Dear Kids,
      For once, we found something interesting and exciting in the mail–Monica and Neil’s wedding announcement! They look wonderful in the picture! I think they should both be models. The announcement itself turned out really nice, too. I was glad to see that the map of the cabin turned out so well. That energized me even more about finishing my projects there. I still have big rocks strewn all over the ground, trying to fit them into my rock wall. I’ve been mixing and pouring cement for my concrete edging, and making patio blocks. I’ve been digging holes for shrubs, too, and I’ve dug so many new rocks out of the ground, I have to enlarge my rock graveyard. But it’s all good. It’s all coming together. And of course, by the wedding day, there will be horseshoes and badminton set up, and tables, and luscious food, and bluegrass music . . . it’s going to be memorable.
      In the short term, we’re also looking forward to the barbecue this Sunday night for Dad’s and Grandma Allen’s birthday. We’ll have our new barbecue rack by then, which Jerry Thacker is welding together for us, and we’re going to lay it over the fire pit to grill our meat. (I’ve been eager to try this for a long time.) We’ll start cooking about 5 pm, but most of us will be there earlier. The next day, Memorial Day, will be a total work day for me, but if any of you stay over, I’m sure you can have lots of fun.
      Al had some excitement on the job this week. There was a guy who’d gotten away from them a couple of days earlier, and Al spotted his car and started after him. The guy jumped from his car and ran off on foot. So Al pulled out his taser gun and tazed the guy in the back. The guy fell face first onto the concrete, stiff as a stone. Yay, Allen! Good use of “un-deadly” force! Remember when John wanted to get tazed? Maybe he could look up this fellow and ask him about it.
      Last Saturday morning Vanessa ran the Ogden Marathon. Dad and I were at the finish line when she came in, and I have to say, she looked better than practically anybody else in the race. You know that near-death look they always have? (Except for Kim in the “Top of Utah,” and Monica and Brynne in the Salt Lake Marathon). Well, Vanessa looked like she’d maybe been having a mild workout. She and her friend Amy made it in 4:42, I think. Afterward, we hung out with Vanessa and Trent and the kids in the park at the finish line, and sampled the bananas and creamies. Then we drove to Nora and James’s house for a birthday lunch for Tom, Sarah, and Meg. (Now that our family is getting big, we’ll probably have more and more birthday cakes with multiple names on them.) Later that afternoon, Trent’s team was playing in Logan, so he took off, while the rest of us dozed in Nora’s living room. That night Addie had a dance recital, but Dad and I were too tired to go. (Something about watching all those marathon runners come in, it just wore us out.) But later Dad and I drove Vanessa and the kids up to the Riverside exit, north of Tremonton, to meet up with Trent. A cop stopped to see what we were doing, but when he saw we were only switching around car seats, and moving sleepy kids, he could see it was all OK. It was late and crazy, but it was fun to visit with Vanessa. We don’t get that chance often enough.
      Well, I have to finish this letter and upload it. Not mail it out. It’s the end of an era, as far as the “Mom Letter” goes. I’ve had lots of fun sending them out in envelopes, with expensive stamps on them, but now that postage has gone up yet again, and you all have internet access, I figure everybody can read my news online. And everybody else’s, while they’re at it. The blog links are all there!
      Lots of love, Mom