March 16, 1992 Orem, Utah
Dearest John; Roy, Patrice, Emily & Timothy; Bob, Claire, Michael, Laura, Brett & Katie; Rick, Jean, Ricky, Barbara Jean, Mary Ann & Sarah; Ron, Ann, Susanna, Jessie, Russell, LeeAnna & Jimmy:
Monday morning and a beautiful day - they are predicting rain this afternoon and tomorrow. We REALLY need it!!! GUESS WHAT - we had an earthquake this morning!!! I was sitting by our large window in our kitchen reading the paper and I felt the window shake and a rumble noise - I ran upstairs thinking Daddy had fallen out of bed and he had felt it too and said he saw the curtains moving. That was about 7:45 and they interrupted the national news to give the local report on it about 8:30. They said it was close to 5.0 on the Richter scale and the center of it was in Riverton - close by the temple just north of us, but they had felt it as far away as Cache Valley. That's the first time I have ever felt anything like that and it was exciting!!!
This is birthday month for our two little four year old granddaughters. Emily will turn four this Thursday and when Patrice was here she said Emily was SO excited because many of her friends are already four. Childrens' birthdays can never measure up to their expectations but we know she will have a fun party. She will have definite feelings about it and it will be fun to talk to her. Little Katie will turn four the very last day of the month - I'll bet she will have a party too.
We want to wish a Happy St. Patrick's Day to our family with Irish ancestors. We're anxious to hear how your corned beef turns out Roy (they planned to "corn" it themselves and it sounded so interesting - marinating it in a kinda' brine mixture for many days). You'll have to teach us all how to do it. Will you have cabbage too.
We have talked to both Bob & Claire this week and they're doing fine. Bob has been on call but he says they will try to come see us this weekend - it will be fun to hear about their trip.
Ricky - we hope you are feeling much better by now. Bob did some cosmetic surgery on Ricky's ears on Friday and it was a BIG DEAL!!! I worried that I had told the Woolleys about it when I shouldn't but when I talked to Jeannie she said, "Mother there is no way we could keep this a secret - Ricky's head is bandaged like he had brain surgery". We know he will be very happy when he gets feeling better.
We had such a fun afternoon yesterday. The Woolleys came over and we went to our "farm" in Lehi and flew kites. It was a perfect day for it - just the right amount of wind. Ron had bought some of the most interesting kites I have ever seen - I believe they are called "stunt kites". I dreamt about them all night and I'm determined to learn how to fly them. It really takes more skill that I have but if Russell can do it I should be able to. They don't have tails and the best thing about them is that they don't break and fall to pieces when they crash and they crashed about a million times yesterday. They have two lines of string attached to them and Russell could make them do all kinds of tricks. They also brought their two other kites and I couldn't' believe how high they flew - Jimmy was holding the string on one of them and the string came to an end and it wasn't tied on so the kite took off. We were hoping Daddy would enjoy sitting out in the sun but he just doesn't feel good and he spent most of the time in the car lying down.
I am determined to make our farm over in Lehi more usable for our family. It would be a perfect place for the children to run and play games, etc. I wonder if maybe we could fence off the frontage directly in front of Don's piece to keep the horses off and fix it so we could play ball and have picnics. What do you think??? I love that over there much more than any of you do but your children would surely have fun and without any worry of bothering other people.
The Braithwaites, Carol & Elly, came to see us last Tuesday and we had such a fun time with them. We visited here for a long time and then we took them to Lehi and drove around. They told us more about going to Russia with the Tabernacle Choir - they surely have done some interesting things - they are such "giving" people.
Ramona & Shirley came over on Wednesday. I was out working in the yard and it was fun to take a break and visit with them. Daddy has some very loyal sisters.
John told us on Friday that he would do anything we wanted him to do on Saturday so I made a list - Ha!!! We cleaned out the shed and gave a lot of things to D. I. and have some things piled up for when they come by for trash in April. My next project is going to be the garage. Daddy gets "very nervous" when I get in these moods - he wouldn't let us throw anything away from the shed until he had "checked" it. John also planted some sod in places where we needed it and he "trimmed" Hans & Frauie - actually he shaved all their hair off. Their hair gets so matted that it is practically impossible to brush it out. John is so pleasant to work with - he is very stable!!!
We're excited about the progress Bill Clinton is making in his bid for the Presidency. I'm not sure he stands for the principles we stand for but he comes across as being intelligent and we are impressed with Hillary too. I think this has been very good for Arkansas.
I wish Daddy felt better - he just doesn't eat. Carol just called and she said her biggest problem in feeding her family is in having enough food - mine is the opposite!!! WE LOVE YOU.