One Thousand Two Hundred Thirty Seven

That number is how many days it took me to get the courage to prepare for a 13th birthday party with eleven girls.  I believe I have subconsciously been preparing for this day since July 19, 2007, because it is too ironic that on the morning of Alyssa's 13th birthday, I awoke to the sighting of a grey hair.  My second one ever, it had been 512 days since I spotted the first one.    

Anyway, this post isn't about me, so here is how the day came to be.  Back in September, I began thinking about a party for Alyssa since I have never hosted one for her.  I tried to make the nasty thought go away, but it wouldn't, so I began entertaining the idea. 

I really didn't want a pizza and ice cream and rowdy scene, instead we had an Evening of Elegance for the young ladies.  Because Lys likes teal right now, here are the invitations I sent out to 13 girls in the Beehive age group (12/13).

Before I can continue, I must say, I am thoroughly IMPRESSED that these girls were able to keep this secret from Alyssa.  I asked the mom's to keep it a secret from their daughters for as long as possible, but even this last week, I know there were at least two occasions when they could have slipped up.  I get teary eyed when I think of well they honored me by keeping my special event a surprise!

I began reaching out to all my friends and family and ended up borrowing all these items and receiving help from so many wonderful people, THANK YOU MY LOVELY FRIENDS!!!!

The Malm Family - silver serving dishes and napkin rings

Auntie - cake frosting instructions, real bakery coloring paste, frosting tips, frosting turn table, sprinkles

Sister Kathy - gave me some key party details

Sister Lisa - organza chair bows

Sister Chris - chair covers

Sister Barbara - utensils for 11 and table cloth

Sister Cami - table cloth

Sister Camille - toasting flutes

Sister Cathy - sheer curtains

Sister Laura - china

Sister Jana - water goblets and a chair

Sam - powdered sugar and a chair and 2 hours of help setting up

Sister Mary - serving dishes, invaluable resource on connecting me to so many others

Brother Phil - served the girls as a 'waiter' for over 2 hours

Sister Stephanie - cut and styled Alyssa's hair and entertained her, was able to get her dressed for her own party, without her even realizing it!

Here is Alyssa getting scared out of her mind, she looks like she is about to cry.

 She wouldn't make eye contact with anyone for about a minute, it was odd indeed.

It took her awhile to understand that she wasn't going to dinner with dad, that it had all been a 'story'.  This was her party and dinner was going to be here!

Here is the place setting.  The tree is an ornament and party favor and also the place card holder.  All the girls were addressed as Lady.  The suckers in the napkins were supposed to be party favors, but when I wasn't paying attention, they somehow became one of the appetizers.

The girls were greeted at the door with sparkling cider flutes and quiche appetizers.  They all seemed to love it and we overheard, "this is the fanciest thing I have ever been to."  That was a sweet compliment from Lady H.

Lovely Ladies

the handsome waiters

Talk about a happy birthday girl

 The ladies did amazing when they considered shopping for Alyssa.  It was so fun to see how the personalities came out in those choices.  The outdoorsy friend gave her a backpacking towel and wool socks.  The artsy friend gave her a sketch book.  The girly girl gave her perfume.  She really received the most beautiful collection of genuine gifts and so many took care to remember her favorite color!

Later the girls danced, yep, my house was a bumpin'... I couldn't believe how far I had come in 1,237 days.  I loved having the girls in my home. 

BUT my biggest accomplishment may just be the personalized banner that I made.  I stayed up till 2:30 am one night enjoying the deep love that I was experiencing for Alyssa, while making it. 

like mother, like daughter

Timeline

2:45 - Troy dropped her off to have her nails done

3:30 - Stef texted her with an 'emergency' babysitting need, Alyssa replied no that had swim practice

4:00 - When Alyssa got to Stef's, Stef had to pretend that she never got the message that Alyssa was still coming and instead got another babysitter, but since she had cancelled her client, she had room for Alyssa to get her hair cut right then!  How convenient! (Apparently, Alyssa was not amused) 

5:00 - Stef pretended she had received some 'used' clothes from the neighbor girl, that Alyssa may like since her daughter would take years to grow into them. 

5:10 - We told Stef to tell Lys to stay dressed up so that she could go to dinner with her father.

5:45 - Stef dropped off Lys at our house

It did go perfect and I am so grateful to our friends for helping us.  We couldn't have done it without them. Words can't express how much this experience meant to our family in so many ways.

