Dear Kids,
      When Dad got home from work Tuesday afternoon, the UPS truck was in front of our house, and the driver was unloading two giant boxes that were for us! They were bicycles! I had almost forgotten–for Dad’s 30th anniversary with UTA, they let him pick out a prize from an on-line catalog. The farther through the catalog you got, the better the prizes were. The last one was these two bicycles, his and hers. Dad ordered them, but I didn’t think they would really come. But the boxes are now in our living room. I’m going to take them to the cabin tomorrow, and Dad will put them together there. I always wanted bikes at the cabin, besides Missy’s Huffy that’s already there. Even with the Yerf Dog, I sometimes want to hop on a bike. So that will be fun. Except that the cabin garage is getting full of stuff.
      Most of you remember Mark and Jenn Woodruff, who lived in our ward for so many years. They moved to Albany, New York, because of Mark’s job, and we were all sad to see them go. Then, a few weeks ago, Angie Holden told me that they would be moving back to Utah! I said, “Back to our ward?” She said, no, they had better things in mind. They were definitely going to be moving up. So where’s “up?” Allen and Missy’s neighborhood! Yep. Missy saw them in Church and thought they looked familiar. When they saw Allen, they made the connection right away. So, Al and Missy, tell them Hi for us. Congratulations for living in such an upscale neighborhood.
      Seth and Sharon are in the middle of a fun week–Seth’s parents and Lucinda are visiting there right now. (I wish it were us!) Sharon said it’s really pretty there now. The grass is all green, after lots of rain, and the leaves are red. She said the temperature is perfect. They might go to Nauvoo with the Thackers. I’m even more jealous!
      Sharon said she’s been to see Nick and Tara’s baby a couple of times. I guess she has a ton of dark hair, unlike Carson and Ellie, who definitely take after the Ackerson side of the family. Oh, well, nobody said cousins had to look alike.
      I just got a nice thank-you note from James’s parents, who spent Friday night at our cabin, along with Nora and James and the rest of his family. I figured they would play a lot of games–they always do–but they also hiked the little loop. Friday night it rained like crazy (I know, because I was there, and I didn’t want to leave for home while it was pouring) but they had good weather on Saturday. When they got back from their hike, they had missed some real excitement–one of the Galmore dogs had killed one of Matheny’s chickens. Too bad. I had just chased the chickens out of our yard that morning. Mother nature knows what to do with careless chickens.
      Tuesday night was our Relief Society service auction, and I was so excited to auction off my item--a free snowboarding lesson! I had a picture scanned from a magazine, framed, with a snowboarder in the air, and the caption said “This Could be You!” I thought that would inspire lots of the ladies in our ward to want to try it. I was so wrong! They all said they didn’t want to break their necks. Only two ladies even bid on it! But the lady (girl, actually,) who won, Bekah Davis, is the really adventurous type, and we’re going to have a lot of fun. She’s from Preston, Idaho, and her uncle is in “Napoleon Dynamite.” She’s a returned missionary. She used to be a flight attendant for Sky West. She has the same Eddie Bauer dress I have. We’re soul sisters! I can’t wait for the snow!
      As always, “Doin’ great and lovin’ it,” Mom