July 11, 1999 Farmington, Utah

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO RICKY ON FRIDAY!!! I could write a book about the first few weeks of Ricky's life and many times I thought he would never "make it" and here he is a strong healthy young 20 year old man. We are all SO proud of you Ricky and we hope you have a very special birthday - I'm sure it will be different from any you have ever had but memorable!!!

I didn't write my letter last week so I have a lot to try to remember. Saturday, June 26th, Katie and I went to the airport to meet Emily as she was traveling alone from Little Rock. I am a worrier and I was very relieved to see her come up the "ramp" - I will never forget her smile. She smiled from ear to ear and even though it was obvious that she knew us, the airline attendant had to make sure and I had to show identification before she would release her to us (that is a great thing and we wouldn't have it any other way). She had promised her Dad that she would call him as soon as she got here so we hurried and found a phone - then we came home and made tacos and visited. They spent that night with me but since my church starts so early they decided they would go to Katie's church and Bob & Claire came for them about 10:30 a.m. They spent Sunday night with me too and I LOVED IT!!! Monday I took them to meet Claire at "The Olive Garden" - she was giving a bridal luncheon for her niece, Joanna Ferner, who was getting married the next week and invited them to go to it. THEN she took them to "The Old Navy" store to do some shopping.

Tuesday morning, June 29th, we all got packed up to go to Lake Powell. I rode with Bob and Claire and some of their family and the teenagers kept switching cars - we left about 6 a.m. I think Emily was surprised that it was so far but she didn't complain. We stopped at MacDonald's for breakfast as usual. The Woolleys had gone on ahead - they were pulling their new ski boat and wanted to get to the houseboat before we got there and that made it a lot easier. We were all sad that John and Julianna couldn't go with us. They have been VERY confined with their puppies and couldn't leave them. Sarah couldn't go either because she had to go to cheerleading camp and we really missed her.

WE HAD AN ABSOLUTELY MARVELOUS TIME AT LAKE POWELL. We found a perfect place for our house boat and with the ski boat and two Sea-Doos plus all the other water toys everyone took it was as much fun as possible. Bob, Michael, Ron, Russell and Rick made the neatest "zip slide" - Bob had taken a special drill that made it easier to anchor to the rocks. Michael "tested" it and when they were sure it was safe then all the children REALLY had fun on it. The food was "out of this world" as usual - they let me have my turn the first day and I was SO glad that I didn't have to worry about the vegetables and things spoiling.

I had planned to come home on Friday with the Weinerts - they had to come home because they were having sod put down at their new home. The others were going to stay until Sunday BUT the wind blew on Friday night like you wouldn't believe!!! It blew mattresses and other things off the top and finally all the children and some of the adults moved downstairs to spend the rest of the night. I believe we got about one hour sleep that night. We checked the weather forecast and found that it was supposed to blow that hard the following two days. SO - the Bob Mellors decided to go home on Saturday too. The Woolleys decided to stay and we all felt bad that they would have to clean it alone but they wanted to go to Rainbow bridge so they stayed and came home on Sunday night.

We were all ready to leave and Rick was just pulling away from the dock when a man in front of him backed right into his car. It pushed the radiator back in the front of his car and smashed the grill and they didn't think he would be able to drive it home. Bob, Michael and Rick spent a lot of time at the service station and finally decided to try to drive it. They put many containers of water in their cars and Bob followed closely. We had to stop often to put water in the radiator and that really scared me because the road is narrow but the children were SO good and we were all happy when we finally reached Hanksville where they got some anti freeze (I think) to put in along with the water and that saved the day and we didn't have to stop any more until we got home about ten o'clock - we had stopped as usual in Price for a hamburger.

Emily stayed with Katie on Friday night but I wanted them to go to the Farmington July 4th parade so I went to pick them up on Saturday morning. There were many people there and the traffic was bad so I didn't get back to my condo until after Roy, Patrice, Timothy and Jesse had arrived. They didn't have any problems finding my condo. Bob and Michael had gone to help the Weinerts with their sod and Bob stopped on his way home to fix one of my doors so he came soon after the Roy Mellors arrived. I was SO happy they weren't here alone for very long. The children all went to the condo pool and went swimming for a little while Saturday afternoon.

Sunday evening we all went to Bob and Claires' for rootbeer floats and to visit. That is always so much fun and especially to have the Roy Mellors with us. Bob and Claire have such a nice back yard for the children to play in and it was good to have Sarah with us - she and Emily hadn't seen each other.

Monday, July 5th, we went to the Weinert's home to celebrate the 4th of July and what a beautiful place to see many fireworks. We were all happy that the Woolleys would come even though they had just come back from Lake Powell. We LOVED having John there too but we missed Julianna who wasn't feeling well. The food was just WONDERFUL - John made his famous avocado and corn dip and Rick made his famous bratwurst and hamburger sandwiches - Annie made her delicious potato salad - Jeannie made her famous "low calorie buttermilk" homemade ice cream - Claire made many pasta salads - Patrice fixed all kinds of fruits - and Grandma B ate and ate and ate - Ha!!! I still can't believe all the fabulous firework displays - we could see them from Lagoon, Oakridge Country Club and the children set off many in front of the Weinert's home on the driveway. IT WAS A VERY SPECIAL FOURTH OF JULY!!!

Roy and Patrice and the children went to Orem to see their new little puppy. John and Julianna had saved the "pick of the litter" for them and she is a beautiful golden Labrador. That has been such a fun thing for me to see happen. They couldn't get her for sure until Friday afternoon because she had to have her shots and a veterinarian certificate of good health but they visited her during the week. They also went to Antelope Island and took Sarah with them - they went swimming in the Great Salt Lake and found out how REALLY salty it is. We all went to Lagoon on Thursday and I JUST LOVED THAT!!! I have not been there for probably thirty years and it has changed a lot. Little Jesse was too short to go on some of the rides and that was hard at first but he soon found some fun ones he could go on. We came home about five and had dinner and then we went back and stayed until almost ten - A VERY FUN DAY!!!

Roy and Patrice went to Orem on Friday to get little Sammie and the children stayed with me. Sarah and Emily spent most of the day together and Timothy and Jesse went to the Weinerts in the afternoon to swim with Mary Ann and her friend Matt Steed. We all had dinner here in the evening and then the children went swimming in the condo pool.

The Roy Mellors left on Saturday morning - EARLY!!! It was so much fun for me to see how much they are loving their little puppy (Sammie) - that's a very lucky dog!!! Roy called about 2:30 in the afternoon and said everything went just fine and the puppy was great - I worried she would either suffocate or freeze to death. I don't know how she traveled. I MISS THEM VERY MUCH!!!

I'm sure I have forgotten something. The things that mean the most to me are having our family together as often as we have - I don't get to see Susanna, Jessie, Russell, Lee Anna and Jimmy very often and it was wonderful to have them here. I also don't get to see Julianna as often as I would like - John tells me she is going to go back East in a week or so to stay with her friend who served as her bridesmaid who has just had a baby. It will be fun for them to be together again.