Happy Birthday My Lovely Lady Daughter!

Beijing

I am on the plane, re-living November 19^th, all over again.  We always say we need more time in a day, right? Turning back the clock, so I guess that means I should get double done today.  I wrote down some of my experiences from my week in Beijing.  After you read this.. you will really see what a great Ambassador I was this week… SHAMEFUL really…

 The fancy digs we got to enjoy and the interior lobby of the hotel.

I was invited to rush off to China to join the Global Summit that my new team would be attending.  It was important that I go and meet them as they only gather as a group 1x a year.  I felt very prepared to go to China again, since I was in Beijing nine years ago with a group from my MBA program, and spent three weeks there.  I had good memories and was looking forward to going back, seeing the changes, and having new experiences.  I was so glad that I remembered that one key takeaway was that they serve a terribly useless fine grain white pepper that I despised – because this time I packed my own.  However, I am recording more thoughts, so that if I have need to return, I might help myself in the future. 

Here is a photo of me flying into tomorrow on 11.11.11. 

I wonder if Sarah Palin considered that not only could she see Russia from her home, she could see into the future too!  Well, here is a photo when we crossed and a little later there were some beautiful mountains.

Good bye 11.11.11 & Hello Tomorrow 11.12.2011

1)      It began the minute we started boarding the Chinese Airline in Seattle on November 11^th.  Literally, I was 2 inches off the ramp, when the crowding began and I lost my personal space.  REALLY?  No.. NO PEOPLE, we are still in my country where we respect a certain number of inches between people.  There is NO sense in stepping on top of me, I can only walk up the aisle so fast and that is according to the 25 other people in front of me.  DUH.  I literally had to turn around and tell the person (pretty sure they didn’t know what I said though) that they MUST give me some space or I was going to go crazy and the darn trip hadn’t even started yet. 

2)      I am not exaggerating, but every hour of every day, there are loud, rude, quite obnoxious actually, sounds of people clearing their noses and throats.  Apparently it is not rude to them because it didn’t matter where I was, I heard it.  As I sit here on the plane typing, I am SO wanting to stand up and throw my hands in the air, and scream, “WOULD YOU PLEASE STOP, IT IS SO DISGUSTING WHAT YOU ARE ALL DOING.”  What I came to discover is that when a Chinese man threw up as we were landing in Beijing apparently is an epidemic.  On the return flight, three of our five economy class restrooms have been closed due to puke in the sink.  The Chinese flight attendants said to me, when I was in utter awe over this,  in a ‘typical’ sort of tone, “it’s the Chinese.”  WHAT THE EFF?  Really people?  How disgusting.  So, when I was in one of the remaining two bathrooms and the announcement for landing into Seattle came on, saying the restrooms were about to be closed for landing, I used all five minutes and didn’t feel at all guilty as I ‘was going to show them.’

3)   I was reminded that they generally say YES to everything; sometimes this is because they don’t really know what you said and they want you to be happy and they want to ‘save face’, but also they say YES even when they do understand you and they have every intention NOT to do what they just said YES to.  It is super annoying and I really wanted to explain that in the end I don’t think they are accomplishing their goal. 

4)      I really wish I could seriously get inside their heads and ask them, WHY IN THE H-E-DOUBLE HOCKEY STICKS do you stand over me no matter where I am?  By Thursday morning, I had HAD IT… I opened the bathroom stall door to find two bathroom attendants pining to get into my stall after I finished.  Now, let me set the scene for you though…. It was 7:30am.  This part of the hotel was EMPTY and perfectly clean and there were 8 other clean stalls.  There wasn’t a drop in the sinks, not a crumble of paper in any waste baskets, this bathroom had been cleaned nine time over already.  I was preparing to present at 8:30am and needed to get into the conference room, however when I opened the stall door, I was so thoroughly annoyed, I slammed the door in their faces and spoke some not very nice words to them and I am assuming they felt the tone of my body language because after about 5 minutes, they finally left the damn bathroom.   When I would go into a store to look at something, it was as-if they thought I was going to steal from them so they were all up in my business.  I wanted to tell them, DO YOU realize that NOW I am NOT going to buy anything from you, just out of principle, you done gone and annoyed the flip out of me.  No matter what country or what hotel I am staying at, I never have my room cleaned each day, and I never give access to the hotel staff to come and go as they please.  So, starting on morning two, I must have been asked 5 times between the hours of 12pm-8pm, if I was ready to have my room cleaned?  It was as if they just couldn’t make sense of it.  BUT REALLY?  THAT CAN’T BE TRUE… please tell me that it is not that hard of a concept to grasp and I can’t be the first person to have ever stayed there that didn’t require a daily room clean.  SOOOOO, why is it that when I did something that didn’t align to their routine, that they just couldn’t adapt and understand? 

