January 17, 1999 Farmington, Utah

Dearest Family, Sunday - January 17, 1999 - 3 p.m.

Today is Don's birthday and I just called to wish him a Happy Birthday - he is 69 years old and he said his family wanted to take him out to dinner but he wants to watch the football game so they are going to bring in Kentucky Fried Chicken. They have just been moved into a different ward and Cheryl said they had been in this ward for 18 1/2 years and she was the first Relief Society President so it will be a change for them. Tomorrow would be Aunt Marvel's birthday and she would have been well over 100. Time marches on - Ha!!!

PATRICE - THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR WONDERFUL LETTER. I was SO thrilled to hear from you today when I turned on the computer. I hope Roy has had a great time on his annual backpacking trip with his friends - I am SO happy that he still enjoys that sort of thing. I remember "being in the freezer packed food business" when Bob and Roy were so interested in that - Bob still loves to do it too but I don't believe John goes backpacking anymore. I think that is such a wholesome thing to do and America has beautiful country to explore. It is SO cold here that it is hard for me to imagine it being warm enough in Arkansas.

I'll bet Timothy is a good basketball player - I would love to see him play sometime. I also want to hear about Emily's sleepover friends - do I know any of them? I'll bet Jesse would have liked to go with Roy. I am SO sorry about the damage done to your car Patrice (a tree limb fell on her car during one of the Winter storms this year). I guess that is minor compared to the damage done throughout the areas that were so badly hit with snow and wind.

Dearest Family, Sunday - January 17, 1999 - 3:20 p.m.

This has been a fun week for me. I had a permanent on Tuesday and it is so FUN to be in such a small town. I went to Ellen Mae's hair dresser and I just parked out in front of her beauty parlor - she is in downtown Kaysville which is VERY small. I met Bob at the condo later that day and we measured all the rooms - actually Bob did it while I visited with Mel and Ellen Mae who came to see the condo. Jack, the owner helped Bob - he is a very nice man.

PATRICE - I DON'T KNOW IF YOU RECEIVED THE ONE I JUST WROTE BUT IN CASE YOU DIDN'T - THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR WONDERFUL LETTER. I hope Roy had a great time backpacking - what a wholesome sport and I'm SO glad he still enjoys it. I want to meet Emily's "over-night" friends and I want to see Timothy play basketball sometime. I'm sorry your car was damaged when the limb fell on it during one of your Winter storms - I hope it can be repaired completely. I can just hear Jesse begging to go backpacking with his Dad.

Bob and I went to measure the condo on Tuesday - actually Bob and Jack (the owner) did it while I visited with Mel and Ellen Mae who came to see the condo. They are going to have to put their furniture in storage while their new home is being completed and it will cost them $1,500. I offered to stay in this apartment for another month but they didn't want me to do that so I ended up buying some of their furniture to help them. This is all new to me and I just hope I'm not doing foolish things - I may never know!!! We will close on January 27th and hopefully move in that weekend.

I drove to Orem on Wednesday to try to do some packing of my breakables. My neighbors, the Fredericks, came over to visit and it was so good to see them that we just visited and I didn't get much packing done. I did pack some of my crystal and I have put it in the garage where Jean and Rick are staying. I don't like to travel North after 3 p.m. because of the traffic so I really don't have much time to pack. I am going again in the morning because I have decided to have my doctor's checkups this next week before I get super busy with all the moving. I couldn't get the internist and the dermatologist appointments on the same day so I will go tomorrow and also on Thursday - maybe I can get some packing done too.

I went to our ward Relief Society Social on Wednesday night and it was SO good. Their theme was "Choose The Good Part" and it was just what I needed - I need to learn to be more of a Mary instead of a Martha. I went to the Farmington Jr. High Girl's basketball game and saw Sarah cheerlead with her team - I can't believe how good she is and she is so tiny and she's also the youngest on their team. I went to Janet Asper's home on Friday night where I met Helen and Virginia also and we all went to dinner. We went to "The Mandarin" which was the closest to Thai food we could find - it was excellent food but I still prefer Thai food. It was SO much fun to talk about our missionary experiences and Janet was especially interested in the things I could tell her about her zone that I inherited for my last two months. We will always be good friends now that we aren't competing with each other - that was SO dumb!!!

I read a book yesterday - that is the first time in my entire life that I spent almost the whole day reading. There is a new series of church books out and they are very good. They are actually historical novels taking place during World War II and it brought back a flood of memories. I am trying to figure out why all of a sudden there is so much interest in that period of our lives. I know you have all heard about Tom Brokaw's book and when I see the advertisements of that on television I see your Dad and also my brother. Last Sunday when I went to Jeannie's home for dinner she was preparing fresh pineapple and was about to throw away some very good parts of the pineapple. Wasting food just absolutely kills me so I had her give that part to me. I imagine when and if you read Brokaw's book maybe you will understand. I am thrilled the men who fought in that war are receiving the recognition they so rightfully deserve.

Bob dropped by last night to see if I had figured out where to put my furniture in the rooms where he had measured. While he was here he was called to go to the emergency room to remove two pennies from a two year old's throat - that is SO scary. He says that happens quite often - I thought putting cheerios in nostrils was bad!!! Claire has invited me to come eat with them tonight so while I am there I will find out if all of you received three letters, two letters or no letters - Ha!!! I'm not going to promise that I will write another one tonight if you haven't received any of them.