Dear Kids,
          Thanksgiving is only 2 1/2 weeks away! We’ll be having dinner here about 1:00 pm, so people can get to other places afterwards, if they want to. We’ll have pie sometime in the early evening, after some of us have hiked the big loop (if there isn’t too much snow.) If you’re reading this letter, you’re invited. I’ll be cooking turkey, dressing, gravy, and pies, at least. If any of you want to volunteer for rolls, mashed potatoes, yams, veggies, or anything else, let me know.
          John and his family spent last night here, and they just left so they could get home for church. Since today is the day we "fall" back an hour, we all thought we’d be well-rested. Now I can hardly keep my eyes open. I’ll have to drink a pepsi on our way to church. I always have a problem staying awake while I’m playing the piano in Primary. Once, back in 5th Ward, I fell asleep playing "Book of Mormon Stories." I woke up a few seconds later, and I was still playing, at the right spot. So it’s no joke that I can play some of the songs in my sleep. But I don’t want to do that every week.
          Tuesday morning I was outside loading up the car for my trip home, about 4:00 am, when a herd of elk came stampeding through our field. You hear about "a thundering herd," and you think it’s a figure of speech, but they shook the ground. The cats were huddled inside the greenhouse. There’s a little pine tree they destroyed about 5 years ago, (they go berserk during mating season) and I had replanted it and kept a cage around it ever since. This year it was busting out of the cage, so I took it off. So guess what tree the elk destroyed. Next year I’ll have to get another tree and a bigger cage.
          Last Tuesday afternoon, when I was home in West Valley, I decided to ride my bike to the library, probably for the very last time. The temperature was 70, the sky was blue, a light breeze was blowing, and it was absolutely beautiful. I was thinking, "so why exactly do we have to move?" But during my ride I got several lungfuls of bad emissions from cars and trucks that passed me, and I remembered why I don’t live there anymore.
          My phone is broken after being dropped too many times. I can still dial calls, and I can still read the outside screen, sometimes. But the inside screen is always black. So if you call me and I don’t pick up, I can’t see that you called. I check my messages several times a day, though, so leave a message, if you can. I guess I have to get a new phone.
        So many big changes! But I’m still doin’ great and lovin’ it, and I hope you all are, too.
          Love, Mom