Dear Kids,
I’m stuck home today without a car, because the Windstar died on the interstate yesterday. I was toodling merrily down towards Orem, near Lehi Roller Mills, when I heard a thunking sound inside. But it only lasted a few seconds. No matter. But when I got off the interstate in Orem, I discovered I didn’t have any power steering. I called Dad on my cell, and he said just to be careful. So I drove to Grandma and Grandpa’s, where we had a great visit. (News: Michael Allen has a serious girlfriend, the girl who came with him to Grandpa’s birthday party. Richard flew here from Canada to check her out, and they approve.) So, we had a great time, but when I left for home, I smelled a burning-rubber sort of smell in the car. Then, on the interstate, I saw that the rpm indicator had dropped to zero, and the car started bucking. I called Dad, and while I was talking to him, the speedometer dropped to zero. Dad told me to get off to the side of the road as soon as possible, which I did. Just as I was slowing down on the shoulder, the car totally died. So I called a tow truck, and had it bring us back home. Me and the car. Now it’s sitting sadly in the carport, where Dad has been working on it. First he showed me the shredded timing belt. Several other things went wrong, too–sort of a chain reaction. But he thinks he can get it going again. I hope so! I’ve had so much fun in that car, I can’t stand to give it up. (The car, of course. I won’t give up the fun.)
Dad and I had a lot of fun on Halloween. There weren’t very many trick-or-treaters, (the only really big group was the 20 Polynesians from across the street), but we got to see Nora and James’s kids, because they came over here early in their costumes. (We also got to see Carson and Ellie on Sunday, in their costumes). Which reminds me, I really would like some pictures of your kids in their Halloween costumes, either real pictures, or a disk, or e-mailed ones. Actually, any recent pictures would be great. I’m finally getting back into doing my photo albums, and I hope to be caught up pretty soon.
Thanksgiving is coming up, three weeks from today. Last year I didn’t cook dinner at the cabin, and we just met there for pie in the evening, so I presume some of you are “on” for this year? Let me know. I’ll gladly cook a turkey and pies, and make the gravy, if anybody wants to volunteer for potatoes, salads, rolls, or anything else. Let me know, and also, if you want to reserve a room for any of the nights. I think Dad and I will be there for the whole weekend. Who could believe that it’s time to be thinking about Thanksgiving already?
I talked Nora into starting a blog. You can see it at http://mairmania.blogspot.com/. Right now she just has one picture up, and one entry, but it’s a start. Missy had a long entry last week. I had fun reading it all.
I can’t think of any real news. Oh, well, I wrote a lot last week.
Love, Mom
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Dear Kids,
Here’s the latest New Baby News: Uncle Ben reports that Jeff and Emily had a baby girl on October 18th. Her name is Kimberly Joyce, she was 19.75" long, weighed 7 lbs 13 oz, and her voice sounded like “a very small bear.” Not to be outdone, Uncle Andy reports that Dan and Amanda are now the parents of Micah Paul Allen, born Oct. 20th, no size or weight. But Andy says, “Apparently some of the Allen genes made it through this time. The young boy reportedly has big hands with short stubby fingers, and space for an extra toe between the 1st and 2nd toe.” All this information came to us by e-mail, but on Sunday, Dad and I went to Brigham City for Gary’s homecoming. It was lots of fun, as always. We saw Mark and Tamry’s little girl, Elsie, who was born soon after the family reunion in August. She has cute auburn hair, lots of dimples, and smiles a lot. In case any of you are keeping up with Grandpa Allen’s number chart, the newest baby, Amanda and Dan’s, is #157. #158 will be Jamie’s fiancee, Andrea Fleming. #159 and #160 will be a toss-up between Andrea Hill’s baby and Bevan. Since Andrea and Dan are living in China, she’ll go to Hong Kong to have her baby, scheduled for December 15. That’s the same day as Donna and Bevan’s wedding, of course. But when you factor in the time difference, the baby is likely to come first. One interesting thing about Andrea is that her baby won’t be able to go back into China for about 2 weeks after it’s born, because they have to apply for its passport. There’s a special hotel where the new mothers stay, waiting for their babies’ passports. Sounds like fun, doesn’t it? Renae’s going to fly to China to take care of the older kids while this is going on.
Back to the numbers: #161will be Charles Allen’s fiancee, Julie, and #162 will be John and Heather’s baby. Sharon and Seth’s will be #163. Since I don’t know of any other babies or weddings before July, Neil could come into our family as #164. But of course you can never keep up with all the new happenings in the Allen family. (Edit: Kim is due December 8th)
While Dad and I were in Brigham City, Andy demonstrated his new web cam for us, like we’d never seen one before. A year ago he didn’t even have internet access, and claimed he didn’t need it, and now he’s hooked. He’s made all his kids get web cams, too, since two families are in California and one’s in China. Andy dials them up and has the parents put the kids in front of the cam, so he can talk with them. So we got to see Dan and Amanda’s new baby in Santa Barbara, and watch Dan act goofy, like always. Andy told Dad and me that we absolutely had to hook all our kids up with web cams, but I told him when you’re going on 18 grandkids, it isn’t such a big deal. (Just kidding of course.)
News from Price: Paul reports that he and his engineering buddies are building their trebuchet (like a catapult, I think) for their class project. All the kids in his statics class get to take their catapults to Moab, where they’ll stay in a motel and hold a competition. I think they’re going to throw pumpkins with them. Sounds like a good use of students’ tuition money, doesn’t it? Or our tax dollars? But of course it’s all good.
