Dear Kids,

We’re looking forward to seeing lots of you at Super Sunday this afternoon, at 3pm.  Paul and Stefanie are in charge, and the location is Chelsie Meadows Park, 1401 N. 2575 West in Layton.  The weather should be perfect, and the food will be spectacular, as always.  Remember, it’s totally potluck–whatever you want to bring.  I’m totally expecting that one of these times we’ll have all deserts or all chips, but it hasn’t happened so far.  I’m pretty sure we’ll never have all vegetables or all green salads.  

More adventures with the raccoon.  People have been telling us that raccoons can carry rabies, and they can kill cats and small dogs and chickens, so we decided to catch him and relocate him far away.  Easier said than done.  Dad borrowed a trap from one of his cowboy friends, and we were sure we’d catch the critter our first night.  I googled what to use for bait, and the most popular was marshmallows, because cats and dogs don’t like them, but raccoons do.  So we tossed three marshmallows into the trap and set it.  Next morning the marshmallows were gone, but the trap hadn’t gone off.  Dad reported this to his cowboy friend, Mike, who said you have to use wire to fasten down the bait, so the raccoon can’t just grab it and go.  So we strung four marshmallows on a piece of wire and fastened it inside the trap, in the back.  That was Friday night.  Saturday morning the marshmallows were totally untouched but the raccoon had eaten all the cat food in the kitty dish.  We didn’t set the trap at all last night, because today is Sunday and we didn’t want to do anything cruel or illegal on the sabbath.  But tonight we’ll try again.  We’ll get him sooner or later!  

Thursday afternoon I’m flying to Arizona with my sisters, and we’ll be spending two days at Bonnie and Curt’s house in Gilbert.  At least I think it’s Gilbert.  One of those towns near Mesa.  Whatever we do will be fun.  There’s a pool, and we’ll probably eat out and shop and watch movies.  Total girl stuff.  I’m really looking forward to it.

I hope you’re all doin’ great and lovin’ it.  (Brownie points if you can remember where that phrase came from.) Lots of love,

Mom

 Dear Kids,

Who’s not excited about Jacob’s mission call to Alabama!  He’ll be the fourth from our family to go there, after Vanessa, Trent, and Bevan.  They can all tell you it’s a totally different

culture and language, only you don’t learn the language in the MTC.  It’s totally on-the-job.  Jacob says it’s good he’s not going until January because John’s office has to find and train someone to replace him.  All my friends who go to Ackerson Eyecare have been telling me about that nice young grandson of ours who helped them choose frames, or dispensed their glasses, or whatever else he does.  Everyone will miss him when he goes.

Super Sunday will be next week in Layton, with Paul and Stefanie hosting.  Paul says it will probably be at a park, so I’ll put the address in my letter next week.  Super Sunday rocks!  It’s sure been fun since we started this tradition.

Does anybody want a raccoon?  Come and get her!  She hangs out in our garage in the early morning, and Scout seems to be afraid of her. Well, she’s bigger!  There was a morning last week when he didn’t come for his cat food at all, and we really worried about him, but that fat ambling raccoon was queen of the garage.  Sonia doesn’t seem to mind her, but she mostly hangs out on the back deck, when she’s outside.  

I had a good visit with my oncologist, Dr. Lewis, on Wednesday.  I had him pull up my scans, and we saw that my tumors shrank about 20% from this last round of treatments.  I was hoping he’d have a better plan for my future chemo, (better than the NP) because I sure don’t want to have it all the time!  So he suggested a routine of two months on and two months off.  He even gave me a medical paper to read that showed people with my strain of cancer actually live longer on the on-again, off-again routine.  I’ll go for that!  My next chemo will probably start late in November, about Thanksgiving time, so I might not be able to host it this year.  When the time gets closer I’ll let you all know for sure.  

Friday afternoon I went to the Heber airport with Dad and John to watch them put the glider together and get John launched.  That sure is a fun place to hang out!  Glider people are sort of a club–they all know each other and help with each others’ launches.  It’s fun to sit in the hanger and talk to them.  A lot of mini jets were taking off and landing, but they’re so dang loud!  I was glad I’m partly deaf.

It’s all good!  Love, Mom 

 Dear Kids,

Dallin’s baptism yesterday was wonderful, and so was the after-party at Hamlet Park.  The weather was perfect, and the food was terrific.  Best of all, it was great to see so many of you there.  Oh, yes, and the campfire last Sunday night was practically perfect, too.  I think Dad and I might make it an annual tradition for Labor Day weekend.  It was easy to plan for, too–lotsa hot dogs and marshmallows and graham crackers and little Hershey bars.  As I was watching the last of the hot dogs being pushed onto a roasting fork, I commented to John that it was amazing the food worked out just right.  He said, “What do you mean?  We’ve just been eating until all the food is gone!”

Our next Super Sunday will be two weeks from today, on the 26th, probably at Paul and Stefanie’s house.  I’ll let you know for sure next week, but put it on your calendars and plan on having lots more fun.

I asked our neighbors if they happened to own a raccoon, and found out they used to have two of them, but one escaped several months ago.  Humm.  It’s a female, and she’s very “naughty.”  Well, I think I know where she’s getting her food now.  My current project is mounting the cat food feeder high on the wall of the garage, out of her range.  I’ll set the timer to go off two or three times during the day, and the food will run out of the dispenser, down a downspout, and into the bowl.  That way Scout and Sonia can have plenty to eat before their friend shows up to knock over the bowl and finish off the food.  At least I hope it works.

My newest medical problem is another toe--the pinkie on my right foot.  I’m having it looked at this week, and if there’s any trouble with bone spurs, it’s coming off!  Then my two feet will match, and I’ll only have six toenails to cut instead of seven.  My feet will be symmetrical.

And my cancer is still leaving me up in the air.  I had a long talk with the NP that works with Dr. Lewis, and we went over all the numbers from my blood test, and I learned all about my hemoglobin and platelets and markers and liver and immune system, but I realized afterwards we never did figure out exactly how much my tumors had shrunk.  That should have been my number one question.  And then he said something disturbing: since the chemo has worked so well, maybe I want to continue treatment?  I nearly flipped.  Chemo is a means to an end, and I only got through it by visualizing my great life in the months ahead.   I can’t just keep having chemo!  I need to work in the yard and finish the fire pit at the cabin and go hiking.  Anyway, I’m going to make an appointment with Dr. Lewis and have him pull up my scans and ask him about my future.  Hopefully he’ll have a better outlook for me. 

Love to all, and I hope you’re enjoying this beautiful fall weather. 

Mom 

 Dear Kids,

Don’t forget our campfire dinner tonight at 5 pm at our fire pit.  You don’t need to bring anything but yourselves.  The weather should be perfect, and now that it’s getting dark earlier, it’ll be more fun than in the middle of the summer when the sun never seems to go down.  We’ll be roasting hot dogs and making s’mores.  I’ve debated whether we should use plates or just eat with our hands, and since the whole menu is finger-ready, I think we should just eat by hand.  You can pretend you’re at a baseball game.  It doesn’t make sense to use plates since we don’t have any place to put them down while we eat, except on our laps, and that doesn’t work very well for younger kids.  So let’s try this!  If it doesn’t work, we’ll try something different next time.

Jacob’s “mission papers” are almost ready to go in!  He’s only lacking the appointment with his stake president, and that’s happening a week for today.  Then the button will be pushed, and we can start counting down to the exciting moment when he gets his call.  I’m excited already. 

