Saturday - January 19, 1980
Little Rock, Arkansas

Dearest Ron, Ann & Susanna, Rick, Jean & Ricky and Roy,

I'm starting my letter on Saturday because our Sundays are so complicated and last week it was really late when we took them to the Post Office!!!!

Jeannie - we were so thrilled to receive your long and wonderful letter - Claire called us to tell us they had heard from you also so you know what an event it really was!!!! We hope so much that you will continue to feel good - we are really grateful for your excellent doctors and we know you are following their advice - we hope the yeast infection is cleared up by now. I was talking to Bob tonight and he was wondering if you were having trouble eating - I didn't even think about that. We're hoping Ricky won't have to have the tubes put in his ears until he is a little bit older - we were talking to Linda Garret about that and she said Jamie (her little girl) had them put in her ears when she was about a year old and they came out - I didn't know they could do that - she also said that Jamie had one ear infection after another until they took out her adenoids. Rick - we're happy you are enjoying the additional responsibilities with your job - that's great!!!!

Roy - CONGRATULATIONS for passing Anatomy. Marge Lucas called me today and I told her you had finished your Semester and that you were thrilled to have passed Anatomy and she said, "Well, you know why they give that in their Freshmen year don't you", and of course I didn't so she said, "It's so they can weed out the student who can't make it"- when I told that to Bob he just laughed and said, "Oh she doesn't know what she's talking about" - anyway, we're really thrilled you have that one behind you - I'm sure there will be many more. We hope you have a wonderful time in New Hampshire - it would be great if there is enough snow so you can ski but there isn't, I know you will really enjoy the rest anyway. We're really proud of you for studying as much as you did during the Christmas vacation - it sounds like it paid off.

Annie - we haven't heard from you but I'm sure you are really busy getting your home in order - Jeannie says it is really nice. We took John shopping the other night and we were really looking for sweaters but he found a wallet he wanted so he bought it and when fixed it for his new wallet - he really adores her - we were in a shop for little kids and he found a "rabbit jacket" and held it up to see if we thought it would fit "Susanna"!! Do you like your new neighborhood - we hope there will be children Susanna's age so she can have playmates. Has Sue had her baby yet? We were thinking it is about time. I got out all my genealogy the other night and I have added a few more names to my pillow but I don't have it complete yet - I wrote to Mother and Daddy to see if they had it but I haven't heard from them. I have my spool thing all filled up - will I be able to buy some of those when I came out? We really love those things.

Claire's birthday in this coming Saturday - it was so funny - I got a new little Calendar Date Book today and I was filling it all out and I had all the birthday dates but hers so I called Bob and I about fainted when he told me. She is getting excited about her sister's wedding - it is going to be Feb. 14th and she's doing out for it - she's hoping to get some skiing in. She is taking two courses at UALR - business law and an advanced accounting class - Bob says she loves school - they really keep busy and we don't see much of them. They were in charge of a movie at the church last night - they had ordered "Toby Tyler" and they popped popcorn and sold candy bars - they made $100 for the budget so they were pleased - we made Johnny go with us and he enjoyed it after he got there but we had to promise we would take him skating after.

John is getting serious about Scouting now - he says he would really like to make "Eagle" so we're all working!!!! He went out to that apartment complex that is for the physically handicapped but mentally alert and picked up litter and moved Lawns - he worked from about 8:30 this morning until about 2:30 this afternoon. He had his Semester finals all last week too - he says he thinks he did pretty good - it really worries me because he never has any homework to do and he's in all the accelerated classes.

Ronnie Caveness has been telling us for quite awhile that his dad was hoping to get a distributorship for the Coors beer - it is just coming into Arkansas - he quit the Coleman Dairy and they sold their share of the interest in it and we were sure he could afford to buy a distributorship - well, it was in the paper today that Lou Holtz (our football coach) got one and Don Kirkpatrick also but not Ron Caveness - w- don't know what happened. We were so surprised that don bought one - he already owns Quality Foods and is doing really well - he is only 42 years old!!!!

Well - I have to be in Jacksonville in the morning for their Relief Society at 8:00 a.m. so I'll close for now and finish this tomorrow.

- Sunday -

I left to go to Jacksonville this morning about 7 and I was the first one there - they finally came about ten to eight - they had a really good Relief Society and Sherry Malan Smith was there with her little baby boy, Joseph Smith - he is a little doll and she is so happy - Laura was with her and she is quite a bit taller than John even though they're about the same age. She said to say "hello" to Ann and Jean. When I left this morning it was really cold and you can'' imagine how luxurious it was to have those gloves to wear, Jeannie - I love them.

Johnny is working on his personal management merit badge and for part of it he has to help plan the meals for a month and help with the grocery shopping - I thought it was for 90 days so I had him write down main dishes for that length of time - he is so funny - he put fried chicken down every other day and chow main or Chinese food almost that much - we had pepper steak the other night and we loved it - we will really be pro by the time you get home Roy - we love the Wok.

They called me to teach in the Reading Lab at Central the other day - I don't have enough sense to say "No!" I went but fortunately it was exam week so I ended up mostly doing paper work with just a few students coming in - I am glad I had that experience so I'll say no next time - they have 275 students a week, which means the students only have reading one day a week and they are the really low students and the discipline is something else. This is a Government sponsored program under Title I or something like that and they have individual packets for each student and specially prepared heavy, and really nice cabinet like things to file them in - well, when the teachers unpacked the material they just left the cabinets on the floor and the custodians burned them all - this is the first year for the program and they couldn't afford to buy all new boxes so they have made a "make-shift" cabinet - the Superintendent of Schools came in the day I was there and really criticized the way they were doing everything. It would really be hard to have a child with a learning disability - we're spoiled in our home!!!!

We went out to dinner with Chris and Wayne Smith the other night - Chris is taking care of Linda and Ken's baby while Linda works - she puts her other little girl, Jamie, in the Nursery School. They have decided to not spend as much time down in Alabama as they have the past two years - I think they really like their new home here - I wouldn't like that living arrangement but they seem to get along fine. Daddy and Wayne have decided to build the home we have now on our building lot in Western Little Rock - we have the blueprints and everything and the lot lends itself to this design really well. We also think it would be a good idea to learn how to build this house so when we move to Utah we could just build it again out there and the move wouldn't be quite so traumatic - Ha! Roy made a great suggestion - that we extend the back roof to extend out over the porch - I think they should make the front porch deeper - if any of you have any suggestions that would improve it let us know. They will probably start building the first part of April (after the Woolley's baby arrives) so Roy - you have a job here if you want it and it will be wonderful experience and HOT work!!!!

It's about time for Sacrament Meeting and Daddy and I have to make a hospital visit first so I'll end this. Today is Duper Bowl day and John has told us he is only going long enough to pass the Sacrament - Daddy said he was glad he didn't ask him!!!!

We love you all so very much - please be careful and let us know if we can help you!



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