Dear Uncle Elvin

Dear Uncle Elvin I wrote my uncle Elvin almost weekly for over 4 years. It became a part of my life. He recently died at the age of 104, I miss writing him.

06/22/2025

Dear Uncle Elvin,

My daughter paid me one of the greatest compliments recently, and you were part of it.

We were talking about something, I cant even remember what, and somehow you were brought up, and how you were wealthy, but that had nothing to do with my relationship with you. Abi stops me and says "Wait! Uncle Elvin was rich?" I told her yes, and shared a few stories I was aware of. She then says "In all this time, you never told me he was rich?"

Now dont take this the wrong way. How my kids felt about you would not have changed if they knew you had money. Abi just couldn't believe it never came up. You see, that is where the compliment came in. I genuinely wanted to know YOU and June. I didn't care about your money. I wanted to hear your stories and advice. I wanted to hear about grandpa, and about my dad when he lived/visited you. I was interested in a relationship. Abi's response was confirmation to me that my children were just in it for the relationship as well, and that I never made it about "what I might be able to get." Twy were clueless about any money you may or may not have had.

So I just wanted to say thanks. Thank you for letting me and my family into your life. I could tell in the beginning you were guarded, but I feel like you let that guard down after just a couple of visits. Hopefully that was because you realized I was just interested in you.

We still think about you, we still talk about you, we still love and miss you.

12/26/2024

Dear Uncle Elvin,

Merry Christmas!

This Christmas I got to do what I love most, spend time with Family. Christmas Eve Mike and Taylor came out and we spent several hours with them. Little back story to this Christmas Eve activity: Last week we went to the Provo Mall to see Santa Dodd, the Santa that has come to our home for the last 9 years. His schedule is crazy busy, so we told him we would visit him this year, instead of him visiting us. We had Mike and Taylor meet us there. Santa Dodd LOVES peanut butter cookies. Knowing g we were going to see him, we made up some to bring with. We had a little gift for him as well. When Mason and Eve joined us in line to see Santa, we talked about gifts. I asked them if Santa gives out gifts and they excitedly said yes. Then I asked who gives Santa gifts and they were stumped. I told them we were going to give Santa gifts. I gave Mason the cookies and explained they were Santa's favorite. I gave Eve the gift bag for Santa. When it was our turn Mason hid the cookies behind his back and walked up to Santa and said "I have a surprise for you and itnis one of your favorites!" Santa replied "then it must be peanut butter cookies." Mason was so excited that Santa knew!!!

So now back to Christmas Eve. I had not cooked up all of the cookies and had the dough in the fridge. I asked Mason and Eve if they wanted to help me make Santa peanut butter cookies. They were so excited to help, because now they knew those where Santa's favorites. We had a great evening baking and eating cookies and just visiting. It was perfect!

Christmas day we got up and opened the greatest gift of Christmas, the scriptures. Michael read Luke 2 and then we watched a video about the nativity. We then opened gifts and had breakfast. I went back to bed at this point!

I got up from my nap and we cleaned up and went to Stan and Russell's place. Teal had invited anyone who wanted to, to do a cold plunge.
Continued in comments...

11/23/2024

Dear Uncle Elvin,

Have you ever laughed at something that you shouldn't, and then keep laughing?

Well, that is me today. But it started last night.

Last night Michael, Abi, and I went to the temple to do baptisms for the dead. Adam was home alone. When we were out of the temple I called Adam to see how he was. He didn't answer. I called 3 more times and he didn't answer. So at this point I am getting concerned, but at the same time I realize he probably just set the cell phone down somewhere and can't hear it. It is then that I realize I have one of our security cameras inside charging and it is on. I can't remember if it has speaker ability or not, so I open the app and check. Yep! I can talk through the camera. So that is what I do. "Adam. Adam, where is your phone? Adam, answer your phone. Adam!" Now, realize the camera is actually facing the book shelf and I can't see what is going on, but I do shee shadows moving. Then, all of a sudden the camera turns around! I am silly and don't realize I have the volume turned down and I can't hear him through the camera, but he can hear me.
Would you believe it, he immediately calls me! He had changed into PJs and left the cell phone upstairs.
Now, you may be wondering what the laughing at inappropriate is all about, so here it is. Adam confessed that he and the cat jumped several feet in the air when he heard me talking. Can you imagine it? Home all alone and all of a sudden hearing voices in your house and having no idea where they are coming from? That. That is what I am laughing about. Adam jumping and being frightened.
Wow, saying it out loud really sounds bad... but I am still laughing, LOL!

