Dear Kids,
          Dad and I won’t be home tonight. We’ll be somewhere in Idaho, hopefully at Craig and Rachel’s in Idaho Falls, and hopefully not stuck on the interstate in a gigantic traffic jam, like the news media is gleefully predicting. We’re leaving home right after church, and I think that will give us plenty of time. Vanessa’s and Nora’s families will be camping at Craig and Rachel’s too, and probably lots of Suttons. Idaho Falls is in the "path of totality," but not in the center of it. Still, there’s supposed to be more than a minute of "totality." Hopefully there won’t be any clouds blocking the eclipse. The forecast keeps changing from sunny to partly cloudy and then back to sunny again.
            As you can see, I’m plenty excited about the eclipse. I’ve dreamed about it the last two nights. But surprisingly, people I talk to are very nonchalant. They’re not going because of the crowds, or because they don’t have anyone to stay with, or just because. But I figure Idaho is big enough for anybody who wants to be there. The really cool thing is that it will be President Monson’s 90th birthday. Maybe a comet will come by and swoop him off. Maybe it will even be the second coming. What better time, because everybody will already be looking up into the sky!
          Sharon and her kids are here at our house now, it’s one nonstop party. She keeps telling her kids the fun is over now, but people keep planning things. Yesterday it was Donna cooking buffalo burgers at the cabin, with Mandy and Eddie and their kids. Tonight, I think there’s going to be a sleepover at our house while we’re gone. The parties will probably continue nonstop until Sharon’s family flies home, on the 28th, I think. But it’s really fun having them here.
          One person isn’t enjoying Sharon’s family, though. That’s Tina. She’s making herself very scarce. It’s funny, because a couple of days ago she faced down four magpies, and after that, the neighbor’s dog, a Siberian husky. The dog was inside his fence, but she still touched noses with him and hissed. All that–but she doesn’t have the courage to face down four children, because three of them are boys.
           Hoping you’re all doin’ great and lovin’ it! Mom