The neighborhood raccoon is still eating Scout’s food, but I don’t really mind since I accidentally bought a jumbo bag of the wrong kind.  I usually buy a green bag that’s labeled “seafood platter,” or something like that, but I accidentally got the sack that’s almost the same color, but it’s “chicken and green peas.”  Our cats hate it.  So every evening I fill up the garage cat bowl with this stuff, and the next morning it’s tipped over, empty.  When I run out of it, I’ll get serious about mounting the cat food dispenser on the wall.  Or, if Scout gets too hungry in between, he can fight off the raccoon.  Or maybe he’s over at the Butlers eating the raccoon’s food.  It’s all good.

The play yard at the cabin is finally finished, since Paul helped Dad heave up the roof yesterday.  Most of the little kids tried it out at Super Sunday last week, (by the way, thanks to Donna and Bevan for hosting it) and everything seemed to work OK.  We could still buy a spider web swing to trade off with the baby swing, but it would mean switching them back and forth, which might not be very convenient.  Let me know if you think it would be a good thing to try.  Also, maybe you can have your kids thank Dad for putting it together.  It was quite a project, and in some places it was pretty tricky, but he was up for it.  

   I had my cat scan Friday at the Park City hospital, and Tuesday I’ll meet with my doctor and see how all that chemo affected my tumors.  It has to have done something, for all the discomfort I’ve experienced, but the bottom line is that I can breathe now, which makes it all worthwhile.  I can even blow up balloons!

Lots of love, Mom

 Dear Kids,

We’re really looking forward to Super Sunday this afternoon at the cabin at 3pm.  Donna and Bevan are in charge, and the food will be stupendous, like always.  Totally unpredictable, but stupendous.  The new play yard is totally put together, except for the roof over the clubhouse, so kids will be able to try out the swings (including the baby swing) and the slide.  If anybody has extra energy and muscle, they can help Dad heave up the roof.  It’s been anchored down with the anchors Lifetime provided, but we’ll have to watch kids swinging to see if we need more to keep it from tipping over.

We’re tentatively planning a campfire here at our house a week from tonight, and we’ll roast hot dogs and make smores.  It’s Labor Day weekend, so we’ve gotta celebrate.  It all depends on the weather and the wind, however, so I’ll let you know for sure in my letter next Sunday. 

I’ve finally finished round 4 of my chemo, so I can start feeling better now.  Every round brings some new symptom, and this time my fingers swelled up and the skin started peeling off.  It’s called Hand-Foot syndrome, only I wasn’t lucky enough to have it on my feet.  The treatment is that you rub your hands with “Udderly smooth creme,” which comes in a container decorated like a cow.  You also wear nitrile gloves most of the time.  It’s already working on my hands, so they’re not as scary as before.  Next Friday I’m having another CT scan which will show how much my tumors have shrunk.  I know they have, because I’m breathing so well now.  Even the smoke from the California fires isn’t making me gasp.

We’ve been putting Scout’s dry cat foot in the garage recently, since he’s been banished from the house, and he has an eating partner now–the raccoon–who eats way more than an average cat.  We’re going to try to mount one of our automatic superfeeders high on the garage wall, and have it go off two or three times a day, with a pre-apportioned amount of food.  If Scout can learn the times, he can beat the raccoon.  If the raccoon turns out to be smarter, Scout will have to catch more mice for his protein.  Dad thinks the raccoon lives up the street at our neighbors,’ the Butlers, so we might try talking to them about keeping their pet caged up.  Or not.  It is what it is.

I spent some birthday money on new toys: an 8' stepladder and a tree lopper that has a mini chainsaw up on the end.  You use it to trim trees way up high, and since our trees are getting taller, I have plans for it.  Right now my arms are too weak to use it, but it’ll be fun down the road.  Onward and upward.

Lots of love, Mom

 

Dear Kids,

Sterling gave a wonderful talk in the Suttons’ sacrament meeting last Sunday.  He’s way prepared to be a good missionary.  On Monday morning he started home MTC, learning Spanish and how to be a missionary.  I’m sure he’s working really hard.  Rumor has it that Vanessa wants him to be sent to Texas, but I really hope he actually goes to Honduras.  I noticed, in the Spanish branches I’ve served in, that the most dedicated members seemed to come from a little pocket around Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador.  I think they’re really descended from Father Lehi down there, and I hope Sterling is able to teach some of them.  But it will be a wonderful experience for him, wherever he goes.

