Dear Kids,
         First off, Anna’s baptism will be next Saturday morning (December 1) at 10:30 am at Donna’s church in Midway.  The address is 250 East 200 South.  (It’s the same building where Dallin, Drew, and Tommy have all been blessed.)  The after-party will be at John’s house, and if you want to help with the food, call Donna for an assignment.  This will be one more great family event, followed the next Saturday (December 8) by Isaac’s baptism at Nora’s church.  I’ll have details on that in my next letter.
         Our Thanksgiving was a blast, and for those of you who went elsewhere, I hope you had a great time, too.  This is the first Thanksgiving that we’ve eaten at our house, and not at the cabin, which is totally emptied out, with no utilities, and cold as a refrigerator.  Vanessa’s family normally stays there, but they stayed at our house instead.  That was really fun, and I appreciated Vanessa’s help in planning where to seat everybody for Thanksgiving dinner.  I had thought some people could sit at the table, and the rest could just hold plates on their laps, but Vanessa was adamant that everybody needed a place to sit at a table, just like at Grandma Allen’s.  So she pushed the sofas and coffee table to the side of the room, and turned the dining table 90 degrees, and made room for two banquet tables from the cabin. That made places for 24, and since we were expecting 25, it worked out fine.  The food was fabulous, since everybody made their specialty, and Donna did the turkey.  (I knew it would max me out just making the pies.)  Thanks to everybody who helped out!  It was a wonderful day.
         The only mishap came in the evening; Nora lost her car key when she and Donna and Vanessa were over at the cabin hiking the loop.  It was hopeless, since the key had obviously fallen into the snow, but they searched in the dark anyway, with their headlamps.  Finally they had to give up.  Nora and James drove our car home, and Nora brought it back the next morning, after stopping off at the outlet stores.
         Vanessa’s family was here for two days and three nights, and her kids held Scout and Sonia nearly nonstop.  So now we have two very spoiled young kitties who don’t know what to do with themselves if they aren’t being held.  They mostly fight with each other, and when they’re inside, they rip away at the carpet.  Naturally I toss them out immediately.  Tina doesn’t run from them any more.  She just growls at Scout, and he growls back, and they take swipes at each other.  Sonia keeps her distance, with her back up and her tail puffed.  It’s very entertaining.
         Dad and I will be sending out Christmas money this week.  Everybody seems to like my new plan, so I don’t even have to feel guilty for not shopping.
         Lots of love, Mom

Dear Kids,
         I’m really looking forward to Thanksgiving, even though it won’t be at the cabin.  We can easily accommodate everybody here at our house.  And for those of you who are going somewhere else, I hope you have a great time, too.  If I haven’t told everybody, we’ll be eating about 1 pm.  Then we’ll have pie and other desserts about 5. That leaves time for us to let our dinner settle, and also a nice window of opportunity for Vanessa and the other hardy souls to hike the big loop.  I wish I could hike it myself.  Can’t you just see me with my cane, hobbling along, trying to keep up?  Well, there will be other years for me, hopefully better years.
         Speaking of the cabin, all the furniture is out, and everything is off the walls.  Dad brought home some of the nick-knacks, and also the sheets, towels, mattress covers, blankets, and pillow cases for me to wash.  He said he was afraid they would use some perfumy detergent, and I would just have to wash them all over again.  Good thinking!  So I’ve been doing massive amounts of laundry.  Some of the bedding has such a strong smoke smell that I have to wash it twice.  I’ve already used up a gallon of bleach!  Our furniture has supposedly been taken to a facility where they fumigate it with ozone to get the smoke smell out.  I hope it works.  This week they’re supposed to start tearing sheet rock off the walls, but nothing happens on schedule with this crew.  Dad goes over there practically every day to supervise, and I suspect he’s been helping them, too.
         I’m still having quite a struggle with my “post-herpetic neuralgia.” (after-shingles nerve pain.)  I can’t take the hard drugs, just Tramadol, which is better than nothing, but not by much.  Last spring, after my cancer surgery, my colon doctor let me take 2 tablets every four hours, and that went on for several weeks.  But I tried to get our family doctor to prescribe the same amount, and he said it was over the legal limit.  He said lots of doctors don’t even know the limits, or care.  I wish he didn’t know or care.  So then I asked him about medical marijuana.  He said Utah hasn’t worked out the details yet, and there aren’t any standards for how much “hemp” is in it.  He said it might be a good option for down the road.  For me, “down the road” means the 3-hour drive through Vernal to the Colorado border, where there’s a dispensary in the tiny town of Dinosaur.  It’s a great temptation, and one of these days Dad and I might make the trip.
         Have a great Thanksgiving week, everybody!  Lots of love, Mom 

