Dear Kids,
          Most of you have talked with either Dad or me about his surgery, and you know it went pretty well, at least the surgery part of it. He was in the recovery room for several hours because his breathing was "depressed" (dangerously low, one doctor inadvertently let out), and then they sent him to the ICU for the night. I was there with him, and I slept in the recliner. It was very comfortable. The nurses were in and out every hour or two checking all his vitals, and they said he was the healthiest person in the ICU. I asked one nurse if people died there, and she said "all the time." It was very sobering. They kept Dad until Thursday afternoon, and released him from there. They gave us a sheaf of papers to read, but not much information about the real issues, like a run-down on all his medications, instructions for keeping the incision dry, what number to call if there is trouble, etc. We’ve made out OK. He had a lot of nausea yesterday, but is doing a little better today. He makes himself get up and walk around every hour or so, and I’m sure that’s helping him a lot. He has a catheter and a bag, so don’t be grossed out if you come to see him. The contents of the bag are the same color as the crystal lite fruit punch I used to like so much. I’ll never drink it again.
          Otherwise, things are going well here. The cats are doing OK without Dad’s constant attention, but they’re letting me know they aren’t happy. He usually brings them milk at 6:00 am, and he’s not able to do it now, but I did take them his uneaten cereal this morning. Oreo brings in lots of dead mice, presumably for Dad’s nourishment. He’s been getting a lot of big ones this spring. Tom says it wasn’t cold enough for them to die off over the winter. I found one mouse eating his way through our basement screen, so I caught him in my hand and carried him out to the field across the street. He wasn’t big enough for Oreo to bother with yet.
          I hope you’re all doin’ great and lovin’ it. We are.
          Love, Mom

Dear Kids,
          I hope you’re all having a wonderful Easter morning! The Easter Bunny visited us here and brought Dad a chocolate rabbit from Walmart and some Cadbury mini eggs. He brought me two bars of Midnight Reverie Ghiradelli 86% chocolate, plus a 90% bar of Lindt. I feel very secure, having a good supply of really dark chocolate.
          Of course it’s strange to have Easter on conference weekend, even though it happens every few years. I remember when you kids were little it was a relief not to have to worry about Easter dresses. Now it’s nice to hear the messages about Christ in conference. I hope you’re all enjoying the sessions as much as we are.
          Dad’s surgery is this Wednesday, so I’m sure you’ll all remember him in your prayers. He’s surprisingly calm about it all. We’re meeting with his doctor tomorrow morning to hear the final details. Since the surgery is on a Wednesday, I’ll still be teaching the Lighthouse piano class that afternoon, along with Donna and Nora and the rest of our great teachers. Dad will be snoozing it off in one of the recovery rooms at the Death Star. I’ll be staying overnight in the hospital and then driving us home Thursday morning. I expect everything to go very smoothly.
          Yesterday morning I was up early wandering through the house, and I decided to have a look at the full moon. Somebody had taken a large bite out of it! It was a little before five. I woke up Chuck and asked him if he’d heard anything about a lunar eclipse. He got on his phone and saw that it was definitely happening. (As if the moon wasn’t proof enough.) We watched it through our binoculars for about an hour. It was never really total–there was still a tiny spot of light at the top at it’s fullest. But the moon was definitely red! I thought about the fact that it was Easter Saturday, the time when Christ would have been in the tomb, and how the earth was darkened here in America. It made Easter more real.
          I love you all and hope things are going well for you.
          Love, Mom

