APRIL 6, 1986

Dearest Johnny; Roy & Patrice; Bob, Claire, Michael, Laura & Brett; Rick, Jean, Ricky, Barbara Jean, Mary Ann & Sarah; and Ron, Ann, Susanna, Jessie, Russell & Lee Anna:

It's quite late Sunday night and since Daddy & I have to go over to our new home early in the morning I am going to write my letter tonight - it will be short!!!

This has been a fun Sunday! It has been General Conference is Salt Lake so we didn't have church responsibilities. Jeannie called this morning and invited us to have dinner with them so we went to Brigham City and then stopped in Farmington on our way home. Rick barbecued chicken and Jeannie had made cheese straws, a rice dish, fresh broccoli and that delicious p-nut butter candy that we all love - needless to say, we ate TOO MUCH!!! We ate on their patio and it was just a beautiful day and we loved it - the children are all doing fine! The Forrests are just the same - it is so depressing to go there and to visit with the Dee Forrests after. I used to think the only place in the world that had any worth at all was Brigham City and now I don't even like it. We are going to sell our lot there - we had put a for sale sign on it and when we went to check on it today we found it had been taken down. When I asked Dee about it, he said a man who had been interested in the lot came by and took the sign down - we called him when we got home and he said he hadn't done it but he did want to buy the lot so he is going to come to Lehi next Saturday to close the deal. Dee will be upset because he had planted a garden on it every year for the last twenty years - he has a garden place at the folks' home so I'm not worried about that!

We really loved having Bob & Claire and the children here. They had planned to go home on Thursday but the weather turned bad so they went home a day early (the story of our lives). We had gorgeous weather for most of the time they were here but it turned stormy on Tuesday and was even worse on Wednesday - in fact, they ran in to snow in Wyoming on their way home and it delayed them about three hours. They didn't get home until about nine o'clock Thursday night and they had left here on Wednesday morning about ten - that is a long trip with little children but they have a nice van to travel in to make it a little easier. Bob helped Daddy so much in the yard - he dug up a post that had been planted in cement for fifty years and also the big "deformed" pine tree at the side of the garage. He and Daddy also put an irrigation pipe in back of the garage so Daddy could ride the trailer over the ditch - this way it will make it easy to park the trailer at the side of the garage if the people block the way when they build their home on the property next to the Powells. We were so impressed with Michael and Laura - on Easter Sunday, Daddy decided we should have a little spiritual time with the children and tell them the Easter story before they went to bed. WELL - instead of Daddy telling the story, Michael told it to us and the only word he couldn't remember was "tomb". We were also thrilled that they would stay upstairs at night - they both slept together in that bed up there and we didn't hear them until about 7:30 the next morning - 'course, we know Bob & Claire kept them quiet from 6 o'clock on. Brett is a simply beautiful baby and SO BIG -and he loves his brother & sister.

Johnny - you're still doing so good and we're so proud of you!!! We feel bad that we didn't get even one picture of the house boat or our blue boat at Lake Powell to send you - it seemed really hard to have the camera handy when we were off the houseboat - you'll just have to take our word that everything worked great on our blue boat and the houseboat is beautiful!!! Daddy & I would love for you to have that lady make us each a sweater - you pick out the color you think we would like and we would both like cardigans if possible - let us know the price and we will deposit the money in your account. We think you should pay here more than she is asking - okay!!! You are so right - you are really living with her Lamanite people - we found them to be such sweet special spirits and I'll bet you are finding this too. They emphasized the Book of Mormon over and over again in Conference today - and when you realize how important the Lamanite people are it helps you become more diligent in your missionary labors. It makes me feel bad to think how hard they work for such small wages. You will get a new Mission President in July - we saw his name in the paper today - President Taylor but we don't know where he's from or anything.

Roy & Patrice - we hope you are both doing good. Chris Jordin called me this morning and asked about you Roy. She said Little Rock is beautiful right now - can't you just imagine all the azaleas and dogwood in bloom!!! We hope you are planning your June vacation so you can go to Lake Powell with us.

Annie & Ron and their family are all doing just great - we make pests of ourselves right now by stopping by often while we are going to our new home. One day when we stopped little Russell & LeeAnna and their friends were all up to the bar working with a special "play dough" Ann had made for them - she was making cookies and they were making "play dough" cookies and you couldn't tell the difference. Their home is always filled with happy, happy children - the Woolleys and all the neighbors!

We had our Missionary Reunion on Friday night and it was really a big success. We had had 55 reservations for the catered dinner and over 100 turned up - they ran out of food and I just abut died!!! The Missionaries all had a wonderful time though and Daddy finally had to kick them out of the building about 10:30 at night. We have decided to just have punch and cookies from now on and we'll probably have the next one at our new home - there is enough room for a big crowd in the back yard and if it's stormy we'll just go to a church. All the Missionaries asked about you Johnny and we were so thrilled to report about all your success. Our Lady Missionary called from New Zealand but there weren't any of her former companions there so we just let the phone ring - when we got home she called here and it was almost midnight. I didn't want her to waste her money to just call and not to talk to anyone she knew. I'm going to write her a long letter so maybe she'll understand.

You will all just love our new home. They are going to put in a new kitchen floor in the morning so Daddy & I are going to shampoo the carpets at the same time so we can make sure they do a good job. We have cleaned all the chandeliers and the stove and little things like that - we can't really move anything in until we close and that will be on Thursday. We are so thrilled with it - there will be plenty of room for all of you to be there at the same time and that's important to us. There were a lot of boys out on the Technical College lawn playing football today and it was fun to watch them.

Daddy has gone to sleep so I'll close for now. We love each one of you so very much - PLEAS BE CAREFUL IN EVERYTHING YOU DO - LET US KNOW HOW WE CAN HELP YOU!!!!


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