5)    It was super cool to go onto the massive site where the city of Beijing hosted the Summer Olympics that began at 8:08 PM on 08/08/08.  You know I am a sucker for numbers and so I was excited to see the official Omega Time Keeper in the Urban Planning Museum.  For 50RMB, I went inside the 91,000 seat stadium and felt the massiveness of this place that just three years ago was the highlight of the globe.  The sad part is that this area in general is so vast that it is not being kept up and is looking run down.  One would think that the millions of people and laborers that the government would employ many people for super cheap to manicure the area often.  I hope it doesn’t continue in this trend. 

6)      Facebook, now… let’s talk Facebook, it is literally known as the “Great fireWALL of China” because the government doesn’t allow access to it.  Here’s what doesn’t make sense though, many 5-star hotels have it and Chinese citizens can stay there and access it there.  Also, consider the flight attendants that I met who layover at the Comfort Inn in Tukwila 2 days a week, frequenting Southcenter Mall and Tukwila Costco and other American activities and locations… these gals are seeing the world, there is nothing they don’t have access to, so what exactly is the government trying to achieve?  I guess the way I see it is that all it takes is enough flight attendants and other traveling citizens to tell friends and family about things like Facebook and the public will ‘do something’ about it.  The reason I say that is because on the front page of the paper this week was an article about the public putting up stiffer demands to the government calling for rhythmic reports on air quality and putting into action better standards.  I was happy to see that the citizens felt empowered to make those kinds of statements. 

7)      Now, getting to the Exhibition Planning Museum was another story.  Actually, a very typical story that I faced time and time again, starting with my first morning when I tried to find the local Mormon gathering location.  No matter if I had the address written in Chinese and if I was literally two blocks away, NO ONE acted like they knew how to give directions, until I was literally ON TOP OF the darn address.  Also, when I ask for directions, they always just say, keep going the way you are going.  NO JOKE.. it must have happened over 25 times this week.  NOW, on the day I was headed to this fabulous museum which contains an amazing city mock-up; 1:750 scale of the entire urban setting, NO ONE could tell me where it was.  In fact, I was sorely disappointed that the darn hotel concierge staff had never heard of it.  You’d think that museums would encourage local citizens/tour guides to know this kind of stuff to promote it.  Even when I got off the subway stop and asked the “TOURIST INFORMATION” about it, the girl sent me on my way to ask another ‘tourist house’.  When I ended up finding it, I had only been 100 yards away from the information center.  REALLY PEOPLE?  I had a notion to go back and drag that ‘helpful’ worker over to the front door to show her what she needed to know to do her job better.  Anyhow, I raced in the door by 3:29pm, to watch the 3D IMAX film showing the Beijing Urban Plans for 2020.  Would you believe it, I was the only one in the entire theater?!  It was hilarious and odd.  I tried to invite the ticket girl to come sit with me about 8 rows up, but she declined and sat on the first row, watching the entire film.  When it was over, I nearly had tears in my eyes and I wanted to leap from my chair and hug her and be super excited with her because her city is about to become a real SUPER DUPER FABULOUS PLACE.  But, she and I couldn’t really communicate and so the moment passed and I left wondering, ‘is this for real, do you believe this can happen, are you just so darn excited for the future?’   You see, when Beijing won the Olympic Bid, the planning committee people threw this urban area into high gear speeding along development, all in all putting them ahead 10 years than would have been otherwise.  The local citizens got to experience new perspective of life and living and it is benefitting this next generation.  Spending a day talking to Robin, our driver to the Great Wall, he gave us lots of insight to all this.  During this planning time, the government formed quite the plans for how they were going to deal with growth, health, and better living.  In summary, they are planning of building 11 new cities on the outskirts of Beijing with eco-living, capped population, defined green space per person, and so much more I can’t even begin to re-iterate the wonderful promises.  Now…. I am just not sure how they can achieve this by 2020, but I have hope, especially since all this ‘evidence’ of planning sits in the public museum next to Tiananmen Square for any and all citizens to go and see.  If I was one of these locals, I would be counting down to expect the MAJOR and POSITIVE changes that their government is publically and globally promising. 

