Dear Cassidy –

Another week has come and gone! Do the weeks go by fast for you, or seem like a long time? Some weeks seem very long to me and feel like a lot of work, but then seem to go by fast as well. Time is weird isn't it?

So you've been out 6 MONTHS! That's a little hard for me to believe.

A couple of things about your last letter...
You haven't told us about Abend Brot - what is it?

And my favorite part of your letter was about your investigator Fana and you guys buying the things for her daughter's birthday. That just made me smile. I know as a mom that Fana was truly grateful and touched by that. Good job! And it's nice to be able to go with someone in a car!

I'm anxious to hear about your trip to Berlin this week. How long does it take for you to get there?

AND - you'd better be carrying that pepper spray - and you'd better use it if you need to. It's just a safety precaution. I'm almost positive you won't ever need it, but keep it in your bag anyway.

NAET stuff...

I'm so sorry about your rash! It looks like it hurts/itches a lot! I got in to Dr. Joe this past Wed in the afternoon. He used me to treat you and I'm anxious to know if you've had any changes. He said if things aren't better by Monday (when you're reading this) to let me know and come back in this week. When he tested me the issues that came up had nothing to do with anything in the air. It was just emotional - of course, right. The emotion of shame and also some genetic negativity from Dad's side. He also asked about the stomach enzymes and said to for sure keep taking those and that you're showing some malnutrition in omega 3's and 6's...those are found in fish and/or fish oil - if you want to look for a fish oil pill to take. Make sure it's one that says omega 3 & 6. Or, if you want me to I can look for one here. Please let me know if you've noticed any differences yet - or if I should go back in.

As for us here this week - it's been pretty busy just with normal stuff and the YARD! I'll send you pictures but it looks pretty awesome. Plus we had Colten's birthday! 

Monday night we got to go see Chalis and Jamie's twins! They've been home now for 3 weeks and doing really well. It'll be a long time before they feel normal at that house - their whole lives have completely changed!

I went on Tuesday to my parents’ house to help them pick out paint colors for their bedroom, bathroom, hallway and front door. It was pretty funny because my mom had got a new bedspread with some pretty bright colors and was thinking of matching one of the colors for paint. Like lime green, super bright yellow, etc. I talked her into doing something much more neutral. I hope she likes it. Papa will like it much better. Then the front door! They both think they want a turquoise front door. I can't imagine that they're going to like it but I helped them find a color. I'll take a picture for you.

Thursday River had her 5th grade program. This is the one where you've all sung the patriotic songs, the Gettysburg address and the states song. It was fun to see and a little sad that she's the last one to do that. I have a very hard time when I think that our youngest will be in her last year of elementary school next year! They've built a new elementary school over sort of by Maple Mountain and our neighborhood is now zoned for that school. River can't decide if she wants to stay at Spanish Oaks or go to the new school. I think we'll end up staying at Spanish Oaks, but I'm not sure who's teaching 6 grade next year, etc. We'll see.

For Colten's birthday we gave him 2 tickets to see Bryan Reagan! He wasn't coming to Utah County so we got him tickets in Logan. I thought he'd just take either Dad or me and maybe want to spend a few hours in Logan, maybe look at Utah State, etc. Of course I was wrong. He asked if he could just take Logan. Turns out Logan couldn't go so he wanted Dad to go. They left in plenty of time on Friday afternoon, but traffic was horrible and I'm sure Dad will tell you all about it - but it took them almost 4 hours to get there! They did make it in time for the show, barely. They loved the show. They stayed overnight in Logan and came back Saturday morning. Colten wanted nothing to do with looking at Utah State because apparently he, "doesn't want to be a farmer." Do you see what I'm dealing with here? Gosh, I miss you.

Friday before Dad left with Colten I made him (asked him nicely) run to Costco with me and get a couple of trees for the yard. We planted them on Saturday when they got home. Hadlie has named them Branchard and Leafson. Just fyi. Then yesterday we sang happy birthday and had our chocolate cake with Colten before he took off with Logan for the day - doing nothing. He had a soccer game last night in Payson in the freezing rain and the rest of us went to our ward's fund raiser auction. The auction was very different than the ones we had in Lone Pine. A lot of people brought they're old used furniture (a mattress even:/) and not a lot of people bid on the silent auction stuff. So dad and I along with a few other members ended up bidding on several things we didn't want/need because people weren't bidding on stuff from the youth. Hadlie made these cute felt bows which took her a long time this week. Tara Jackson was the only person to bid on them. That's a good example of how things went. But then the big spenders were there for the live auction. They auctioned of things like fly fishing lessons, a water color painting from someone in the ward, Brother Hyort's picture of the sacred grove, a guided day trip to Moab, a photo session from Angie Clayson, and an older car. Yes, someone donated a car. The car alone sold for $3,000. This ward is weird.

Today we'll go to church and then we're having dinner at Grandma Bonnie's. Fun because we hardly ever do that anymore. And maybe Katelyn will be there and she's got a BOYFRIEND! I think they're getting kinda serious.

Well - I think that's about it. I'll be glad to hear from you as always! I love you so much! Keep up the great work!

Love - Mom