Dear Kids,
         Luke’s baptism in Pocatello yesterday was a great event, like all baptisms.  The most memorable moment, however, was when Sterling was just lifting Luke up out of the water, and Dallin blurted out “I don’t want to get baptized!”  Hey, this is the kid who wanted to be baptized in the river!  He sure changed his mind fast!  But he’ll be fine when his turn comes. When I was six and Katie was seven, Grandpa Allen took us both to see a baptism.  I was terrified at the sight.  But when I turned eight, it was fine.
         Anna’s baptism is still on for December 1st, but Isaac’s has been changed to December 8th, so it won’t be on the day of our family Christmas party, after all.  There will be more details coming on both of those.  I’m just glad we can celebrate these wonderful events, not to mention the wonderful food we always have, and all the fun of visiting with everybody.
         Our kittens have grown so fast, they now qualify as junior cats. And cute as they are, they’re definitely alley cats.  Their back legs are longer than their front legs, all the better for climbing up people’s pants or jumping up on the table.  They also climb into the dishwasher while I’m trying to load it, so they can lick food scraps off the plates and utensils.  Can you imagine a purebred Siamese or Persian cat doing that? Never!  They harass Tina whenever they can, and she yowls and hisses at them, and then runs away.  But she has reclaimed her favorite spot in the garage, so that’s a sign of hope.
         I had planned to sing in the Messiah, and I wrote in here that we wouldn’t be home the next few Sunday nights, but we’ll be here after all.  I just don’t feel good enough to sing.  Besides, I walk with a cane now (I was falling down too much) so it would be awkward to get up and down the steps.  And people would feel sorry for me, and I don’t want that.  It’s funny–last year I bailed out of the Messiah because I’d just had the first skin cancer surgery on my forehead.  That was the beginning of my year of misery.  I hope I’m not headed into another one.  Please keep up your prayers for me, and your kids’s prayers, too! I really appreciate it.
         Love, Mom

P.S. to my letter below: The address 2281 East Terry Street might not be accurate.  It’s the same building as all the other Sutton baptisms, at the corner of Princeton and Terry Streets.  You can see the building from the interstate.  My program shows the address as 42 Princeton Street. 

Dear Kids,
         First off, Luke’s baptism will be next Saturday morning at 10 am at Trent and Vanessa’s church in Pocatello.  The address is 2281 East Terry Street..  I know it’s short notice, and everybody’s really busy, but at least some of us will be able to go.  Dad and I haven’t been to Idaho since the eclipse, so we’re looking forward to the trip.  Nora’s family might be going the night before.
         Then, on Saturday, December 1st, Anna and Isaac will both be baptized in Midway.  I don’t know if Donna’s church is the stake center–probably not, so I’ll let you all know which church when it gets closer.  I know for sure it won’t be in the Provo River.  Dallin already has plans for his baptism, and he insists it’s going to be in the river.  Too bad his birthday is during the peak runoff season. 
         Our cats are keeping us well entertained.  Tina still hates the kittens, but that doesn’t bother them at all.  Scout likes to chase her.  She always yowls when she sees him, probably in terror.  Then she takes off, with Scout close behind, and Sonia running after them.  When Dad feeds Tina her special meals, I have to keep the kittens away.  On Sunday nights John usually brings the fire kittens, and they romp around the family room with Scout and Sonia.  Tina sits at the back door and glares and hisses at them all through the glass.  She’s very brave when there’s a door between them.
         Some of you have been asking about any progress on repairing the cabin.  So far, nothing has happened.  A disaster crew was supposed to have cleaned up the debris by now, but it hasn’t happened.  An electrician was supposed to check the wires and make sure they’re all snubbed off.  That hasn’t happened either.  An engineer is supposed to come and check the rafters, and he hasn’t been there.  I’m expecting the rebuilding project to take a long time and be very frustrating. If anything goes smoothly, I’ll be very surprised.
         Come to think of it, hardly anything ever goes smoothly.  But we learn a lot from our troubles.  It’s called life.
         Lots of love, Mom

