May 6, 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:
Daddy & I just came home from our 2 1/2 mile walk over on the track at the rec. center - it takes us just about an hour and is SO good for us but hard for me to walk in the mornings!!! It is still cold here - we don't think we will ever have Spring.
Happy Birthday to Russell yesterday - he is nine years old - I remember so well when he was born and we were preparing to leave on our mission and he was such a little baby at our farewell party at their home. We hope you had a really happy day Russell. That family is doing fine. We have been concerned about Ron's father - he had a bleeding ulcer and was having extensive internal bleeding and lost 6 pints of blood before they could get it under control. Ron made a fast trip to Jerome to be with them and stayed until they assured him he was going to be okay. Susanna's class put on some kind of world's fair (I wasn't able to go so I don't really understand what it was called). Susanna was "in charge" of Laos and had made flags, posters, etc. and Ann had made all kinds of rice dishes. Ann was so funny - she said that next year when Jessie was assigned a country she was going to make cookies no matter what the country's food was - evidently the children weren't all that excited with the rice dishes - Ha!
We had such a wonderful surprise last night. We were watching one of our favorite TV. programs, "Murder She Wrote", when the doorbell rang. The Weinerts had come to see us so we taped the ending of our program. They had come down earlier and had visited with the "skcousins". I was relieved to see Jeannie look so good - she has had a terrible cold but she is about over it now. We LOVED their visit. We're anxious to go see what they have done to their yard - they have had some dirt piled up next to their deck and will plant some trees and shrubs when they can.
Patrice - THANK YOU SO MUCH for those adorable pictures. We are so thrilled to see how the children grow and your pictures are always so special. Little Emily just tickles me to death - even in her pictures I can tell what she is thinking - she's a step ahead of most of us. Little Timothy is looking more like Roy I think and he has his disposition too (probably yours also Patrice but I didn't know you at that age). We loved Emily with her little Easter hat and the way she is holding Timothy - what a sweet relationship they have. Your patio is just beautiful and we know you will just live out there from now until Winter. We're happy that your Mother is feeling better and it will be great for her to be with you for a couple weeks. It was so neat for you to call us the other morning Patrice - It made us happy all day!!! We watch the weather bulletins very closely because of the tornado season and we know you do too.
Bob & Claire - I'll bet you had a fun Ezell family day yesterday, (Carolyn & Blaire, Claire's sister & brother-in-law had their new little baby blessed). We know you're doing fine - we are thinking it might be about time for Bob's new office to be completed - is that right? That will be quite an adjustment for you but a change for the better.
John is doing fine. He has REALLY enjoyed working on his boat. He had his engine all worked over and was ready to put it back in the boat and try it out when his plans were changed. Daddy went fishing with some of his Lehi buddies and one of them is a mechanic. When they came home they all went to the garage to "inspect" John's work and this mechanic told him he would be crazy to not replace the "rings or something" now that he had done everything else. SO he took the engine over to Carl Zimmerman in Lehi who does truck and car work for Daddy to have that done and he was shocked when Carl told him it would take a month. That will work out better though because it is still too cold to go out on the lakes and John is too busy with school to do much with it anyway. Now he has taken his bicycle apart and is working on that.
Daddy is doing fine. He went to the dermatologist again and he burned off a lot of skin cancers on his face and arm - he looks like he has chicken pox but they will heal fast. The doctor wouldn't burn any off on the side of his face where the shingles were so he'll have that done later. He went out early last Saturday morning and got a truck load of that black dirt - John helped him scatter that into his flower beds in the front and back and John mowed the lawn while Daddy planted six flats of plants. Our pansies in the back are just gorgeous so Daddy planted the marigold "incas" in between them - when they grow bigger he'll transplant the pansies somewhere else. Our yard is ready for Spring - it's really pretty!!!
We had a fun week last week. The young women & young men organizations in our ward had a "Grandparent's Party" on Thursday night and we really enjoyed that. They served dinner and then we played games with them - you know me - I love to play games!!! I went to a Relief Society dinner at the home of our President and that was very nice - they invited me even though I'm being released - it was for all the board members.
I don't have any more news so I'll mention the health problems that President Bush is having. We all watched the news last night when they thought he would have to have anesthesia so the vice president, Dan Quayle, would be in charge for a few hours. I really like Dan Quayle but I'm not sure he is qualified to run the country and I think this new problem might affect who Bush chooses as his running mate when he runs again, don't you? I'm sure an irregular heartbeat isn't serious though - probably a lot of people have that and nothing is done about it.
We love each one of you so very much and we're very proud of you!