August 15, 1988 Orem, Utah

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

I didn't get time to write my letter this morning and now I am glad because we received your letter and those darling, darling pictures Patrice!!! We are SO thrilled to see what little Emily looks like - she is just a beautiful little baby girl and we can see a lot of both of you in her. If I have time before I mail this I will try to find a picture of Roy at that age to send you. Your Mother did a great job in taking those - little Emily is smiling and you both look SO GOOD. Your trip back East sounded fun and we can just imagine how much it meant to both of you to visit with your friends and also to go to so many places where girls were thrilled to see you - and especially little Emily!!!! We loved hearing about the wedding - I love the culture of the New England area and we will always be happy that you lived there and showed us around so much.

If you noticed - I didn't get my letter written last week!!! We had talked to each one of you and we knew that you knew what we were doing - having little Jimmy and Jessie here for a few days was a special and fun time for us and we loved it. Jimmy is a typical two year old and when he was awake I was "on my toes" and I figured it out and he was awake 14 hours during the day. He really slept good all night and SO DID WE - Ha!!!! Jessie was a doll and so much help - we had fun crocheting and watching Shirley Temple movies and she had some of her former neighborhood friends over to play. She feels really good and the doctor says her eye is healing great - she doesn't have vision in it yet though. I was surprised to have her doctor tell me that he would like to leave the stitches in her eye for a year - he said he wouldn't be able to but he would like to. He said that was a very slow healing area of the body.

Speaking of eyes - I went in the examination room with Daddy this morning on his visit with his eye doctor. He has had so many different drops to put in it and Daddy was never quite sure when they should go in so I went in prepared to write down everything. WOW - was his doctor upset with me!!! He turned to me and said, "Are you writing notes for me or for you?" I explained that I hadn't been able to come with him before and I wanted to know what to do and I couldn't remember unless I wrote it down. He is very frustrated because Daddy's eye isn't responding to the medication he has given him. He said to stop using everything he had prescribed before and just use "Bleph 10" every two hours for a few days and then use it every four hours. He is to go back next week - I am tempted to call and see if we can get an appointment with Dr. Ririe - this doctor is Dr. Noble and is supposed to be very good. I asked him if it could be cancer related and he said, "absolutely not- there is no relation".

The Woolleys, Weinerts, Bob, Michael & Laura and John all went to Lake Powell on Saturday the 6th (that was when we kept Jimmy & Jessie) and they had a wonderful time. Bob & Johnny came home on Monday afternoon and the others came home on Wednesday. It sounded mighty hot to us but I guess when you can spend most of your time in the water it is bearable - they really had a lot of fun on the catamaran (sp.?) They didn't move the houseboat around - they stayed in the place we nicknamed "The Three Nephites" all the time - that's a beautiful place!!!! We kept the Weinert's dog, Cocoa, and he and Hans and the neighbor's dog really had fun - in fact, Hans has been kinda' lost since he left. Laura had her 5th birthday while they were there but I don't believe she celebrated until she got home. Claire, Brett & Katie all got along fine at home.

The cabin is "shaping up"!!!! Bob went with Daddy and they
really got most of the writing done and then Daddy went up one day last week and finished it. The electric company was there to "hook us up" last Thursday but we had signed the wrong papers so they wouldn't do it - we got there on Thursday just after they had left. Daddy finally got the right papers signed and they said they would come back this Wednesday and do it. We worked Friday most of the day painting - I WANT IT RECORDED FOR POSTERITY THAT WE PAINTED THE OUTHOUSE!!!! I painted the inside white and Daddy painted the outside the same barn red that he has painted the cabin. We also put trim on the cabin but we got too narrow of trim and it doesn't show up like it should - Oh Well!!! We went to the Lehi Brick Yard this morning and got as many bricks as Daddy felt the truck could hold - Daddy is going to make a brick pathway to the cabin and the outhouse because now it is just dirt and it tracks in!!! He is going by himself tomorrow and work - I have worried about him going alone before because he was climbing that long, long ladder and painting the roof of the A-frame and that is dangerous but I think he will enjoy working alone framing the windows. Ray is going to go with him soon and help - there are things that I just can't help with like holding heavy paneling up high while he nails it - Johnny says he will go too and if he does, it won't take very long.

Johnny is doing some serious water skiing!!! He has been taking lessons and was in a tournament last Saturday competing with 30 skiers and he came in 4th. He starts school on the 29th and we're hoping he will be able to "shift gears" and start studying again. He can't get insurance for his boat - isn't that dumb??? They won't insure a boat that is only worth less than half its original value and his boat's original value is $15,000. Daddy won't let him use it without liability insurance so we don't know what he's going to do. He still hasn't found a place he wants to live next year - we're hoping he will stay home!!!!

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