News from Pocatello: Vanessa and Trent started laying their sod last weekend, and Vanessa finished up Wednesday morning just a couple of hours before it snowed. Meg can sit up now. Sterling is finishing his soccer season, but with 4-year-olds, it’s pretty casual. At their most recent game, Sterling’s team only had 6 kids, but the other team had 11, all of them on the field at the same time. If they kicked the ball out-of-bounds, they just kept kicking until they got it back in. You can guess who won.
I just finished reading Missy’s blog, about their trip to St. George. There’s a cool slideshow, too. Here’s the link: http://www.justthe4ofus-missy.blogspot.com/ I wish you all had blogs. It’s really easy to start one on blogspot. In fact, I had to create one so I could post a comment about Missy’s pictures. Also, Amber has some cool pictures of their record-breaking snowstorm in Buffalo. And her story of their power being out for 2 days. Here’s her link: http://amberackerson.blogspot.com/ Have I convinced anybody else to start one up? I hope so.
Bevan is moving to the cabin on Nov. 11th, when he starts working at Deer Valley. Meanwhile, Donna has discovered that for spring semester, her classes will only be on Tuesdays and Thursdays. So she’ll move into the cabin right after the wedding, and just be in Logan from Tuesday mornings to Thursday afternoons. She won’t even have to rent an apartment there! And she can work at Deer Valley with Bevan on Mondays and Fridays. What a deal! Donna wants everybody to know, however, that she expects the cabin parties to keep going on. If we let her know in time, she and Bevan can escape somewhere overnight, and leave the cabin to us. (Tom does the same thing too, of course.) So there’s no stoppin’ the fun!
Nora and her kids are here to look at Halloween costumes. I’ve gotta go!
Love, Mom
Here’s the latest New Baby News: Uncle Ben reports that Jeff and Emily had a baby girl on October 18th. Her name is Kimberly Joyce, she was 19.75" long, weighed 7 lbs 13 oz, and her voice sounded like “a very small bear.” Not to be outdone, Uncle Andy reports that Dan and Amanda are now the parents of Micah Paul Allen, born Oct. 20th, no size or weight. But Andy says, “Apparently some of the Allen genes made it through this time. The young boy reportedly has big hands with short stubby fingers, and space for an extra toe between the 1st and 2nd toe.” All this information came to us by e-mail, but on Sunday, Dad and I went to Brigham City for Gary’s homecoming. It was lots of fun, as always. We saw Mark and Tamry’s little girl, Elsie, who was born soon after the family reunion in August. She has cute auburn hair, lots of dimples, and smiles a lot. In case any of you are keeping up with Grandpa Allen’s number chart, the newest baby, Amanda and Dan’s, is #157. #158 will be Jamie’s fiancee, Andrea Fleming. #159 and #160 will be a toss-up between Andrea Hill’s baby and Bevan. Since Andrea and Dan are living in China, she’ll go to Hong Kong to have her baby, scheduled for December 15. That’s the same day as Donna and Bevan’s wedding, of course. But when you factor in the time difference, the baby is likely to come first. One interesting thing about Andrea is that her baby won’t be able to go back into China for about 2 weeks after it’s born, because they have to apply for its passport. There’s a special hotel where the new mothers stay, waiting for their babies’ passports. Sounds like fun, doesn’t it? Renae’s going to fly to China to take care of the older kids while this is going on.
Back to the numbers: #161will be Charles Allen’s fiancee, Julie, and #162 will be John and Heather’s baby. Sharon and Seth’s will be #163. Since I don’t know of any other babies or weddings before July, Neil could come into our family as #164. But of course you can never keep up with all the new happenings in the Allen family. (Edit: Kim is due December 8th)
While Dad and I were in Brigham City, Andy demonstrated his new web cam for us, like we’d never seen one before. A year ago he didn’t even have internet access, and claimed he didn’t need it, and now he’s hooked. He’s made all his kids get web cams, too, since two families are in California and one’s in China. Andy dials them up and has the parents put the kids in front of the cam, so he can talk with them. So we got to see Dan and Amanda’s new baby in Santa Barbara, and watch Dan act goofy, like always. Andy told Dad and me that we absolutely had to hook all our kids up with web cams, but I told him when you’re going on 18 grandkids, it isn’t such a big deal. (Just kidding of course.)
News from Price: Paul reports that he and his engineering buddies are building their trebuchet (like a catapult, I think) for their class project. All the kids in his statics class get to take their catapults to Moab, where they’ll stay in a motel and hold a competition. I think they’re going to throw pumpkins with them. Sounds like a good use of students’ tuition money, doesn’t it? Or our tax dollars? But of course it’s all good.
News from Pocatello: Vanessa and Trent started laying their sod last weekend, and Vanessa finished up Wednesday morning just a couple of hours before it snowed. Meg can sit up now. Sterling is finishing his soccer season, but with 4-year-olds, it’s pretty casual. At their most recent game, Sterling’s team only had 6 kids, but the other team had 11, all of them on the field at the same time. If they kicked the ball out-of-bounds, they just kept kicking until they got it back in. You can guess who won.
