June 4, 1990 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 in Utah this morning and we deserve it - Ha!!! We have really had some cold Spring weather and even though I love the cold, I am ready for Summer. Daddy has been out since early, early this morning weeding his garden and trimming the trees before the garbage man came so he could get rid of all the limbs, etc.
The big news for this letter is that Roy, Patrice & Emily are safe and sound in Little Rock - they called last night and they had arrived there in the afternoon. I'll put their new address and phone number on the bottom of this letter so you can cut it out. They HOPE they have sold their home - it will close on June 8th and then they will head for Utah. Roy said they were in a BIG mess with all the moving stuff and the Real Estate people called to see if they could show their home - Roy said they didn't have anything to lose so they let the family come look at it. They really liked it and decided to buy it - isn't that the way it goes - you can have your home in tip top shape for six months and show it to many people and the ones who buy it see it when you're not even prepared to show it. We're SO thrilled for them though and we're keeping our fingers crossed that everything goes through.
They drove two cars out - Roy had taken their third one out earlier and flown back to San Antonio. They are living in the Williamsburg apartments just a little South of that turn that goes into Pleasant Valley off Rodney Parham. They won't get any furniture until today so they will sleep on their inflatable mattress until it comes and will store the furniture they won't be using in the apartment. I am SO happy they are in a small apartment instead of moving into a home right now. I honestly don't believe there is anything harder than moving and especially with a two year old and Patrice expecting. They will be able to spend a lot of time looking for a home to buy in a more relaxed way and Roy will have less stress as he gets into his work. That's my sermon for the day!!!
John will "celebrate" his 24th birthday this week. We talked about when he was born and the thing I remember the most is that Bob & Roy and the Aston boys were SUPPOSED to be camping out in our back yard that night and when it was time to go to the hospital they were nowhere to be found - about three o'clock in the morning we found them wandering around Leawood!!! John got a computer printer for his birthday and he LOVES it.
John, Gayla, Reid Folsom (John's former roommate), and Gayla's former roommate all went to the cabin on Friday afternoon. They said they had a wonderful time - it was SO cold and we worried about them but I guess it didn't bother them. We expected them home early Saturday morning but the didn't get here until late that afternoon so I'm sure they enjoyed it and that REALLY pleases Daddy & me. I think it's wonderful that John could make it fun for them - we weren't sure he knew enough about how to turn things on, etc. but he got along fine. They took videos and said that worked great on Aunt Marvel's old television set and they also went for rides on the four-wheeler. Gayla comes back to go into the MTC on June 25th and will stay there for about 6 weeks learning the Spanish language and then she will go to Spain. We think this will be good - John will be able to "zero in" on his studies and she will be able to fulfill her obligation to the church and if it works out that will be fine and if it doesn't they will both be mature enough to understand.
Our little dogs, Hans & Frauie, are being imprisoned down on the lower level of our lot. Daddy has worked SO hard getting all his flower plants in and Frauie digs them up - it's unbelievable the damage she can do when our backs are turned. We bought about ten of those "baby faced dahlias" in full bloom to put around the base of our tree on the patio and she just politely dug them up and put them on the lawn. She has also dug up lots of petunia, inca and snap dragon plants. Daddy has also planted our tomato and squash plants on the lower level and she has eaten some of the tomato plants but Daddy says they will grow back. If we can't keep her out of our vegetable garden she will be put on a leash!!! Hans doesn't bother anything but she is terrible. She is supposed to come in heat in July and hopefully she will settle down soon. The lower level is a wonderful place but they like the run of the whole lot. Our yard is BEAUTIFUL!!!
Bob called last night and their family is going to the cabin this weekend and he said they hope the Weinerts will go up on Saturday. Bob wants to put in a shower - it will be fun for us to have him do this - he is smart enough - he's like his Dad!!! We have Stake Conference this weekend and Daddy has an assignment so we won't be able to go. We hope SO much that you will all go to the cabin whenever you want to - it's going to get hot in the valley and Scofield is always quite cool. We hope Roy & Patrice will leave Emily with us and go up for some relaxing time after their long trip to Utah.
We haven't talked to the Woolleys this week - it seemed to us that we had taken up so many of their weekends for the past few months that they would like to have a weekend to themselves. Susanna went for a fifth grade "retreat" or something like that ªit was a week long at some camp - we hope she had a wonderful time!!! John always goes to see them after his guitar lesson on Wednesdays and he says they are doing fine. By the way - we heard John play his guitar last night and he is GOOD!!!
I can't think of any more news. Daddy is feeling GREAT and we're SO grateful - I constantly wish I had some of his energy!!! We love each one of you so very much. PLEASE BE VERY CAREFUL!!!