Letter to Elder DeWitt (my brother)

It's been too long since my last post and after writing my brother this morning, I didn't want to type it all again. So you are getting a "copy and paste" of my letter I sent this morning.

Each week when Mom sends your e-mail my way, I tell myself to be sure to write you the next Sunday to make sure you get in in time for Monday. Today I don't know if I made it because I don't have your e-mail yet, but Mom is in Henderson with Brian and Celynda and she might not have been able to forward it yet.

Anyway. This past week was a little crazy. Jeff started his new job. It's at a clinic in Queen Creek but we're going to try and look for a house to buy in Gilbert. That way we're about halfway between family and work. Plus, who really WANTS to live all the way out in Queen Creek. I always laughed at Brian when he told me he'd be "coming into town" later, because it was so far away. But who knows, maybe we'll find a house out there that we just can't live without. Back to Jeff's job. He got hired on at the same time as this fella who had 20 years of experience, but had let his license expire. Which meant JEFF had to oversee HIS work. We thought this was going to be a great opportunity for Jeff to get some mentoring and learning -- but no. This guy, Bill, kept asking JEFF questions about the patients and called in sick two days after he started and was out the rest of the week. Needless to say, Bill was fired, which was good and bad. Good because Jeff didn't like his work ethic (i.e. making Jeff take patients that Bill "didn't feel like taking"), but Bad because now, until they hire someone else, Jeff will be taking on a double load. We know it will get better, but it's going to be a long road. At least he has a job!!!

I traveled up with Mom and Dad to the Lamoreaux Reunion held at Pinal Peak because Jeff wasn't going to be able to make it. We couldn't get the generator running in the RV, which meant the boys and I were sweating almost the whole 2.5 hrs. up there. Awful. Then the second day, Griffin got a fever and threw up once in the night. Terrific. I'm not a big camper, and I've trained my kids to stay pretty clean, so the whole first day, my kids were like, "What the heck do you want me to do with all this dirt, Mom?" Meanwhile all the other kids were digging in it and calling it dirt heaven on earth. In my opinion, the actual camping spot was totally NOT WORTH the hour-long-car-sick-inducing-dirt-road drive up the mountain. This place didn't even have a stream to go throw rocks in!!! What's camping without a few hours of rock throwing?! I mean, come on!! So.....I learned that we either need to go camping more often, or just call ourselves non-camping-people.

It's always fun being with the fam though. Good food, good fun. I missed out on the service project (because of nap time). Supposedly the forest rangers requested a path be cleared from Point A to Point B. Maybe they'll call it the Lamro Trail now? There was plenty of horseshoes played as well as round upon round of Oh Heck!, of course.

Hopefully Jeff and I will get some more house hunting done this week and maybe find "our place". It's exciting to be in this next stage of life. Can't wait to see where we end up!

Also, Griffin starts Kindergarten next week. I know it will be a hard transition for him, but I think he's excited. I was a little worried. He kept saying, "I'm NOT going! It's too long!" Supposedly Griffin's Pre-K teacher, or someone else, told him he'd be at school ALL DAY LONG and it scared him. He no longer tells me he's NOT going, but I'm still nervous. Pray for him.

Well, love ya Kev!! I hope you are still working hard and enjoying every minute.
Your sis, Carolyn