Dear Kids,
       Once again, I’m returning to my family letter after a long absence. I used the change-over of our web site as an excuse (you’ve probably noticed that it looks different), but it’s really simple, I found out, to upload my letters. I’ll try to be more regular now.
      We’re hoping to see most of you Sunday, at the Mair-Hawkins baby blessing. It’s at Nora’s church, by her house, at 11:30 am. The dinner afterwards is at Nora’s house, of course. I’m sure it will be riotous. Monica will be here! She’s going skiing with family and friends on Friday and Saturday, and staying overnight at least one night at Donna’s house, so naturally Donna is working diligently to get her big remodel finished. Dad and I were there on Saturday. Dad worked on trying to re-route the drain of their dishwasher, and I was going to do molding with Donna, but we didn’t have the nails. So I went to Heber and played chess with Bentley, and Dad and I toured John’s office re-model. What is it about January, that everybody tears into big remodeling projects? I always made my worst messes in January.
       Oh, hey, here’s some news! Dad and I finally bought a car! It’s a 09 Toyota Sienna, grey, really a great ride. The odometer says it only has 8,000 miles, but the tires tell a different story. Dad says maybe 30,000 on the tires. We bought the car at C.J. Prestman, on State Street, where they deal in "salvaged" titles. All their cars were stolen and recovered. Our car has a clean title, but who knows where it’s been or what it’s done? That’s part of the excitement. After Dad and I had driven the car, and another one, too, Dad was outside kicking the tires and looking in the engine, and I was waiting inside. In walked a guy who looked like John. Walked like John. I called out, "Hey John!" and he looked surprised. It turns out he comes in there on a regular basis to test drive their cars. He had found a nice little Honda he liked, (CRV?), but Heather says they don’t have the money until their office remodel is paid for. We went for a ride in the Honda anyway. I left Dad there to pay for our car, and went home to attend a Relief Society night meeting.
        Things are always very interesting in the Lighthouse Branch. I’ve been the victim of a hostile takeover, and I’m no longer the Primary chorister. (Funny, nobody wanted that job before I came.) So I go to Sunday School instead of Primary now, which is great, because the teacher is the pleasant young lady who lives in Hixon’s house behind us, and I can understand her pretty well. It’s all good.
       Has anybody seen the missing chess set, the one with revolutionary war pieces? Anybody? Anybody? Maybe it will become one of life’s great mysteries.
       Hoping to see most of you soon . . .
       Love, Mom

Dear Kids,
      It was a totally wretched week for me, except for having people here for Sunday dinner, and except for Monica’s wonderful announcement that they are expecting a baby in July. Congratulations, Monica and Neil! We’re really excited that we’ll have one more exceptionally smart and cute grandchild!
      Apart from that, I have had a terrible time with my upper left tooth, which was “infected” (dentist talk for an abscess.) Dr. Condie started a root canal on it Monday morning, and he got one root, but the other one was very elusive. He had me come back Thursday, so he could order in another tool. He really wanted to save me a trip to an endodontist. So Thursday he banged away on it for an hour, and then his receptionist made an appointment for me to see the endodontist on Friday. I wasn’t driving myself to any of these appointments, because I was taking so much percocet, lortab, and ibuprofin. Friday Paul drove me to the endodontist’s fancy office in Riverton, an the doctor acted like it was going to be a piece of cake, until he actually started working on it. After an hour he finally got the root cleaned out, and then the abscess started to drain. It was very painful, even though my mouth was numb. For the last several days I’ve doubled up on the pain meds, but now, finally, it’s feeling better. But it wiped out at least a week of my life.
      There are lots of great things to look forward to, however, like the double baby blessing on February 6th. I’m sure Nora will give us food assignments. I’ll wait and cook Sunday dinner on the 20th, so we won’t all see each other two weeks in a row, whoa, I mean so people won’t have to drive so far two weeks in a row.
      Donna and Bevan had their house re-carpeted yesterday, and now they’re officially moved in. Donna’s been spending a lot of time at Home Depot, which is standard for new home owners. She has discovered that the older guys there are lots more helpful than the younger guys. She has recruited lots of us to help with her fix-up projects, and Bevan’s parents have helped a lot, too. Hopefully Donna and Bevan and Anna Christine can soon settle down and enjoy being residents of Midway. They like the ward there, and Paul likes the valley-wide singles ward that meets there, too.
      Has anybody seen the chess set we used to have down in the fruit room, the one that has revolutionary war figures? I thought it was still there, and Dad wants to take it to chess club at the Harmon Home. If you know where it is, please let us know.!
      You are all wonderful! Dad and I are parents to the best family in the world!
      Love, Mom

Dear Kids,
      I can barely remember the last time I wrote a family letter. The holidays were wild and wonderful, and it was great to have Sharon’s family here. They left for home in a blizzard, and their plane was delayed for five hours, but at least they made it. Now it’s back to dreary (and cold) for all of us. I’m back to cleaning the house again, and teaching piano, and playing chess at the Harmon Home. It’s all good. Now that Dad is off on Wednesdays, (he works four 10's), he’s a regular participant in our chess club. We made a deal: I agreed to eat lunch with him in the cafeteria, and he agreed to come to chess club afterward. So far it’s been really fun.
     Now that we're back on a regular schedule, I'm going to be more regular in cooking Sunday dinner. How about next Sunday, the 9th, at 4:30? Let me know if you can come. I'm planning on the second Sunday of each month, unless something else comes up!
      Paul is sort of living with us now, because he’s working at Deer Valley, and he’ll also be living part time with Donna and Bevan in Midway when they get their stuff moved in. Friday morning Dad and I drove to their house, Dad to work on their toilets and me to do anything Donna wanted done. It turned out that we ripped out the carpet. No amount of cleaning could ever have saved it, because some previous occupant had a dog that used it to do his thing. (Of course it wasn’t a cat! Don’t even think such a thing!) So we ripped out piles and rolls of carpet, and padding, and tack strip. I made about four trips to Heber for supplies, and Dad made at least one trip, too. Ace Hardware saw a lot of us. They’re very nice in there, but I can’t wait for Walmart. Nice people are great, but nice prices are better. Anyway, we got a lot done at Donna and Bevan’s house, and Donna’s getting ready to paint now. Ah, the fun!
      I guess the next great family event will be Isaac and Anna’s blessings, on February 6th. Monica will be here that weekend, which will add to the fun. The blessing will be in Nora’s ward, and of course the after-party will be at Nora’s house. She’ll probably be calling us with food assignments. I hope both babies will be ready for their big day.
      I’m sure there’s more news, but I can’t think what it is. Maybe I’ll have more to say next week.
      Lots of love, Mom