Sunday - April 6, 1980
Little Rock

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

HAPPY EASTER!!!! I can't believe Easter crept up on me - I was thinking it was later on in the month and all of a sudden on Thursday I realized it was this Sunday - I hurried to the store to get cards for Mother and Daddy and Roy but decided that since Daddy would be in Utah and he could wish the Woolleys and Weinerts a Happy Easter I didn't send cards. Johnny and I have spent more Easters alone than any other holiday and I usually fix him a little Easter basket of some kind so Daddy and I got him a fishing tackle box and I was going to fill it with jelly beans and candy Easter eggs - Well, Bob had asked him to go fishing with him on Friday afternoon so we decided to give it to him early - as it turned out they didn't go fishing but went golfing instead - so I will just put his candy in an old Easter basket. We are going to color (dye) eggs later on today and will find some hill to roll them down - he's too old to find them in the backyard anymore. We hope you all will have a happy, happy day - I know Daddy will have a wonderful time being with our Utah "kids" - he had planned to take you out for Easter dinner.

Roy - I had to sit on my hands to keep from calling you yesterday in Florida - we hope you will be back in Providence all safe and sound by tonight. We have watched the weather bulletins and it looked like you had some pretty weather - a lot of rain it looked like in parts of Florida but not around the Miami area. We hope you took some pictures and will share them with us - did you get to do some scuba diving? We received the "Commencement Information" from Brown yesterday and it was so exciting to realize that you will actually be graduating - four years ago I wasn't sure this would become a reality - we're really proud of you and we are looking forward to coming for it - Johnny doesn't finish school until the Thursday before June 2nd so we plan to leave early on Friday - we really want to attend the Baccalaureate Service on Sunday and if there is anything you feel we should be there for before that be sure to let us know. There is so much tradition in the commencement exercises at Brown and I love that - it has really be thrilling to read about it - The "mace" that is carried in the procession and the "Manning Chair" that is used and all the other things I have read about - we're excited!!!! We also plan to spend at least a day in Washington D. C. and take Johnny to the Smithsonian Institute and other places he should see. Do you plan to come home with us? I believe we will write for reservations - they have given us an address for rooms in some of the resident halls on campus and that would be so convenient.

Wow! have Johnny and I missed little Ricky. He was so adorable and Johnny and he really became good friends - did you think he had changed very much Rick and Jeannie? We could see him grow even in the two weeks he was with us - I hope he wasn't too spoiled - I really found that he only cried when something was bothering him. He was surely eating good and I'll bet it won't be long until he will be on three meals a day with just a bottle in the afternoon because Daddy was having him drink from a glass. We surely hope you are feeling much better Jeannie - when I told people who were so interested in you Jeannie that you had said you were better, I couldn't tell if you were telling us that so we would send your baby back or if you really were better - Daddy promised me he would find out for sure. I know Daddy was relieved to get that baby safely back to you - he had so many things he was responsible for that day I could tell he was in a dilemma - the sewing machine Barbara Sondrup brought for him to take back was a worry - he had to sign that the airlines wouldn't be responsible for it if it were damaged and it was such a heavy thing!!!! I'll be anxious for him to get home tonight and tell us all about all of you.

Annie - from now on every time the phone rings we will think it will be Ron calling! We had two really late phone calls Thursday night and I was just sure it would be from you - this is the hardest time of a pregnancy, I think - every time someone sees you they say, "You mean you haven't had that baby yet". We hope you don't feel any pressure from us because we have it worked out so that if your baby comes before next Sunday which is Stake Conference I will come alone and after that we will both come - we won't stay very long but we hope we can care of for little Susanna for a few days until you get your strength back - she will be your biggest concern. We are so excited and know you are too - we hope you will plan to take it really easy this time and not get up as soon as you did before - do you think one day in the hospital is long enough??? Little Susanna seems so mature to me - I'll bet she is going to be a lot of help in a few months and your home is so convenient and beautiful - you seem already to have a whole houseful of babies!!!!

We had our big Sesquicentennial Ball out at the Jacksonville Stake Center last Friday night and it was a "huge" success - I have never seen such lovely decorations. The wife of the man who was the chairman is an artist and she had painted big portraits of all the Presidents of the church and they were framed and put on the two ends of the hall and then they had four large "columns" outlining the dancing area and a lattice ceiling and then about a hundred plants all over. They also had small sitting areas where they had Oriental rugs and small tables with lamps, etc. Carriage House brought furniture and decorated the two front entrances. The band had bought special music for that period of time and I loved the music - the teenagers didn't but the older people did. Just about everyone came in costume - Cissy and Charles Beyers were the Grand Marshalls and they were just darling - he wore "tails" and she had on an elegant orchid dress. Mark Bohn should have won the prize - he had tails, a top hat and his face made up to look exactly like the men in Brigham Young's days and so did Otto Bohn and their wives looked equally authentic. Most of the women had big hoops in their dresses and you really felt like you were back a hundred years. The Stake Relief Society was in charge of the refreshments so I spent most of the time in the kitchen but it was fun since Daddy wasn't here. The Cobbs led the grand march and Jim Siler escorted me right after them and then the McChesneys and the High Councilmen and their wives - there had been a really nice reception just before for all of us. All in all it was a wonderful evening and I was sorry Daddy had to miss it - Bob and Claire loved it too and Bob danced with me a lot - he is really a good dancer. Johnny was invited to be in the "cloak room" so he was there and he danced with me too - he really enjoyed himself!!!!!

We were really sad about Daisy and I have nightmares about it even now because she looked at us so helplessly and we didn't realize what was wrong. We had teased her about needing a skate under her tummy because she couldn't get up the stairs she was so big - We had kept her up in the bathroom in her box for three nights and had watched her so closely and didn't think she had ever gone into labor but evidently she had - the Vet said the first little puppy to be born was breach and just couldn't come and after that puppy dies the other little puppies only live for a couple hours so it must have happened sometime last Sunday. He said he could do a "C" section on her but he didn't give us any chance of her surviving because of the toxic that was in her system from the dead little puppies so we decided to have her put to sleep. It was so hard on Johnny!!!!! It's good thing we still have Hans and he is really a good dog. We plan to be on the lookout for a female because he is just lost and that is such a good experience for John. The Cavenesses have one of our dogs from the last litter and she was over yesterday and she is a beautiful dog. The only consolation we have is that Daisy would have had to have a "C" section and the rate of survival for a dog her age isn't very high - we just feel terrible that she was suffering though and we didn't know it.

It looks like Bob and Claire have bought a home and they are thrilled but quite worried about going in over their heads!!!! They have applied for the loan now and if it goes through everything will be okay - they are getting it at 9% which is great. The home is on Beechwood just north of the Med Center (Have I already told you this?) and it is an older home that has been redone and it is lovely. Bob is anxious to get into a larger place where he can have a garden, etc. We're thrilled for them. He is doing really well in school and loves it and Claire is enjoying her work.

I wish you could see Little Rock right now - everything is in bloom and it is truly a fairyland - our Garden Club is going to Little Rock sometime soon to go on the Dogwood trail - I have heard that is just spectacular - our tulips and daffodils are all in bloom and the yard looks manicured - Daddy is really quite the gardener!!!!

Johnny is still asleep and it's almost 9:30 a.m. so I'll go wake him up - we go to listen to conference at 11. We went to Bonanza for dinner last night - it was fun!!!
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