October 10, 1999 Farmington, Utah

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MARY ANN TODAY!!! I KNOW she has had a MARVELOUS birthday because her present was a trip to New York where they were going to see two Broadway Plays and I hope so much they had a little time to shop too. I'm proud of you Mary Ann and it's hard for me to believe such a tiny, tiny little baby could grow into such a beautiful 17 year old!!!

The big news for this letter is that JOHN HAS SPENT THIS WEEKEND IN LITTLE ROCK!!! He said that he was staying in Roy and Patrices' guest room and they had had a good visit before they had to go to Dallas - he said they were so gracious and good to him. I am SO excited for him - he called me yesterday afternoon and said, "Mom,. I'm in the Woods' driveway right now but they are not answering their doorbell". WHAT A THRILL!!! I felt like I was right there with him. I had sent an e-mail to Dorothy and Dan and they hadn't answered it so I was quite certain they weren't home - they are going to be just SICK that they missed him. He then went over to see Pete Hipps and called me again and said he was right next to our old driveway - he said later that they had a really good visit.

I had called Chris Jordin several weeks ago to get the times for the different wards in Little Rock and she told me the Pinnacle ward that meets in our old building would start at 9 a.m. and the other ward that John would be interested in would start at 11 a.m. in Otter Creek. WELL - John called this morning about 9:05 Little Rock time and he was in the parking lot of the church and he said there wasn't anyone there. I AM MAD AT CHRIS!!! I gave him Joy Geisler's phone number so I hope he got her and could get some help. I have called Joy this afternoon but I cant get her - I hope she hasn't gone somewhere too. (She just barely called me and said that he did call her and she told him the times and the address but she didn't ever see him so evidently he wasn't able to get there and to his airplane on time). It was SO interesting - while he was talking to me from the church parking lot another car came and they were looking for a church that started at 9 too so maybe he followed them to either Jacksonville or Pinnacle. It will be fun to talk to him when he gets back here on Tuesday - he is going to New Orleans today for a couple days. I FEEL LIKE I HAVE BEEN TO LITTLE ROCK TOO. He said he had fun playing games with the children and reading them stories but they didn't want to go to the park. He said it was raining when he first got there on Friday but it was beautiful today and he had been bicycle riding a lot.

My friend, Vicky Burton, from Star Valley, Wyoming spent the night with me last night and went to church with me this morning. It was fun to have her and we laughed and laughed about our missionary experiences. Governor Bhichit from Bangkok was an honored guest of BYU for their homecoming this past week so the volunteer teachers were all invited to a reception to visit with him and his wife and two daughters. WELL - I picked up Janet Asper in Bountiful and when I got there she said, "Have you heard the news?". She told me the Governor couldn't leave Bangkok

right now because they had forecast a typhoon so his wife and daughters were taking his place. It was a wonderful reception and it was actually more fun to meet his wife and daughters and we were all very impressed with them - they speak excellent English. We did find out that the daughters DO NOT attend BYU as we had been told - one is attending a school in California and the other one is still in High School in Bangkok. We also found out that his wife attended BYU before he did and they were married here and their oldest daughter was born here. It was SO fun to be with the other teachers. Janet, Virginia and Phyllis and I went to the Homecoming Spectacular and it was SO GOOD!!!

We had about an hour to kill between the time the reception was over and when the spectacular started so we decided to go see the Fall leaves in the canyon. I "mentioned" that my daughter lived close by and asked if they would like to go see where her family lived. I said, "We won't be able to go in their home because they are at Lake Powell". WELL - when we drove past their home they said, "Their garage door is open, maybe they're home". I could tell they really wanted to go in and WHAT COULD I SAY??? Annie was so sweet and took them on a tour of her entire home without one minute's notice and it was JUST BEAUTIFUL!!! I appreciated so much how sweet Ron, Russell, Lee Anna and Jimmy were to my friends - it was not a good time but I was SO proud of them!!! I LOVE THEIR NEW ADDITION - I had never seen it.

I just had a phone call from our friend Byrd in Scofield and he said he had pulled our dock out of the water. He said it was absolutely gorgeous up there. He is hunting with a young woman who has that trailer just across from ours - she loves to hunt and was going alone so he offered to go with her. Byrd was so proud to tell me that he is going to be ordained an Elder on Oct. 24th. That is a BIG step for him but I could tell he is very happy and committed to really serving now - he said it had taken him 78 years to see the light - Ha!!!

I drove to Murray to see Don on Saturday morning. Cheryl was in the middle of wrapping a baby gift to go to a baby shower for her niece and she was in a big hurry so I didn't get to visit with her very much. Don was very comfortable in his lounge chair watching a baseball game on television and he looks very good. His face is still bruised and he said to not hug him on the right side but other than that he is doing really good. His son, Clint, was on his way to "tend" him while Cheryl was gone. He said he definitely is not going to plant on his farm anymore. Their little autistic grandson was at an all day camp and they were SO happy but while I was there the director of the camp called and asked them to come get him - that is a VERY DIFFICULT SITUATION!!!

I hope my Utah family has enjoyed the UEA vacation - I believe the Bob Mellors have spent a few days in Sun Valley and I know the Weinerts have been in New York. The Woolleys were going to go to Lake Powell but they couldn't because of football practices - I hope they were able to go some place because the weather has been excellent.