Dear Kids,
      I’m way off schedule for writing my family letter, because all the fun during July totally reformatted my brain. Also, the hot weather. When it’s over 100 outside, any sense of purpose disappears from your life. (Except for Monica and Neil, who deal with it all summer long.) Anyway, it was all fun. On the 22nd, Sharon and Seth and Charlie and Matthew arrived. (Seth has since gone home, but Sharon and the boys are still enlivening our house, when they aren’t off somewhere else.) On the 24th, Donna and Sharon and Bevan ran the Deseret News 10k, and had respectable times. Only we lost Bevan at the end of the race, even though he was there in plain sight. Later on, at the cabin, we had a great barbecue, and then I had the urge to hike the loop. It was the hottest (average) day of the year, and the hottest part of the day, and I wanted to see if we could do it. Nora and Kim joined me. We carried spray bottles and kept spraying our faces and arms, and we drank lots of water. Still, it was a crazy thing to do. The next day, Dad and I drove to Burley for the Spudman “night before” activities. What fun to see Monica and Neil and Eve as we drove into the parking lot! And to eat dinner with Vanessa’s family. We camped across the river at an RV park, and slept in Donna and Bevan’s mesh tent. The next morning, we had fun watching our favorite athletes. (Vanessa, Monica, Eve, Adrien, Bekah, and Dave.) Jarom Webb was there as a spectator, and he kinda thought he’d like to do it next year, until he watched them pull that guy out of the river. Sad. Vanessa had a great time: 2:33. Almost half an hour better than last year. Monica stayed with Eve most of the time, and came in a little after Vanessa. Eve was elated that she finished! Go, family.
      And of course the family reunion at Lava was a blast. It’s a great destination! John and Heather are in charge for next year. Our tentative date is Saturday, August 1st. (My birthday!) John and Heather will decide where. I’m sure they’ll listen to your input.
      And since we’re talking family reunions, don’t forget the Allen reunion this Saturday (August 9th) at Riverwoods park, from 10 am to 3 pm. Bring your own lunch, and make sure your kids have swimsuits. Maybe you adults will want to wear swimsuits, too. I’m going to, if it’s hot.
      So July is over now, and also the fun I had working at the cabin. I went back for three more days, after the reunion, and I got a lot of good work out of Bentley, by paying him about $1.00 an hour for helping me shovel dirt. He helped me mix cement, too. I lost track of how much money I paid out, but he always knew when he was ready for another dollar. Oreo the cat had lots of fun, too, running through the weeds and jumping out at people. He is long and thin now, a “tubular” cat. Sad that he’s not a kitten any more, but he’s still very social, because he’s had so much attention.
      Hope to see lots of you on the 9th! Lots of love, Mom