Dearest Family, August 11, 1998

WOW - DID I EVER NEED YOUR WONDERFUL LETTERS!!! Thank you So much!!!

BOB - What a treat to have a pictorial trip to the Colorado mountains - I feel as though I have been on a camping trip right along with you. I can't imagine hiking through a pass at 12,500 feet elevation - I'm proud of all of you!!! You must be in really good shape to hike 30 miles overall. It was fun to read that you had gone to Silverton - that is an old gold mining town isn't it - I remember going there. Hiking above the tree line over the continental divide and then going down into the tropical forest to camp sounded SO EXOTIC!!! Your fish dinners reminded me SO much of our trips many years ago - for some reason they always taste so much better up in the mountains. Your pictures came through so beautiful and clear - Katie by the campfire with their blue tent in the background; Brett with a big fish on his line and the gorgeous mountains in the background; Bob, Brett, Laura (or is it Claire?), and Katie lying on a little hill with a lake in the background; Katie and Claire straddling something - it looks like a rock - with Brett and Laura in the background; Bob with Katie getting a fish off her line and the clear, clear water stream in the background; Bob and Claire and your clothes look too clean to be camping; Laura, Brett and Katie in front of a beautiful waterfall; Brett at his archery range at Scout camp and again at the shooting range. THANK YOU JUST MILLIONS FOR DOING THAT FOR ME!!! I will always believe those kinds of family trips are the very best ones and the ones your children will remember. I'M SO GLAD YOU ARE HOME THOUGH!!! I can't believe you and Brett are going on another camping trip with your Teacher's Quorum for three days - the Uintas will be beautiful - probably as pretty or prettier than Colorado. I'll bet Claire is glad she doesn't have to go - Ha!!!

ANNIE - Thank you SO much for taking the time to go to Ron's office to use his computer to write to me. It is hard enough to find time to write when the computer is at home!!! You are a VERY GOOD sport to go camping with the Young Women when I know how much you dislike it!!! What did Ron (and Rick) think of the “Heart of the Ocean” pendant - I am SO happy you got them - you will probably never get back to Thailand and they are perfect souvenirs and a very good value right now. I hope my big porcelain vase made it without getting broken but I will not worry too much about it if it did - they are SO rough with the luggage!!! I hope I get to see Russ play a few football games!!! I hope you all have a HAPPY WOOLLEY FAMILY REUNION!!!

RON - CONGRATULATIONS ON BEING CALLED INTO THE BISHOPRIC OF YOUR WARD!!! Ann told me to not say anything about it for awhile and so I didn't and then I forgot all about it. I am thrilled for you and your whole family - that is a very choice calling for all of you. IT IS ALSO A BIG JOB!!! Thank you for writing to me while Ann was camping - I wish you would do that more often - Ha!

JEANNIE - I loved Ricky's letter to all of you. I want to write to him but I don't have his MTC address - please send it to me. It sounds like he is doing really good and isn't it great that he has seen Boyd already? That is such a choice experience for all the young men and Ricky sounds like he has a good companion - THAT IS SO IMPORTANT. I had a sweet letter from my good friend and neighbor in Orem - Anne Smith. Her cousin has been Mission President in Montana for the past three years and was just released in July this year. She told me that he has been called to be President of the MTC in Provo - his last name is Harvey - maybe Ricky will meet him and he can tell him that his Grandpa was the Mission President in Montana from 1982-85. I laughed about the shock he had when he had to get up at 5:30 a.m. - that seems to be one of the biggest hurdles new missionaries have to go through.

JOHN - I will never get over having my wallet stolen but I TRULY appreciate your comforting words and help - THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! I awaken in the middle of the night and try to figure out what happened - the person who took it was SO fast I didn't even know it!!! I WILL LEARN FROM IT AND MAYBE THAT IS GOOD!!!

THE ROYS - I am anxious to hear about your trip to Colorado!!! You probably are not even home yet. I had a letter from the Culwells today and they said the weather was getting cooler in Little Rock - I HOPE SO!!!

My young friends are here for their English lesson so I will close for now. I LOVE YOU ALL SO VERY, VERY MUCH. PLEASE BE SO VERY, VERY CAREFUL. Grandma B