Dear Kids,
There’s so much fun coming up, I’ll try to give you all the details. The first thing is the Allen family reunion July 28, and besides last week’s information, here’s more from Bonnie: “I wanted to just add a few things to update you all on the upcoming park reunion! It's looking like it will be hot, so I decided to rent an inflatable slide that will have water running on it (hopefully!) to keep the kids cool. If you want to contribute to the cost of that, you can just give me $20. We will have a water cooler, and other drinks, but bring sunscreen, toys like bikes, footballs, frisbees, etc And if the kids want to play on the slide, clothes that can get wet. Does anyone know who brought the volleyball net last time? It would be great if someone could bring that again as well. With a crowd this large, its hard to plan a lot of structured activities? So mostly we will just be visiting with each other, which is the best part!”
Then, of course, Lucy’s baptism will be that evening at 5:00 in the Provo River. I’ll write the directions in my next letter. It’s about ten minutes further than coming to our house, so you can plan the time. The after-party will be at our house, and I think it will be a dinner with hamburgers and hot dogs. Sharon is planning it.
Then, the next day, July 29, is Josh’s birthday party at Paul’s house in Layton (1042 Lindi Way) at 4 pm. Again there will be hamburgers and hot dogs, along with cake and ice cream. You can bring a side dish to share. We’ll sort of be celebrating my birthday, too, since it’s the same day as Josh’s.
Nora’s getting together the agenda for our upcoming Ackerson reunion (August 2-5). If there’s a particular meal you want to fix, text her and let her know. I asked about bathroom accommodations at our campground, and they’re sort of primitive: pit toilets, running water (but not warm) and a garbage dump. If you want to shower, Nora’s house is only 35-40 minutes away. She said anybody who wants to stay overnight there is also welcome.
Andy and Renae came by our house to visit on Friday. They’ve been home from their mission less than two weeks, so they’re still in culture shock. They’ve been serving in Dad’s part of Virginia for the last 18 months, so the three of them had fun comparing places and roads. I asked Andy what the strangest thing was about coming home, and he said people in Brigham City are too white and too old. Hummm.
Here’s something that never happened to me in Salt Lake: Claren Palmer, my only piano student that comes to our house, showed up Monday morning for his lesson. He said he had a present for me, and then he stuck a huge rainbow trout right in my face. He’d been down at the Jordanelle since 6 am fishing. (Left his home in West Valley at 5.) I told him he could keep his fish, so he asked for a plastic bag to stash it in. Then he had his piano lesson.
Lots of love to you all! Mom