I just finished reading Missy’s blog, about their trip to St. George. There’s a cool slideshow, too. Here’s the link: http://www.justthe4ofus-missy.blogspot.com/ I wish you all had blogs. It’s really easy to start one on blogspot. In fact, I had to create one so I could post a comment about Missy’s pictures. Also, Amber has some cool pictures of their record-breaking snowstorm in Buffalo. And her story of their power being out for 2 days. Here’s her link: http://amberackerson.blogspot.com/ Have I convinced anybody else to start one up? I hope so.
Bevan is moving to the cabin on Nov. 11th, when he starts working at Deer Valley. Meanwhile, Donna has discovered that for spring semester, her classes will only be on Tuesdays and Thursdays. So she’ll move into the cabin right after the wedding, and just be in Logan from Tuesday mornings to Thursday afternoons. She won’t even have to rent an apartment there! And she can work at Deer Valley with Bevan on Mondays and Fridays. What a deal! Donna wants everybody to know, however, that she expects the cabin parties to keep going on. If we let her know in time, she and Bevan can escape somewhere overnight, and leave the cabin to us. (Tom does the same thing too, of course.) So there’s no stoppin’ the fun!
Nora and her kids are here to look at Halloween costumes. I’ve gotta go!
Love, Mom
Thursday, October 19, 2006
Dear Kids,
Biggest news of the week: There’s going to be another Julie in the family! Charles finally got engaged to his girlfriend, who some of us met at the family reunion. She’s tall and thin, and I can’t even remember her last name! I think she’s from Oregon or Washington. The wedding date is December 29th. I’ll pass on more new as we get it.
Dad and I had lots of fun at the cabin last weekend, because Tom and Kim and their kids were there. It was UEA weekend, and the weather was great. (At least on Friday.) Kim fixed wonderful meals. (Some of it she was going to freeze so Tom would have good dinners during the week.) Dad finished staining all our new siding on the cabin, and even started on the second coat of the older part. He loves to stand at the top of a tall ladder with his paintbrush and jug of stain, listening to his IPOD, (Right now he’s listening to “The World is Flat,” by Thomas Friedman), and he can paint all day long without getting tired of it. Meantime, I’m down below, raking rocks, yelling at him if the stain drops on the deck. It works. I’m hoping we can do some more this weekend, but it’s getting colder all the time.
Monica reports that Ramona has been attacking lizards. When Monica finds a big one, she calls Ramona, and tosses her at the lizard. Ramona likes to eat them head-first. After clearing all the mice out of the cabin, she thinks lizards are easy work. Meanwhile, the wedding plans are coming along nicely. Monica is still planning to have the marriage in the backyard of the cabin. Who’s going to perform the ceremony? Monica said Neil wants somebody in a cowboy hat. Maybe it’ll work . . . . We know for certain that the food will be good! Monica said something about a band, too.
Donna’s wedding plans are coming along, too. I think she’s decided on the chocolate wedding cake, not just on the inside, but all over, like Vanessa and Sharon had. She wants the frosting even darker than ever before.
Yesterday I went to visit Grandma and Grandpa, and we had a good time. I showed them some funny videos on their computer. (Now that they have cable modem, it’s a lot easier to waste time there.) Remember how I told you that Christy Montoya Walk and her husband Jeff won $10,000 on America’s Funniest Videos? You can see their winning video if you google “over-excited dog.” It’s hysterical. We found some funny cat videos, too. Grandma was really entertained. We talked about the book by Richard Bushman, a biography of Joseph Smith called “Rough Stone Rolling.” I’m in the middle of it right now. We all have the same opinion of it. Then I put on the video “Mormons and Mobsters,” which is pretty silly, but we had a good time watching it. I really enjoy my visits there. I only wish I could go more often.
On Sunday I went to the stake president’s office to get my temple recommend signed, and there were a whole slew of people waiting in line. Including Dennis Nordfelt. It’s still funny to see him on the outside, instead of the inside. Somebody had been commenting that he’s had the titles of Colonel, Chief, Mayor, and President, so I asked which one he liked being called. He said any of those are lots better than what they call him at work. We talked about grandchildren, and he said they’re going on 27. He says we’ll never catch up with them. There were so many people in line ahead of us, he finally had to leave before he got in. He said he was fixing Sunday dinner for some of their married kids, and he had to “get his meat on.” He said to tell you all Hi.
Life is good! I love you all! Mom
Biggest news of the week: There’s going to be another Julie in the family! Charles finally got engaged to his girlfriend, who some of us met at the family reunion. She’s tall and thin, and I can’t even remember her last name! I think she’s from Oregon or Washington. The wedding date is December 29th. I’ll pass on more new as we get it.
Dad and I had lots of fun at the cabin last weekend, because Tom and Kim and their kids were there. It was UEA weekend, and the weather was great. (At least on Friday.) Kim fixed wonderful meals. (Some of it she was going to freeze so Tom would have good dinners during the week.) Dad finished staining all our new siding on the cabin, and even started on the second coat of the older part. He loves to stand at the top of a tall ladder with his paintbrush and jug of stain, listening to his IPOD, (Right now he’s listening to “The World is Flat,” by Thomas Friedman), and he can paint all day long without getting tired of it. Meantime, I’m down below, raking rocks, yelling at him if the stain drops on the deck. It works. I’m hoping we can do some more this weekend, but it’s getting colder all the time.
