March 24,1986 Lehi, Utah

Dearest Johnny; Roy & Patrice; Rick, Jean, Ricky, Barbara Jean, Mary Ann & Sarah; and Ron, Ann, Susanna, Jessie, Russell & LeeAnna:

Bob & Claire and their family are here visiting so I won't send them this letter. It is absolutely wonderful having them here and what a darling family they have!!!! They came in about midnight Saturday night and they were bright and early Sunday morning ready to go to Church by 9 o'clock - we were proud of them and the people in the ward were so happy to see them. They had driven all night Friday and all day Saturday but they seem so chipper - they are better travelers than we were!!! Little (?) Brett is such a good baby so beautiful - they say Michael's baby pictures look just like Brett but I don't think they look alike. I think Laura looks like my pictures when I was about her age but it could be that I wore my hair the same way - of course she is gorgeous!!! Michael still looks like Bob and his hair is going more blonde all the time - he is such a mature little guy. Claire and Bob look so good and we think this place us a "natural" for them - they already have so many friends here!!!

Johnny - what a great letter but we had to wait until Friday to receive it. We knew you had been transferred so I was a little worried - thought may be you were so far back in the "boondocks" they didn't have post offices!!! It was hard for some of our lady missionaries to work in certain areas so we understand what you're going through to get it established for missionary work - 75 doors knocked on and "GQ'ing" 25 times for only two lessons is a real challenge!!!! Just keeping working like you have in your other areas and that's all you can do - don't get discouraged because I really believe some people won't hear the gospel no matter how hard you work. It sounds like your "pension" is wonderful with the lady cooking for you to get a lot of fresh fruit where you are? We were so thrilled to receive a letter from the Lythgoes in Billings telling us that Dean had been called to serve in the same mission - they are so relieved to know that he will have a friend in the field when he gets there.

Roy - it was so good to talk to you and we hope you and Patrice had a wonderful time in Ohio. It's wonderful for you to keep up with all your friends and you have a million!!!

I really have a lot of things to write about in this letter but I don't want to spend a lot of time doing it. It's Monday morning and Annie just came over and got Laura to go over to play with LeeAnna and Russell- Bob and Michael and Daddy are going to go on the "four wheeler" out somewhere to look for some fishing ponds so Michael didn't go with Ann. Claire and little Brett are asleep and when they wake up we'll go get Laura.

I must tell you about our trip to Lake Powell. The houseboat is going to be marvelous but it was a little too old and windy this past weekend. Daddy and the Woolleys got there early and found that one engine on the houseboat didn't work and neither did the generator so they spent about three hours trying to get it in working condition but they couldn't - fortunately, Ron had taken some kind of a generator (backup) so we could have lights but we couldn't use the microwave or things like that. The bathroom worked great and so did the gas stove so we really got along fine. Rick and Jeannies' boat is wonderful and with that and our boat we could go anywhere we wanted to. The first night, Rick's boat came away from the houseboat and that was kinda' scary - they finally captured it (in the middle of the night) and then they changed the way they hooked them up to the houseboat and from then on everything was fine. It was fun sleeping because the boat rocked and rolled all night. You will all really love it - it is going to be a perfect family vacation and we can hardly wait to go again in June and we hope Roy and Patrice, you will be here to go with us. When the children get into the water and out on the beach they will have a lot more fun - it was too cold to even spent very much time on the beach this time. We had great success fishing!!! Daddy and I were in one boat and Ron & Rick had all the children in the Rick's boat - Daddy and I fished for about an hour and didn't get even one bite!!! Finally, the other boat found us and we couldn't believe our eyes - they held up a string of the biggest fish I had ever seen - all the children had got one. They directed us to where they were fishing and we caught four right quick and then they stopped biting and I was glad because I was freezing to death (I don't believe the children even knew it was cold). We decided to come home on Monday because we had had a good time and the weather wasn't going to get any better and we decided to not press our luck. We left Lake Powell about 6 p.m. and got home midnight - the children all slept so it was a short trip for them. This was a good trial run and we learnt a lot about food and what not to take we have made an inventory check list so we will be better prepared next time. We had great meals - Jeannie & Rick cooked "green eggs and ham" on St. Patrick's Day and that meal was really a hit and of course Annie's meals were great too. I won't cook a big turkey next time - we'll take more canned things and kool aid to drink and things we won't have to worry about spoiling. Any suggestions????

THE BIG NEWS - WE HAVE BOUGHT A NEW HOME!!!! We have looked at this area many times since we have been home from our mission - in fact, we went through another home there but decided it was too big for us. The home we bought was in the "Home Show" in 1979 and we went through it Ann & Ron - it was for sale when we first came home last July but before we knew about it, it sold. The people who bought it are from South Africa and can't get their money out of that country so it is for sale again. It has been owned by U.S. Steel because one of their executive had bought it. Anyway, we went through it last Wednesday and bought it on Thursday - I still cant believe it!!! You will all just love it, we hope. It backs up to property owned by Utah Technical College and they maintain a really pretty lawn. Our backyard needs a lot of work done on it and Daddy will enjoy doing that. It has a formal dining room which I really wanted, a breakfast room and a little deck that goes out from the family and living rooms. The rooms are small but it is a perfect house for us. It has four bedrooms upstairs and then kind of an unfinished basement with another bedroom and bathroom. There are two bathrooms upstairs and then a half bath just off the kitchen. The neighborhood is super - most of the homes are much more expensive than ours so the value of our home won't go down. WE ARE NOT SELLING THE LEHI HOUSE. We are going to sell the two lots next to the house (we have already sold one - next to the Powells) but we'll keep our family home and it will be available to anyone who needs it. There may be a time in the future that we will feel it is better to sell it but not now. We had a buyer for it twelve hours after we put the for sale sign up - we quickly told them we had changed our minds and we took the sign down. We feel really good about everything and hope you do too - sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and think we are crazy to leave Lehi and this home but I guess this is natural. The people at church are really sad - they have loved Daddy and his teaching of the Gospel Doctrine class and I feel bad that Johnny will come home to a strange ward but that seems to be the story of your life, Johnny!!! Daddy will plant his garden here as planned. For a person who really doesn't like changes, the past four years have really been full of them.

We are having just gorgeous weather now - I hope we won't have any frost that will do damage to the fruit crops. Daddy has been working on the trailer and we would like to have time to take it to the mountains thus Summer - he is going to have to completely rebuild it on the inside. He did such a good job on the boat that I have lots of confidence in him - the boat ran so good - one time a bolt came off the steering mechanism and that caused a few minor problems but it didn't take on any water and that was the important thing.

Out of space - we love you all so very much. PLEASE BE CAREFUL!!!!!

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