THE BIG BACKFIRE

As most of you know, your mother went to Canada Saturday. Grandma Bernie is struggling again with her cancer so Linda went to support and offer help to her sisters and Mom. She is coming back Wednesday. Being the clever fellow I am and always loving a good joke, When I sent her a note Tuesday evening I ended by saying, "I'll see you Thursday." I giggled all night long think how she'll wring her hands worrying that I wouldn't be at the airport when she arrived. I get mixed-up on dates, times and names easily anymore so she wouldn't be sure if I was kidding or serious I surmised. Anyway, I got up early Wednesday, showered, shaved and washed her car. Sure enough the phone rang about 5AM, it was Linda. She told me that she was going to visit her Mom that morning and visit with her Aunt Freida. I can hardly keep from chuckling out loud while I was thinking about how funny I was. Yet at the same time I was worried she had scheduled too much that morning to arrive at the airport in time for her departure. Well, I didn't say anything because I didn't want to spoil my very funny clever joke. After a few more moments of chit-chat, knowing she was using all her self-control to keep her cool, I told her I had to go. Uncle Vern and I were going to Kingman and needed to get started, traffic on the dam and all that you know. "OK," she said, "See you Thursday." What? I'm thinking,is she joking back? "Uhh," I say intelligently, "I thought you'd be home today." I was starting to panic, not knowing who was joking with who. "You know I'll be there tomorrow. You said so in your note." "Oh Yeah," I said while thinking, 'Oh boy, now what!' "Where are you?" she continued. "Uhh in the bedroom." "Walk toward the window." "OK." "See the dresser? Look on it. See the itinerary I left you? When does it say I'll be back?" "Uhh, Thursday." "Good you had me worried for a sec you were confused which day I was to return." Hmm. Another good joke down in flames.

CANADA IN BRIEF

I had an enjoyable trip to Canada, and stayed with Louise and visited with my Mom in the hospital. While I was there, they moved her from the hospital to a care center where some people recuperate from injuries, but we expect her to just stay there and not go home. She's quite perky and beat me in card games over and over. The only trouble is that one of her legs is weak from having cancer in the bone, probably around the hip. So she can't get out of bed to go to the bathroom without someone helping her. Sometimes we help her into a wheel chair so she can ride down the hall to watch TV. She's also got more visitors than anyone else. Her sister Freida from Newfoundland was there with her daughter Joanne. Also Eddie and Nazha with their daughters Liala and Anita. I got in trouble at the hospital on Monday for visiting at 10:30 am when visiting hours didn't start until 2:00. Sean was with me when a nurse stopped us in the hall and asked just what did we think we were doing there more than three hours before visiting began?? She pretended to soften, and allowed us 10 minutes, but no more. So Sean got up to leave as directed, but I stayed on. We were playing cards about an hour later when that same nurse checked in and said, What, are you still here when I asked you to leave? I told her my mom needed me to help her to the bathroom, but she wouldn't bend, even though I said I came all the way from Las Vegas. Next she said I could only stay until after lunch. After lunch Mom sat there dozing in bed and had asked me to wait a bit before taking her to the bathroom. It was about 1:00 when Nazha, Eddie, Liala and Anita strolled in loudly greeting us one at time, Hi Linda, Hi Doris over and over. I did my best to Shhh them, but to no avail. This time the nurse came storming in like an angry bull, That's it, there's just too many of you, and it's still not visiting hours. You have to all leave, out, out out! Of course Nazha stood up to her and said, but we came all the way from Toronto. Naturally the nurse never even flinched, but finally suggested that we all convene to the TV room. This worked out just great. Mom watched the soaps with my cousins, and we all visited. I showed them the family newsletter on the computer there, so they got to look at the pictures from the reunion, and also Matt on his mission. It was tons of fun showing it to them, and of course it was cool because they are always so curious about me and my family. What better way to show them our family than with pictures of a family reunion and Matt's mission. We all thought the getting-in-trouble incident was pretty amusing. The only ones offended were Mom's two roommates who thought it deplorable that the nurse would dare to kick me out when I wasn't disturbing anyone, and they all enjoyed my company. I don't know if this is related to our misbehavior, but at 4:00pm, they came and told us they were about to move Mom out of the hospital to the care center. We really think it was because they wanted to get rid of her for having such trouble makers for visitors! Going back to school has been somewhat stressful, but I think it's mostly because after nearly three months of vacation, the change is such a severe shock. I had myself worked up into a nervous wreck after the first day, started day two with a migrane, but by day three I think I may survive after all. I even had compliments from three parents today when I went grocery shopping! I had a humbling experience with Mr. Tusler, one of the English teachers. He complimented me about my Italian shoes as I showed them off Monday, and after I told the story about buying them in Venice he asked, "So do you think they'll ever come back into style again?" That'll teach me to be so proud. Speaking of feeling proud, I had some thoughtful experiences during this last trip to Canada. I remember often feeling deprived and inadequate growing up. I would always compare myself to other friends and relatives and wish I could have their lives. I always imagined that everyone else was so much better than me. Last week, as my relatives complimented me while looking at pictures of my family, I felt really proud of who I am. I'm delighted with my life and grateful for all the wonderful influences that have made me who I am, especially my husband, my children and my grandchildren. But most of all I realize now that it was my mother who influenced me the most to become who I am today. Without her, my life would have taken some completly different direction. She helped find the important values in life, the ones that bring me the most happiness today. "Thanks, Mom, I love you."

