August 8, 1999 Farmington, Utah

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO LAURA TOMORROW - August 9th - 16 years old!!! WOW!!! I can't believe it has been 16 years since Daddy and I stopped at a motel for the night in Montana and they told us we had a message from Bob and Claire. It was a long time before we got to see our new little granddaughter. I surely hope you have a WONDERFUL BIRTHDAY, LAURA. I believe she and her Mom are going to go to Cedar City to attend the Shakespearean festival to celebrate her birthday. Laura is SO excited to be able to drive by herself and I'm sure Claire is excited to not have to go with her - Ha!!!

I have thought a lot about Roy, Timothy and Jesse this weekend - they were going to go to Silver Dollar City and I'm anxious to hear how they enjoyed it. I'm sure it has changed a lot since we were there many years ago - do they still put on a lot of demonstrations of certain trades? I think I remember them making tools for farming, etc. and also churning butter, etc. I know it was fun for them to be together and also for Patrice and Emily to do "girl things".

Annie, LeeAnna and Russell came by to see me on Monday after Bob did some minor surgery on Russell's nose. I felt bad because I had to leave to go to my "Thai" meeting but they didn't want to stay very long anyway. I was putting up LeeAnna's "play cupboard" when they came and I was very impressed with how much Russell knew about the way all the "things work". LeeAnna was SO cute as she remembered playing with all those things - I will save all of them for her. They had brought Jimmy to stay with Brett for a few days. Claire tells me they made a "movie" and they worked hard on it so I hope I get to see it.

Jeannie and Rick and their family had a good time in Sun Valley. Rick was just home for a couple days when he had to leave to go to Scout Camp - I know he was thrilled about that - Ha!!! I think it is always hard to serve in auxiliaries when you don't have children that age. Mary Ann spent a couple days in Park City with her friend who is a grandson of my neighbor and Sarah and Barji stayed busy at home and at work - Barji is working many hours at Mervyn's selling shoes and she has been promised a job at Christmas time so that's great.

I haven't heard from John and Julianna for awhile. I don't know if Julianna has returned from the East yet or not. I went to Lehi on Thursday to put flowers on PaPa's grave and I was hoping to find Julianna at home but she didn't answer her phone when I called. The Lehi cemetery is very beautiful - they have cut down many of the old trees and have finished the lot just East from where PaPa is buried. They are doing a lot of road improvements on the road leading into the cemetery so I had to take detours in order to get into it - I made a wrong turn as I was coming out and it took me an extra hour at least to find the freeway.

My "Thai" meeting was very interesting and I'm SO glad I stayed home from Wyoming to go to it. They kinda' warned us about the foreigners taking advantage of us - they said one family was left with a $4,000 telephone bill one year. I'm not one bit worried about that with the Thai guests - the ones I have known are very appreciative and easy to have. I am a little worried about feeding them - I have a lot of rice, chicken and vegetables but not nearly as much fruit as I will need. I was going to go to the fruit market places in Willard (by Brigham City) but Margaret stopped there on her way home from Wyoming and said they had fruit but it was from California. It is a little too early for Utah fruit. I bought three peaches at Smiths for $3.00 - my Father is probably turning over in his grave - he used to sell a whole bushel for that.

I will go to Bountiful in the morning and get them and these are their names: Miss Walapa Sookasem, Miss Wanada Boonpongtong, and Miss Nawiya Jangmongkol. I surely hope they will have easy nicknames - all the ones we worked with in Bangkok had American nicknames. The following countries are sending dancers: Armenia, China, Germany, India, Hungary, New Zealand and Thailand. The festival is being held in Bountiful this week and last week they were in Rexburg, Idaho. I WILL HAVE FREE TICKETS FOR MY FAMILY SO IF ANY OF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN GOING PLEASE LET ME KNOW.

I will have them all day on Monday and I believe I will take them to Provo to see BYU and then to Temple Square. ANNIE - MAY I BRING THEM TO YOUR HOME SO THEY CAN MEET SOME OF MY FAMILY? Tuesday they are going to perform at some of the elementary schools in this area during the day and then I will have them in the evening - I'll wait and see if they just want to rest or go someplace. Wednesday - I will have them all day and that night they have a Mayor's reception in Bountiful and a street dance. I will see if they want to go to Antelope Island that day.

JEANNIE - I WILL CALL YOU TO SEE WHEN WE CAN DROP BY TO SEE YOU AND YOUR FAMILY. Janet Asper will take care of them Thursday, Friday and Saturday and they leave on Sunday - we are having a dinner for them Thursday night. Claire will be gone so I won't bother the Bob Mellors or the John Mellors. At the meeting they told us they wanted them to meet our families.

Annie - THANK YOU SO MUCH for helping contact the Utah County families about the reunion. I have heard from Shirley and Elaine but nothing from the Crawfords. I want to hear about the Woolley reunion - (Ann and Ron and their family went to Jerome this weekend to attend that). It is very discouraging to have to "spoon feed" relatives about things like this - I know I am getting old and cranky but I don't think there is any excuse for their negligence. It is just too easy for them to call me and say "I'm SO sorry that I haven't contacted Bob sooner".

I went to my friends Mel and Emma Lou Thaynes' Summer home in Parley's Canyon last night. I JUST LOVE BEING WITH THOSE OLD FRIENDS!!! Ellen Mae and Mel and Gene and Wayne came for me about 5 p.m. and we met Mel Thayne at the gate going into their place. It is heavily guarded and SO nice - Emma Lou spends all Summer up there writing. She has a new book coming out that will make her a many times millionaire I think. They cooked delicious steaks, baked potatoes, baked beans and then the rest of us took salads and dessert. We didn't get home until after midnight but it was a WONDERFUL evening!!! Space is gone - I LOVE YOU!!!