Dear Kids,
          We’re having the oddest weather here at the cabin. The leaves haven’t even turned, but we had snow a couple of days ago. The temperature was down in the teens. Meanwhile, the wildlife have gone crazy. Two moose were rampaging on the hill last Sunday. They honked and bellowed at each other and ripped up the sod we laid so carefully on the sledding trail. This morning, a mama moose and her calf walked by. Herds of deer are wandering around aimlessly. I’ve never seen so many small ones this late in the year. One fawn still has its spots. Why were they born so late in the season? How can they survive the winter? 
          The cold weather has reminded me that the cabin, which I love so much, is dependent on the wood stove, while the new house has two furnaces. Wednesday night while we were driving home from Salt Lake in a blizzard, I wished for the first time that we were going home to the new house. You can see it from the highway, with its porch lights blazing, and it called to me, "I have two furnaces, one up and one down, and you won’t be cold here!"
          Meanwhile, Dad and I are still painting and putting up shelves and knobs and rods. Donna and Bevan have offered to help us move stuff on Friday, so I don’t know if there will still be work to do on Saturday, which was my original plan. Of course everybody is still welcome to come. We could even watch conference! And of course I’ll be making dinner on Sunday. Let me know if you’re going to eat with us!
          Our chess club in Heber is still trying to get off the ground. We have one lady from New Jersey who comes every week now, and she plays really well. We’re hoping for more good people. Meanwhile, the chess club at the Harman Center is doing unbelievably well. We have 12 regular people, besides one man off on a mission. Our newest guy drives from his home 35 miles north of Wendover, more than 100 miles away.  He says 100 miles is not too far to drive for a good game of chess. 
          We hope you’re all doin’ great and lovin’ it! We are. Love, Mom

Dear Kids,
          I’m sure most of you have heard the wonderful news that Nora and James are expecting another little Mair. We’re very thrilled for them. I think the baby is due around the first of April. Nora just had her 12-week visit to the doctor, and they heard the baby’s heartbeat,and everything seems to be fine. What could be more exciting!
          Lagoon, maybe? Dad and I spent Friday night at Lagoon with Nora’s and Donna’s families. We haven’t been for many years, but thanks to Allen’s passes, we got in for $11.00 each. (Except for Nora’s family, who got in with their season passes.) I forgot how much fun Lagoon is! And I also forgot how old I am, and that your body doesn’t do scary rides the same when you’re a senior citizen. I was sort of remembering how it was as a teenager, so I took off with Ben and Stu and we did the old white roller coaster, the Colossus, (where I blacked out on the second loop) and the swings, all in a row. Dad was wise and walked around with the grandkids. Oh, he went on the Bat. It was all fun. But I remembered that senior citizens have to have fun differently. Too bad the sky ride and the ferris wheel were closed down!
          Dad and I are still fixing up our new house. We’ve mostly painted over the bad smell and the wrong colors. On Friday, our refrigerator was delivered from RC Willey, and our piano was picked up from Tom’s house and brought to ours. On Saturday, Tom and his family came to visit the piano (oops, I mean they came to visit us) and Kim brought her music and played the piano for a while. I guess it was a sad parting for them. With the piano, I mean. Looks like they’ll have to visit Skip Daynes and see what he can do for them. Once you get used to playing a really good piano, it’s hard to make do with a keyboard, or anything else.
          Don’t forget it’s conference weekend in two weeks. We’d love to have you here on Saturday, to help us move the last of our stuff. If you’re going to be here for Sunday dinner, let me know, OK?
          Life is good! Love, Mom