Monica reports that Ramona has been attacking lizards. When Monica finds a big one, she calls Ramona, and tosses her at the lizard. Ramona likes to eat them head-first. After clearing all the mice out of the cabin, she thinks lizards are easy work. Meanwhile, the wedding plans are coming along nicely. Monica is still planning to have the marriage in the backyard of the cabin. Who’s going to perform the ceremony? Monica said Neil wants somebody in a cowboy hat. Maybe it’ll work . . . . We know for certain that the food will be good! Monica said something about a band, too.
Donna’s wedding plans are coming along, too. I think she’s decided on the chocolate wedding cake, not just on the inside, but all over, like Vanessa and Sharon had. She wants the frosting even darker than ever before.
Yesterday I went to visit Grandma and Grandpa, and we had a good time. I showed them some funny videos on their computer. (Now that they have cable modem, it’s a lot easier to waste time there.) Remember how I told you that Christy Montoya Walk and her husband Jeff won $10,000 on America’s Funniest Videos? You can see their winning video if you google “over-excited dog.” It’s hysterical. We found some funny cat videos, too. Grandma was really entertained. We talked about the book by Richard Bushman, a biography of Joseph Smith called “Rough Stone Rolling.” I’m in the middle of it right now. We all have the same opinion of it. Then I put on the video “Mormons and Mobsters,” which is pretty silly, but we had a good time watching it. I really enjoy my visits there. I only wish I could go more often.
On Sunday I went to the stake president’s office to get my temple recommend signed, and there were a whole slew of people waiting in line. Including Dennis Nordfelt. It’s still funny to see him on the outside, instead of the inside. Somebody had been commenting that he’s had the titles of Colonel, Chief, Mayor, and President, so I asked which one he liked being called. He said any of those are lots better than what they call him at work. We talked about grandchildren, and he said they’re going on 27. He says we’ll never catch up with them. There were so many people in line ahead of us, he finally had to leave before he got in. He said he was fixing Sunday dinner for some of their married kids, and he had to “get his meat on.” He said to tell you all Hi.
Life is good! I love you all! Mom
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Dear Kids,
When Dad got home from work Tuesday afternoon, the UPS truck was in front of our house, and the driver was unloading two giant boxes that were for us! They were bicycles! I had almost forgotten–for Dad’s 30th anniversary with UTA, they let him pick out a prize from an on-line catalog. The farther through the catalog you got, the better the prizes were. The last one was these two bicycles, his and hers. Dad ordered them, but I didn’t think they would really come. But the boxes are now in our living room. I’m going to take them to the cabin tomorrow, and Dad will put them together there. I always wanted bikes at the cabin, besides Missy’s Huffy that’s already there. Even with the Yerf Dog, I sometimes want to hop on a bike. So that will be fun. Except that the cabin garage is getting full of stuff.
Most of you remember Mark and Jenn Woodruff, who lived in our ward for so many years. They moved to Albany, New York, because of Mark’s job, and we were all sad to see them go. Then, a few weeks ago, Angie Holden told me that they would be moving back to Utah! I said, “Back to our ward?” She said, no, they had better things in mind. They were definitely going to be moving up. So where’s “up?” Allen and Missy’s neighborhood! Yep. Missy saw them in Church and thought they looked familiar. When they saw Allen, they made the connection right away. So, Al and Missy, tell them Hi for us. Congratulations for living in such an upscale neighborhood.
Seth and Sharon are in the middle of a fun week–Seth’s parents and Lucinda are visiting there right now. (I wish it were us!) Sharon said it’s really pretty there now. The grass is all green, after lots of rain, and the leaves are red. She said the temperature is perfect. They might go to Nauvoo with the Thackers. I’m even more jealous!
Sharon said she’s been to see Nick and Tara’s baby a couple of times. I guess she has a ton of dark hair, unlike Carson and Ellie, who definitely take after the Ackerson side of the family. Oh, well, nobody said cousins had to look alike.
I just got a nice thank-you note from James’s parents, who spent Friday night at our cabin, along with Nora and James and the rest of his family. I figured they would play a lot of games–they always do–but they also hiked the little loop. Friday night it rained like crazy (I know, because I was there, and I didn’t want to leave for home while it was pouring) but they had good weather on Saturday. When they got back from their hike, they had missed some real excitement–one of the Galmore dogs had killed one of Matheny’s chickens. Too bad. I had just chased the chickens out of our yard that morning. Mother nature knows what to do with careless chickens.
Tuesday night was our Relief Society service auction, and I was so excited to auction off my item--a free snowboarding lesson! I had a picture scanned from a magazine, framed, with a snowboarder in the air, and the caption said “This Could be You!” I thought that would inspire lots of the ladies in our ward to want to try it. I was so wrong! They all said they didn’t want to break their necks. Only two ladies even bid on it! But the lady (girl, actually,) who won, Bekah Davis, is the really adventurous type, and we’re going to have a lot of fun. She’s from Preston, Idaho, and her uncle is in “Napoleon Dynamite.” She’s a returned missionary. She used to be a flight attendant for Sky West. She has the same Eddie Bauer dress I have. We’re soul sisters! I can’t wait for the snow!