Dear Uncle Elvin,Want to know what makes my kids happy? That wood stack next to the wood burning stove. Each spring we...
10/17/2024

Dear Uncle Elvin,

Want to know what makes my kids happy? That wood stack next to the wood burning stove. Each spring we clear out all the fire wood so bugs don't make their homes in it. Each Fall when it starts to get cold, we bring back the wood. Well, the weather was 80 yesterday (15 days of 80 or more in the month of October- a record for Salt Lake City!), today is rain and 60, tomorrow is high 40s with rain and MAYBE snow! So, Friday very well could be our first fire of the season.
I had Abi go out and bring in firewood with me, which she did with much excitement. Adam was getting ready for bed while Abi amd I got the wood. When he came into the fireplace room he excitedly exclaimed "Oh, we have firewood in the house again! Did you use the red thing to get it?" (The red thing is a canvas thing I made to fetch wood with.)

I love that the potential of the first fire of the season brings so much happiness and joy to my kids.

Dear Uncle Elvin,I went down a bit of a rabbit hole today that took me down memory lane with you a little.It is a bit ra...
10/04/2024

Dear Uncle Elvin,

I went down a bit of a rabbit hole today that took me down memory lane with you a little.
It is a bit random, so hold on and hopefully it will all make sense.
A friend shared a post about a home for sale. The home looked so familiar that it stopped my heart for a second. It HAD to be right next to yours! So, I take a closer look at this home for sale and would you believe it was on the same road. I knew it looked familiar. Then I got curious to see how close it was so I went to Google to see if I could find your address. In this Google search, I saw article about you and your estate donating money for cancer showed up! It was great to read, and even shocking. I had no idea sweet June had cancer. In all our chats, that was never brought up. You simply said she passed away quietly and peacefully one day after making you breakfast. I was also surprised to read you died of a stoke. No kidding?!? I always figured it was just old age, given that you were 104 1/2.
Kalynn was mentioned in the article, as she is the one who made the donatiin for the estate. She was always so kind to me. I loved our brief interactions, even though we never met. She told me that she looked forward to my letters as much as you did. That warmed my heart.
What didn't warm my heart? Talking to Kalynn and hearing how nasty your family, MY family (extended) were to her over honoring YOUR wishes. Why would people be so nasty over something that didn't even belong to them? Over something they felt entitled to, but were not actually entitled to. Then I found out she was dealing with all of this nastiness while she was battling cancer herself.
So then I thought about writing her a letter to just thank her for her kindness throughout the years. This is when I found out she died 14 months after you. This sweet lady, who just helping a friend and neighbor, was treated so poorly by greedy strangers, while battling cancer.
I hope she got extra blessings!

Dear Uncle Elvin,Abi's poor kitty is so sad she can hardly stand it.A year ago I gave in and we got a cat. (13 years of...
07/10/2024

Dear Uncle Elvin,

Abi's poor kitty is so sad she can hardly stand it.

A year ago I gave in and we got a cat. (13 years of Michael and the kids begging) Misty was supposed to be a family cat, but SHE picked Abi as HER human and no one else was good enough for her. Misty will tolerate us petting her, but when Abi is around, all she wants is Abi. She sleeps with Abi, she gets excited when Abi returns home when Abi has been gone, Misty runs when Abi calls her. For the rest of us? Misty won't even turn her head when we call her.

Last month Abi had girls camp and was gone for 3 days. You could tell Misty was sad, but life went on. Abi had an opportunity to go to another girls camp. This one is 5 days long. However, on night 1Misty already could tell Abi was going to be gone for a time and was upset.

Abi and Adam have talked about switching rooms. I decided it was a good idea for Adam to sleep in Abi's room for the week to see if he really wanted that room. The first night it was time for bed. Adam was all tucked in to the million blankets and thousands of stuffed animals. It was then that Misty jumped up in bed to snuggle with her girl. Only it wasn't her girl, it was Adam! Misty started sniffing Adam and when he spoke to her, she fully realized the situation. It was then that she growled and hissed at Adam amd jumped off the bed in disgust!
Night 2 was a little better. Poor Misty got in bed, realized it wasn't her girl and then simply got out of bed and slept on the floor. No hissing and growling. We shall see how night 3 goes and if she decides to settle for Adam or if she angrily sleeps on the floor again.
If sweet Misty could understand a calendar, I KNOW she would be counting down to Friday!

