9 May 2007

May 9, 2007
Dear Elder Sean,
Thank you so much for your fun letters. I tried to put the gist of what you said in my letter to Kirk so he could know what you were up to. It makes me sad that his camera got stolen. I was thinking that it would be a good idea for you to send us all your pix from the MTC right before you leave for Arg., at least a copy of them all. We'll be able to keep them safe here at home.

Your Spanish looks wonderful (a compliment coming from an untrained eye). It's just unbelievable to me that you're able to communicate that well already. I could easily understand your testimony. Thank you for sharing it.

I'm also going to look into the TALL method and see if it's available to us. I'll let you know.

Well, I had a great weekend in Utah. It rained, as you know, most of the time, but since we were inside for the bulk of it, it didn't really matter. Aunt Jan did great at the market. Her patterns were a hit. But the most interesting thing was seeing the workings of the wholesale world. There was so much wheeling and dealing going on and I loved being part of it. Executives from different companies would send their people around to all the booths to check out the new products. Those people would then tell us that someone would be coming by to talk with us later. Then one of the execs would come by and make an offer of some sort. For instance, the fabric companies (3 of them) asked us if we would be willing to design a new fabric line for their company. How fun would that be!! Jan doesn't want to do something like that, but I think that would be fun and so does Heidi. Maybe I'll collaborate with her on that. There was a publishing company that wanted us to make a book of the new patterns (when I say us, I was part of Threaded Pear Studios, the store Jan is working through) The owner of the Threaded Pear, Gina, is a quilter and designed some new quilt patterns for market. So we had new quilt patterns and new apron patterns. There were also four major distributors who want to carry our patterns in their catalog. The distributors take and fill orders from quilt stores around the world. Also Better Homes and Gardens wants Jan to have an apron and pattern for their Aug issue. All in all, it was a big success. Now the orders start coming in. I'm so happy for Jan. She has worked so hard on this. She called me yesterday and said, get ready now for the fall market which is in Houston in Oct. They want me to have some new patterns of my own to put out there too. So here we go....

While in SLC I stayed across the street from the Salt Palace at the Plaza which is owned by the church. The concierge there was a young return missionary and he took me around town when I needed to get some errands done. It was fun talking with him. He showed me the land that the church has bought which includes the entire block that the Plaza sits on. He also showed me where the campus for BYU-Salt Lake is going to be-right across from the Salt Palace. He went to CA on his mission and is getting married next week. He said he decided to go to LDS Business College because he wanted to stay right in Salt Lake which he loves and he wanted the best chances of finding someone he could marry in the temple. I love it. I guess it worked.

Anyway, I had a fun time and it was also a lot of work, physical labor and met a lot of new people. I probably walked 40,000 steps a day and part of that was lifting and hauling things, setting up the booth, etc. And of course I was in 7th heaven being around all the quilt world, a world I know very well. I was able to tell Jan who was who and what was important, etc. It was weird seeing all the people that I watch on HGTV quilt shows right there. Even Marie Osmond was there with a new line of fabric. And of course, I was able to purchase anything I wanted for the wholesale price-yippee!

Enough of that. Sunday we met in our new building finally. It's beautiful, clean. It felt a little odd like we were just visiting someone else's ward, but i think it will be nice. It's always interesting to see how the church refines and cuts back on the unnecessary parts of a building. I still like the old buildings. If you ever get to see some of them in SLC, you'll know what I mean.

Dad is getting ready for his first tax audit next week. I think it's pretty stressful for him. We're not the best record keepers, but perhaps from now on we will be. I know we'll learn a lot from this, I just hope we don't have to pay too highly for the learning.

This morning while getting the girls ready for school, i started to brush Leah's hair and noticed the whole front where the bangs should be had been whacked off. I asked her when that happened and she said she did it in school yesterday. I guess she wanted bangs really bad. I'm not sure what I'm going to do about it. I may just take her to the hair dresser and get her hair cut short, cuz it will take quite a while for her hair to grow back to normal. Then I went upstairs and Nikki had written her name on the tread of one of the stairs and her whole bed was a bloody mess from a lovely nose bleed last night. Never a dull moment with them.

I'm taking the cubs on a hike today down the greenbelt. Wish me luck. they're about as obedient as Leah and Nikki and I'm thinking we should put leashes on them as we hike or else I'll be jumping in the river for an unexpected freezing cold dip.

Haven't heard much news from any of your friends. I know Brandon hasn't done much by way of getting ready yet according to his parents. He has some time though. I need to call the Frames to find out their meeting times. Everyone changed times last week cuz of the new building. I haven't heard from Tyler or where he is. I thought I'd check in with Jared this week and see how he's doing. Oliver is back living at home and according to Jill he's nicer than ever. She doesn't know what's going on. She's still hoping a mission is in his future. But he talks about going back to Provo in the fall and living with Jeff and Kurt. The singles ward meets right before us in the new building, so we get to see a lot of your friends each week now.

I love the song words you've chosen for your plaque. That's the most powerful song. I may have to edit it a bit to be within the word limit. Will that be ok, or do you have another choice? I'm going to check and see how many words are allowed. I think it should be ok and i'll let you know.

You asked for Kirk's mailing address. Here it is:
the easiest way right now is to send it through the pouch through SLC and it's just for letters. If you want to send something other than a letter, let me know and I can get the pkg address for you.

Elder Kirk Thompson
Dominican Republic Santiago Mission
PO Box 30150
Salt Lake City, UT 84130-0150

We all thought about you on your birthday and even put up the sign. You're always in our prayers and most of all you're always in my heart. Work hard, the Lord will bless you with extra strength to accomplish more than you ever thought you could, but remember to always acknowledge His hand in your work.

If there's anything you need, let me know. I hope you have a great week. I'm so glad you're part of a great district and that the work is fun. Enjoy.
love you,
mom
xoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxxoxoxo