Dear Kids,
      Dad and I just came home from Austin James’s homecoming in Orem. You can tell Austin was a really great missionary, and he gave a wonderful talk. I had fun gossiping with my brothers and sisters at Bonnie’s house afterwards. David Tregaskis’s homecoming is next Sunday at 9:00 a.m. at Nancy’s ward, 800 E. 600 North, in Orem. There’s a brunch afterwards. Matt Allen’s homecoming is the following week at Rich and Jeanne’s old ward in South Jordan, at 11:00 am. Such fun! It doesn’t seem that long ago that those three boy cousins were blessed on the same day, in Grandma and Grandpa’s ward in Orem. Remember? They had little matching outfits.
      I had lots of fun at the cabin this week, working on the bunkhouse. Donna and Bevan helped me a lot, and Dad came Friday night. All the walls are up, and most of the rafters for the roof. This coming week I hope we’ll finish the roof and start nailing down waferboard. I’m not going back until Wednesday afternoon, though, because I need to rest up and recover from my injuries. I have sunburned ears, a split lip, lots of injuries on my hands, including one from the nail gun, and black toes on my left foot. (From spraining my ankle two weeks ago.) My neck hurts and my head, too, from bonking it on boards and scaffolding. So I need a few days to recuperate.
      It’s strange now at the cabin, not having the internet. I can’t check the weather hour by hour, and I don’t keep up on the news. It’s kind of nice. We miss Tom and Kim and their kids, however. I miss Bentley following me around asking questions about what I’m doing. I miss Kim calling me in for lunch. I miss Tom and the little girls. It’s weird. But down in Heber, they’ve been invited to three block parties, and they’ve already been visited by the bishopric and the primary presidency. There are advantages to living in town. Except that you can’t shoot magpies.
      Bevan shot another one Thursday morning. He’s a good shot, of course, but he has more to shoot at, since there’s now a whole flock of them, maybe ten or fifteen, and they all come around at once. They startle pretty easily, but the younger ones are stupid, and they just sit there, waiting to be taken out. Bevan put the dead magpie on the wood pile, and the others came back and danced around it and squawked. Bevan shot several more times, but they were moving around too much.
      What else? Nora and her family were at the cabin Friday night and Saturday, because Nora and her friend Amber were doing the Echo Triathlon. What, you never heard of the Echo? Triathlons are springing up all over the place, and great athletes like Nora and Amber are having lots of fun doing them. Nora was 21st in her age group.
      I’m still loving the Spanish branch. Today they asked me to give the closing prayer in sacrament meeting. You can bet it was short! Kathy Newton (Kenny’s sister-in-law) asked me to play the piano for her in Primary the week after next. There are no hispanics at all in that branch who play the piano or the organ–I had no idea. More fun for me!
      I love you all! Mom