May 22, 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:
A beautiful day here in Orem - Daddy and I have been outside this morning admiring our gorgeous hill and he has been trimming some of the limbs from the Box Elder trees so they won't shade the flowers too much. The iris are in full bloom and they are really pretty - all colors!!!! The front yard is equally pretty - Daddy keeps everything SO manicured.
Yesterday was little Sarah's birthday - we tried to call once and you weren't home and then we didn't try again!!! I'll bet you had a family birthday party and went for Mexican food!!!! What a little doll she is - she's four years old - I can kinda' keep up with her age because she was born just before we came home from our mission. We'll try to call again tonight.
Little Emily and her Mom are in Connecticut visiting Grandma Suzie - we hope they have a wonderful time!!! We talked to Roy and he said they had a wonderful time on their trip to Little Rock and they LOVE their van. Roy and some friends floated the Buffalo river and Patrice & Emily went along and camped - that surely brings back a lot of memories. We have worried about the terrible storms in Texas but Roy says they didn't get hurt - I always remember that flood in Little Rock that did so much damage. Roy said our home in Little Rock looks good but he didn't see any of our neighbors or friends - he said many of the young people buying homes in Little Rock are buying in the Heights area - I remember the beautiful dogwood trees in that area - it's a more established and old part of the town.
John talked to Bob last night and they are doing good - we have put July 1st on our calendar for Michael's baptism. Bob is going to do the surgery on John's nose this Wednesday - I guess John is going to go up there tomorrow and spend the night with Bob & Claire and then spend Wednesday in the hospital and we'll go up on Thursday and bring him home. I know he will get along just fine - that's quite a responsibility for Bob but I guess he is used to it and John is mighty lucky to have him do it. Claire's parents are home in Utah - we're anxious to see them.
The Woolleys went on a "campout" with their company employees to Southern Utah on Friday night - we saw them for a few minutes on Saturday and they are really sunburned. Ron is busy planting their plants - their yard looks beautiful. I feel bad because we borrowed their igloo water cooler for our party and I'm sure they needed it.
Our party was a big success and we're glad it's over - that is something I have wanted to do for a long, long time and it turned out SO good. We really worried with the weather - the night before the wind came up and it was cloudy and very, very cold. Friday afternoon was just beautiful and we borrowed three tables and 30 chairs from the church and put them on our back lawn with vases of iris on each table. The temperature was about 60 when we started to eat but it got considerably colder so we all moved into our downstairs room for birthday cake and ice cream. I don't know if I told you that it was Ellen Mae's birthday - everyone brought her a card and some of the people brought gifts. We had each family (there were 28 of us) tell a little about their family and their lives and of course there were a million jokes - we laughed until we were sick. They stayed until about 10:30 and really they didn't want to go home then. I had enough food left over to have another party - I WILL NEVER learn to not cook for missionaries!!! It was so funny - we planned to have honey baked ham and smoked turkey for the meat and at the last minute decided to cook a brisket so we would have something worm. They just loved the brisket and we ran out of that and they hardly touched the ham and turkey - I wished I had cooked another brisket. Ellen Mae brought baked beans and a green bean casserole, cucumbers & onions, beets and chips & dips and I hadn't counted on that so we had an abundance of food!!!! We also had a really good punch - cran-rasperry juice with lemonade and 7-Up. John was SO cute - he came to say hello to them and one of the men said "John home come with such beautiful sisters, all of the boys in the family turned out so ugly" - John's response was so quick, he said, "We got all the brains"!!! That is a very "uppity" group but Daddy and I both agree that not one of them could hold a candle to our family - WE ARE VERY PROUD OF EACH ONE OF YOU!!!
Daddy is going to a dermatologist this morning - he keeps having those skin cancers on his face. They flake off and heal up and then they come back again so he needs to get them taken care of. This afternoon we have our final (I hope) meeting with our attorney to sign the papers for our "Living Trust". I just hate that sort of thing and I think everyone does but after our experience with Aunt Marvel's estate we realize how important it is. It isn't that we have that big of an estate but the thing we want to avoid is having all of you have to pay an inheritance tax on property that will be valued excessively high by the IRS. We don't plan on going any time soon but it will give us a lot of peace of mind to have it taken care of - we'll get our attorney's card and include it in this letter and it would be a good idea for you to put it in a special place so you will know who he is. We are impressed with him but he is VERY EXPENSIVE!!!!
We have told Jim Griffin that we will come back for the Little Rock 20th anniversary of the stake organization on June 17th and 18th. We don't have to keep that commitment but they asked Daddy to speak at our Stake Conference here on the 10th and he said we wouldn't be here so we have to go somewhere - Ha!!!!
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.