Sunday, November 8, 2015

Dear Kids,
          Katie was here until Tuesday afternoon, and we finished putting the pictures in her book. When she wasn’t finding pictures for me, she was watching the horses, outside our office window. She’d say, "Oh, look, someone’s coming to feed them! Now they’re running over to get their hay! Now they’re eating it! Now they’re jumping around!" So I started noticing them more. I had almost stopped watching them, but it reminded me how wonderful it is, having horses for neighbors.
          Oh, yes, the book. It was a miracle we finished it, but miraculous things happen when you write family histories. We had them all: a dead scanner brought back to life, missing picture files showing up, a program we needed to make pdf files, which John just "happened" to put on my computer a few weeks ago–it all happened. And we felt Grandma Allen helping us. We could almost hear her saying, "Oh, look, Les, they found the pictures! Oh, look, they got the scanner working!" (Maybe Grandpa Allen tweaked the scanner for us.) We had a wonderful time.
          I hated to see Katie leave, she was so much fun. But then I spent another day proofreading, and on Friday I took my pdf files to the BYU Press in Provo. (The files were too big to email, with our weak internet.) It was fun walking into the press building again. I worked there 45 years ago, when I got home from my mission. I tried to find my old office, but they had rearranged all the walls. It still smelled the same, though–machine oil and ink. A nice lady helped us order the books, and they should be ready in about three weeks. You’ll all be getting copies! Dad started reading the pdf files on his computer, and he couldn’t stop.
          What else? Dad and I had a wonderful hike along the Jordanelle yesterday. The weather was spectacular. We’re starting the Messiah practices tonight, so we won’t be having Zorro parties, unless you want to come earlier on Sundays. We’ll be here until 5:30.
          Love to all of you! Mom