Dorothy & Alan

Dear Family,

It has been a very beautiful spring day… my tulips, daffodils, and other flowers are in their full glory. I look forward to my “instant” spring flower garden every year. Too bad the rest of year doesn’t produce “instant” flowers like that without any effort from me.

I’m happily surrounded by most of my children on this Mother’s Day Sunday. I always like having our children here, watching how well they get along with each other, listening to their conversations and seeing the fun they have with each other. Somehow they come up with very entertaining fun of their own making, like watching a slide-show of themselves doing innovative and unique poses in front of the camera when we were at Thanksgiving Point two weeks ago. They sure laugh at themselves. I’m glad they like each other so well and like to get together. I feel very blessed and honored to be their mother. Mom also came and spent a few hours with us this evening.

Last weekend it was nice to drive up to Lucy’s with my daughters, Heather, Penny, Becky, and Lynnette. We had good conversation all the way up and back. Lucy made us all feel so welcome in her beautiful home… and Dave and their dear children didn’t seem to mind that we took over their rooms for a few days. Thank you Nathan for letting Penny and I sleep in your room for three nights. Your bed is very comfortable. I like seeing Lucy’s home decorated with symbols of those things that she holds most dear… her family, the Savior, temples, etc. I was impressed at how organized Lucy was in taking care of her family and all of us and ours needs all at the same time and never seemed to get rattled. Always happy and gracious.

It was so nice to visit and do things with Wendy, Jennifer, Angela, Priscilla, Emily, Mom, Reba, and Lucy as well as my daughters while we were there. Little Benjamin and Finn are such cute babies…. It was fun to learn about Angela’s invention of “baby-legs.” Now that I know how to make them I plan to share the idea with the young mothers in our ward. I’m sure they’ll like the idea too. Thanks, Ang! The walks, the garage sales, games, and sight-seeing together were enjoyable. I look forward to continuing this tradition for many years to come.

In the month of March we celebrated Ariane’s 15th and Becky’s birthdays the weekend we went to Logan and saw Jason and Becky perform in “Beauty and the Beast.” Becky was a very beautiful “Belle” and Jason was handsome in all the little parts he played in the chorus (towns-person, dinner knife, etc.). Daniel acted just like Elvis and Kuzco (the Prince’s New Groove) in his interpretation of the Pharaoh in “Joseph and the Technicolor Dream Coat.” We’re proud of our very talented children and I’m glad they have so much fun acting.

In April we celebrated Marcus’ 18th birthday and Katherine’s 4th birthday. We also celebrated the graduations of Lynnette from LDS Business College and Daniel from Utah Valley University. Daniel isn’t finished with school yet… he plans to continue this fall, but it was nice to mark this event of his achievement.

The last Friday of April, Alan took the day off and we moved Kevin and Penny home for the summer…. We really packed the van tight with all their stuff so we could do it in one trip. After we unloaded everything at home, Alan and I replaced that old van with one just 5 years newer and in much better condition. However, we regret not having the same amount of cargo space. Next time we move them it will definitely take two carloads.

Our Stake’s Youth Conference this summer will be a “Pioneer Trek” at Martins Cove like we did four years ago. They invited all the youth in the stake to draw a picture depicting the theme “Faith In Every Footstep” that could be used as their logo. Two pictures were selected, one of which was Marcus’ very detailed drawing. It was copied and silk-screened on to each of the 25 flags they made, one for each pioneer family. It was fun for all of us to see him honored with this recognition of his talent.

I appreciate this way of staying connected with all of you- I look forward to reading your letters.
Love, Dorothy and family