Dear Kids,
      I’m sitting at the computer, typing this letter, and everything is very quiet. Dad is out doing night rides with his UTA students. Donna has gone to the Tetons with Bevan for a couple of days. Reggie is sitting in his cage, making noise. (In fact, last time Addie and Ben were here, Ben asked, “Why is Reggie always in time out?”) The cats are sprawled on the deck, trying to get cool, and look cool. It won’t always be hot, but right now it seems like summer will go on forever.
      Saturday night Dad and I went out to dinner with Donna, Bevan, and Bevan’s parents–you know, the traditional meet-the-parents outing. Mostly we ate (we were at Chuck-a-rama, after all) but Bevan’s mom, Beverly, finally directed our conversation towards wedding plans. She’s remarkably practical! She got us to make decisions about clothes, colors, food, scheduling–all that mundane stuff. You always need somebody practical on board! Meanwhile, Monica is making her plans, too. She wants to rent a big house in Park City so all their out-of-town guests can stay there, and have a barbecue. Sounds fun to me. This will be in August of ‘07. She’s not sure on the date, yet.
      Paul is coming home late tonight! Yay! For only one day. Boo! He’s just making a pit stop here for doctor and dentist appointments, and to renew his drivers license. Then Dad will drive him to Price on Saturday.
      Tom has settled in at the cabin, at least for weeknights. Friday afternoons he’ll head home to Price, and come back Monday mornings. After three days on the job, he says it’s all going very well. He wears a name tag around his neck–whatever they call those things. He bought a bunch of corn dogs and other easy-type foods to keep at the cabin, but he was shocked how much he paid for groceries at Smiths. From now on he’ll mostly buy food on weekends at Walmart, and he says he’s very grateful to Kim for doing all their grocery shopping these last 2 years. Monica says Tom will get lonely at the cabin, and he needs a cabin cat, but Tom claims he’s now allergic to cats. Humm. Bevan was going to bring Simba, the cat from Africa, when he moves in. Maybe it will still work out.
      Friday afternoon, Al is riding his bike to Wendover with the other Centerville police officers. Only he says there will be a car to pick them up if they don’t make it on their bikes. He expects to ride about half the way. Missy is driving there to spend the night, so we’ll be watching the kids. That will be fun. We haven’t seen them in a while.
      Grandma has finally left Orchard, and she’s at home! She decided she was ready to make it on her own. She has an oxygen unit and long tubing, so she can walk around the house. She says the carpet is a lot easier to walk on, with her cane, than the hard tile floors of Orchard. Dad and I visited her Sunday night, and it was nice to see her sitting in her recliner, just like old times. The Tregaskises showed up to fix Sunday dinner. I hope to start my regular Wednesday visits again, pretty soon. When my life settles down.
      Last Friday night we had a Relief Society retreat at our cabin. About 30 ladies came, and quite a few stayed overnight. The next morning I rolled out the Yerf Dog and invited some of them to take a spin. Imagine Amy Rasmussen (who’s 80) driving it down the road! And Sandra Rickett! Everybody had a turn, either driving or riding along. They said it was great fun.
      Life is good. I love you all. Mom