Dear Kids,
          Dad and I are having a great time here in Boise, visiting with Katie and working on her life story, talking to Heather and Carly, admiring Hadley and Carly’s cat Louie–it’s been lots of fun so far. We’re staying with Katie in the very nice one-room apartment that she moved into just a few weeks ago. Needless to stay, we stayed up late watching a movie and slept in late this morning. Today we’re going shopping, and then we’re going back to Heather’s house to work on the life story some more. Heather has the best computer set-up, so we’re doing everything there. The climate here is very mild, and it’s lots warmer than Kamas Valley. There are still flowers blooming! There’s lots of smoke residue from all the fires, though, and I’m using my medications and nebulizer full force.
         Some of you might not have heard Dad’s big announcement: He’s going to retire January 4th! We moved up the date when we realized there was no good reason to wait until May. And, get this, Dad and I are going to Hawaii to celebrate! He’ll be having a family retirement party too, but we haven’t set the date yet. We’re thinking we might all meet at Golden Corral or someplace where we can eat as much as we want and have our own banquet room, where we can tell stories and celebrate Dad’s 37 years of perfect driving for UTA. We’ll let you know more when the time gets closer.
         Conference weekend was great, and thanks to all of you who came to the cabin! The talks were very inspiring, and we were delighted with the announcement that missionaries can go out at a younger age now. Especially the girls! Some of the grand kids could be on missions lots sooner than we expected! I wish I could have gone when I was 19. I wouldn’t have been so cynical and worn out when I got home.
          Conference weekend was also great because we got to try out the cabin’s new kitchen. Even though the stove hasn’t been put back in, and we don’t have a dishwasher yet, we were able to fix lots of food on the new counter tops. I can see it’s all going to work very well.
          Life is good! I love you all! Mom