As always, “Doin’ great and lovin’ it,” Mom
When Dad got home from work Tuesday afternoon, the UPS truck was in front of our house, and the driver was unloading two giant boxes that were for us! They were bicycles! I had almost forgotten–for Dad’s 30th anniversary with UTA, they let him pick out a prize from an on-line catalog. The farther through the catalog you got, the better the prizes were. The last one was these two bicycles, his and hers. Dad ordered them, but I didn’t think they would really come. But the boxes are now in our living room. I’m going to take them to the cabin tomorrow, and Dad will put them together there. I always wanted bikes at the cabin, besides Missy’s Huffy that’s already there. Even with the Yerf Dog, I sometimes want to hop on a bike. So that will be fun. Except that the cabin garage is getting full of stuff.
Most of you remember Mark and Jenn Woodruff, who lived in our ward for so many years. They moved to Albany, New York, because of Mark’s job, and we were all sad to see them go. Then, a few weeks ago, Angie Holden told me that they would be moving back to Utah! I said, “Back to our ward?” She said, no, they had better things in mind. They were definitely going to be moving up. So where’s “up?” Allen and Missy’s neighborhood! Yep. Missy saw them in Church and thought they looked familiar. When they saw Allen, they made the connection right away. So, Al and Missy, tell them Hi for us. Congratulations for living in such an upscale neighborhood.
Seth and Sharon are in the middle of a fun week–Seth’s parents and Lucinda are visiting there right now. (I wish it were us!) Sharon said it’s really pretty there now. The grass is all green, after lots of rain, and the leaves are red. She said the temperature is perfect. They might go to Nauvoo with the Thackers. I’m even more jealous!
Sharon said she’s been to see Nick and Tara’s baby a couple of times. I guess she has a ton of dark hair, unlike Carson and Ellie, who definitely take after the Ackerson side of the family. Oh, well, nobody said cousins had to look alike.
I just got a nice thank-you note from James’s parents, who spent Friday night at our cabin, along with Nora and James and the rest of his family. I figured they would play a lot of games–they always do–but they also hiked the little loop. Friday night it rained like crazy (I know, because I was there, and I didn’t want to leave for home while it was pouring) but they had good weather on Saturday. When they got back from their hike, they had missed some real excitement–one of the Galmore dogs had killed one of Matheny’s chickens. Too bad. I had just chased the chickens out of our yard that morning. Mother nature knows what to do with careless chickens.
Tuesday night was our Relief Society service auction, and I was so excited to auction off my item--a free snowboarding lesson! I had a picture scanned from a magazine, framed, with a snowboarder in the air, and the caption said “This Could be You!” I thought that would inspire lots of the ladies in our ward to want to try it. I was so wrong! They all said they didn’t want to break their necks. Only two ladies even bid on it! But the lady (girl, actually,) who won, Bekah Davis, is the really adventurous type, and we’re going to have a lot of fun. She’s from Preston, Idaho, and her uncle is in “Napoleon Dynamite.” She’s a returned missionary. She used to be a flight attendant for Sky West. She has the same Eddie Bauer dress I have. We’re soul sisters! I can’t wait for the snow!
As always, “Doin’ great and lovin’ it,” Mom
Thursday, October 5, 2006
Dear Kids,
Conference weekend was so much fun, I’m still recovering. I mean, trying to get back to my normal ordinary boring routine. But wasn’t it great while it lasted? Tom said it was the most fun conference weekend we’ve ever had, and I agreed. It was certainly the best weather, if that’s possible. Maybe Tom will put up a new slideshow with all the great pictures he took. And that’s not counting the bridal pictures of Donna, and the engagement pictures of Donna and Bevan. They’re going to have a hard time choosing from so many good pictures!
Monica is moving ahead with her wedding plans, too. She talked to Tom about checking out some barbecue food from Gateway Grille. (You know, that restaurant at the main intersection in Kamas, where you turn left to go to our cabin.) So Tom’s assignment is to go to this restaurant and sample their barbecue. Maybe he’ll have to go two or three times! If the food is good, Monica is going to have them cater her wedding! So we’ll have really great food we can sink our teeth into, not just frothy punch and little nut cups. Oh, and I forgot the most important detail: The date will be July 7th. That’s 2007. So the official date is 07-07-07. Funny, my lucky number has always been 7, so I’m sure the wedding will be a fabulous affair.
I’ve been working hard on my outside cabin projects, trying to get as much done as possible before winter, so I’ll be that much further along next spring, so it will look as good as possible for the wedding. Dad and I finally got some more siding, and Tuesday we were working at the very top of the cabin, around the chimney. It’s the part the neighbors have been wondering about, how we could possibly get up there! Several of them slowed down to watch us, and one man walking down the street just stopped and stared. We had set up ladders on the balcony, resting them on both sides of the chimney, and we were up at the very top, clinging on, handing the nail gun back and forth. Finally we had to climb onto the top of the roof, to work around the chimney. The wind was blowing, and we tried not to look down. I’ve always been afraid of heights. Dad, too, it turns out. But we were both very brave. There’s only one little spot left. I’m hoping to finish it tomorrow.
I signed up dad and myself to be poll workers at the November election. The new voting machines are all computerized, so we had to go to a training session this morning, and practice setting them up, checking in voters, voting ourselves–it was all lots of fun. Except that the trainer started getting really rude to me. I kept asking questions, and he kept getting more hostile. (These were really ordinary questions! Nothing ridiculous.) Finally, he said if I interrupted him one more time, he was going to have to ask me to leave. Hello? He was being paid to train us. I told him he was supposed to be helping us learn, not barking at us. He said he wasn’t barking. The rest of the group said, yes, he was. When it was over, we filled out evaluation forms, and several of us said he was rude. I even called in a complaint. Dad is worried the guy will lose his job. I couldn’t care less. And in spite of all that, Dad and I are looking forward to the election. Dad gets to “encode” voter cards. I’m a “receiving judge.” We’re assigned to work at the Redwood Miltipurpose center. It should be an intersting day.
