Dear Kids,
      I’m up to my ears in books, literally. Grandma and Grandpa Allen are getting ready to move to Summerfield, a nice retirement center, and I volunteered to handle their books. Yesterday we went through everything, and they chose out a few to take with them. The rest are on our dining room table now, and I’m sitting at my laptop making a list of them. And they really are stacked up higher than my ears. I’ll be sending the list to all my brothers and sisters so they can tell me what they want. The rest will be up for grabs by others, probably you kids. Some of them are really nice. I listed a few of them on half.com just for fun, and I’ve sold two already.
      Did all of you notice the cool slideshow of Monca’s wedding that Tom uploaded? It reminded me how much fun it all was. And how nice everything looked. Especially the flowers! And how cute Monica and Neil looked! I showed the pictures to Grandma, and she said Monica looks like Lauren Bacall. (Old-time movie star.) Not all of us are in the pictures, of course. Tom got most of us, but not everybody. Nora’s friend Marissa, the official photographer, probably got everybody. I heard she was supposed to upload the proofs to her web site, but I don’t know anything more. Monica, do you?
      Our Relief Society had our annual retreat at the cabin Friday night. Everybody commented on how clean it was, and when I said we had two married families living there, nobody could believe it. (I guess they could have looked in the closets, but they didn’t.) Anyway, we had a lot of fun. They played a lot of games. There are a lot of serious card sharks in our ward, and they really got going, about 11 at night. Dad and I dragged our mattresses out onto the front deck, and went to sleep. We haven’t tried that before. You can really see a lot of stars, because there’s no roof to block your view. We heard later that the laughing and talking went on until 1:30 or 2:00. I heard some good gossip but I can’t pass it on, since I don’t say anything insensitive on my blog anymore. I’ve changed totally and now I only write nice, uplifting things about people, especially people in our ward.
      Saturday night there was a 50th Wedding Anniversary party for Howard and Karen Condie, at the lighthouse church, where they had their original wedding reception 50 years ago. We had lots of fun talking to all the old timers who showed up. Here are the people who told us to say Hi to all of you: Brent & Delores Anderson, Cal & Maradon Anderson, Bob & Louise Pistorius, Roy & Nancy Pistorius, Bruce & Nelda Brooks, and Jack & Gwen Simpson. They all wanted to know how you kids were doing, and of course I bragged up the fact that we’re going on 19 grandchildren, with 16 of them five-and-under. We also gave lots of run downs on where you all are, and what you’re all doing. These old timers really wanted to know! All the grown-up Condie kids were there, with their families, and they all introduced themselves. President Monson (Howard’s cousin) came, and told lots of old stories, some of them quite startling. But of course, I only send out uplifting stories now. Nobody gets a pass on my blog, even general authorities.
      Sharon and Seth went home Tuesday, so we’re all back to normal now. Paul’s enjoying his work at Mygrant Glass. He drives a F250 pickup and delivers windshields to auto body shops. He says that at least he’s not working outside.
      Lots of love to you all! Mom