July 11, 1994 Orem, Utah
Dearest John & Julianna; Roy, Patrice, Emily, Timothy & Jesse; 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 RICKY THIS COMING SATURDAY!!! 15 YEARS OLD - ONE MORE YEAR AND YOU WILL BE DRIVING RICKY - THAT'S GREAT!!!
Hilde Ringger and I just came home from visiting some of the older sisters in our ward. We didn't have our presidency meeting this morning because Anne and Kim are involved in the Young Women's Camp - Anne & her husband are going to be the "grandparents" at camp for our stake and Kim's daughter is the camp director and she had to help her. It's fun to visit some of the older sisters except they are not that much older than I am.
Thank you Claire and Patrice for those WONDERFUL pictures. You know me and pictures and I just love them and also your sweet letters. I'm glad to have the pictures of the grandchildren at the Jordan River Temple - that was thoughtful to take those and also the one of John & Julianna as they came out of the temple - the only one of them I have until I order some from their photographer. I also love the one of the Bob Mellor family taken at Flaming Gorge - pictures like that and the ones of the Roy Mellor family taken on vacation give me such a good feeling because I know how important it is to have family vacations. The one of Emily feeding little Jesse is adorable - is he on solid foods now? I also loved the one of Bob with the children with the dinosaur in the background taken at Vernal and it reminded me of the balloon races here on the 4th - they had an inflated "Rex, the dinosaur" (?) and I saw it in the sky on my way to Scofield that morning - the traffic was too heavy or I would have pulled over and taken a picture of it. I took a lot of pictures at the Woolleys on the 4th and I will share them when I get them developed.
THIS IS LAKE POWELL WEEK!!! Bob & Claire & their family and Jean and their family will travel together from the Northern part of the state and the Woolleys will leave from Provo - all on Wednesday morning. John & Julianna & I will leave early on Saturday morning and we expect to get there about noon. WE ARE ALL EXCITED and I know it will be a wonderful HOT time!!! Ann told me they were planning to have "Sea-Doos" so that will be really fun. We will miss Roy & Patrice and their family and also Rick - hopefully we will all be able to go together some time in the future.
Bob - thank you for helping me last weekend. I feel bad that you felt like you had to paint at the cabin. Bob took Brett, Katie and Jimmy to the cabin on Friday - I believe they had planned to stay until Sunday but decided to come home on Saturday. It's just too hard to try to paint and keep little children entertained. The plan was for the men to go up to the cabin in the Fall and take the chicken wire down and put a board up in its place and paint that and then finish the north side of the cabin. I failed to tell Bob that but I had no idea he was planning to do any painting. I'm sure you are all thinking the "paint job" has been a "pain" but look at it this way - it has given me a great deal of joy to know that you will help me when I get in a bind. Does that help?
Bob also put a heavy rope on the limb that is hanging down to the ground in my backyard and tied it to another limb and used his "come along" to pull it up. We're hoping that in time it will draw up and stay that way. I REALLY appreciate your help!!!
I went to Aunt Ramona's 80th birthday party last Wednesday night. Her children hosted it and it was very nice - it was held at Cascade Park here in Orem and they had a dinner catered that was just excellent. All her children and their spouses were there and many of her grandchildren and great grandchildren. Her daughter, Margaret, who lives in Virginia was here for it too. Ann tried to go to it but I had not made it clear to her where it was and she looked for the park for an hour and a half and then gave up - communication is SO important and also SO hard when everyone is busy.
We all missed the reunion and I feel bad about that. Looking back on last weekend, I wish I had gone to the cabin with Bob and the children and then encouraged them to go to Fayette the next morning for the reunion breakfast. I was involved in fixing an evening meal for a lady who had just had a baby but I could have planned a little better for that. Shirley called and invited me to go with her but she said if I didn't go she would go with her children on Friday and they would spend the night in Ephraim with one of her daughters and their family and then go to Fayette the next morning - I could tell that was what she wanted to do. Ramona had broken her arm and it was in a cast at her birthday party so she couldn't go. Elaine was going to go to Washington to visit her daughter, Lisa.
I went to Ray & Carol Edwards' daughter's wedding reception in Lehi on Friday night. It was held in the backyard of the home of their son Brent and it was very nice. Lehi is like another country though and I'm really glad I don't live over there.
We are having an unusually HOT Summer with very little rain. I feel SO bad for the people in the flooded areas of Georgia, Florida and Alabama - they get the rain and we get the sun and I would much prefer the sun. Chris & Wayne have called several times and they say the rain just won't quit. It's funny not having them come out this year - the first time in ten years. Wayne's brother is dying of cancer and they are spending a lot of time helping him. Linda & Ken have bought a new home in Dallas and Linda & Rick have bought a new home in Conway - they are all doing fine.