Better Late than Never... August breezed by us way too fast. Let's see, after our trip to Flagstaff, then the Grand Canyon we came home and slept. Then we got ready for school to start. We cleaned out the closets and took a clothing inventory. I am always amazed how much kids grow in the summer! Pants that used to need cuffing are now floods (luckily that's in style this month) Tennis shoes are too tight. And some how socks have all run far far away. Mid-August McKayla and Kambri were in the community play Charlie and The Chocolate Factory. They were Oompa-Loompas. It was so great! They sang and danced like little performers! The play was so great, the entire cast was made of children. We haven't been to see the movie, I just don't think it will measure up to our little play! The first day of school came and went with out too much chaos. Kambri has Mr. Anderson who happens to know Andy from high school. She is rising to the challenge of fourth grade. More homework, hard tests, book reports. Michael has Mrs. James. He tells us "She's pretty nice, so that's pretty cool." Michael is hardcore, he and Kambri want to ride bikes to school and when Kambri got sick and missed 2 days, he rode solo and locked up the bike up on his own. Michael is trying out gymnastics this year. He has been doing flips on Grammy's trampoline since he was 4. One of the advantages of being a little guy. McKayla gave me a mad face when I showed up to greet her at the door after her first day of Kindergarten. She informed me first that school was too short and second she would have preferred to walk home or least ride her bike. Her teacher is Miss Matthews from Panaca, NV. On open house night I told Miss Matthews I was from Logandale and she said "Oh, Logandale is sooo big!" Andy couldn't help himself from laughing out loud. I guess I need to take him to Panaca so he can see where she was coming from with that comparison. Milo loves it when the kids leave for school. Now that he can open doors he helps himself to all of the forbiddens; light sabers, poly pockets, Lego's, markers. Today he missed me while I was gone running. So he opened the front door and made his way down the block. Luckily one of my Young Women recognized him as he sundered past her house and she returned him to Andy. Milo also loves when the kids come home from school. He does cheers for them completely coreograghed with hand motions and jumps. Usually his cheers are set to the tune of twinkle twinkle. Example, kiko kiko kiko kiko kiko kiko kiko kiko kiko (that means Michael) Remember to sing that to the tune of twinkle little star. It looks like I will be running the Spanish Fork 1/2 Marathon next Sat if you want to think of me early in the morning running in this windy city. I haven't trained quite the way I should have so I am hoping to finish alive. I also finished my first month of piano lessons. My teacher is so picky, if I make one mistake he makes me go back and start over. I thought Andy was the only guy that picky. The kids piano lessons are coming along fine. McKayla has quite an ear. She sits down after Kambri and Michael and plays 'their songs' So I decided she needed an added challenge and she will be starting violin on Thursday. We spent a night camping at Fish Lake with the scuba club. Andy enjoyed a dive down into the depths of the seaweed, lots of fish down there. Kambri actually snorkeled for quite a while. Milo took a nap on my lap and Michael and Kayla played on the shore. Then we came home to find Sydney and her parents in our house. I quickly showed them some hospitality and popped the frozen pizzas into the oven. We had a nice visit, short though it was. Then all of a sudden it was Sept 3 and I hadn't submitted our news, the rest is history!!