8)      Robin and the flight attendants also enlightened me to more understanding on the effects of the One-Child-Policy. When it was put into effect in the late seventies or early eighties, the young couples about to have kids were angry or at least concerned about the ‘control’ the government was putting on this subject.  However, they were experiencing new found freedoms, so life went on.  Now, there are 24 million MORE young men in the marriage-age range and it is a BIG problem that the government is not sure what to do about it.  Robin said he was worried for his 23 yr old son who just graduated from University.

Here is where church is held, on the 4th floor in conference rooms. Here is the actual entrance, funny!

 
The most amazing scaled down version of a city I have ever seen!  SO COOL!

9)      I was glad I brought my ZIPP FIZZ, but darn, I missed my Kombucha.  I hope by the year 2020, they have started stocking it up because I am not sure I can ever go 5000 miles away from my drink of choice again.  My body is bloated and feels disgusting.  My fingers and toes feel like little Good Year Blimps and I can’t wait to flush this body clean of the excess salt and who knows what else is hanging out in here.  I am glad I brought my own low sugar instant oatmeal for the plane ride and other emergency situations where I didn’t want to eat the food served. 

10)   The first time I went into the Silk / Pearl Markets at the beginning of the week, I just walked, talked, and wasn’t serious at all in buying.  I took note of all the first ‘offers’ thrown out there by the vendors and the lowest price they would throw out as I would slightly hesitate in my step.  Then I went back to my hotel and searched other travelers stories for their good deals, so I could get ready for later bargaining.  I had to be reminded not to feel guilty by using the bartering system and that in the end, this is about what my emotional price was for something and they had to own their own financial situation as to what they would sell an item to me for.  By the end of the week, I think I got pretty good with having low emotional value and demonstrating my ease of walking away from the item they were selling.  It was fun to help my friend Jan get a few deals, while we played good cop/bad cop… you can guess who was bad cop, RIGHT?!  So, to give perspective on the money:  $20 USD would convert to *125RMB, we could get 4 cashmere scarves for *100RMB, a full day reserved driver with 4 passengers driven to the Great Wall for *600RMB, 60 minute full body massage was *200RMB, and riding the subway anywhere in the city was only *2RMB.  I had brought back over the ocean my black pearls that I purchased nine years ago, as I had broke one set of strings and the clasps were old and gold and I wanted them re-strung and wanted to add something to partner with them.  It worked out great as Emily (self-assigned, made up name for the Chinese girl pearl vendor) achieved all that I wanted for under $20 in about 30 minutes.  About two months ago, I had ordered Alyssa a traditional wind up Alarm clock with the loud bells to ding and wake this sleepy head each day. However, $30 later and after only a few days of use, the darn thing kept sticking and we requested a refund.  In China, I found a more classy clock, that I stood and tested and re-tested and purchased for only $6.  COOL.  I hope she loves it.  

11) As I think of other funny or interesting things to mention, I will add them here. , or whatever things to mention: I was told that the reason they all crowd onto and off the subway is 'because everyone wants to be first,' it is a natural competition in a city of 14 million.  I loved watching the older folks doing exercises in the park and then having a cigarette, the current generation of 20-somethings seem to be very attached to electronics, American music, American food, American clothing and it makes me sad to consider that there would be a point when they will lose traction on their culture and it will never be the same again. Our driver Robin confirmed the same.  I got tired of people taking photos of me doing nothing... so I took photos back at them.

Squeeze in there buddy, and don't forget to

Loved this little boy on the subway.  When I showed him his picture, he smiled huge!

 Loved this little girl just squatting by the subway door and reading away happily.

