August 10, 1986 Orem, Utah

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 & Jimmy;

JOHNNY - we are so worried about you!!!! We were awakened Friday morning with a phone call about 7 o'clock from the missionary department of the church. It is a good thing Daddy answered the phone - it would have scared me to death!!! I just heard Daddy say, Yes, Yes, Yes about ten times and then he hung up - it was Theodore Burton from the Seventies Quorum asking our permission for you to have surgery for a torn ligament in your leg. The way Daddy explained it to me was that there would be a small incision but Bro. Burton called back in about two hours and said, "Your son came through the surgery just fine - he has a cast on and is back with his companion to recuperate for a few days and as soon as they can they'll put a walking cast on so he will be able to proselyte again" - that sounded like more than a "little incision" to me!!! It was all I could do to keep from calling and talking to you - our experience in Montana taught me a lot about that!!! It was really something for a member of the Seventies' Quorum to call us and we appreciate that - he explained that your Mission President didn't want you to have the surgery without our permission but that you wanted it done and that was enough for us. Do you remember things like that while we were in Montana - one young man from Salt Lake went back to Salt Lake for surgery on his ankle and then came back to the Mission and we had several who had to have emergency appendectomies and their tonsils taken out - we always tried to visit them during their recoveries and check on them often and we hope your Mission President will visit you. We drove from Billings to Casper late one night so we could be with Elder Chang when he had his appendix removed. There were also many things we didn't do that I wish we had so be patient with your leaders - Elder Wygant had the chicken pox and I didn't even know it until he was all better and I guess he was really sick and Elder Nielsen just about died with pneumonia and by the time I knew about it he had lost twenty pounds and was out tracting in the dead of Winter. You are being protected and we know you will be back at work as soon as you possibly can - use good sense in the things you do! We hope you will tell us how it happened - Bro. Burton said it was in a P Day activity - football????

One of the things that has made us worry so much is that we hadn't heard from you for so long and that is really unusual - you have been so good to write every week. Would you believe we received the letter you wrote on July 22 just the day you had your surgery, August 8th and it was the Aerogramme one. The mail must be slowed down for some reason - it seems like we received them faster before you moved to San Bernardo. Anyway - we were really thrilled to get it and loved it. You mentioned the earthquake in Salt Lake - all we knew about it was what we read in the paper - they are expecting a BIG one along the Wasatch Front sometime within the next one hundred years but we're not going to worry about it!! Do you have them quite regularly and do they register quite high? I'm so glad you can see the difference between your Daddy's ambition and ability and those people who can live without fixing things or without any desires to improve their conditions. Yesterday afternoon we "hooked" up the flat bed trailer that Daddy had helped build for his four wheeler and drove into Chris & Dicks in Salt Lake and picked up sheets of paneling so he could panel a section of our downstairs room - the material cost about $150 and he will fix that room tomorrow and if we had to hire it done it would cost four times that much. When Ellen Mae and Mel were here she was just amazed at all the things Daddy had done and she said that she could fix a "plug" better than Mel could - I can't even relate to that because Daddy can fix anything and I guess I have just taken it for granted all these years. That one big room downstairs has had a "funny" problem on one end of it - it was partially bricked and partially sheetrocked so we just decided to panel it - it will make the room seem smaller but we think it will add a lot to it too - sometimes we want to put in a wood burning stove in that area - actually that could have been a Winter project but I wanted it done before our Missionary reunion and I know once the hunting season starts Daddy will have other interests - Ha!!!

Bob & Roy - do you realize you are both in Little Rock this weekend? It would be so wonderful if you could see each other. We loved your letter Claire and also talking to you - we know Laura must have had a great birthday yesterday because of your plans to be camping in Hot Springs. We have noticed in the weather news that it has cooled off in the South - it brings back so many happy memories to think of you being in that area and we hope you will tell us all about it. Your Youth Conference sounded fun but I can't believe what it would be like without any air conditioning in a college dorm - ugh!!! Patrice - we're hoping your school work is fun and interesting and Roy we can hardly wait to hear about Hall's reunion so sit down and write us a letter!!!!!

We had a little birthday party for Daddy on Friday night - Jeannie & Rick and their family came and so did all of Daddy's sisters who are here - Ramona & Winston, Elaine & Earl and Shirley & Glen. Annie and Ron and their family had a company party so they couldn't come. We fixed some salads and rolls and then had birthday cake & ice cream - Barji & Ricky helped me with the candles and they couldn't believe anyone could be so old that they had to have two cakes to hold all the candles - Ha! It was a beautiful evening and we had such a good time visiting out on the patio. I know the Weinerts get tired of making this trip but it surely meant a lot to have them here and the children looked so cute - little Mary Ann got her leg caught in the back wheel of her friend's bicycle and she hasn't been able to walk for several days - they took her to the doctor and he x-rayed it and said it would just take it awhile to get better but it wasn't broken or anything serious. Earl & Elaine are making a real show place out of their home up in the canyon - it's close by Sundance - they told us all about it and they have had a crew up there all Summer clearing off the mountain and I guess they have made fountains and really beautiful things. It was a real sacrifice for them to come into civilization for an evening. Elaine painted a picture of our Lehi house and I wish you could see it - she painted it as it was as a Pioneer home and I almost cry when I look at it. Ann & Ron gave Daddy a grouping of five pictures of the Lehi house that are equally beautiful - Ron went over to Lehi early one morning with the camera he uses in his work and the pictures are really special - they had five enlarged and framed so nice. We put the pictures Elaine painted on the wall at the beginning of the stairs going upstairs and the other five right next to it - I get a lump in my throat forty million times a day as I look at them!!! I know I could never have been happy living there and Daddy & I are very grateful for the wonderful memories we have of our family together in that house and we will never lose those memories. The money is in a trust fund for all of you unless we absolutely need it in our old age!!!!

Daddy and I decided that Ann needed a "break" last Wednesday so we took their children up to Brigham City to visit their great grandparents - Grandpa Forrest didn't ever wake up and Grandmother just barely talked to us for a very few minutes but at least they did get visited. We played at the park in Brigham that is right next to my old home (in fact the park is in Grandpa Forrest's old peach orchard) and the children enjoyed that. We got hamburgers & French fries and went to a picnic area at Willard Bay - we found a little Island and they loved wading out into the water. Then we went to the Weinerts and got Jeannie and their children and went to the "Hogle Zoo" in Salt Lake - we had a WONDERFUL time but we were really tired by the time we got home. The cousins enjoy each other so much and it is a real treat to take them places like the zoo - we wished we had had Michael & Laura with us too.

Do you all remember the Fullers in Little Rock? They just called and want to come see us tonight - they are visiting their daughter in Orem. I talked to Gordy and he asked about all of you - he told me all your birthdays and he was right - that's unbelievable - his father told me he lives with them and can't hold a job because of a nervous condition - borderline genius?????

We love each one of you so very much - PLEASE BE CAREFUL IN EVERYTHING YOU DO - Let us know how we can help you and I don't blame you if you don't read this!!

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