07/05/2024

Dear Uncle Elvin,

Happy 4th of July!!! ( A day late)

So, it turns out that we have something for holidays and hospitals.

Michael had the kids out trick or treating on Halloween and they come back early. Abi had such a bad stomach ache that she was doubled over and couldn't walk and didn't even want to trick or treat any more. Michael stayed home with Adam and handed out candy while Abi and I had an evening at urgent care. They chalked it up to constipation. Now we understand, it was probably the beginning of her migraines (she gets abdominal migraines).

Many moons ago I was shoveling the snow for a neighbor and I hit a lip causing my shovel stopped, but I didn't. I pretty much impaled my guy (the shovel didn't pe*****te my skin, but it sure tried going though to my back bone via my belly button!) This was about a week before Christmas. As time went on the bruise and pain got progressively worse. Michael finally said I needed to go to the doctor. I told him I would go, but only if I went alone because I didn't want him and the kids sitting in some sterile waiting room all night on Christmas Eve. I went to urgent care because it was 6 at night on Christmas Eve. They sent me to the ER.

Sometime between now and then Abi was running and stubbed her toe pretty bad on the leg of a couch. She couldn't walk for several hours, so I brought her in to instacare- Father's day.

Last year we were making some snacks on Christmas Eve before we went out to dinner for Chinse. Michael sliced the tips of two of his fingers clean off! We couldn't get it to stop bleeding so we tried urgent care, but they were closed so we went to the Emergency room. Don't worry, we still made it to Chinese.

Now we come to 4th of July- or just a couple of days before. July 2nd Michael and I are talking about our days and all of a sudden he says "What happened to your eye?" I have no clue what he is talking about so I go look in the mirror. What would you know, it was all bloody. An hour or so there was some pain and vision issues, so I am guessing the blood vessel literally popped just before that. Wednesday it gets worse, and Thursday it is down right yuck. I called a telehealth doctor on the 4th of July and they tell me to get to the ER immediately. So, guess what we do instead of watching fireworks?!? (pictures of eyeball in the comments.)

I don't think I like this holiday tradition. I am going to look for a new holiday tradition I think.

06/17/2024

The last 6 weeks of my life have gone as follows: super bad cold, pink eye, strep, fingers rolled up in a window, and back to a cold.

Adam had come down with a cold and had it about a week. I was trying my best to stay healthy and not get it. I ALWAYS have an ice water with me. We were out somewhere and Adam asked if he could have a drink. What do I do?!? The poor guy is sick and needs a drink, but I don't want to get sick! Of course I shared, but with the stipulation that he NOT get me sick if I shared. Because he has control over that. What do you know. 2 days later and I am sick. Well, that goes on for 2 weeks.

I am finally starting to feel better and just like that, Abi gets pink eye out of the blue. (The kids went with me to the doctors office for my migraine treatment and I honestly believe she got it there.) Well, who gets to help her with her eyes glued shut from goop and sludge other than mom?! I wash my hands like crazy and I am super careful, but 3 days in and guess who else gets pink eye?!?
A week of that and all of a sudden I am hit with strep. Like, where did that come from? You know what is crazy about me getting strep though? Unlike Adam who shared, and Abi who shared, I didn't share with a SINGLE person! (Maybe Adam and Abi are just more kind and sharing souls?)

Well, the strep passes and we go out to eat. Michael has the windows on his car cracked a couple of inches. So what do I do? I stick my arm on the door to rest it and pop 2 fingers out the window. No more than 30 seconds pass from me sticking my fingers out the window and Michael rolls up the windows squishing my fingers! Of course the natural instinct is to pull them out, to no avail. So now my fingers, wrist, and elbow hurt. In the split second of my fingers getting squished and me yelling out in pain, I also try to unroll the window. With my right hand, that is IN the window. That didn't go so well, but apparently the yelling did. (FB won't let me type more...)