I know I must appear as a pessimist, I am trying to be a little funny and really, I will retain the good memories I made there, so I hope you won’t think that I am a negative person.  The GOOD, you might be asking…Hmmm… ok.  My first day there Sunday, was GORGEOUS and clear.  A cold front had arrived in and the air was clean, bright, and not a cloud or particle of smog existed. It was a wonderful welcome indeed.  My last two days were the same.  It was a treat to have my trip start and stop with perfect weather.  My hotel was simply divine with luxury.  The pool, the amenities, the cleanliness, the soft bedding, PERFECT.  My last day, in fact in my final few hours, I went over to Tao Ran Ting Park to take photos and walk around the lake and enjoy a very beautiful area and WOW, was it ever a blessing.  I was in ‘awe’ of this place, a wonderful setting full of happy people dancing, doing Tai Chi, biking, taking wedding photos, walking hand in hand, sitting on benches eating fruit, and playing hand in hand as families.  It was so refreshing to see this kind of living.  I wish more of my co-workers had been able to get away from the tourist sites and see this park.   After three traditional dinners of Shanghai Cuisine, Peking Duck, and Hot Pot – I had enough and went to Hard Rock Café for three nights to enjoy something a little more in line with my taste buds.  The band was great and it was odd to hear Rod Stewart, Queen, Guns and Roses, Skid Row, Air Supply, Pink Floyd, AC-DC, Led Zeplin, Metallica, and other English speaking sounds come out of these Asian band members mouths.  I enjoyed it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrIFmry9c3M

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrEDrrxrzQA&feature=related 

Of course, we lucked out with FABULOUS weather at the Great Wall.  This time I saw the Mutianyu section, last time I had seen the Simatai location.

I don't think my co-workers believed me when I told them that I was HUGE back in 2002 when I visited the Great Wall, so here is the one and only photo of me back then.  Clearly, one of these photos shows warm weather and the other was a bit cooler. 

  

 

All in all, it was really a great trip and I am so grateful for these experiences.  I have joined a wonderful global team that has welcomed me with open arms.  

I am thankful to my Savior who allowed my family to return to each other safe and sound.

Other photos that were fun to take

 The don't wrap the meat... but

not to worry, they wrap their corn 

Photo of the subway system

 Average people out for an evening stroll

I will post the rest of the album on Facebook very soon.

The Fabulously Brilliant Flexible Comprehensive Plan for raising independant children who will be able to take care of themselves as adults and have a family of their own.

"The ultimate goal of raising children is to help them OUT of our lives and into successful lives of their own," says Merrilee Boyack in her book, The Parenting Breakthrough. 

President Faust gave a wonderful talk in November 1990 Ensign, "The Greatest Challenge In The World - Good Parenting."  He begins with the reminder that parenting is a privilege,  responsibility, and it is divine.  President McKay once said, "that being parents is the greatest trust that has been given to human beings."  In Faust's talk, he instructs that values MUST be taught, there must be rules, standards, absolutes, respect for others, respect for the symbols of faith and patriotic beliefs of others; respect for law and order; respect for the property of others; and respect for authority."  He firmly speaks about discipline, the necessity of it, the purpose of it, and how to prayfully determine what is necessary for each child. I love how he promotes WORK and taking the time to truly teach our child side by side - over and over and over again - even when the grumble. Hinckley was quoted saying, 'an idle mind is the devil's workshop... and that they need to learn progress, cleanliness, and prosperity." 

My running buddy Melissa introduced me to Merrilee's book and from the minute I began reading, that lady became my hero (ok Melissa, you can be my hero too).  Sister Boyack believes in three basic parenting principles; a) Parents are not responsible for making children happy all the time, b) the best self-esteem for children comes from being able to do things on their own, and c) we are the parents and we are in charge.  Of course, Ihat makes sense and her concepts support the ideas mentioned in Faust's talk. She writes in a funny down to earth manner, easy reading!  Think about it, in many areas of our lives, we make plans, we plan vacations, we plan weddings, we plan how to spend our money.  This lady realized that raising children should also have a plan.  Just like we do in the gospel, when we make a decision to stand true to a value for the rest of our lives, never needing to revisit that decision.  She formed an unwaivering parenting plan, for her children to learn all they needed to by the time they went off to college.

AND SO WHAT DO YOU THINK I DID?  Of course, I emailed Merrilee and asked for her plan. If you want it, it is free for use, just click on the little family cartoon characters, under the home and family section.  It is a wonderful list that shows by what age she expected her children to know how to do. She encourages us to develop our own plan, but we are welcome to begin with hers as a starting point. 

