October 5, 1992 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:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MARY ANN THIS SATURDAY - 10 years old!!!
It's kinda' cold here in Orem this morning. This is the time of year when you want to turn your furnace on in the morning and the air conditioning on in the afternoon. It's really beautiful outside and this is my time of year - I LOVE FALL!!!

When I re-read the letter I sent last week I realized that I hadn't even mentioned John. I try to keep up with all of you so I'm going to write about him first today. He is SO good to come home when I call him. I have been just a little nervous lately because there have been a lot of burglaries in our neighborhood - one night several weeks ago there were four homes broken into - everyone feels that it is young kids wanting money because they don't take anything of real value - just coins left in cars or money in purses. ANYWAY - I decided to put looks on two of my doors and I got one on upside down and I couldn't get it off and I couldn't even close the door. John came home to help me - I had "stripped" the screw and he had quite a time but finally got it off. There are policemen patrolling our neighborhood all the time now so I'm sure the break-ins will stop. John is REALLY happy with his apartment and we drove by it yesterday and it is in a wonderful area. He keeps mighty busy with his work and he loves his bicycle and goes riding every chance he gets.

Patrice - thank you SO much for your letter and those adorable pictures. That little Emily has a million dollar smile and is so happy all the time. It's hard for me to believe she is old enough to have a "two-wheeler" but I know she LOVES it. I can just see Roy spending most of his time at home following her around on it - Ha!!! Little Timothy has contentment written all over his face and what a joy he is in your home. WE MISS YOU!!! I'll bet the children have a lot of fun drawing pictures with their sidewalk chalk and what a perfect place for them to play - on your patio. I hope you'll write and tell me about your camping trip to Blanchard Springs - did you go through the caverns? There are so many fun outdoor things to do in Arkansas - we tried to go to every place while we lived there - even went digging for diamonds. Did you catch any fish, Roy?

We had a wonderful family day yesterday and after everyone left I thought of all the things I didn't get to do that I wanted to any it was my own fault. The next time you all come I'm going to spend more time with the children - I haven't heard Susanna play the piano for a long, long time and she played yesterday but we were all in the kitchen so I really didn't get to listen to her. I also wanted to have Brett play his piece for me - the time just goes too fast!!! The Woolleys got here for the beginning of conference and then the others got here about noon - we had waffles and I cooked some of Daddy's elk sausage with mushrooms. Later we had chicken fajitas, rice with cheese, a Mexican dip and lost of good drinks. When it was time for the families to leave we all drove to the cemetery and put a quilt out by Daddy's grave and Jeannie had made caramel fondue to have with apple chunks - we all went crazy over that!!! The children were all SO good and I love to have them all together because they enjoy each other so much. They make a mess but it doesn't take long to clean it up. Claire suggested we take time to look at some of our albums and that was really fun - Daddy used to spend hours looking through them - they bring back wonderful memories and it's fun to have your children laugh at some of your hair and clothing styles.

I keep SO BUSY. The window washers came and before they finally finished, I was a basket case. John came home one time during this and I think he things I am a Leona Helmsley. They told me they would caulk all my windows and I honestly believe they had never used a caulking gun before - I spent a lot of time cleaning up caulking from my sidewalks and patio. I bought twenty caulking containers and they used them all but I can't see where they put it. It took them three days to finish but they only worked about two hours a day. Jeannie said that I am spoiled because Daddy did everything so well and was at my beck and call all the time and she is right!!!

I was in charge of the refreshments for the ward talent fair last Tuesday - many people were asked to bring cookies and I have never seen so many cookies in my life and they were all eaten. I really took Frances Anderson's place and she had arranged everything and they got all the punch from BYU so all I had to do was serve it.

Daddy & I would have celebrated our 45th wedding anniversary last Thursday. It was our regular luncheon club meeting that day and the lady in charge arranged for us to go to the Riverside Country Club - they had a special dessert (grasshopper pie) to celebrate my anniversary - it was a fun day!!!

Friday night would have been our missionary reunion get together. I decided early that morning to work really hard all day so I didn't even put makeup on. You guessed it - I had missionaries come who had not heard about Daddy passing away. When they come and find that out they are so sad and embarrassed and then they want to hear all about it. It will be easier for me when more time passes and they have all heard about it.

Our General Conference was really good and I watched most of it and listened to all of it. It will be interesting to find out where the new Utah County temple will be built - I'm betting on Springville. They are also going to build one in Hartford, Connecticut and other places. Boyd Packer made it perfectly clear that they will not build another BYU and for young people who are not accepted at BYU to go to schools where there are Institutes of Religion - he really puts it on the line!!!

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