07/25/2023

Dear Uncle Elvin,

They say you don't know what you have got until it is gone. I am experiencing a little of that right now. It isn't that I didn't know what I had, it is that I sometimes take for granted what I have and I forget how much I really appreciate it.

Michael's car broke down, again, so we are down to one vehicle. I get it, the timing could not have been better. It isn't the freezing cold of the winter and being down to one car means my kids have to walk to school. It is in the middle of the summer where we have activities, but noting that is absolutely pressing, mostly.

Again, the timing... Michael's friend had a couple of weeks off work and said he would help out with the car repairs. Massive blessing! Then, a family member had an "extra" car for a time and agreed to let us borrow it until our car was fixed. Gigantic blessing!

Well, thing after thing, after thing has gone wrong with the car repairs. The parts are not readily available and we have order them which takes a week to come in. Then we get that "issue" fixed and another one comes up. So we have to order more parts and wait more time. All the while it is fine for us to use the family members car... until now.

Michael is going to Aaronic Priesthood camp and will have our vehicle, and the family member needs their car back. So all of a sudden I am vehicleless. I know it is an incredible blessing to have two vehicles, but it is a blessing you get used to. So now that I am quickly approaching the time that I no longer have access to a car anytime I want, and a little bit of panic is setting in! The grocery store is not far, like it is literally walking distance, but in this heat and my medical conditions - it isn't really reasonable. My sweet girl has a friend that she wants to hang out with. The friend lives 12 miles away and her parents work, so we have to pick up and drop off the friend. I help a neighbor milk her cow who lives a couple of miles away. The kids go to lunches at the school each day, and we pick up their friends so they don't have to walk the 3 miles round trip. All of these simple things that I don't think twice about are coming to a screeching halt until our car is fixed or we can figure out a new car.

So I am canceling friends coming over, milking, lunches and driving neighbors to lunches, and everything else I had this week (and next). I am trying to get all my grocery shopping done today while I have access to a car, and I am looking forward to some seriously good craft time, board games, and movies with the kids.

I know something will work out and hopefully it will only be a week or two that we are down to one vehicle. Man, I am really appreciating having this loaner car today to get prepared though!

06/28/2023

Dear Uncle Elvin,

My kids are growing up and I am a little sad.

Normally my kids hide the fact that their tooth is loose to avoid Michael pulling it. Last night my sweet girl went to her dad and said "Oh yeah, I have a loose tooth." Within about 10 seconds he had popped it out. Normally there would be crying amd fussing accompanied with "please don't pull it out, it will hurt." When the tooth came out, sweet girl replied with "I was getting low on money, this will help me not be as broke."

She INTENTIONALLY went to her dad to get her tooth pulled all for money. Yep, she IS growing up.

09/14/2022

Dear Uncle Elvin,

The whole house is dealing with hay fever right now. All the alfalfa crops are being processed and we are having tons of sneezes, watery eyes, and stuffy noses. Michael gets extra congested at night, so he has slept on the couch occasionaly where he can prop himself up. This helps him to not cough as much.

A couple of nights ago my sweet girl had a pretty bad headache. Michael had already said he was sleeping on the couch, so I offered Sweet Girl to sleep with me - which is a big deal. She is a flip floppy fish out of water when she "sleeps", plus she sleep YELLS. She doesn't just talk in her sleep, it is a full on yell. I have been dealing with my own migraines and I need as much sleep as possible to help me feel better. Inviting Sweet Girl to sleep in my bed meant I was probably sacrificing some sleep for her comfort. I warned her before she went to sleep that the first time she woke me up by slapping me in the face or yelling, she had to go to her own bed.

Surprisingly enough, she did a good job...until 2am. I was rolling over to get comfortable and all of a sudden Sweet Girl says "Your falling out of bed mom!" She is kneeling on the bed and grabbing my leg. I think she is sleep talking/walking so I ask what she said. She repeats the same thing. "You are falling out of bed!" I assure her I am fine and that I was just rolling over. She quickly replies "oh, okay" and goes back to sleep.

In the morning I ask her if she remembers "catching me from falling out of bed." and she replies "Yes! You were falling out of bed." So she WAS awake, sort of. I let her know I was fine and I was just rolling over in bed and that I was nowhere near the edge of the bed, but thanked her for her concern.

I love that even when my Sweet Girl does not feel well, that she is thinking of me.