SO, taking advantage of this last night before the clock rolls back and our afternoons get darker earlier, Alyssa was excited to learn how to mow the lawn knowing it would soon become her regular responsibility. Merrilee's kids learned at age 11, so that must have motivated our child into realizing she was old enough too. She was so proud of her clean mow lines and yes, she worked hard at it! (She did want me to make sure her hair didn't look bad for the photo though, how funny!)

Fun and practical, author Merrilee Boyack will have readers laughing out loud as well as feeling grateful for her parenting advice. She’s a mom who’s spent the last 22 years in the real-life work of parenting. “I have four sons, 14, 16, 19 and 23. “You know what that means” she writes. “I’m an absolute expert in raising children 23 and older.” Merrilee offers the “LDS parenting owner’s manual they forgot to give you” from training kids- from toddlers to teens- to be independent. It includes ideas for how to teach kids about money, investing, debt, and the importance of earning their own money; how to help children with emotional and spiritual development ; and much more.

We want them to be righteous, productive, skilled, smart, helpful, wise, intelligent, and hardworking.  If they are happy occassionally too, that's an added benefit.  She states it's ok to let them be miserable sometimes and we should refuse to do things for them that they are capable of.  They must learn all these emotions in the home so develop coping skills. We need to allow them feel frustration, delayed gratification, sadness, misery, and all the feelings in the spectrum. We are currently raising a society that has no concept of work, they have too much food, too many clothes, too many toys, and they don't have to work for any of it. Don't be fooled into thinking that they will gain self-esteem from that list. 

Merrilee says, "We have to know a LOT before we can be successful adults. Some of you may be reading the list and thinking, 'gee, I still need to learn some of this.'  It’s never too late!"  Alyssa and I printed the plan and reviewed it discussing all that she has learned up to now, what we feel she still needs to learn at this particular age, and also added those things she wants to learn, before she becomes a cougar in 5 years! 

Thank you Merrilee for your wonderful words of wisdom and THANK YOU MELISSA!

My little Junior Ranger

A few years ago, Alyssa went to Mt. Rushmore with her grandparents.  While there, she earned her Junior Ranger badge.  She didn't pay much attention to it then, but wowza....this year she got the bug!  This summer, she earned three more and hopes to keep going.  We bought a National Park pass this year and it was so worth it and educational.  It was so fun to watch her learn and seek out the activities required to get the badge.  Thank you to Papa and Nana for getting her started in 2008. 

 Thank you Papa.

 This is us in front of The Heart in Timpanogos Cave. 

 http://scienceviews.com/parks/timpanogos.html

 Golden Spike really amazed us as we had thought it was going to be boring. 

Instead, we stayed 3.5 hours and learned so much about this historical place.

Here she is at Olympic National Park; learning about the skulls of herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores.   

I have enjoyed journaling with A during this process.

 She is one tough cookie!

Dad is so proud of her too!

Way to go Alyssa. 

Thank you for taking the time to learn about our beautiful National Parks!

It has been such a wonderful experience.

Vintage Post Cards from Salt Lake

Alyssa's grandma found these items in Iowa. HOW AMAZING and SPECIAL and BEAUTIFUL!

Blank Postcard #692, 68573- Text: Brigham Young, his birthdate and place and deathdate and place. Deseret Book Company

Weird that it says in the description printed, "He led a small band of pioneers into the great unknown west in 1847...." hmmmm, if you call thousands of people 'small'... I guess?!

Salt Lake Temple #8174, $.02 stamp and postmarked May 12,1918

addressed to Mrs. Mat Hull in Tarinton, Iowa

Along Temple Wall, Salt Lake City, #469, postmarked 7/23/1909, addressed to Miss Grace Parr at 201 W 3rd Avenue in Oksaloosa, Iowa. "My Dear Grace, Receive of your two postals. Thanks very much for the birch bark, it is a great novelty. Having a good time? I am sure you are.

Will write again. Adelaide.

8-Night Scene "Mormon" temple, Salt Lake City, Utah, #10,003 post marked Monday, March 11, 1951, with a $.01 stamp addressed to Mr. and Mrs. M. M. Hull in New Sharon, Iowa Box 81, "How are you doubt you are thinking this is a pretty picture How is the weather in IA I am thinking of going home when it gets warmer. I don't like this J.R. now, so who knows about the weather it looks so nice but today we got your long letter - you will be hearing from us soon. We are well and hope you are too and keep taking care of your arem. Love from Tudie.