April 17, 1989 Orem, Utah

Dearest John; 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:

We are finally having a good dependable Spring - as Daddy and I stood looking out our South Windows this morning we both said, "It doesn't get any prettier than this"!!!! we just love our beautiful yard and view from those windows. Daddy has our yard in tip top shape and even though we haven't planted our flowers yet everything looks SO pretty.

Everyone in the family is doing fine - isn't that great!!!! We talked to Bob yesterday and all is well with them and then we called Jeannie to wish her a Happy Birthday and their family situation was in a typical Sunday afternoon mood - Ha!!! She said Barji had been ill with the flu and since Ricky wasn't feeling well yesterday morning she had kept them both home from church and they were driving each other crazy. Sunday has always been the longest day of the week for me - now that I'm older it is fun and I love it but when you were all home and we tried to do things in keeping with the Sabbath it was hard. The meeting schedules don't make it any easier either. We haven't talked to Roy & Patrice this week but we know they are busy & happy.

Well - as far as I'm concerned, the cabin is finished!!!! Daddy has done a beautiful job in paneling the kitchen and when we left there on Friday evening I told him I wasn't going back unless we could just play & relax SO this morning he has gone over to Lehi to get the flatbed trailer and he is going to go clean out the "skunk room". I can't really help him do that and I know he wants do it himself - maybe Ray will go with him and then they will fish - I HOPE SO!!!! Wayne & Chris are coming out the last part of July and Wayne will help Daddy put in the bathroom - I hope they will be able to hook it up by then. We are all planning to go to Alaska in August.

We had a dumb thing happen on Saturday. We have had an evaporative cooler ordered from Sears for over a month and they were supposed to put it in last Saturday but they called and said they couldn't do it until the next week. John and his friend Reid were here working on John's boat and we were all out in front when they came to install it. First of all, they dumped a lot of dirty insulation from their truck and just walked through it into the house - I swept it up and told them I didn't much want that all tracked into the house - they just looked at me as if to say, whoa re you??? THEN, they cut a hole in the roof of our house right at the top - it was supposed to be at the back of the house so the cooler won't show from the front. WE COULDN'T BELIEVE IT. They were very upset when we told them they couldn't install it there - they "capped" the hole and left in a huff!!! When I was vacuuming up all their mess I noticed they had dripped tar on the carpet in the bathroom and down the stairs. Needless to say we have complained to Sears - they had a local company do the installing. I don't know what will happen today. I really believe it has all been a misunderstanding and I wish daddy and I would have worked more closely with them - I was standing outside by John when they were doing it and noticed they had the water running in the wrong place and I told John I hoped they knew they were supposed to put it on the back of the roof - I just wish I had brought it to their attention then. They were very young and inexperienced and I feel bad from them.

John is having some oil pressure problems with his boat - I hope he can get it fixed soon because it is going to be beautiful boating weather. It seems like every time he has taken his boat out to the lake, the wind has come up and Utah lake can be very treacherous. John is doing fine - he and some of his friends came over and bar-b-cued something on Friday night - we love it when they come over!!! Daddy & I drove by his apartment last night after we had attended a church meeting close by but we didn't go in - Daddy wanted to but I will always hate to drop in on people. There were a lot of young people "hanging around" and it looked like a fun place to live - he surely has some nice friends. He will be in finals next week - ugh!!!!

All the men (young and old) in the family will go to Lake Powell this time - I wish you could go too, Roy!!!! Rick will take Ricky, Ron will take Russell and Bob will take Michael and Daddy & John will go to chaperone - Ha!!!! It sounds like a lot of fun to me - they plan to go down Friday and will probably just camp out that night because they can't get the boat until Saturday at noon. Ron & Russell will come home on Sunday night - the rest will come home on Monday night - I believe I have that right!!!! Daddy doesn't think they should even take the houseboat off the buoy for that short a time - maybe they could just use the "pottie" and not have to maneuver the big boat around to the dumping station.

Roy & Patrice - our Lake Powell Family trip will be July 15th to the 22nd. We would REALLY love to have you join us for that if you possibly can!!!! How could we help you???

Daddy & I went to a fun dinner party on Friday night. Our neighbors invited us to fill in for a couple who couldn't come - this group gets together once a month and they have been doing it for forty years. They were all really cute - and also very old - they talked about graduating from college in 1931 - so they were about 16 years older than we are but we loved being with them. Most of them had new spouses and they talked about it very openly - it was quite hilarious - the food was old fashioned and good!!!

Frances James' mother passed away - do any of you remember her in Little Rock??? She was 90 years old and had lived with Frances fort about 15 years. We had a letter from the Powers - they love their new home in Trumbull, Connecticut. Brad Smithers got married last week in the Dallas Temple. That's all the news!!!
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