Rebecca's Ranting

It's funny it seems like months usually go by fast, but it seems more like August just won't end for us! We are still waiting on a particular form to be signed by the university in Brazil, and now another form for the visas. Everytime we think it is a done deal there is more red tape that rolls on by. The professor Nick has been working with in Brazil has assured Nick that he is doing everything possible and still wants to do the internship with him. I think we'll probably buy the plane tickets though. It seems every week they go up another hundred dollars.

This month Nick has been doing a rotation with Indian Health. He sure likes it there. . .

Jonathan has got a pretty mean throw and has been practicing throwing baseballs. He got a mitt and ball for his birthday last month. He mimics the pitcher from "The Sandlot." First he hits the ball in his mitt three times then he moves his left arm up and back into throwing position next he lifts his right knee. Finally he throws the ball and it basically goes wherever he is looking. It is funny what kids pick up. I didn't teach him a thing about throwing a baseball and I don't think Nick did either. We always throw granny balls to him. Not to mention, I never could figure out the whole lifting the leg thing while throwing a ball.

When Estelle doesn't have an ear infection or isn't getting a tooth she crawls around the house growling. She moves into her turbo crawl when she chases Jonathan, laughing and growling all the way, while he yells, "Ahhh! The Stelli monster is coming!" The two of them seem to really enjoy playing together and getting into mischief. Today they dumped out the pictures in a cupboard in Estelle's room.

This month it was my turn to prepare the lesson for visiting teaching. I was feeling really good about the topic, "Rejoice in an Understanding of the Purpose of Life" as I was able to spend a good amount of time preparing while Estelle was napping and Jonathan was at playgroup. I was preparing my little spiel about how God gives us trials so we can spiritually grow and learn to rely on the Savior. Well time came for me to pick up Jonathan. I was going to pick him up, drop off Nick's suit at the dry cleaners and then head to the sister's house where I would meet my companion. However, I never made it to the dry cleaners. As I was making a left turn into the shopping center my car just shut off and then my steering wheel locked up. The only thing I could do to get my car out of the road was to let it coast into the landscaping just beside the entrance to the center. GRUMBLE! I have found myself thinking and grumbling to myself all week about my troubles. It has barely been a month since the last time my car was in the shop, Nick's has been in the shop for the last two weeks, I had a stomach flu, both kids ran fevers for five days at different times, Estelle got two new teeth and one ear infection, while currently she seems to be working on another ear infection, I sprained my elbow (luckily Mom was here to help when that happened), Jonathan still hasn't figured out how to go number two in the toilet and I have resorted to spraying him off on the back porch (which he now enjoys,) I had pink-eye, Safeway forgot to pay Nick and then lost the check they tried to send him and told him it would take at least two more weeks by the time they file the appropriate paperwork to have a new one sent out, the cost of our health insurance doubled, meanwhile Nick is still doing double duty while working a rotation fulltime and a Safeway internship part time and all in the space of four weeks! Oh yeah, and the dryer broke. Then it hit me yesterday. . . maybe I'm being tested?? Ooops, I think I was failing but seeing it that way put things in perspective for me and hopefully I'll get a C, maybe even a B-? Although I can't complain about the beginning of the month. . . the reunion! I really enjoyed myself (I guess I did forget the luggage didn't I?)