For the record, I did not count that as a "Yell" or a slap and I let her stay in bed the rest of the night.

09/09/2022

Dear Uncle Elvin,

Today I am sad. I feel like there is just this cloud over me and I am just having a hard time shaking it.

The Queen died yesterday, I am sure you have heard. It is funny to be sad over someone I never knew or even met. As a matter of fact, I used to hate her! (even thoug I never knew her or never met her) My husband and I watched a TV series called "The Crown". I was all ready to be justified in my hate for her, but the show actually softened my heart and I found a respect, and even love for her. I know the TV show is not 100% real, but I appreciate the perspective it offered.

I kind of felt the same way about you as I did the queen. (Hold up before you start thinking bad things. I never hated you. Just keep reading and you will understand...) It got to a point that you just kept going and going. It felt like you where just going to live forever and always be around. The Queen has been on the throne for so long, that it got to the point that it kind of felt like she was going to out live her son and just keep going on. I was worried after her husband died that she would not hold on for long. But in a strange way I still kind of felt like she was just going to keep living to 100 and more, even though death is inevitable. So I am sad over her death. Strangly, because I felt like you would live on and on, and it felt like the queen would live on and on - somehow my sadness of your passing has been brought back to the surface.

Another sadness for me - the next door neighbor. When we purchased this house, the previous owner told us we were just going to love Beatrice Johnson who lived across the street. Now this is not like a neighborhood street - this is a 5 lane highway with busy semi truck activity street. So it isn't really like we are "neighbors" at all. As a matter of fact, we have only met once. Beatrice enjoys decorating for the holidays as well - not as much as us- but she does have things set out. Beatrice has been battling cancer for 9 years and it has finally come time for her to return home. I have watched the endless train of cars visit her home. I can't help but think back to when dad was dying and how many cars were at the house he was in. Did neighbors watch us come and go, watching for us to leave with tears to know if his time had come? Is that what Beatrice's neighbors are doing? Honestly, I kind of am. Not in a cold hearted way. In a "I know what you are going through, I have sympthy for you" sort of way.

I am setting up Fall decorations (with a little Halloween sprinkled in, because we are talking about me after all) and I feel guilty. We are excited and looking forward to the future while this woman lays on her death bed surrounded by her loved ones there to say goodbye. I somehow feel like me celebrating and moving on with my life is unthoughtful to their struggles and trials. I mentioned this to Michael and his wise replay was "maybe it brings her joy to look out her window and seeing you celebrate and move on." I am going to have to try and think of that instead of my way of thinking.

The most silly reason for being sad today - knowing that 3 of the 5 siblings are in Colorado this weekend and that I was supposed to be there too, but I am not. I love spending time with my family more than anything. However, my migraines still control my life. Kris asked me to be a venor at an event she is helping to plan. I agreed to be a part of it knowing Michael would not be able to attend and I was going to have to do it all on my own. I was determined to have a portion of my life back and do this. Well, my migraines got the better of me. They have been out of control all week and I don't feel safe driving 4 hours each way on my own. The most I have driven since my injury is about an hour and a half and that wiped me out for a day or two. But I have improved since then and I was optomistic, which was not the appropriate reaction apparently.

My brother Stan called me and said he had the raffle tickets I had pre-paid for and asked what I wanted done with them. I don't know why, but it shocked me to find out he was in Colorado as well. I knew Russ was going, and I was sad to miss being with Kris and Russ, but to find out I was missing Stan also, was...sad.

A couple of weeks ago Gwyn was out dropping off her son Jared to school. I knew she was going to Lagoon, and I knew I couldn't do that, so I declined the offer. I also knew Kris had been in town, but I misunderstood and I thought she had gone home already. Gwyn sent me a picture the night she went to Lagoon that included the 4 kids all at Russ's place. I felt so sad and left out. I wondered why I didn't get an invite to come. I am sure they figured I had a migraine, like I always do - so I don't fault them, but it made me sad.

Knowing that 3 of the 5, and I could have been the 4th, are all in Colorado having fun and making memories was just sad.

My kids are so excited for Fall and Halloween decorations, so I am going to try and fight through the bad migraines I have today and put up some decorations so that when they come home they will be happy and excited. Hopefully, then I will be less sad, that is the goal anyway.

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