Dear Kids,
         John has nicknamed his cats “the fire kittens,” (after Pickles, the fire cat in the book) and he’s been telling people the story of how I rescued them from the cabin.  In the meantime, I got a black eye by sliding off our bed (one night when I was seeing double) and hitting my eye on the corner of the windowsill.  My face is also bruised, because it hit the wall going down.  So I look terrible.  John told the story of the kittens to Cora, the cook at the Wasatch senior center, and she came in to the music room on Thursday to talk to me about it.  When she saw my bruised face, she gasped, because she thought I got that in the fire.  So I realized I could really be embellishing the story, maybe telling how a burning beam fell down and hit me on the head as I was running out with the kittens.  Heck, I could really be making a great story out of it!
         But our cabin fire was already dramatic enough.  Now, this week, we’re starting to deal with inspectors and assessors and the insurance company.  The inspector came first, probably to make sure it wasn’t arson.  The pieces of triple wall pipe from the chimney were on the ground, and she noticed that on one piece, there was creosote between the inner pipe and the next layer out.  She said that meant that the pipe had probably failed, and was letting heat and smoke up the second ring of pipe.  So there wasn’t enough protection  between the heat and the outer wooden chimney.  It had probably failed a long time ago, so it wasn’t “if,” but “when.”  I’m glad it didn’t happen at night, while people were in the cabin.  It could have been really bad.  We were lucky.  Another thing that saved our cabin was that it has three layers of siding, put on by different people who lived there.  It was taking longer than usual to burn through all of them, and gave the fire department time to get there. The inspector said the last two cabin fires in our area left nothing but piles of rubble, so there again, we were lucky.
          People have been asking when the cabin will be rebuilt, and we don’t know. The restoration company, Disaster Master (or Service Master is probably their real name) will start cleaning out the damage later this week.  Then an engineer will evaluate the rafters and see if any of them need to be rebuilt.  Then the rest of the work can start.  But it might all take a really long time. Maybe spring?  But eventually, the cabin will be its old self again.  We’ll have many more fun times there!
         Thanksgiving is coming up!  If you want to come to our house, you’re welcome!  I’ll call each of you when it gets closer.
         And tonight will be our last Sunday night otter pops and gummi bears party for a while, because Messiah practices start next week.  The Messiah itself will be December 8 and 9, at Tom’s church.  I’ll have more details later.
         So much going on, like always!  Love, Mom

Dear Kids,
         Of course the big news this week was the fire at the cabin.  Thursday afternoon John’s family arrived there for their fall break, and John started a fire in the wood-burning stove, so the cabin could start heating up.  (And boy, did it!)  Then they left for their adventures in Salt Lake.  A while later Donna’s pest control friend arrived to check his mouse traps, and texted Donna a picture of the cabin on fire.   She forwarded the picture to us (the one you’ve all seen, where the chimney area is burning.) Luckily a neighbor had already called the fire department, because by the time Dad and I got there, we could hear the sirens coming.  But a lot of the east end was burning by then.  I called John to let him know the cabin was on fire, and Heather answered.  She told me their three new kittens were in the greenhouse.  The firefighters were all busy by then, so like PeeWee Herman in the movie, I ran in to rescue the kittens.  There was a lot of smoke in the greenhouse, but it wasn’t burning.  I found the kittens under the stack of tables that leans against the wall.  And like Pee Wee Herman, I ran out holding them up high.  Of course the firefighters didn’t care–they were busy putting out the fire.  I tossed the kittens into our car, and then Terry Galmore found me a box for them.
         Meanwhile, the firemen were putting out the fire.  Boy, they use lots of water! When it was finally safe to go inside, the fire chief walked us in.  Most of the damage is in the moose bedroom, but luckily, none of the furniture burned.  The balcony is gone, and we could see blue sky through the eves.  John came up about then, and shook hands with the chief.  It looked like they knew each other already.  John said, “You know I’m the scoutmaster.  I know how to start fires.”
         There will be an investigation, probably to make sure it wasn’t arson, and then we’ll walk through with the insurance assessor, to discuss how it will be rebuilt.  In the meantime, it’s been boarded up on the east side by a disaster crew.  I don’t know how long the rebuilding will take, or even when it will start.
         I said I ran in to get the kittens, and I really did!  It’s funny what adrenaline can do to you.  Here I can barely walk, because of my numb left leg, and when I’m outside, I need to lean on someone.  But all alone, I ran into the greenhouse.  The adrenaline effect lasted all day, and I haven’t felt that good in weeks.  Now, of course I’m back to the same old pain.  I saw Dr. Newbold on Monday, and he tweaked my medications, which helped a little.  I asked him to tell me honestly how long this stage lasts, and he said 3-6 months.  For most people.  Sometimes it stretches into years, but I couldn’t be that unlucky.  I really appreciate all your prayers.  I definitely still need them.
         Lots of love, Mom