Dear Kids,
          People keep asking us, "Are you all moved in yet?" and I don’t know what to say. "We’re re-painting a brand new house." "I have to put in closet shelves and rods because I didn’t trust the builders to do it right." "We have to put in a kitty door before we can bring our cats." "We’re really comfy at our cabin and I’m in no hurry." All of the above. So we just say, "We’re getting there." And it’s lots of fun. Dad is doing most of the painting, and the obnoxious smell of the original paint is gradually getting covered up. I’m doing shelves and rods and knobs and blinds. We’ve made three trips to Salt Lake to buy stuff. On our first trip, we bought a TV and a refrigerator and a microwave and a wheelbarrow, and lots of other stuff. We spent $3,000. Our other trips haven’t been so lavish. We’ve gotten all our paint from the West Valley Walmart, because they’re the only ones that can mix it right. (We’ve also tried Heber and Park City and Downtown.) There are a gazillion projects ahead of us, and they’ll all be fun. 
          We’ll be doing conference weekend here at the cabin. Maybe we’ll have a moving party on Saturday (Oct. 5,) and move stuff out of the bunkhouse, so people can sleep there, if they need to. Of course the guys will be going to the priesthood session that evening. I’ll be fixing Sunday dinner the next day, and we’ll eat around 1 pm. Let me know if you’ll be coming, so I’ll be sure to make enough food. Even though Dad and I won’t be living at the cabin forever, we’ll always have conference weekend here. The TV isn’t very big, compared to the new ones out there now, but you don’t have to really look at the speakers. You only have to listen to them. 
          I have to go frost cupcakes. I’m going visiting teaching this afternoon, and I can’t disappoint my ladies.
          Lots of love, Mom

Dear Kids,
          Our only news this week is that we closed on the new house. The garage doors never were replaced, but Fieldstone Homes put $2,000 in escrow so that if they don’t do it in 60 days, we get the money. And if you think the escrow agreement might not be airtight, well, I wrote it. At the closing. The one they put in front of us didn’t exactly say what the problem was, or how we would get the money, so they let me re-do it to our liking. After that, it was just a few papers to sign, and a trip to the bank. I could hardly believe that after all those months of anguish, the deal was done. 
          All that happened Friday morning. Since then, we’ve been moving stuff and painting. Why would you completely re-paint the inside of a new home? Partly because the color I chose didn’t seem right, and partly because their paint has a smell I don’t like, and it’s still in the house, after several weeks. We’re covering it over with Walmart paint, which has a nice gentle odor that is gone in a couple of days. And besides painting, of course, there’s all the tweaking you have to do with any house you move into: shower curtains, toilet paper holders, towel bars in the right places, knobs on the cabinets and drawers, blinds, all of that. It’s lots of fun. Monday night Phares Gines is loaning us his truck, his trailer, and himself, to move the heavy things. Donna and Bevan are coming to help. Tonight John is bringing his kids and his sledge hammer, to break up the little porch outside the garage. We need to have that area re-graded, so there will be light in the basement window that’s right next to it. I pointed that out to the building supervisor during construction, and he said he was required to pour the porch, but that he wouldn’t put in any rebar, so we could break it up easily. Huh? You’ve gotta love regulations. Thank goodness we’re done with all that. We hope.
          We’ll be totally obsessed with moving for the next couple of weeks or so, but after that we hope to get back to real life. We hope you’re all doin’ great and lovin’ it. We are!
          Love, Mom

Dear Kids,
          We’ve been inundated with birds! There are hundreds of robins and mountain bluebirds around our house. And lots of lgb’s, too. (Little gray birds.) They crash into our windows on a regular basis. Oreo hears the thunk, stretches, and saunters out to pick up his lunch. Meanwhile, the magpies have moved farther up the mountain. 
          We were glad to see several of you at Grandpa’s birthday party Friday night. I was sorry your kids weren’t invited, but it was nice to be able to visit everybody in a calm atmosphere. There was a great video that Nancy put together with the pictures that Andy and Renae scanned. Bonnie said they’ll show it again at Grandpa’s funeral. On one hand, we don’t want him die any time soon, but on the other hand, he’s anxious to be with Grandma. In fact, at his birthday party, when we were singing "Happy Birthday to You," I held back from singing "and many more . . . "
          The log posts at the entryway of our driveway fell down. Actually, they fell down when we gently pushed them, because they were both tipping badly. They could have fallen on a grandchild, or they could have been lying in our path on a Sunday morning when we were anxious to get to church. So we pushed them over, and Dad has been cutting them into firewood. We’re trying to decide on a new entryway. If any of you have any ideas, let us know.
          Our new house? We’re practically there! Everything has been done now except the garage doors, and maybe that won’t be much longer. When we drove past last week and I saw that they had finally hauled away the debris across the street, and leveled out the last two dirt hills, I knew they were serious about finishing. So maybe we’ll be able to start moving soon.
          Life is good! Love, Mom