July 17, 1995 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 RON NEXT SUNDAY - I believe he's "30 SOMETHING". I know he will have a super birthday with four darling women to fuss over him!!!
I must write about going to the cabin with little Sarah. We had such a FUN time. We left on Tuesday early afternoon and came home Wednesday evening. I drove into the lot and started to unpack the car and Sarah ran for the fishing poles. Before I could even get the car unpacked Sarah had caught a fish - I looked out the kitchen window and could see the man in the boat next to our dock helping her with his fishing net. I couldn't believe it. She ended up catching five fish - we lost one of them. She is an expert at it - she just sits so calmly until the fish really "tugs" at her line and then she calmly reels it in.
We didn't have anything to keep them in so we wanted to clean them quickly. One of the men told us how to clean them - the first one wasn't done exactly right but we finally got the hang of it. I have watched PaPa clean at least a million fish but until you do it yourself you just don't learn. They have fixed such a nice place to clean them - it's right next to the bowery.
The "Power Bait" that you guys use now is such an improvement over angle worms!!! I may even get a fishing license so I can fish - I can bait the hooks now. I don't know how to tie a hook on though and we broke two hooks.
THE DOCK IS WONDERFUL. It used to kind of swish with the water and make me a little dizzy - now it is so stable and I sat out there with Sarah for hours. We would have caught a lot more but it rained and there was lightning in the sky and that is SO dangerous. It was cold at night but just wonderful in the day.
I took Sarah to the craft store so she could pick out something to do at the cabin in case it rained. I thought she would choose something to weave, crochet or some kind of needlework but she wanted to paint. She painted a cute piece for her Mother.
I went to a funeral this morning. The wife of one of the young men who served a mission with us had triplets two months ago. The smallest baby died a couple days ago. She didn't weigh a pound when she was born and has had a lot of problems so it is a blessing that she died. I was SO surprised the funeral was very long. They had made a video of the little baby's life - it was sad. One of the speakers talked for about 45 minutes. I hope so much that the other two live - they weighed less than 3 pounds when they were born. David Taylor who served with us was there.
The Woolleys came over last night and we had such a good Family Home Evening. They brought the video - "David and Goliath" - and it was very good. Susanna & Jessie start cheerleading practices today. They are both so tan I thought they had been practicing but the haven't and the said they would practice inside anyway. Russell and his Dad didn't come - they had been on a bicycle "trek" that lasted three days and Ann said Russell wasn't feeling very good.
Barji has been at BYU for EFY - "Especially for Youth" - and she didn't call me even one time. When she has been down here before for different things she has called at least once. Ricky is driving now and I can hardly believe it - I know he will be a very careful driver like Susanna is. Mary Ann had a good time at Rick's College where she went for Girl's Academy.
Bob is going to a Boy Scout Leadership Camp this week. It is somewhere up Logan Canyon. I am SO proud of the work Bob does with the Boy Scouts - that is such an important time in a young man's life.
John came over on Saturday and groomed Hans and Frauie. I didn't know he was coming so I had trimmed them a little bit. I really make a mess of it but it has been hot during the day and they needed to be trimmed so I did it. John is VERY GOOD and they trust him and will be calm - they won't let me anywhere near their faces with the trimmer. I cut their eyelashes with the scissors and that's as close as I can get. John will soon be finished with his MBA work - I believe he graduates August 18th.
Rick was in charge of the Farmington Festival Breakfast on Saturday morning - they were planning to serve 3500. That seems like a lot to me - maybe I'm wrong. Anyway, I hope it was successful.
Roy & Patrice - is it hot and humid in Little Rock??? I talked to Chris for a long time on Saturday morning and she said your weather had been pretty good. I remember those days and we just stayed inside most of the time. It is hard to listen to television and hear about the heat wave in the Midwest and the East. we are having a very cool Summer so far.
Chris & Wayne will be here tomorrow and it will be fun to see them again. One of my friends brought me a bucket of bing cherries last night - that is a favorite of Chris. I have looked for road stands selling them but haven't seen them - I guess they aren't very plentiful this year.
We will soon be going to Lake Powell. I am worried about the water being contaminated - they say on TV that people have buried their sewage on the beaches and now that the water level is high, it is being washed into the lake - YUK!!! Susanna was saying last night that the only time she drinks the lake water is when she is water skiing - Ha!!!