I can’t think of any news. We just saw most of you. We missed the ones we didn’t see.
Lots of love, Mom
Conference weekend was so much fun, I’m still recovering. I mean, trying to get back to my normal ordinary boring routine. But wasn’t it great while it lasted? Tom said it was the most fun conference weekend we’ve ever had, and I agreed. It was certainly the best weather, if that’s possible. Maybe Tom will put up a new slideshow with all the great pictures he took. And that’s not counting the bridal pictures of Donna, and the engagement pictures of Donna and Bevan. They’re going to have a hard time choosing from so many good pictures!
Monica is moving ahead with her wedding plans, too. She talked to Tom about checking out some barbecue food from Gateway Grille. (You know, that restaurant at the main intersection in Kamas, where you turn left to go to our cabin.) So Tom’s assignment is to go to this restaurant and sample their barbecue. Maybe he’ll have to go two or three times! If the food is good, Monica is going to have them cater her wedding! So we’ll have really great food we can sink our teeth into, not just frothy punch and little nut cups. Oh, and I forgot the most important detail: The date will be July 7th. That’s 2007. So the official date is 07-07-07. Funny, my lucky number has always been 7, so I’m sure the wedding will be a fabulous affair.
I’ve been working hard on my outside cabin projects, trying to get as much done as possible before winter, so I’ll be that much further along next spring, so it will look as good as possible for the wedding. Dad and I finally got some more siding, and Tuesday we were working at the very top of the cabin, around the chimney. It’s the part the neighbors have been wondering about, how we could possibly get up there! Several of them slowed down to watch us, and one man walking down the street just stopped and stared. We had set up ladders on the balcony, resting them on both sides of the chimney, and we were up at the very top, clinging on, handing the nail gun back and forth. Finally we had to climb onto the top of the roof, to work around the chimney. The wind was blowing, and we tried not to look down. I’ve always been afraid of heights. Dad, too, it turns out. But we were both very brave. There’s only one little spot left. I’m hoping to finish it tomorrow.
I signed up dad and myself to be poll workers at the November election. The new voting machines are all computerized, so we had to go to a training session this morning, and practice setting them up, checking in voters, voting ourselves–it was all lots of fun. Except that the trainer started getting really rude to me. I kept asking questions, and he kept getting more hostile. (These were really ordinary questions! Nothing ridiculous.) Finally, he said if I interrupted him one more time, he was going to have to ask me to leave. Hello? He was being paid to train us. I told him he was supposed to be helping us learn, not barking at us. He said he wasn’t barking. The rest of the group said, yes, he was. When it was over, we filled out evaluation forms, and several of us said he was rude. I even called in a complaint. Dad is worried the guy will lose his job. I couldn’t care less. And in spite of all that, Dad and I are looking forward to the election. Dad gets to “encode” voter cards. I’m a “receiving judge.” We’re assigned to work at the Redwood Miltipurpose center. It should be an intersting day.
I can’t think of any news. We just saw most of you. We missed the ones we didn’t see.
Lots of love, Mom
Thursday, September 28, 2006
Dear Kids,
What beautiful fall weather we’re having! Yesterday I rode my bike to Valley Fair Mall to return some stuff to Penneys, and there couldn’t have been a better day! We ought to have glorious weather for conference weekend! John is talking about bringing his chocolate fountain for Sunday afternoon. I’m looking forward to seeing so many of you.
Dad and I have been trying to finish the log siding on the cabin, but the mill in Heber hasn’t had any logs for us. I just called them this morning, though, and the guy said he’s making some today. So with a little luck, we can pick them up tomorrow afternoon. That doesn’t mean that we’ll be working during conference, though. We’ll save most of it for the following Tuesday. Dad’s on vacation all next week, so I have plans for him. Originally, we were going to take Grandma and Grandpa Allen on a trip to southern Utah, but that won’t work out now. They both aren’t doing very well physically. Grandpa has had a couple of strokes, and according to Katie, he’s even stopped driving. (That’ll be the day.) Grandma is still on oxygen, which will probably be permanent. Sunday night, we had Grandpa’s birthday party at their house, instead of the cabin. But it was still fun.
Missy has a blog! She just sent us an e-mail about it, and I checked it out! You can read all about their trip to a circus parade, and Carson’s “Pirates of the Caribbean” birthday party. There’s a slideshow, too. The address is: www.justthe4ofus-missy.blogspot.com. Amber has a blog there, too, but she hasn’t added anything recently. I wish all of you had blogs! It would be so easy to keep up with each others’ news!
There’s a tiny lizard that’s moved into the cabin greenhouse. He runs around among the tomato plants. He’s only a couple of inches long, or maybe less. I don’t know where he came from. Other wildlife news: There were a couple of very stupid mice who built their nest right in the mouse bait box. I guess they thought it was a great place–lots of food, and lots of protection. Well, they both died. One of them was a couple of feet away from the box, and the other was inside, next to the bait, on his back, with his feet sticking up in the air. At least they didn’t have time to produce any babies!