Upcoming events: Super Sunday will be next week, the 29th, at the cabin, at our usual time, 3 pm.  Donna and Bevan are in charge, so you can contact one of them if you have any questions.  I had hoped the swingset/slide would be done by then, but Dad has been stopped by the rain. There have been three or four inches at the cabin, just in the last few days, even more than here at our house.  And I understand Salt Lake has been absolutely drenched.  Couldn’t be better.  Anyway, back to Super Sunday–Be There or Be Square!

Another upcoming event is Dallin’s baptism, scheduled for Saturday, September 11.  (Abi’s birthday, by the way.)  I’ll have more details next week.  

And looking way down the road, Dad and I will be having our 50th wedding anniversary next June 2nd, 2022.  We’re going to reserve the clubhouse at Francis Park (actually an oversized shack) and possibly have Bambam barbeque again.  It’s a Thursday night.  If you have a calendar for next year, you can put it down.

Al came by Friday afternoon on his way to a backpacking adventure on the Shingle Creek Trail.  He had Artemis with him.  Artemis???   She’s Jenny’s dog.  She’s part pit bull and seems to hate cats.  She was lunging at Sonia, barking, and Sonia stood just inside our front door, holding her ground and hissing.  Allen had Artemis firmly on a leash, however, so the situation didn’t escalate.  Finally he secured her back inside his car.  He showed me some little hiking shoes he’d bought for the dog, so her paws wouldn’t get all cut up on the trail.  He had put them on her at home and they practiced hiking around, to get her used to them.  Honestly, and I thought we over-indulged our cats!  Anyway, I hope they’re having a safe hike and haven’t been too drenched by the rain. 

I’m having my final infusion Tuesday afternoon, lasting until Thursday, and then I expect to be well for a long time.  Please keep praying for me!

\ Lots of love, Mom

 Dear Kids,

I’m uploading my Mom letter a day early because we’re going to Pocatello later this afternoon.  It’s Sterlings farewell tomorrow morning at 9, as everybody knows, and we’re looking forward to it.

And unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know about Addie’s mission call: Manchester, England, December 27.  We’re so excited for her!  We’ve heard she’ll be doing Home MTC, unless things change before then.  At any rate, we’re sure she’ll have a wonderful experience.

Once more, I’ve got to thank all of you that helped put on our Ackerson luncheon last Saturday afternoon, before Julie’s wedding.  When have we ever had such fabulous food?  Thanks, thanks, thanks, to everyone who helped to plan it and pick up the food and serve it and clean up.  It truly was a wonderful day, and the luncheon made it even better. 

Our next Super Sunday will be the 29th, with Donna and Bevan in charge.  I’m not sure yet where it’s going to be, but I’ll put that in my letter next week.  It’s the fifth Sunday, not the fourth, like we usually do, but we’ve had so much family togetherness that it seemed like a good idea to move it back.  Not that we can get together too much, but it’s nice to be able to spread it out.  

We were sorry to say goodbye to Sharon and her kids.  It always seems like they go home too soon!  We drove them to Centerville Tuesday morning, and then Sharon went with me to the  Cancer Center to start my infusion.  With all the medical gear beeping and chirping around us, and the nurses with their rolling computer carts and IV tubing, she was like a little girl staring at Christmas toys.  She has definitely found the right vocation!  I introduced her to everybody as my daughter who’s in nursing school at the University of Maryland, and they all showed her what they were doing.  I learned a lot, too!  My infusion itself was wretched, like always, but the worst day was yesterday, and I’m slowly improving now.  And then there’s only one more round, and hopefully I’ll feel good for another year.  At least I can breathe now!

Love to all of you!  Mom