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