Dorothy

Saturday, January 08, 2011
Dear Family,
Here is our review of the past two months: they were good, but went by fast.
To celebrate our wedding anniversary this year, Alan and I spent two days in Provo, the place where we met. We went to the Provo Temple, saw a movie, and spent a few hours at the Bean Museum. It was a relaxing and pleasant time for us.
For Thanksgiving, we stayed home- Heather, James, Daniel, Kevin, Ariane, Alan, and I. So we fit just fine around the table in our small kitchen. Lynnette was at her sister’s in Arizona, and Jason’s family had their dinner at Becky’s parent’s home. Later that day however, Jason’s family came over for dessert and to play.
Two days after Thanksgiving, I had a piano recital for my students at Riverton Music’s recital hall. Only half of my students were able to come because of the holiday weekend, but like one mother commented, “It was just perfect! Not too long, but just right.”
We went to the Christmas “Sterling Singers” concert that Heather sang in at the Libby Gardner Concert Hall (November 29th). We always enjoy their concert. Alan also sang several times with his choir, the Mountain West Chorale, during December, including at a few sacrament meetings, the West Jordan City Hall, and at the Assembly Hall.
Alan’s niece, Jackie, who graduated several years ago from the U in Piano Performance, decided to brush up on her skills and held a piano recital for herself at the Baldassin Piano Store downtown. She played selections by Mozart, all memorized, for the entire time. It was mesmerizing! It was amazing that she could pull that off by practicing for weeks at night after her four children were asleep in bed.
The day after Christmas we went to a Young Single Adults ward where Kevin participated in their Christmas Sacrament Meeting program. He accompanied a few of the special numbers and sang with a small group. It was nice to see him perform in that setting.
At the beginning of the month the foot pedal of my 40-year-old sewing machine broke. They can’t be found in the stores, so I found a replacement by going on-line, however it had to be back ordered. Luckily I had most of my Christmas projects done. I worked on the rest by using my neighbor’s machine, plus I sewed a bunch of projects for her to compensate. Happily, my new foot pedal arrived just a week before Christmas so I could finish up at home. I hate to get a new machine when this one continues to serve me well.
Miraculously, everything (Christmas letter writing, neighbor gifts, shopping, wrapping, etc.) seemed to come together in time for Christmas. Being able to talk to both Penny and Marcus that day topped it off. Penny said she could talk for 40 minutes… we went over the limit but it was OK. She told us that her release date would be February 24, about 3 weeks earlier than I expected. The mission president likes to coordinate the release dates as close to the normal transfer dates as possible. So I guess it was either that, or 3 weeks longer which would have been the first week of April before she came home. So I’ve been feeling really “trunky “ for her to come home ever since.
That afternoon we talked to Marcus by way of the Internet, using “Skype” and our neighbor’s webcam they let us borrow. Marcus’ mission president gave permission for all the missionaries in his mission to “Skype” instead of the traditional phone call home for Christmas. Penny said she was jealous. For us it was a fun novelty. For Marcus it was great, although a bit harder to keep from feeling homesick when he could actually see everyone including the living room with the tree and all.
Jason and Becky announced to the family on Christmas Day that their fourth child will be due to join their family early this summer. We are very happy for them and looking forward to having another grandchild!
Best wishes to all of you during this New Year!
Love, Dorothy and family