Dear Kids,
           We just said goodbye to Al and his kids, and they left to go home. They came here to the cabin last night for a sleepover and to go sledding this morning. Missy stayed behind for a cake decorating class and some projects. In fact, she didn’t seem to mind being left behind, because when Al called her at noon, she urged them to stay here longer. (I think all you young wives are familiar with that scenario.) I was glad to have extra people here, because it gets very lonesome, especially when I’m here by myself. I have plenty to do, but I still feel like Rapunzel singing “When will my life begin?” Well, we had plenty of life this morning. It was a great day for sledding, and the hill was so slick that we got our sleds all the way to the play fort before they stopped. We had a great time until the wind kicked up, and it’s been blowing hard ever since.
           Dad is still working hard on the tile demolition project, and it’s going lots faster now. Several people have suggested that I ought to hire a crew to do it in one day, but they’d have to go through the same learning curve as Dad, and I doubt they could do it as well as he can. He’s nearly half done. In two or three more weeks, he’ll be into the kitchen, and I can start putting down the wonderboard and tile in the living room. That will be the fun part!
           Back at home in West Valley, I made a list of the things I want to finish before we sell the house. None of it will affect the selling price, but I don’t want to leave the laundry room still unfinished, the cubbyhole closet with no tile on the floor, and the back lawn still not completely planted. I’m like the one pioneer lady leaving her home in Nauvoo, who swept the floor and left the broom in its corner, never to come back. OK, it won’t be that dramatic, but it’s hard to think about leaving a house you’ve lived in for 35 years. Don’t anybody cry about this, but we already took out the drinking fountain. It hadn’t worked in several years, and I couldn’t find another one like it anywhere. Now we have a hole in the wall, and some plumbing to rearrange.
           Paul will probably be installing security systems this summer for APEX, oops, I mean Vivent. He’s probably going to Sacramento. That is, if he doesn’t find a cool job or internship before then. He said there’s a career fair coming up, but he will probably be competing with countless other engineering students. Good luck, Paul!
           I hope you’re all doin’ great and lovin’ it. I am! Love, Mom

Dear Kids,
We just said goodbye to Al and his kids, and they left to go home. They came here to the cabin last night for a sleepover and to go sledding this morning. Missy stayed behind for a cake decorating class and some projects. In fact, she didn’t seem to mind being left behind, because when Al called her at noon, she urged them to stay here longer. (I think all you young wives are familiar with that scenario.) I was glad to have extra people here, because it gets very lonesome, especially when I’m here by myself. I have plenty to do, but I still feel like Rapunzel singing “When will my life begin?” Well, we had plenty of life this morning. It was a great day for sledding, and the hill was so slick that we got our sleds all the way to the play fort before they stopped. We had a great time until the wind kicked up, and it’s been blowing hard ever since.
Dad is still working hard on the tile demolition project, and it’s going lots faster now. Several people have suggested that I ought to hire a crew to do it in one day, but they’d have to go through the same learning curve as Dad, and I doubt they could do it as well as he can. He’s nearly half done. In two or three more weeks, he’ll be into the kitchen, and I can start putting down the wonderboard and tile in the living room. That will be the fun part!
Back at home in West Valley, I made a list of the things I want to finish before we sell the house. None of it will affect the selling price, but I don’t want to leave the laundry room still unfinished, the cubbyhole closet with no tile on the floor, and the back lawn still not completely planted. I’m like the one pioneer lady leaving her home in Nauvoo, who swept the floor and left the broom in its corner, never to come back. OK, it won’t be that dramatic, but it’s hard to think about leaving a house you’ve lived in for 35 years. Don’t anybody cry about this, but we already took out the drinking fountain. It hadn’t worked in several years, and I couldn’t find another one like it anywhere. Now we have a hole in the wall, and some plumbing to rearrange.
Paul will probably be installing security systems this summer for APEX, oops, I mean Vivent. He’s probably going to Sacramento. That is, if he doesn’t find a cool job or internship before then. He said there’s a career fair coming up, but he will probably be competing with countless other engineering students. Good luck, Paul!
I hope you’re all doin’ great and lovin’ it. I am! Love, Mom

Dear Kids,
           It’s a beautiful Saturday here at the cabin: blue sky, clean air, sassy magpies, clueless deer . . . you can see the deer never know where they’re going for sure, because their tracks across our yard amble this way and that. They can’t ever go from point A to point B in a straight line. The magpies are getting bolder, and the flock is getting bigger. They come around every morning a little after 8 am. Tom? John? Bevan? Anybody want to take out a couple of them? The bounty is still $5.00 per carcass.
           I’m upstairs in the moose bedroom, typing on my laptop, and Dad is downstairs using the rotary hammer to knock out floor tiles. We have the construction area sealed off with plastic, so the dust doesn’t go all over the house. It’s working OK. We have it to the point so we can make a fire if we need to, so nobody needs to stay away for fear of the cold now. The living room is unusable, along with half of the dining area, but the rest of the cabin is fine. If you want to come and go sledding, the hill is in great shape! We had about 8 inches of snow last Sunday, and I’ve tracked out a sledding path with snowshoes. I had to make a new path up the hill to Rocky Point, because my old one finally got snowed over.
           My snowboarding friend Becca Davis wanted to go to Brighton on Thursday, and even though it meant staying in West Valley one more night, I did it. Becca had a couple of passes that her husband gave her for Christmas, and she wanted to use them. They have a foster baby, Dominic, who’s eight months old, and her husband got the day off to tend him. Actually, he and the baby came with us, along with Dad, who was going to be doing night rides that night, and was free most of the day. The guys hung out in the lodge, and had a great time, while we had a great time on the mountain. The snow wasn’t the best, but it got better up higher, and at the top of Snake Creek lift, it was practically powder. We got tired after just a few runs, though. If you don’t go very often, you really feel it in your arms and legs.
           Life is good! I love you all! Mom

