Dear Kids,
          Wasn’t that fun yesterday, helping Paul and Stefanie move? What a riotous after-party, celebrating Josh’s second birthday! Thanks, Paul and Stefanie, for the good food and the fun! I think they’ll be really happy with that nice big house, (four bedrooms!) and yard. By the way, Paul said that the amortization schedule for his 30-year mortgage showed that the last payment would be made on August 1, 2047–my 100th birthday! What a party we can have that day!
          And then there’s the excitement for our family reunion this week! You can refer to John’s schedule (posted here on my blog) or contact him if you have any more questions. It will be nonstop fun. Thanks, John, for planning this. Our reunions keep getting better and better.
            Friday night Dad and I went to the Snow Park amphitheater at Deer Valley for the 1812 Overture (played by the Utah Symphony) with real cannons going off at the end. It was spectacular! Thanks to those of you who went in on the tickets for my Mothers Day present! We had reserved seats, a new luxury for us. (A couple of times before, we’ve sat on the grass with the "wine and cheese" crowd.) Actually, there was quite a bit of wine and cheese around us, including the guy next to me who drank a whole bottle during the performance. He evidently wasn’t expecting the cannons to go off at the end, because he leaped up out of his seat when they started to fire. That was the best part of the program! The guys who fire off the cannons used to dress like mountain men, but now they wear George Washington costumes. It’s all great fun!
           We’re gearing up for the eclipse two weeks from tomorrow. Dad and I are definitely going to Idaho, but I’m not sure where. Nobody knows how many people will be up there. I talked to Stefanie’s friend Anne’s husband yesterday, because they live in Rexburg, which is in the absolute center of the eclipse path. He said they have their eclipse glasses and their food storage. (For all anybody knows, there might be a million visitors, and they might buy up all the food in the stores.) I bought a 10-pack of eclipse glasses from Amazon, but John has plenty for sale in his office, for $1.00 each. I was reading a little booklet in Lowes, and it said that only one person in 1,000 has ever seen a total eclipse of the sun. It should be spectacular.
           On with the show!  Love, Mom