Tom said he was driving down the main street of Heber, by Day’s Market, and he saw a glider overhead, banking perfectly, leveling out perfectly, in a straight line. Later he called John, and sure enough–that was him up there! He has to do everything just right. He said he had to give up wearing his Doc Marten shoes in the glider, because they were so heavy, he didn’t have any control on the pedals. So now he wears lighter shoes. And speaking of weight, if John can get down to 210, there’s a new glider he can fly. Go, John. I’ve just been reading the book Seabiscuit (recommended by Paul) that tells how the jockeys used to loose weight. Some of them swallowed tapeworms! When they got too sick to ride the horses, they went to the hospital and got themselves cured. Just an idea, John!
Sharon reports that Seth is the new financial clerk of their ward. Hopefully tithing settlement won’t be a problem, since they’re flying here December 14th. Maybe he can get it all wrapped up before that.
Gotta go! I love you all! Mom
What beautiful fall weather we’re having! Yesterday I rode my bike to Valley Fair Mall to return some stuff to Penneys, and there couldn’t have been a better day! We ought to have glorious weather for conference weekend! John is talking about bringing his chocolate fountain for Sunday afternoon. I’m looking forward to seeing so many of you.
Dad and I have been trying to finish the log siding on the cabin, but the mill in Heber hasn’t had any logs for us. I just called them this morning, though, and the guy said he’s making some today. So with a little luck, we can pick them up tomorrow afternoon. That doesn’t mean that we’ll be working during conference, though. We’ll save most of it for the following Tuesday. Dad’s on vacation all next week, so I have plans for him. Originally, we were going to take Grandma and Grandpa Allen on a trip to southern Utah, but that won’t work out now. They both aren’t doing very well physically. Grandpa has had a couple of strokes, and according to Katie, he’s even stopped driving. (That’ll be the day.) Grandma is still on oxygen, which will probably be permanent. Sunday night, we had Grandpa’s birthday party at their house, instead of the cabin. But it was still fun.
Missy has a blog! She just sent us an e-mail about it, and I checked it out! You can read all about their trip to a circus parade, and Carson’s “Pirates of the Caribbean” birthday party. There’s a slideshow, too. The address is: www.justthe4ofus-missy.blogspot.com. Amber has a blog there, too, but she hasn’t added anything recently. I wish all of you had blogs! It would be so easy to keep up with each others’ news!
There’s a tiny lizard that’s moved into the cabin greenhouse. He runs around among the tomato plants. He’s only a couple of inches long, or maybe less. I don’t know where he came from. Other wildlife news: There were a couple of very stupid mice who built their nest right in the mouse bait box. I guess they thought it was a great place–lots of food, and lots of protection. Well, they both died. One of them was a couple of feet away from the box, and the other was inside, next to the bait, on his back, with his feet sticking up in the air. At least they didn’t have time to produce any babies!
Tom said he was driving down the main street of Heber, by Day’s Market, and he saw a glider overhead, banking perfectly, leveling out perfectly, in a straight line. Later he called John, and sure enough–that was him up there! He has to do everything just right. He said he had to give up wearing his Doc Marten shoes in the glider, because they were so heavy, he didn’t have any control on the pedals. So now he wears lighter shoes. And speaking of weight, if John can get down to 210, there’s a new glider he can fly. Go, John. I’ve just been reading the book Seabiscuit (recommended by Paul) that tells how the jockeys used to loose weight. Some of them swallowed tapeworms! When they got too sick to ride the horses, they went to the hospital and got themselves cured. Just an idea, John!
Sharon reports that Seth is the new financial clerk of their ward. Hopefully tithing settlement won’t be a problem, since they’re flying here December 14th. Maybe he can get it all wrapped up before that.
Gotta go! I love you all! Mom
Thursday, September 21, 2006
Dear Kids,
Well, I was wrong about the clean sweep of girls, because Sharon and Seth are having A BOY! That will be nice for Charlie–a little brother to wrestle with. Two boys together in a family can always have the fun of beating up on each other. There’s lots of other advantages, too, like sharing a room. Congratulations, Sharon and Seth! We’re really happy for you. A thorn among the roses. We need it.
Here’s something discouraging: they give you the senior citizen discount, and you didn’t even ask for it. That happened to me at the Salvation Army thrift store. I was buying a skirt for $3.00, and she rang it up as $2.25. I wondered why, until I saw the sign that said “Mondays: Senior citizen’s discount--25%.” I did the math and came up discouraged. Maybe they count senior citizens as 25 and older. I would have gladly paid another 75¢ not to have my ego deflated.
I went to the cabin last Friday morning, ready for two days of hard work in the yard. I’m trying to get as much done as I can before winter hits. That evening it started raining, and as I went to sleep, I was happy to hear the rain on the roof, because I knew the dirt would be soft the next morning, and I could dig out rocks all the better. But when I woke up Saturday morning and looked out the window, it was white, as far as the eye could see. So much for digging out rocks. It snowed all morning, and there were about 6" on the ground when I finally left at noon. Luckily I undid the sprinklers from the taps, and turned everything off. I saw on weather.com that it got down to 22° in Kamas that night. Tom said it was really cold when he got there after work on Monday, and a fire didn’t do much to warm it up. I told him it takes a couple of days. It’s supposed to snow again this weekend, but it should be a lot warmer for conference. So don’t worry! We’ll have lots of fun, all of you who are coming. I heard rumors of Café Rio salad for Saturday afternoon.