Dear Kids,
           This was going to be my last week at the cabin, and then my lungs were going to be healed, and I was going to take up my life back in West Valley again. Sadly, that isn’t going to happen. I’m fine here, but when I go down there, it isn’t long before I’m gasping for breath and reaching for my inhaler. I’m not very sad about having to stay here, but it’s so dang quiet! Sometimes I go two days without seeing anybody at all! Every morning I hike up to Rocky Point, and I follow the same tracks in the snow that I followed the day before. (All the tracks are mine, except for some smaller ones that Jacob and Aaron made last Saturday.) At the top, I don’t even look at the view, because it’s the same as the day before. But the air is clean, and I love breathing it! And Dad comes on Friday night, so I have somebody to talk to for 2 days. I’m still going to West Valley Tuesday afternoons, and staying till after chess club on Wednesday. I used to teach piano to Angela Pham on Wednesday night, but now I’ve dropped everybody but Elise and Spencer Fulton and Kara McGettigan. I fit them in on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.
           Dad and I are making a long-term plan that when he retires in May of 2012, we’ll sell the house in West Valley and buy a house or a condo in Heber Valley. We can’t live permanently at the cabin because there’s no storage space, no place for our computer stuff, no place for my library, and no place for my grand piano. So we have to have a house, and of course, the cabin has to stay a cabin. Last Sunday we drove around Midway and looked at some of the places Donna had showed me on Friday. There are some great possibilities there!
           I’m sorry I’m not cooking Sunday dinner this weekend, but our demolition is going full-scale, and we’re sealing off our construction area with plastic. Right now the construction area is around the fireplace, so it’s going to be cold this weekend. Plus, there’s grit everywhere. I’m hoping I can do dinner in March.
           In case any of you didn’t hear, Steven Allen is engaged to a young lady named Christie Peterson. They’re getting married May 26th in the Houston Temple. She’s working on a PhD in British Lit at the University of Michigan, where Steven is also a graduate student. We’re very happy for them!
           Life is good! I love you all! Mom

Dear Kids,
           I’m spending two days here at Donna and Bevan’s house in Midway. Monica and Jackson are here, too. The plan was that I would tend the babies for two mornings while Donna and Monica skied, and it worked out OK yesterday, except that Jackson wouldn’t take the formula that Monica left behind, so that excursion was cut short. Then, last night Monica seemed to come down with the stomach flu, with all its grisly details. So we’re all home this morning. Right now, the babies are having nap time, and so are the moms. I’m typing my letter and looking out the window at the quiet Midway scenery. I went for a walk earlier this morning, and ended up at “The Store,” just up the street from here. I had a hankering for something sweet and gooey, like Little Debbie cakes, but I couldn’t find anything like that. (Fine wines and gourmet cheeses are there in abundance.) I asked one of the clerks where they had snack cakes, and she looked confused. I said, “You know, like twinkies and things like that.” Her lip curled. I swear, it really did! I said, “Well, hostess cupcakes, you know . . . .” She directed me to a little spot in the deli, under the drink machine, where there was one package of Ding Dongs and two of something else. I bought the Ding Dongs. I guess Little Debbie, with her cute little hat and curly hair, would never be welcomed in such an upscale store.
           This afternoon I’m picking up John’s kids and taking them to our cabin for an overnighter. Heather’s taking off to join John at his glider convention in Las Vegas. (At least I think that’s where he is.) This is a strange week for me, because normally I don’t babysit very much, but it’s fun, for a change. The cabin isn’t looking its best right now, because Dad and I have torn up most of the living room floor, and I just can’t keep ahead of the dust and debris. But we’ll have fun, anyway. There’s always the sledding hill. It’s in great shape right now.
           I hope John’s kids don’t have any unfortunate encounters with mice at our cabin. The mice seem to be creeping in, but so far, they haven’t done very well. I found one mouse flattened under my woodpile in the greenhouse. I probably didn’t see it when I dropped down a load of wood. There was a bad smell in the wolf bathroom, and it seemed to be coming from the washing machine. Sure enough, I looked in and found a drowned, decomposing mouse. They’re easy to find once they die. The smell is a dead giveaway.
           I’m looking forward to seeing lots of you at Nora’s on Monday night!
           Love, Mom