March 18, 1991 Orem, Utah
Dearest John; Roy, Patrice, Emily & Timothy; Bob, Claire, Michael, Laura, Brett & Katie; Rick, Jean, Ricky, Barbara Jean, Mary Ann & Sarah; and Ron, Ann, Susanna, Jessie, Russell, LeeAnna & Jimmy:
A belated "Happy St. Patrick's Day" - especially to Patrice because of her Irish heritage!!! We talked to Patrice yesterday and she said they were having guests for dinner and she was serving corned beef & cabbage - I'll bet it was good. I have never seen so much green clothing as I saw yesterday in our church meetings - I wore my pale light green suit and felt like I was really bleached out.
Tomorrow is Emily's birthday - it's hard to believe she is three years old. Patrice sent us some pictures taken while they were here and we LOVE them - everyone in our family is a much better photographer than I am and I think my pictures are good until we receive some you all have taken. They took one of Daddy holding little Timothy that would win a prize!!! We didn't get to talk to Roy - he was giving a lecture to a group of nurses who give anesthesiology (they have a name but I don't know how to spell it). Patrice said he had spent a lot of time preparing for it and we know it was good. When I went visiting teaching last week one of the sisters I visit was talking about having blood drawn and she said very emphatically "no one takes blood from me or anyone in our family except anesthesiologists - they know what they're doing". She didn't know I was related to one - Ha!!!
Thanks for your phone call last night Bob - he said they were all doing fine and also the Weinerts. Daddy & I watched the "Utah Jazz" basketball game on cable last week and could just see Ricky watching it too - it was really exciting!!! I just love sports and am SO happy that Rick takes Ricky to those games when they are played in Salt Lake. Bob asked his Dad to go "check out" the cabin to see if we could get to it yet. Daddy is already planning our Summer at the cabin and can hardly wait. He is going to put the fishing boat at the dock so it will be handy - we have NEVER used the boat there and that's dumb!!! I am going to tie Daddy's hands together to keep him from working while we're at the cabin - I want him to fish every single minute!!! They have had a lot of snow there so we probably won't be able to drive to the cabin for another month at least.
John left last Thursday morning with his friend Reid Folsom to drive to Iowa City, Iowa for an interview with the Dean of Admissions of the Dental College there. He got home last night and he said they were SO nice to them - they even stayed with the Dean and he took them out to dinner. I have no idea what his chances are for being accepted but I imagine a lot of it depends on how well he does on that national DAT - he takes that April 13th. John is under a lot of pressure with that on his mind as well as his hard engineering courses this semester!!!
Annie gave me a permanent last week and I just love it. She is the only one who will use those little tiny red rods over most of my hair. I didn't do anything with it for two days so it would really have a good set - and it is SO tight your wouldn't believe it. They are doing fine - their children are out of school today and they all had dental appointments. An & I went to our annual Spring Boutique show on Saturday morning and that was fun!!!
Daddy is out digging up some of the lawn in our front yard so he can plant more flowers out there - there is a spot out there that is kinda' hard to keep watered for lawn and he thinks it will be better for flowers - I think it will make more work - Ha!!! He is SO anxious to start planting and working outside - he is feeling really good. We're supposed to have snow tomorrow and the rest of the week - it will be good to get the moisture!!!
Daddy & I spent most of last Friday in the temple - it was a gloomy wet day and that is a wonderful place to go. I always like to go through two sessions but Daddy usually tires too much but on Friday he didn't.
I must tell you about our Relief Society birthday party held last Thursday. Daddy went with me in the afternoon to decorate our table and we helped set up all the tables & chairs - I was SO impressed because all the Relief Society Presidency and the work directors were there working SO hard. They had twenty-five tables and each one was different and it made the room look so beautiful. They had the roast beef catered from BYU and then many sisters had been asked to bring salads, desserts & rolls - it was all delicious. WELL - the program was a professional dialogue put on by a man & a woman on "The Stages of Love". The work director who had been in charge of getting the program had been advertising it for at least a month and everyone was expecting a wonderful program. As it turned out, parts of it were very suggestive and they used a lot of "damns & hells" - I thought it was hilarious and very entertaining but I did wonder about the language. Daddy didn't even smile during the entire program and I scolded him on the way home. Yesterday in our Sacrament meeting our Bishop got up and apologized for the whole thing and said we should all learn a lesson and never have anything like that again - in fact, he said he had taken measures to warn other wards so they wouldn't be exposed to it. Our Relief Society President and work director didn't come to church yesterday - I REALLY feel bad for them. I'm sure they would never have endorsed a program like that if they had known what it was going to be but once it was done it seems like it would have been better to handle it in a quieter way.
We haven't heard anything about the pictures. That was a big order to fill and I know it takes a long time so we're not worried - we'll let you know when they're ready.
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!!!