November 27, 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 ANNIE THIS COMING SUNDAY!!! I hope this wonderful wife, mother, and daughter & sister will have a day that is deserving of her - she gives her all to her family and I know they know that. I'm not going to give her age but I was 23 years old when she was born and I will be 70 this month - Ha!!!

We had such a nice Thanksgiving here in Utah and I know our family in Little Rock had a nice one too. It was fun to talk to Roy, Patrice, Emily & Timothy on Thanksgiving morning - I didn't ever talk to Jesse but I don't believe he noticed!!! It REALLY pleases me when families will share their day with others like my family does. Roy & Patrice had invited Suzie of course, and they also invited members of their church - Emily was excited because they were having a "wild man" come. I am assuming that was a child of one of their guests and we have some of those too.

I won't go into great detail about our dinner but I would like to mention some things that were special to me. Ann had made homemade rolls and with some of the dough she had made "Turkeys" as centerpieces for each of the tables - I wish I had taken close- up pictures of them. She also had beautiful Fall tablecloths for all the tables that she had made and orange plates, cups, napkins, etc. Their home was SO lovely and festive and the children were all helping.

Sue, Ron's sister, had made darling nut cup place markers - she is a very clever person. I MUST have the recipe for Jean's fruit salad - I could have eaten the whole bowl and it was HUGE. John & Julianna went ALL OUT - they made apple and pumpkin pies and also a million individual cheese cakes with cherry and blueberry toppings - a real hit!!! I regret that I didn't eat any of Claire's delicious looking pecan and pumpkin pies. I was SO impressed with John helping to make the pies they brought that I ate their delicious apple pie and there was no more room!!!

We had an absolutely gorgeous day and the children loved playing in the park close by Ann & Rons' home. It wasn't hard to get people to the table - everyone was hungry.

Bob did Bev's surgery Thanksgiving morning but it didn't slow her down. She kept putting iced gauze strips on her eyes and she was bruised but other than that was very normal. Ann said that when surgery. She has planned to have that done for a long for a long time so I'm sure she is happy to have it over with.

Thank you all so very much for a very Happy Thanksgiving.

It was fun to spend some time with Bob. He showed me pictures of some of the children on whom he had done surgery for cleft palates in Mexico. WHAT A WONDERFUL SERVICE YOU ARE DOING BOB. I didn't know he had gone until he got back and I was glad - I worry too much about them flying the way they do. He also showed me pictures of the area from the plane - they land quite a ways away from the village where they work and then some Catholic people from the clinic drive out to get them. It looks so primitive I was kinda' surprised they have automobiles!!! Bob is SO positive about the things they do and always says, "It is fun". I AM VERY PROUD OF YOU BOB. I can't help but think that Claire would enjoy going sometime to see where you work.

I REALLY goofed!!! Cissy and Charles Beyers called me about a week ago to tell me they were bringing their Arkansas family to Utah for Thanksgiving. Steve and Eileen and their six children & Cissy & Charles were with Shawna and Rex in Centerville from Wednesday until Saturday. They asked me to try to drive up to see them and I COMPLETELY FORGOT until it was too late. I remembered on Saturday evening and they had already gone. I am getting SO old - I forgot to put my dogs' door in last night and since it was SO cold they didn't go outside and bark to remind me.

Dorothy & Dan called me on Saturday morning and I talked to EVERYONE for at least an hour. It brought back so many memories. We talked and laughed about the "Southern Dressing" that Dan always got from Timex and shared with us. He says he still gets it but isn't able to get as much as when he worked there. I am going to perfect that recipe sometime - I just love it!!! Carol and her husband and little daughter live in Chandler, Arizona- they have bought a home there. I asked her if she had met any Mormons there and she laughed and said that the law firm she works for is known as the "Mormon Law Firm". When we lived there most of our church friends were lawyers - the Udalls started there. Terry is raising dogs - those big white dogs she had when we were there and she also has some other big kinds. She had five with her that she had brought from Chattanooga. Dana and her husband bought some acreage and a nice home in Western Little Rock and they raise chickens and have a big garden.

We have snow this morning and it is SO pretty down here in the downstairs part of my home. Elaine has called me several times and always says she will call me the next day to tell me what her plans are but she forgets. I believe she is settled in at Matt's home and that is fine. I was hoping I could help her get better fast but Matt seemed to want her up there. She is a darling woman and would be fun to have around. She says her wrist is not healing the way she feels it should - the doctor took the cast off and wants her to use it but she says she can't.

I went to the Woolleys' home last night for a little while and they were "buzzing" with activity. Susanna was making cinnamon rolls and Ron was helping Russell with a report for school.

I dropped in on John & Julianna after I left the Woolleys. Their apartment is just darling and all decorated for Christmas. Julianna had all her tole paints out and was sanding some wooden decorations getting ready to paint them. They have a fresh tree and it smells SO good. Ann had given John some of my letters dating from 1979 - some of them are handwritten and he wants me to put them on the computer. I stayed up late last night reading them and even though it is sad to read them about all our fun activities with Daddy I am grateful to have them because at my age I have forgotten so many of the things that happened and they make WONDERFUL MEMORIES. One of the letters I wrote about how happy I am that Roy had a nice "friend girl" - Patrice O'Donoghue.

My street is all decorated and I LOVE IT. I put my Christmas lights up as usual on that tree by the garage and somehow I got them all on one side. I decided that rather than taking them down and doing them over I would go buy another set to put on the other side - when I got them all up and plugged them in, it blew the circuit out because they were overloaded. I just took them down and decided to have a one sided lighted tree - Ha!!! I am going to throw away all my lights after this year and buy all new ones next year - I have as many hidden under bushes that don't work as I do that do work.

I came home from Thanksgiving and as usual went to bed about 10 o'clock. I had a phone call at 11:30 from my neighbor, Vontella Smith. She had been in Idaho with her family for Thanksgiving and when they brought it with her. In with the mail was a note from the Murray Police telling her to call a number they had. She had tried to call the number and it wasn't a workable number. She is paranoid about things like that anyway and was going crazy. She didn't want me to go over so I didn't - she said she had to call her family in Salt Lake to see if they had had problems. She called me the next morning about 6:30 and said the Orem police were on their way over - I hurried and dressed and went over. There was such a lot of confusion but the bottom line was that there had been a hit and run accident in Murray with a brown 1992 Chrysler driven by an elderly woman and the license plate was FXF and Vonnie's number is FZF. It is unbelievable that something like that could happen to her of all people.

Don's wife, Cheryl, had to have surgery on Thanksgiving morning. She has been having a lot of abdominal pain and they discovered that she had an ovarian cyst. I was VERY concerned because they didn't want to wait to do the surgery until after Thanksgiving. They called me last night and said everything was just fine and they are relieved. One of my happiest blessings is having a good relationship with them after all these years.

I am SO excited. I went to buy another extension pole to attach to my window squeegee because I have lost the one I had. The man at the store showed me a VERY LONG extension pole so I bought it and I can clean my Cathedral ceilings with it - JOY!!!





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