February 15, 1999 Farmington, Utah

Patrice - Thank you SO much for your "GOOD" letter when I came to the computer a few minutes ago. I love to read about your plans to plant another garden this Summer - WHAT A WHOLESOME FAMILY PROJECT THAT IS!!! Your children are learning many things - about good fresh vegetables, about working hard to produce worthwhile things, about commitment to watering and fertilizing the seeds and on and on. I'M PROUD OF YOU!!! I'm also glad you have talked to Chris - I am SO excited about our "girls' reunion". Your warm weather must be a great relief from your stormy Winter - we could use some warm weather soon.

How are the tornado relief projects coming? One of my visiting teachers has a church calling that will take her to Little Rock this week so I told her to tell the Cobbs hello for me - later she told me that she had read about President Cobb helping the tornado victims in an article in the Church Ensign magazine. I haven't seen it.

Claire - Thank you SO much too for your little e-mail messages. I love "keeping in touch" with all of you through e-mail and it is so thoughtful for you to take the time to do that even though I see you quite often. Claire and I "checked out" a little Mexican eating place close by me one day last week and it was so much fun - THE FOOD WAS GREAT!!!

Yesterday was such a fun day. I didn't know anyone was coming and all of a sudden most of my Utah family came by to say "hello". I was doing some unpacking when the doorbell rang and it was Annie, Susanna, Lee Anna and Jimmy. Lee Anna and Jimmy hadn't even seen my condo so it was fun to show them through it - it seems like ages since I have seen them. While they were here Barji & Jessie who had just come home from Utah State came with Jean and Sarah. The cousins all wanted the Bob Mellor cousins to come over so they called them and Bob brought Brett and Katie over. It is thrilling to me to see how much the cousins love each other. THEN - John and Julianna came and they brought MORE things for me to "put away" - Ha!!! They left about 8:30 and then they called about 9:00 and said John had left his wallet here so they were coming back for it - I felt SO bad because I believe they were almost home in Orem when they realized they had forgotten it. Barji and Jessie spent the night with me and I LOVED THAT - Sarah went home with Katie and Brett to spend the night with them. Rick and Jeannie came over later to check on the girls and we had fun visiting and eating the taffy and donuts that Ann had brought. I missed Ron, Claire, Russell, Laura, Michael, Mary Ann and of course Roy, Patrice, Emily, Timothy, Jesse and Ricky. I guess I will never get over wanting to have my family all under a "bubble" and close by me.

Barji and Jessie slept until late this morning and then Jeannie came over and we had "toast" together and visited. It is SO funny to see how closely the girls are watching their weight. I always wanted to be thin when I was their ages but NOT THAT BAD!!! I handed Barji a glass of orange juice and said "this doesn't have calories in it" and quickly Jeannie said, "Mom that glass of orange juice has 160 calories in it" -- Ha!!! I have always loved food - I love to eat and I love to cook. Whenever I drop in at Jeannies' home she ALWAYS has good things to eat so I know they enjoy food too.

I am VERY SLOWLY getting unpacked. Bob has come over almost every day to help me put my pictures up - actually he has put them up!!! I point to where I want them and he does all the measuring, lifting, hammering, etc. I love the way my condo is "shaping up". I had one big empty wall on the way going up the stairs and I couldn't believe what Julianna brought last night - a huge "wreath" that is just perfect for that spot - it is even more perfect because she has made it. Bob and Michael came over on Saturday and fixed all my taps - they were hard to pull on and they took them apart and did something to them that makes them like new. I hope Roy and Patrice and their family will come and stay long enough to help me with my genealogy - all I have is in a box and I KNOW they would be able to help me organize it. Bob was looking at a picture I have of my Father's family and I was very embarrassed when he asked me what my Grandfather's name was and I didn't know - he brought over some family group sheets of the Forrest family last night and there are mistakes on them that need to be corrected.

I HAVE A NEW GAS FIREPLACE!!! There was a wood burning fireplace here and I don't believe I could handle making a fire as often as I would like so I converted to the gas one. IT IS WONDERFUL - It heats my whole condo (it doesn't do the downstairs very well but I didn't expect it to). It is SO pretty - a brass front!!! It is also SO easy - I just turn a little switch on the bottom and it lights right up and the fan forces the heat all over the house. I love to sit downstairs at night and read and it is so comfortable now.

Mary Ann and Sarah spent Friday night with me - Jean and Rick went to Logan to go to the "Glenn Miller Program" at Utah State. Bob and Claire had gone the night before and they said it was WONDERFUL - Jean said it was too but then Barji and Jessie are in it so I thought she may be prejudiced - Ha!!! Claire took some pictures of them in their costumes and they are so beautiful - I am anxious to see the program this Thursday.

I went to Brigham City on Saturday morning with Don and Cheryl. Our cousin, Billy Smith, died of lung cancer and we went to his funeral. The services were very different from our LDS services but they were beautiful. They had a pastor perform the funeral and he did an excellent job but I don't know what church he was from. They didn't have a viewing. His wife Sandra was very close to my parents - she sang a solo at my Father's funeral. They had a lot of music at the funeral. It was good to be with Don and Cheryl but I am very worried about Don - he can hardly walk and it is very difficult for him to get out of a car. He says it is his back and they can't do surgery because of his Parkinson's disease, his diabetes and his high blood pressure. Cheryl is a doll and I have a lot of respect for her - she cares for their autistic grandson often besides taking care of Don. They go on a lot of cruises though and also to Las Vegas often so he isn't too bad I guess. He is going to have prostate surgery this week.

I was a judge at our ward dinner on Saturday night and that was fun. All the men in the ward prepared their favorite food and then the women in the ward judged which was the best - I got to hand out some of the awards and they were funny. I presented a wooden fork to one man and the award said, "You had better "fork" over your dough and eat out".

I had the cutest visitors a few minutes ago. A man who is 91 years old and his wife who is 88 came to see me and they brought a jar of homemade jam. They live at the very end of the condominiums (there are 39 condos) and they are darling and in very good health. I said my family was worried about me having stairs to climb and they said they thought the stairs had been their secret to good health and they have lived here for ten years. I have always thought that too!!! Their son has a foreign exchange student from Bangkok living with them so they are going to bring her over to see me. THAT WILL BE A TREAT!!!