations to Vanessa and Trent on the birth of their new baby daughter! She was born Wednesday afternoon at 5:17 pm, 8 lbs, 21" long, red hair, darker skin, like Sterling, (not pink, like Sarah), and no name, as yet. You can call Vanessa for more details. We’re so glad she’s here! I’m sure Vanessa will let us know when she’ll be blessed.
      And congratulations to Tom and Kim, who are expecting again, the first week in December. Tom says that Kim’s been sicker than usual. So, Kim, we hope you start feeling better soon! Tom reports that he did his first “real” wedding photography. It took up a whole Saturday, and he earned $300. Go, Tom!
      We received Paul’s travel plans: he’s coming home Friday, June 2nd (Dad’s and my 34th wedding anniversary) at 9:14 am, on Delta-Skywest. So, Paul, you’re really coming home! We’re excited! But don’t slack off on the work! You never know how much good you might do those last few days. Oh, and please save the Glen Cunningham story for me. I’m dying to read it.
      Donna is now a career woman. She takes the bus every day to her job at Bingham Engineering, and she dresses very professionally, in khakis, jacket, portfolio-bag, and career clogs. She very much looks the part! Unfortunately, she works in a little cubicle where she can’t see or hear anybody, and there are no windows to look out of. Right now she’s designing sprinkling systems, which she says is really boring. Go, Donna. Things can only get better.
      We have a new cat, which is sort of a junior Ethyl, but blonde, not orange. She’s indoors for now, where she keeps leaping at Reggie and digging her claws into the carpet. As you can guess, she’ll be transferred outside ASAP. I happened to get her because I took Grandma and Grandpa to the animal shelter in Spanish Fork to get themselves a cat. They chose a big fat siamese-type, with gorgeous blue eyes. He had already been neutered and de-clawed, and he has very good manners. Grandma says he has already taken over their house.
      I agreed to host a competitor for the Gina Bachauer Piano competition, which runs the last two weeks of June. Ordinarily, the host families provide room and board, plus transportation, which is giant commitment. So when they asked me to do it, I said anybody who needed a place to sleep and a piano to practice on could stay here, but that I was too busy to cook meals and drive him around. I told them to put me at the bottom of their list. I guess they were really desperate, because they assigned me a competitor anyway. His name is Ulugbek Palvanov, and he’s from Uzbekistan. I wanted to be sure they told him I wasn’t going to feed him and drive him around, but they said it was my responsibility to communicate with him. Oh, swell! Well, I’ll give him a 34 bus schedule and point the way over to the corner, where he can eat at Subway or Arctic Circle. Or downtown. It should be interesting.
      I’m stuck at home for a couple of days because I have bronchitis, and a sinus infection. When I cough, it sounds like my chest is breaking apart. It probably doesn’t help that the new cat (Jasmine) likes to walk on my face and flick her tail under my nose.
      Lots of love to everyone! Mom