December 12, 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:

I FORGOT to write my letter yesterday - I can't believe it but I did. I had two visiting teaching appointments yesterday morning starting at 9 O'clock and when I got home Daddy and I started doing something and I just completely forgot.

We hope you're all doing fine - this is such a busy time of year for all of you. Daddy and I have loved going into the shopping malls - the decorations are beautiful and it's fun to see families there together. We have all our Christmas cards mailed and this is the earliest we have ever done that - Ron brought all our card size pictures over early last week so it was easy to get that done. We may have to get some more!!!

We had such a fun time last Monday night. Daddy & I and Susanna & Jessie went to Steve James' program at Highland High School in Salt Lake - It was just excellent and it was fun to see Frances again. The auditorium at the High School was filled - he is very talented - he's just John's age and served his mission in Panama and he has tow tapes out. He was performing at the Orem Mall yesterday when Daddy and I were shopping.

We were supposed to take some things to the Weinerts and meet them at the High School (shoes Jeannie had left at Ann's and a curling iron Claire had left). Well - we forgot them but we did meet them and they had brought the negative back for their big picture. We tried to get them to go to the program with us but Ricky had been up early for his tennis lesson and they worried that it would be too late to keep them up. The next day, Tuesday, Daddy and I took the shoes and curling iron up to Jeans and it was so fun to visit with them - Jeannie fixed lunch for us and then we went to Salt Lake and shopped at Crossroads Plaza for a couple hours and then came home.

Daddy got his cast off on Tuesday morning. I believe he was a little discouraged for awhile - he said it hurt more with it off than with it on - I'm sure it was because he didn't have the support he had had. It really swelled up and he could hardly walk - looking back, it was kinda' dumb to go shopping in Salt Lake!!! It is MUCH better now and the swelling has gone down. He went ice fishing with Ray on Thursday morning and would you believe HE FELL IN. It had snowed a little bit on Wednesday night and he fell into one of the holes that had been used for fishing the day before - fortunately it was his good leg - he said if it had been the other leg he would still be there. His leg and clothing were wet and frozen for about four hours because he wouldn't stop fishing. He caught three huge trout and they were absolutely delicious - they're so much better fresh like that rather than frozen.

Daddy has made Laura an adorable little doll house. When he got it all finished I said, " I have wanted one of these all my life" so guess what he doing now? We are both having so much fun - he is wallpapering the walls and will put Formica on the outside to make it look like a wooden house and then he is going to shingle the roof. He is also putting stairs in it and making it so he can put light in it. When we went to the wallpaper place to get some of their remnants, the clerk gave us three rolls when she found out what Daddy was going to use it for - he is a real charmer - either that or we looked poor - Ha!!! I would like for him to get some patterns and make furniture for it but maybe that's asking too much. He LOVES to work in his workroom!!!

John is doing fine. He was invited to the engineering Christmas party where he works and he said it was really nice. It was held at the McCune School of Music Mansion in Salt Lake - he took a girl from Mesa and he said they had a lot of fun. Ann & Ron were there of course and John said "Wow - Ann looked classy!!!" - he also said the food was wonderful - prime rib and chicken. He heard about a special leather jacket sale in Salt Lake- evidently someone who deals in this sort of thing had brought several thousand jackets to sell at a discounted price. We told him we would give him one for his Christmas gift if he could find one he liked. He bought a beautiful tan one that is lined with Thinsulate - he looks so good in it!!!

It was really cold here last night - in the teens!!! It's just gorgeous outside but we rally need some snow - all the snowstorms seem to miss us and the ski resorts are hurting. They have had to bring in tons of snow for some of the competition things they have had at them. We had a little skirmish on Sunday night and Monday morning one of the little deacons in our ward was out shoveling our walks and driveway - it was embarrassing to Daddy but I loved it!!!

I can't think of any more news. We will REALLY feel bad if you do very much for us for Christmas - THERE IS NOT ONE THING WE NEED OR WANT THAT WE DON'T HAVE- our pictures mean so much to us and we know that took a lot of doing on your part.

I just remembered some news about Marc Jordin. He was shampooing his hair (Daddy said, what hair?) and turned a certain way and hurt his back. Chris said they had to give him morphine to stop the pain and they gave him too much and he had a bad reaction to it. He has been in the hospital for about a week and will have surgery today - the seventh cervical. Chris said she wished they could have gone to Baptist Medical Center but his doctor sent him it St. Vincent's. He'll be okay.

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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