Dear Kids,
          We finally have a plan for Easter/Conference next weekend. Dad and I will be watching conference at our house on Saturday, and anybody who wants to join us there will be welcome. Saturday night any of the guys who want to go to the Priesthood session with Dad are welcome; they’ll leave from here. Afterwards, there will be ice cream for everybody, either at our house or at the cabin. Anybody who wants to stay over in either place is welcome. Sunday morning Dad and I will be watching conference at the cabin, and I’ll serve dinner (King Ranch chicken) as soon as the morning session is over. Then we’ll have an Easter Egg hunt, either outside or in the greenhouse, according to the weather. If we all bring eggs, there should be enough. Then we’ll watch the afternoon session, if we aren’t too high on sugar, or sound asleep. It’ll be good either way.
           Most of you have probably heard about Donna’s poor car. She ran into the back of a truck while she was on her way to our piano class on Wednesday. She thought he was sill moving, when he had actually stopped. His trailer hitch ruined her bumper and radiator, but of course there wasn’t even a scratch on the truck. She got her car to the Lighthouse Church OK, but from there it had to be towed back to Heber. Rob Sorensen thinks his Mexican friends can fix it for less than the resale value, so she’ll at least be able to drive it for a little bit longer. 
           Meanwhile, our piano class was a zoo. We had 25 students. The last two girls who came had to share a keyboard. Donna was on her phone a good part of the time, but she still managed to teach her four students. Nora had her row of kids. Dad was holding down the nursery. I was teaching Benjamin and my two ladies from the Harman Center, and troubleshooting. (Lots of it.) It was all good. Our class is having growing pains, but when we get things settled out it should be calm again.
           I can hardly stand to write about our latest home improvement disaster. We got new carpet, which was part of our master plan when we bought the house. When the guys brought it, I went out to their truck with my sample to make sure it was the right color. It was. So I breathed a sigh of relief. It was only later, when they were halfway through laying it, that I saw it was the wrong carpet--longer, less dense, and less curly than the sample. They finished the job, and Wards Carpet is supposed to be working on getting us the right stuff. Needless to say, they aren’t returning my calls. Luckily, we only paid 40% down, but I hate the carpet. Otherwise, life is good. 
           I love you all! Mom

Dear Kids,
          Conference/Easter weekend is just 2 weeks away, but we still don’t have a definite plan. Allen mentioned hosting something, but we were distracted by Ellie’s musical. She was in "Beauty and the Beast" at her school, Wasatch Peaks. She played the part of a villager sometimes, a candlestick another time, and in the mob scene she sang a line. It was a spectacular production, and Dad and I enjoyed it immensely.
          This morning I’m putting the finishing touches on my Relief Society lesson for today. I’m doing President Monson’s "Ponder the Path of Thy Feet" from the last conference. We have four English-only ladies in Relief Society, sometimes more than the Spanish ladies there, so I’m going totally bilingual–English out of one side of my mouth, and Spanish out of the other. No, that might not work, but I’ll try to jump back and forth, so nobody will be left out. The one Spanish lady who talks the most is from Uruguay, and almost impossible to understand. (Some of the Spanish ladies have told me they can’t understand her.) She’s on my visiting teaching list, and we’ve never caught her at home, so I went to see her by myself Monday night. By focusing totally on her, I could almost understand most of what she said. I asked questions straight out of the Spanish textbooks: What country are you from? How many children to you have. How long have you been married? (Oops, wrong question.) Do you like cats or dogs? It turned out OK, and she said she enjoyed my visit.
           Our basement is moving along, and we had the rough plumbing done by J. R. Coleman, who John recommended. (I know, Dad and I have always done that sort of thing by ourselves, but we don’t have 20 years this time around.) Watching this guy was magical. Water lines appeared out of nowhere. Holes were cut and pipes went through. He glued with lightning speed. He didn’t make mistakes. There were no extra trips to Ace Hardware. Thanks, John, for recommending him. Now we only have a few minor things to finish before we sheetrock. It’s all very exciting.
        As most of you have heard, Paul has been laid off from his job, so he’s back to his old occupation–job hunting.  I'm sure he'll find something soon!  Paul always lands on his feet!           About Easter and Conference--I’ll let you know the definite plan, as soon as I find out.
          Lots of love, Mom

