October 10, 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:

Today is Mary Ann's 6th birthday - I will always remember the night they came into the mission home with her bundled up and she was less than a month old. She was such a tiny baby and she has grown into such a healthy and beautiful little girl. We hope she has a Happy Birthday!!!!

This has been a fun week for Daddy & John and a fun weekend for Daddy & Bob & Michael. Daddy & Johnny left on Tuesday afternoon to go to the Vernal mountains where they met the group from Lehi to go Elk hunting. They hunted and hunted but didn't even see one elk and Daddy's buddy from Lehi (Ray) called him last night and said their group shot 6 elk - can you believe that???? Daddy and John came home early Thursday afternoon and I guess they came upon a herd of them after they left. Bob & Michael came down on Thursday evening and they went with Daddy to the cabin in Scofield. They didn't get there until dark and I'll bet it was eerie going into that place but they didn't mind. Daddy said it took Bob about ten minutes to find the problem with the electric wiring so now it is all fixed. They really got a lot done while they were there and Claire had sent the most delicious food - Daddy said they could have stayed a week - Ha!!!!

We had this huge gas refrigerator in the cabin and it was SO old and dilapidated and took up so much room that we decided we didn't want it so Bob and Daddy moved that out in the "skunk" room - now we need to give it away and have it hauled off. They also finished the siding outside and painted it and put the outside spot lights on. Michael took his "gun" and he & Bob went into the mountains to hunt elk but they couldn't go in very far because there were a lot of hunters and it was dangerous. Hopefully they will be able to go often and have fun - Michael said he liked it. Daddy & I are going down again sometime this week and try to clean out the "skunk" room and Daddy needs to tack down the carpet. They have turned off the water in the area because of the cold weather so now we have to haul in the water we need - Michael said he had to go to the lake to keep getting water and I guess that will soon be frozen over!!!!

There is a family in our Ward that needed meals taken in for three days last week so I kept busy doing that. The mother of the family had to go to Colorado to care for her mother who is ill and she is also gone this week but I had the Relief Society take of it this week. I also visited with Uncle Winston - he had some back surgery done a week ago and we didn't see him. They just scraped some calcium from some bones to allow the nerves to be free - he is doing fine.

We have thought about you a lot this weekend, Patrice, with Roy in San Francisco - it's kinda' fun to have a schedule where you don't have to have meals at certain times, etc. but we know you will be mighty happy to have him home (he gets home on Thursday). I'll bet little Emily will be happy to see him too. She sounds so healthy - eating vegetables, cereal and scooting around - we are SO anxious to see her.

Daddy & I really had a special treat on Saturday night. Ann called and invited us to go with them and Ron's parents and sister to the BYU Homecoming Spectacular at the Marriott Center. What a delightful evening!!!! The show was just wonderful and we enjoyed visiting with Russell, Beverly & Mimi again. Our weather has been just picture perfect and it was so nice to be on the campus (with 7,000 other people)!!!! BYU had beaten Colorado State 42-6 earlier in the day so the mood was a mighty happy one. Actually Ron stayed home with the younger children and Susanna & Jessie went with us - Ron had gone to the game with the folks earlier.

Johnny is doing fine - he comes home on Sunday night and does his laundry and studies. He went horse back riding with some of his friends one afternoon last week and said that was fun. I keep reminding him how much I love this Fall weather and he keeps reminding me how much he is NOT looking forward to the snow - he much prefers the hot weather to the cold - NOT ME!!!!

I guess the big news for this week is that Daddy had a phone call from Olin headquarters last week telling him the company had decided to let the Olin retirees who had deferred some of their income and bought stock with it many years ago could now take that stock in a lump sum. The policy when he took it was to have it spread out over a 20 year period - we have had ten years of it given to us but we have a lot left. It is a big decision because we will end up having to pay 41 percent of it in state and federal income taxes. The Olin people tell Daddy that the biggest reason they have decided to let the retirees have it all this year is because this will be the lowest tax year probably ever. We have spent this morning calling some of our investment people and also going to visit with them - they are trying to be very helpful in giving us the information we need but the bottom line is "do we want to risk taking it now and paying the taxes against holding it and hoping the stock will raise in value?" Olin stock is 47 3/4 today and last March it was 60!!!! One of the persons we talked to this morning said if Dukakis is the next President taxes will go way up so that's another decision. By the way - did you watch the vice-presidential debates? I was so upset with Bentsen about the Kennedy thing that I would never vote for him - that was SO MEAN!!!!

We're having our card group here tonight so I must get ready. We go out to eat first so I don't have to fix dessert - just drinks and candy & nuts!!!! 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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