I'm sure next month will be better. Love, Becca

Bracing for Another Semester

We have had a blast in August, with the reunion of course, also we got 2 weeks of break time from school. This led to a lot of time with renting movies from the library, swimming in the backyard, and doing fun things like rollerblading in the park, walking around in the mall, and cooking delicious treats. We were preparing for the fall semester in which mk is gone from early morning to midnight, well, almost. School will be taking its toll on quality time this semester, so we have asked the other counselors in YM to be in charge of mutual activities for a while.

Last weekend we went to Spanish Fork for a surprise visit to Andy and Mel. We were the ones who received the surprise, they were out of town! So we drove around Provo, met up with some of Keresa's cousins, went to the mall, etc. We had a blast looking at the million square foot homes priced right around $80k. We figured we might as well sell our shack here in Las Vegas and with the winnings, move to Spanish fork and live like royalty! Ok maybe its not that different of prices. The Atwoods finally got home Saturday afternoon and watched a movie with the Whitneys. Then mk and Andy took a trip down to the dental office to check things out in mk's wacky mouth. Melanie treated us to delicious crepes Sunday morning before the departure, then it was goodbye and down the road. We called mom and dad and of course, on Sunday, you have to leave a message with their answering service ;). So we told them we would be passing by on our way home around 4:00 or 4:30 and if we didn't hear from them we would just drive along by. As soon as we climbed the hill out of Moapa, guess who called? Mom! We missed by moments being able to get another free meal out of our trip (of course we could have turned around, but Keresa was asleep and Sydney was getting tired of being in the car, so mk decided to carry on).

Sydney is growing fast and learning new tricks, like crawling backwards (will she ever crawl forward?). Keresa is keeping busy with work at home, and making instant meals for her 2 babies: mashed carrots, green beans, apples, or sweet potatoes for Sydney, and frozen spaghetti, mashed potatoes, or stir fry for mk. With our busy schedule, it seems like she spends all weekend cooking and storing food so Sydney and mk can spend all week eating meals on the go-- Thanks Supermom!

Love, mk, kgw, srw

Elder Whitney: Just the Skinny

I spent probably about 30 minutes writing a couple of things but the computer froze and died. So let me just give you the skinny on the area and a couple of other things.

So our area is Quisqueya but we actually live in and also work in another ward too called Bella Vista. So that means we go to 6 hours of church on Sundays. Yikes! I'm district leader again, so I also spend several hours on Sunday doing interviews with other people in the district. Plus this district is much larger and only one of the companionships lives within walking distance. Sundays end up being very stressful and not enjoyable. I sure look forward to Sundays after the mission!

Oh yeah! Katrina passed us without even breezes. Pa' que sepas. Too bad for New Orleans.

Our two wards, especially Bella Vista, are full of organized neighborhoods, really nice houses, nice cars, well educated and wealthy people, and many other things that seem new to me on the mission. There is a little ghetto-ish strip in Quisqueya, but that's about it. We live in a little guesthouse behind the house of a member in Bella Vista. It is such a quiet and tranquilo place, it's amazing! The guesthouse is pretty tiny though, much smaller than the front room in our house. But there are only two of us in there: me and Elder Garner. We're doing great together and working hard. Plus in this area, the electricity hardly ever goes out! Maybe like 4 or 5 hours in the afternoon but that's it! And, so far, we have always had power during the nights. It makes sleeping so much easier with a constant stream of my little fan!

Sorry this letter is so short, but I promise the other one was longer. It's just that I'm kinda burned on writing right now. I hope you get back to school okay without any problems and minimal stress. I'm praying for you Mom!

Con Amor,

Elder Winnie