November 8, 1999 Farmington, Utah

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO BOB ON SATURDAY!!! That will be a fun day for both Bob and Claire as they leave to go to Guatemala for a week. I know all of you remember that Bob has traveled to Mexico for humanitarian medical service for the past few years but they can't go there anymore because of political reasons (I believe that is right) so they will go to Guatemala instead. It sounds exciting but I'm sure it will also be a lot of work and not very luxurious and I'm proud of you for doing this. I will "check in" on their children and that will be fun for me. I hope you will have a birthday cake somewhere along the way with 45 candles on it - WOW!!!

Birthday extravaganza. What a fun couple weeks of celebrating and I am with Emily - it is good that she can celebrate her "own" birthday in March and not have to share it with the rest of the family. EMILY, TIMOTHY AND JESSE - thank you for your "Moochas Gracias" cards - I LOVE them and have put them on your "boards"!!!

ANNIE - thank you for your e-mail too - I LOVE to hear about what your family is doing. I hope Susanna had a good time in Arizona - did she have time to visit our old home there on Pinchot where you grew up? I laughed and laughed about the blue nail polish and I can just hear you saying "Well, I'm glad someone could laugh about it". LeeAnna had a bottle of blue nail polish in a bag with her cheer leading uniform and it broke and of course the uniform soaked it up - Annie said the dry cleaners couldn't get it out. What will you do with it? I hope you don't have to buy a new one.

JOHN - thank you SO much for all your help with my finances. John keeps such good track of my investments and everything and I appreciate him SO very much. He came up yesterday afternoon and we spent a couple hours going over everything and he put things on my computer so I can know what is going on. HE LOOKS WONDERFUL!!! I can't believe his discipline with his losing weight - he has set a goal of 195 lbs. and he is determined to not go off his diet until he achieves that goal. I wish I could be that motivated - I am proud of you John!!! He is traveling a lot this week too - going to California the first part of the week. He LOVES to bicycle through the canyons in Utah county with Tar. I asked him if he had to keep Tar on a leash and he said the only problem he has with him is when they meet up with a herd of sheep because the dogs with the sheep are mean - isn't that interesting?

JEANNIE - it was fun for John and me to go to your home last night for a few minutes. Jeannie had invited us to go there for hot fudge and caramel sundaes - needless to say, that didn't happen but it was fun to visit with Barji, Mary Ann and Sarah. They were all sitting out on their front steps looking at the sunset when we got there - they have a gorgeous view. Rick had been up most of the night with pacemaker surgeries and then he was in a meeting at church so we didn't get to see him.

John went to visit with Michael and discuss their plans for his move to Orem and attend UVSC. That will be a good thing for both of them because they are both so independent and can do their "own things". I hope they will be able to re-wallpaper the room where Michael will have his bed - Daddy and I put "Holly Hobby" wallpaper on it and we had to use a glue gun to get it to stick in places - not all over but in a few of the seams. We had dedicated that room for our grandchildren but Holly Hobby and Michael just don't go together - Ha!!!

We had our stake conference yesterday and there were 2500 people in attendance. It was held in Bountiful in that big building that was once a theatre or something. We have a new Stake President - a Brother Crapo. I don't know him but everyone was thrilled. The meeting brought back a flood of memories for me - I remember when Lynn was called as Stake President in Arkansas and it was exciting but also very stressful. Daddy had to somehow coordinate his business schedule with his church schedule and it is different here - the Mormons in Utah are much more sympathetic with that sort of thing than Olin was. I asked John if he could remember anything about that day and he said, "All I can remember is that Dad was Stake President for forever" - Ha!!! I believe Brother Crapo works for the church - his counselors are a Brother Elgren and a Brother McKay. Our authority was Elder Samuelson and Bob told me that he is in our houseboat with us - he gave a WONDERFUL talk. I was able to go to the temple twice last week and I always enjoy that SO much.

Ellen Mae just called me and said she and Margaret are going to "Curves" at 9:30 so I will make this a short letter. I am enjoying that but I'm not getting thin - Lisa (the lady who owns it told me that I was getting stronger) - Ha!!! It is a good thing and I'm sure my muscle strength will improve in time. I am SO grateful for my good health - many employees at ZCMI are constantly coming to my desk for "pain pills" and I NEVER have to take anything!!! I'm enjoying my work at ZCMI too but I don't believe they will need me after Christmas and that will be fine. It is fun to be in the stores at this time of the year. There is a HUGE truck in front of the Layton Hills ZCMI that has "THE MAY COMPANY" on it so they are making a move here.

They called me to decorate a table at church for a dinner this Saturday - they want me to use my mission things from Thailand so that will be easy. I hear from my Thai friends all the time and also from Marc and Cherri Hall in Russia - I have an EXCITING life!!!