Dear Kids,
          Thursday night Dad and I met Allen and Carson at the Centerpoint Theater to watch Ellie in "Seussical." She was one of the tigers in the Jungle of Nool. We really enjoyed the production! I always love watching our grandkids in their musicals!
          After the production, we stayed over at Nora’s house. We always sleep on their living room floor, on our camping mats. I know the basement will be finished one of these days, and there will be a guest suite down there, but in the meantime we really like the living room. In the morning, while it’s still dark, you can see the lights of all the cars down on the interstate, and the Frontrunner, going into Salt Lake. Where we live, nobody’s going much of anywhere in the morning. Such a difference!
           Later in the morning, after most of the kids had left for school, and Nora was giving Dad a haircut, McKay and I walked up the switchback trail hunting for "spiders." (They’re actually black beetles.) McKay carried a jar and I had a big spoon to scoop them up with. We got six of them, of all sizes. McKay was fascinated watching them "fight." Nora wasn’t as impressed, and screwed the lid down tight on the jar. She said they had plenty of air to last them all day.
          Our Toyota Sienna has been suffering for almost three years with a dent I put in the front fender (a metal dumpster I misjudged), plus a large rusted spot and some flaking paint on the bumper. We asked around here about body shops, and everybody recommended Mick Clegg in Marion. His shop blends into the scenery–grassy pastureland, lots of cows, pine trees–not your usual West Valley body shop. He did a fabulous job on our car, and he only charged us $600, and it took less than two days. We definitely recommend this guy!
          For the last 32 years I’ve always been in charge of my mission reunion, every October. This year, the guy who said he would host it was out of the country, and another guy I called sounded so tired and used-up that I didn’t want to bother him. I made a list of everybody who has ever hosted our reunions. Two of them have died, two have recently lost their wives, and one has dementia. Of the people who are still OK, most of them are on missions, or serving as mission presidents or temple presidents. Finally I sent out a letter to everybody saying maybe it was time to say "we had a good run" and let it go. I’ve had lots of responses. Everybody wants to keep our reunions going, but nobody volunteered to take over my job. One guy, just leaving on a mission to Latvia, said he would host a big final 50-year reunion when he gets home. So we all have that to look forward to now, but I won’t have the stress and fun of doing it every year.
          Life is good. I love you all. Mom