Paul is plugging away at his studies at CEU, and he’s also serving as Sunday School President. But he’s having trouble getting teachers. Does that sound familiar, anybody? He says he puts in names, but they don’t call anybody. He wants at least two Gospel Doctrine teachers, so they can trade off. And he wants to have Gospel Principles, but the ward mission leader said he won’t teach it. All this is good preparation for Paul to go out into the real world, as if a mission weren’t enough.
Kara McGettigan says it’s about time we were getting a new kitten. I explained to her that most of the kittens are born in the spring, and besides, I need to be home more, to take care of it. She wasn’t convinced. I’m still grieving for Jasmine, who disappeared in July. And Jasmine came from the South Utah Valley animal shelter. Grandma says all the cats from there end up dying. Maybe the shots they give them are bogus, to save money. I don’t know. They have a bad reputation for putting dogs to sleep before the allotted time. Maybe I’ll go looking for kittens here in Salt Lake. Or maybe I’ll be sensible and just enjoy the two cats we have. Our e-mail address ought to say it all: just2cats.
Dad has entered a “alternative transportation” competition at UTA. They get points for riding a bike to work, or taking the bus. So Dad rides his bike to Valley Fair Mall, and catches the bus there, so he can get double points. He does the same thing coming home. But of course this week we’ve had lots of rain, so he comes home soaked. The prize is only a $30 Visa gift card, and those are impossible to redeem, but he says it’s not about the money. He wants to win. Go, Dad!
I’m off for downtown, to attend Emily Allen’s wedding in the Salt Lake Temple. This evening is the special dinner for invited guests. Nora and Paige are coming with me, because Dad has pack meeting. The Dinner is at “The Point,” a nice restaurant up at the Huntsman Cancer center. I’m sure the food will be good, and there will be lots of fun people to talk to.
I hope you’re all doin’ great and lovin’ it! Mom
Well, I was wrong about the clean sweep of girls, because Sharon and Seth are having A BOY! That will be nice for Charlie–a little brother to wrestle with. Two boys together in a family can always have the fun of beating up on each other. There’s lots of other advantages, too, like sharing a room. Congratulations, Sharon and Seth! We’re really happy for you. A thorn among the roses. We need it.
Here’s something discouraging: they give you the senior citizen discount, and you didn’t even ask for it. That happened to me at the Salvation Army thrift store. I was buying a skirt for $3.00, and she rang it up as $2.25. I wondered why, until I saw the sign that said “Mondays: Senior citizen’s discount--25%.” I did the math and came up discouraged. Maybe they count senior citizens as 25 and older. I would have gladly paid another 75¢ not to have my ego deflated.
I went to the cabin last Friday morning, ready for two days of hard work in the yard. I’m trying to get as much done as I can before winter hits. That evening it started raining, and as I went to sleep, I was happy to hear the rain on the roof, because I knew the dirt would be soft the next morning, and I could dig out rocks all the better. But when I woke up Saturday morning and looked out the window, it was white, as far as the eye could see. So much for digging out rocks. It snowed all morning, and there were about 6" on the ground when I finally left at noon. Luckily I undid the sprinklers from the taps, and turned everything off. I saw on weather.com that it got down to 22° in Kamas that night. Tom said it was really cold when he got there after work on Monday, and a fire didn’t do much to warm it up. I told him it takes a couple of days. It’s supposed to snow again this weekend, but it should be a lot warmer for conference. So don’t worry! We’ll have lots of fun, all of you who are coming. I heard rumors of Café Rio salad for Saturday afternoon.
Paul is plugging away at his studies at CEU, and he’s also serving as Sunday School President. But he’s having trouble getting teachers. Does that sound familiar, anybody? He says he puts in names, but they don’t call anybody. He wants at least two Gospel Doctrine teachers, so they can trade off. And he wants to have Gospel Principles, but the ward mission leader said he won’t teach it. All this is good preparation for Paul to go out into the real world, as if a mission weren’t enough.
Kara McGettigan says it’s about time we were getting a new kitten. I explained to her that most of the kittens are born in the spring, and besides, I need to be home more, to take care of it. She wasn’t convinced. I’m still grieving for Jasmine, who disappeared in July. And Jasmine came from the South Utah Valley animal shelter. Grandma says all the cats from there end up dying. Maybe the shots they give them are bogus, to save money. I don’t know. They have a bad reputation for putting dogs to sleep before the allotted time. Maybe I’ll go looking for kittens here in Salt Lake. Or maybe I’ll be sensible and just enjoy the two cats we have. Our e-mail address ought to say it all: just2cats.
Dad has entered a “alternative transportation” competition at UTA. They get points for riding a bike to work, or taking the bus. So Dad rides his bike to Valley Fair Mall, and catches the bus there, so he can get double points. He does the same thing coming home. But of course this week we’ve had lots of rain, so he comes home soaked. The prize is only a $30 Visa gift card, and those are impossible to redeem, but he says it’s not about the money. He wants to win. Go, Dad!
I’m off for downtown, to attend Emily Allen’s wedding in the Salt Lake Temple. This evening is the special dinner for invited guests. Nora and Paige are coming with me, because Dad has pack meeting. The Dinner is at “The Point,” a nice restaurant up at the Huntsman Cancer center. I’m sure the food will be good, and there will be lots of fun people to talk to.
I hope you’re all doin’ great and lovin’ it! Mom
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