September 11, 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:

We had our presidency meeting this morning and as we were sitting in the den, Anne smith (the homemaking counselor), said, "Barbara, I think it's too cold in here". I had to go upstairs and turn off the evaporative cooler - what a thrill!!! We are having just beautiful weather - cold nights and warm but not hot days. I KNOW that is a sure sign of old age when a person thinks too much about the weather - plead guilty!!!

Mary Ann had a violin recital at the University of Utah last Tuesday. Jeannie had told me the time and place and everything and I left here in plenty of time but I ended up at Fort Douglas which is the Eastern part of the campus. I though it looked different but I haven't spent that much time up there. Some men on bicycles finally came by and told me where I was so I headed for the main campus. I didn't know where "Gardener Hall" was so I started looking for a building with a lot of cars around it - I found lots of buildings like that but none of them was where I wanted to be. The recital was to start at 7:30 and about 7:25 I started to panic - I finally found some girls sitting on the grass so I parked and asked directions and fortunately I wasn't too far away. When I walked up to Gardener Hall there was that darling Sarah waiting or me outside. She was SO calm as she told me that Mary Ann was the very first one on the program - we hurried up some flights of stairs and found the recital. The teacher was just saying, "We'll start with Mary Ann" when we walked in - I was SO thrilled that I had made it in time!!!

I was VERY impressed with the entire recital - there were about 10 young women and 2 young men and they were just WONDERFUL!!! Mary Ann was so poised and looked just beautiful and did not make one mistake. Her piece was very long and she played it from memory - I WAS VERY PROUD OF HER!!! Her whole family was there to support her and Ricky even brought a friend - I think that's GREAT. Thank you for inviting me.

I wanted to go to the cabin to paint the deck last week and I always like to get there in the afternoon and spend the night and then get up early to start painting. I had an eye appointment with Dr. Ririe on Thursday morning so I got things ready so I could leave right after that. My appointment was for 9:15 and I got in to see him at 11 o'clock - clock - I was annoyed!!! I don't know if you remember that my father suffered from macular degeneration. I have all the rest of his genes so I'm sure to have that one too and I have worried about it. Dr. Ririe said he doesn't see any changes in my eyes since my last examination so he didn't recommend the vitamins people take for that - I was relieved. Dr. Ririe is doctor who took care of Jessie when she had her accident. He must have written that on his chart because he told me he had just seen her about a month ago - he says she has recovered REMARKABLY - he is proud of her.

I got up to the cabin on Thursday afternoon and it was just beautiful up there - it is so quiet it is almost frightening. I got up early on Friday and started to paint - I like to use that red cedar deck stain. It rains up in Scofield almost every afternoon at this time of year so I painted the floor of the deck first and then was going to do the railing after so it could get dry before it rained. WELL - I started to pour some paint into the paint pan to do the railing and the pan slipped out of my hands and you wouldn't believe the mess. It splattered all over my face, my hair my clothes and then dripped on the big rock underneath the deck. I just about cried. Threw my clothes away and cleaned up the best I could and got in the car and came home. I will go up again probably tomorrow to finish. This is the best time of the year to do that while the weather is still nice. Our dock is the most popular one up there - there were three boats tied up to it. Byrd came over and asked if you were going to go up there - if you were he said he would move the boats. I keep hoping I can spend more time up there!!!

Ann is quite remarkable - BYU has put her on their faculty!!! She doesn't have a definite schedule yet but she likes what she is doing - she is still supervising secondary student teachers and with her new assignment is also teaching them at the college about lesson plans, etc. I THINK IT'S WONDERFUL!!!

Patrice - thank you SO much for your telephone call yesterday. It was wonderful to talk to you and hear about Roy and the children. I'm SO glad the children are all happy in their schools and I'm also happy that I know of their situations because I love their schools and their friends. It's fun to hear about Roy going dove hunting with Trip Strauss - friends have always been important to me and I know they are to you and Roy too. I'm proud of your Mom for being so brave in doing the traveling she has done and continues to do - that's GREAT!!!

John & Julianna came over for a few minutes yesterday afternoon and they're doing fine. Julianna said she was going to go into hibernation for a couple weeks and work on her thesis - I didn't know she had a deadline but I guess she needs to be finished in December. I'll be happy when the dogs need to be groomed again - that's the only time John will spend more than a minute over here. John does a great job with the dogs and they love him - I don't give them the attention he does. When I took them to the Vet last week for their annual checkup, the Vet told me Hans' glands were swollen, he needed his teeth cleaned, his spleen was enlarged and probably had a tumor on it, his testicles were not in good condition and I should have blood work done on him. This Vet is just out of vet Medicine school - I just looked at him and said "I love my dogs and will make sure they have their shots, etc. but I'm not having extensive surgery on them".
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