Dear Kids,
      Dad and I went out looking at cars Friday afternoon, and we found out that last January was the best time to buy a Toyota Sienna. December and January are when they go from the rental agencies to the auctions to the dealers, or at least the dealers we’re interested in. Incredible Motors, in North Salt Lake, has the best prices, but they don’t actually have the cars sitting in their lot. You tell them what you want, and they call you when they get one in, and you save a couple of thousand dollars over the other dealers. They said there are hardly any 2008 Siennas coming into the auctions now, and the 2009's won’t start coming until December. It’s funny, because Dad and I were looking last January, but I didn’t want to have to buy new blizzak tires in the middle of the winter. So we waited until we took the blizzaks off the Windstar, which wasn’t until the first of June. Anyway, we didn’t buy a car. Yet.
      Meanwhile, the Windstar is gone. (Cry, cry). Dad was convinced that it would blow its engine any day, and it should only be driven in an emergency. I told him that if it was sitting in the driveway, I was going to drive it anyway. We compromised by taking it to a junkyard on North Redwood Road, and they gave us $200, because it was drivable. If we’d had them come and get it, it would have been a free tow, that’s all. So now we just have the truck. I really miss that beloved Windstar. We had so many great adventures in it.
      My piano class for the Lighthouse Branch is going great guns. Tuesday was the second lesson, and 17 people showed up. (And there are 4 or 5 more people who want to start in the next week or two.) We had to double up on keyboards, which was OK, but people really do better by themselves. I’ve requested more keyboards from the Church Music department, but I don’t know if we’ll get them. And we really could use one more teacher! Does anybody out there want to come help us? It’s Tuesdays at 4:00, until 5 or 5:30, or whenever. What’s really fun is to see everybody laughing and helping each other out. I plan to have some of them playing the organ in Sacrament Meeting as soon as they start into the simplified hymn book.
      The grandpa of the Tongan family across the street died on Monday morning. He was exactly Dad’s age. The circle was filled with police cars, a fire truck, and an ambulance, and they had him on the front lawn, pounding on his chest. I don’t know how long they had been pounding, but it was obviously too long. Finally they took him away in the ambulance. It was heart trouble. I talked to the grandma the next day. (She said, “Thank goodness for the Plan of Salvation.”) All eight of their kids and spouses and 14 grandchildren have been at the house ever since, and their cars fill up the circle and stretch down the street. Every night is like a luau.
      Life is good! I love you all! Mom