April 13, 1986 Lehi, Utah

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

Well - I'm back to our old, old typewriter again!!! The computer is enroute to our new home and even though it isn't over there yet, the desk is and I couldn't quite figure out to rig it up so the paper would feed into the printer. As you can see, the mistakes I make can't be easily fixed so this will be a short, short letter - all our desk "stuff" is over to the new home too so I don't even an eraser.

Wow!!! Are we ever in a mess!!! I have never seen anyone work any harder than Daddy & Ron did all day yesterday. They started early in the morning and didn't finish until it was dark. Daddy rented the largest U-Haul truck you can get and they loaded it completely full twice. They had to take doorframes off this house to get some of the furniture out of it. Our new home is almost full of furniture and we still have the storage place to empty but we have decided to not clutter the new home - when it has enough furniture in it we will just leave the rest in the Lehi house until we decide what to do. I think we have almost decided to not clutter the new home - when it has enough furniture in it we will just leave the rest in the Lehi house until we decide what to do. I think we have almost decided to sell the Lehi House - you are all going to think we can't make up our minds and you're right!!!! We just love our new home and the neighbors are so nice - they all came out and helped Daddy and Ron unload the truck and that really helped. We have had many people inquire about buying the Lehi house but nothing definite yet! Lehi had Kinda' lost its charm after being in the new home - you will all just love it!

Johnny - WE ARE SO PROUD OF YOU!!! Training a new missionary and a Chilean at that. Daddy always said that good trainers were the most important part of the whole missionary program. You sounded in your last letter like you felt as if you were a million miles from civilization and I can just imagine how you feel like that. (He said that he had been unbelievable poverty). Chimbarongo sounds like a very interesting place and I hope you are recording in your journal all your feelings about it because you will probably never live in a place like that again (he says it is the wicker capital of the world). It's kinda' sad that people have to work so hard and yet don't have the comforts of life. You say it is raining quite a bit there - when will it get Winter again? Our Winter is about over but we had a terrible storm last night - strong winds and snow and it is even snowing today but the ground is warm so it melts quickly. I feel like we have neglected your requests lately - we can't find the paper back editions of the Doctrines of Salvation and we would send the hard covered ones but they would give you too much bulk to pack as often as you have to - we will continue to look for them and we'll also send you the scripture markers. Is there anything in the line of food that you would like for us to send - let us know because June 6th is coming up and it would help us if we knew what you would like.

Michael - thank you for calling us yesterday! It is so much fun to talk to you now because we feel like you really know who we are. (He is so cute - asked him if he would draw us another picture and he said, "Well Sure".) Bob & Claire, we hope you have gotten back into the swing of things - I know how hard that is. When Daddy & I were in school for so many years we would come home for visits and I always felt like everyone I knew was so much further ahead than we were - I don't know if you feel like that or not but if you do we have empathy with you. Going to school for as many years as you and Roy have is really hard but it really is worth it in the long run and you don't have much longer - HANG IN THERE!!!!

Roy & Patrice - how are you doing??? Do you remember Jim & Lois Morgun from Little Rock? They have friends in Lehi and are visiting here - they came by the other day and we were gone so we didn't get to see them but we talked to them on the phone and they asked about our family - especially Roy!

This has been a fun week. Friday we went to Jessie's birthday party - we met the group at "Trafalga" in Orem and had birthday cake and then they all played miniature golf and we went up to Farmington. Barbara Jean & Ricky were in a piano recital so we went to that with them. It is so neat to live close enough to our grandchildren to participate in some of their activities and see them progress. WE took pictures of Jessie's party and also of the Weinert recital and if they're good we'll send you some.

We went to Manti this morning to attend the missionary farewell of Carol & Elly Braithwaite. They have been called to serve in the Polynesian Center of the church in Hawaii for 18 months - they are really thrilled and so excited. The whole family went and after the meeting Elly invited everyone to go out to "The Palisades" for dinner (there were at least 150 people there). The dinner was just delicious and they had done it all. They had all kinds of salads, baked chicken, rice dishes, frappe' and cake - I made two big sheet cakes but they really didn't need them. Annie and LeeAnna went with us and we love that. All of Carol's sisters were there - Shirley, Elaine & Ramona and some of their children who live in Utah. Keith (Daddy's brother who died had two daughters, Nancy & Paula and they were there with their children and Nancy has eight!!! It really was a wonderful occasion and we were glad we went but the weather was just terrible and it was a temptation to not go. The Willardsens were there and I can't believe the new styles for the young men - Joe Willardsen had on the new style pants with a pink shirt and pink socks that showed worn with white boat shoes. I just cringed but Ann said, "Mom, that's the style". They say that Jimmy has about two more weeks in the MTC before going to San Diego - he is doing fine.

We bought a new refrigerator for our home and it is so nice. It has the freezer part at the bottom so the crispers and shelves are all at eye level - I am not going to have any excuses for letting things spoil in the crispers now. It will be so much fun to cook in the kitchen - the view is so pretty!

Daddy & I slept on the floor here in Lehi last night but Daddy says he is not going to do that anymore so he is ready to leave. WE don't have any of our kitchen things over there except for the table and chairs - it will probably take us most of next week to get settled over there. We'll never be able to get even with Ron - unless they move and then we could help him!!!

We love each one of you so very much - PLEASE BE CAREFUL IN EVERYTHING YOU DO - Let us know how we can help you!!!
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