Dear Kids,
          The big news this week is that Paul and Stefanie are having a BOY! They had their ultrasound on Wednesday. The baby is growing just fine, and everything seems to be good. We’re very excited for them.
          Does anybody in the family want my Nook? I bought it three and a half years ago, and it has always worked just fine. Recently I bought a tablet, though. It’s a little more responsive to my cold fingers than the Nook was, and it flips back and forth between screens more easily. That makes it easier to keep up in Sunday School and Relief Society. So if anybody wants my Nook, let me know. Also, we have four small white folding tables we need to give away. Two of them are four feet long, and two are five feet. They fold up into a square shape so you can carry them around easily. We had been using them for our office, but our countertops were finally installed. (Such a disaster, I don’t even want to go into it.) Anyway, let me know if you want any of the tables, or the Nook.
          I guess there isn’t much news here this week. We’ve been having wonderful sunny spring days, and I’ve had lots of great hikes along the banks of the Jordanelle. Dad comes with me sometimes. He prefers to walk at the gym early in the morning, and then meet with the geezers at Food Town, where they eat the day-old donuts and talk about what’s going on in the valley.
          I hope you’re all doin’ great and lovin’ it. Mom

Dear Kids,
          Happy birthday, Donna! Can she really be 33? It’s maybe OK that John and Nora have passed the 40-mark, but can my babies really be getting into their serious 30's?
          Tuesday was Charlotte’s 14th birthday, but we had a big snowstorm, so Nora and James celebrated at the cemetery the next day. It worked out really well because Nora and the kids were at the Lighthouse Church anyway for piano class. By the way, the class is really growing! We had 20 students that day, and five of our regulars weren’t even there. Nora has signed on as a teacher, however, and we can easily handle all those people. After piano class we met at the cemetery (Donna and her kids, too) and James brought the balloons. Each of the kids gets to keep one, now, and they let the rest of them go. The wind blew them south–exactly backwards from the normal pattern, and we stood there watching them float away.
          This week Paul and Stefanie will be finding out whether they’re having a boy or a girl. We’re excited to find out, too. I’m betting on a boy, but almost everybody else is thinking girl.
           Nora was making plans for Easter weekend at the cabin when she realized they’ll be out of town (Disneyland?). You know how it is when you plan two different things for the same time frame, and you don’t realize that they conflict. Anyway, Dad and I are still up for anything. Easter egg hunt at anybody’s house? Or at the cabin? I’ll definitely be fixing Sunday dinner, between conference sessions. Let me know if you’re coming! 
           Love, Mom

Dear Kids,
          First off, I just received a giant bag of styrofoam beans (they look more like peas) in the mail from Amazon. So many of the grandkids have bean bag chairs now, and they tend to go flat, so they can just bring them to our house, and we’ll fill them up. There’s a special technique where you don’t get the beans stuck all over your hands and face. We learned the hard way.
          Winter? Summer? What’s going on here? It’s 13 degrees this morning. We’ve had three or four good snowstorms over the last couple of days, but then the sun comes out and it all melts. The deer are confused, too. They don’t know where to graze. They came into our yard to a couple of nights ago, looking for tender shoots among our dirt and rocks. I was worried about them congregating so close to Hilltop Road, where the cars come zooming by (when they come, which isn’t often) and I didn’t want anybody hit. So I went out to the back porch and turned on the light, and whistled a couple of times. 28 ears went up immediately, and they seemed to understand. They trotted back across the road (no cars, fortunately) and down their hill. I’ve been hiking in their habitat, so I know where they live, now.
          I received my official Senior Adventure Pass in the mail–the pass that lets you into all the state parks for free. On Monday we went back to the Jordanelle Perimeter Trail with Donna and Bevan and their kids, and we had a nice hike. Yesterday Dad and I went hiking there again, although there were a few snow flurries. I can see that it’s a great trail for any time of the year! Come and hike with us any time. We can also get you into the other state parks for free, if you ride in our car. (Up to 8 people at a time.)

John helped us finish stringing the wire in our basement, and now we’re waiting for the plumber (another "trade" who has worked for John.) I walk down into our basement and marvel at how much has been done in so little time–weeks instead of years. Life is good!
          I hope you’re all doin’ great and lovin’ it! Mom