September 22, 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, LeeAnna & Jimmy:

It's Monday morning and I am getting a slow start after an absolutely wonderful four days in Lake Powell - the only way it could have been better would have been for all of you to be with us!!! Rick couldn't get off work for the entire time (it's great he could get any time off just starting a new job.) Jeannie and the children came down Tuesday evening - Rick had brought his boat down on Sunday so she brought their suburban and all their "things". It was really a fun family time - Ron's parents and Mimi had also arrived and we visited and make plans to meet at 6 a.m. Wednesday morning. Everything worked out great and we left here about 6:15 and met at the "golden Arches" twenty minutes away and got breakfast. Daddy drove Rick's car and pulled his boat, the children all kept changing places along the way and since Ron had "rigged" up a television set with videos in the back of his van that was a big attraction and then the older Woolleys drove their own car. We met the other people who had used the houseboat before us at the right place at the right time and then we headed for Moki Canyon and got the boat all established in our favorite place where the children could play on their "Muvva Muvva Hill".

The weather for September was considerably better than I had thought it would be - the wind blew quite a bit but when the boat is securely anchored and we're all settled the wind doesn't bother us. The fishing was considerably worse than we had hoped - they did catch one nice batch of fish though and Daddy cooked them on the bar-b-cue grill and they were delicious. Daddy took Ricky out one day and he caught a huge carp and nothing would do but we eat it so Daddy cooked that on the grill too - everyone "tasted" it for hors douvres (sp.?) and it was quite good. They also caught a lot of blue gill but we buried them in the sand. There was not one dull moment - in fact, it didn't even occur to me that we hadn't turned on the hot heater so people could take a shower until the last day and then we decided it was too late for it to heat up. We just kept heating water on the stove and since we have camped so much when that is the way we did it I just didn't even think of it.

The water was warm in the lake but the air was colder than when we were there in June - I believe went down the slide and I was really proud of Ron's Mom - she is seventy years old but she did everything the rest of us did including going down the slide. Ron's Dad got in the water "once" in his bathing suit and Mimi spent quite a bit of time swimming - she was really a good sport. Barji has made great strides since June - she was going out by herself all around the boat - we wouldn't let her go down the slide or get her head under because she had a "bug" the first couple days with a temperature - Jeannie called and had Rick bring her some medicine. Susanna went down the slide several times and so did Jessie * little Russell. Mary Ann and LeeAnna are too young to do it but it won't be long - they mostly played in the sand and along the beach. The big feat of the trip was having Ricky jump off the diving board - Daddy and I promised him that we would do it if he would but when I got up there I really wanted to change my mind - it was "scary"!!!!

We were all surprised about how good little Jimmy was - he just ate and slept and cooed at all of us. Little Sarah was good too but she is so demanding of Jeannie that I can imagine how tired Jeannie is - she will have more fun next time we go - we all worried about having her fall off the houseboat if the gates were left open - it was almost impossible to keep a life jacket on her all the time. Jeannie and Rick and Ron all water skied and Annie & Daddy tried - Ann said she swallowed half the lake and Daddy bet me $100 that he would do it if he had "one" more chance - they just spent AN HOUR TRYING TO GET HIM UP - Ha! Ron is so good at wind surfing and Rick learned how too!!! Most of the time, the weather was ideal for wind surfing. We all had fun with the bumper rides and the inflated boat. Ron took his folks and Mimi and me over to the main dock to pick up Rick and on the way we turned some of the canyons - Lake Powell is unbelievably big and beautiful - there are a lot of places we could dock the houseboat. There is one engine on it that just won't work and because of that Daddy worries about doing much traveling in it - in fact, we would have had real problems refueling it and emptying the sewer tank if we hadn't had Rick there to pull us in and out of some of the tight places. Roy - they really missed you when they went to put it back on the buoy - I have never seen them do that but it must be really tricky. We left "Muvva Muvva" about 9 o'clock yesterday morning and we didn't leave Bullfrog until almost 5 so you know how long it took - we had life jackets for the children this time though Patrice so they could play in the water and also it wasn't so hot - Jeannie and I talked about how much we worried about you because you kept getting redder and redder!!!

The food was wonderful - Ann & Jean did most of it and I learned my lesson!!! The only think I did was to take the rest of the "Mexican Delight" that had been frozen from our last trip and that was our worst meal. Russell & Beverly brought huge packages of T-bone and sirloin steaks and also a million Idaho potatoes that has been scrubbed and wrapped in foil ready for baking - we ate several meals on all of that and loved every bite - we even had steak and eggs for breakfast one morning. Bev also brought a delicious apricot cake. Ann & Jean had made banana and zucchini bread, brownies and Ann made a million of her famous whole wheat rolls and we ate all of them. We learn each time we go on how we can improve it - taking steaks had never occurred to me - hamburgers, hot dogs, yes!!! There is a wonderful bar-b-cue grill on the boat.

Have you hear enough about Lake Powell???? Ha!!!

Johnny - we received two letters from you last week - one was written on August 28 and the other one on September 2. We can tell you are really frustrated but you said your wound was healing so we're hoping you're on your way by now!!! I'll bet we get a letter either today or tomorrow telling us more. I met a lady at the temple last week who has just come home from Brazil - she & her husband have been on temple missions in Santiago, Brazil & Guatemala. I asked her all about the Mission Home and everything and she said it was very beautiful and big. I told her that I worried that you might be an inconvenience for the Mission President and his family but she assured me it was so big they wouldn't even know you were there and she said they had a lot of household help- I know you will be a very thoughtful guest - in fact, I would have loved having Elders like you come into the home for extended stays. She told me that Santiago is a beautiful place but she feels really sorry for the Chilean people - they are so poor and suppressed BYU lost to Washington 52-21 or something like that!!! She said the Chilean doctors were quite good but the hospital facilities and clinics left a lot to be desired - she said they had good dentists and they were so reasonable everyone in their group had all their dental work done before they came home. She couldn't' believe you had had surgery done there - she said they always sent people back to the States for that. We hope you won't play anymore soccer or even football or basketball - please take really good care of yourself!!!!!

Bob & Claire - how are things with you??? Ann said you told her that you had tried to call us - we really are away from the house a lot. We know this is a beautiful time of year for you and we hope you can do some fun things. Linda Garrett called here this morning and it was so good to talk to her - I will always love that girl. Chris & Wayne have been on a trip to Washington State to take his folks to visit his sister who lives there - they came through here on their way and dropped off some seafood for us and put it in the freezer and left us a note - they had planned to come back this way later on this week and stay with us. Linda called to tell us that Chris' mother passed away so they were back in Arkansas - they only got to stay in Washington one day. It's a blessing though!!!

Roy & Patrice - we hope things are great with you - we really missed you at Lake Powell - the children talked so much about Patrice!!! I can't believe my paper is all gone. We love each one of you very so very much - PLEASE BE CAREFUL IN EVERYTHING YOU DO - Let us know how we can help you!!!
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