November 21, 1999 Farmington, Utah

This has been such a WONDERFUL Sunday for me and I hope it has been for you too. Our church time is 8:30 a.m. so I kinda' worry about getting ready that early all night - Ha!!! When we left church we found it was snowing hard and my car was completely covered - I LOVED it since I haven't been here for two years and I was excited about the first snow storm. As soon as I came in the door Margaret called me and said "We'll meet you out in front to go to the Roundys". It was their son's missionary farewell today and they had an open house for him - they live right across the street from me. Pat and Darrell Guthrie and Margaret and I went together and we sat and visited for a long time and ate their delicious food - it was quite like a luncheon. When I came home I sat and read the paper in its entirety and practically went to sleep on the sofa SO I went to bed and slept for about three hours - A PERFECT SUNDAY AFTERNOON FOR ME - pretty dull for you!!!

PATRICE - thank you for your letter. It relieved my mind knowing that you had all received the letter I wrote on Tuesday and couldn't get it sent. I laughed when I read that you would like to wrap up your trip to Seattle and put it under the Christmas tree - I know the feeling!!! I am thrilled that you can all go and it will mean SO much to Liz and her husband and also to you and your children. I have been SO proud of you because you have your priorities in the right place - I can't think of one thing you have missed in our family's special events and a trip to Utah is VERY expensive!!! I know I have said this before but I always remember that when I would ask my parents to fly to Little Rock, my mother would always say, "Barbara, we could go to Hawaii for what it would cost us to fly to Arkansas" - so they didn't come - Ha!!!

ANNIE - thank you for your letter too and I am REALLY looking forward to Thanksgiving in your lovely home. I will bring veggies - I'll just steam them plain and then bring some toppings for those who want them to taste good. I can't think of anyway I can make them good without adding some calories!!! I hope you are going to make your Thanksgiving turkey dressing - that is my most favorite thing about the whole dinner. I hope you have Russell's car fixed - I still laugh when I think about all the cars you all have in your families and how desperate you are when one of them is damaged and can't be driven. My friends and I are looking forward to your Young Women's open house - there will be five of us and we are planning to leave here at 3 p.m.

Bob and Claire called me last night and they had had a WONDERFUL time in Guatemala!!! Bob said one of the places they stayed cost him $1.50 and that was too much - Ha!!! They are going to try to bring some of their pictures over later tonight to show me - I think they need to stay home with their family so maybe they won't come. Their children did a FABULOUS job while they were gone. I told Katie they did such a good job their parents may do this often. I was very impressed with how sweet they were to each other when I would drop in.

John called me this afternoon on his way to the airport. He is going to New York for two days and then to Dallas and won't be home until probably late on Wednesday - this is a terrible time of the year to make flight connections. He is going to cook his famous salmon for Thanksgiving and I will get it in Salt Lake for him on Wednesday afternoon - I guess he has ordered it to be fresh!!!

He is doing fine!!! I worry about Moki and Tar but he has a lady from work who comes to take care of them while he is gone - it will be good when Michael is there to play with them. He said they sleep in the garage and will be warm enough.

Jeannie is doing a great job in decorating their home for the home tour. Her neighbor is giving her some help and they have cute ideas. I hope it will be pretty weather for the tour - I wouldn't like for it to be like it is today - slushy and messy!!! Sarah was in a special cheerleading program last Wednesday and I couldn't make it - I want to go see her cheer at some basketball games soon.

I am wondering if Ricky will call home on Thanksgiving - we'll take lots of pictures Ricky and will be thinking of you but I know you will have a very special Thanksgiving in El Salvador as you tell your friends about our holiday.

I was COMPLETELY lost without my computer internet. I finally called for technical support and was on the phone with them for at least an hour and they had me doing all kinds of changes - Bob and John will probably be upset. Finally after all that they said, "Do you have a neighbor or friend who could help you". I have a neighbor who is retired from being a civil engineer at Hill Field and he was also their computer expert so I called him. I couldn't have asked a nicer person. He came right over and had it up and going in a matter of minutes and then he asked if he could connect me with "Info Beat". That is a special program that gives you up to date information about the stock market and that has been fun to watch. This man's name is Kerry and his wife teaches school in Ogden. Kerry has been deaf since he was a child and wears two hearing aides and does quite well - he said he hears at 98% decibel or something like that. He told me that he checks 46 stocks every day - WOW!!!

I went to my DUP meeting on Wednesday and I enjoyed that. I went to the home of a friend of Jeannie's - Allene Leonard. I have never known such a talented woman - she is an excellent artist and also an excellent gourmet cook. She served the best pumpkin pie I have ever eaten and then she served homemade chocolates and "corn kix treats" AND SHE IS VERY THIN!!!

I also went to lunch for the birthday of my friend, Margaret Jost. We ate at "Tasties" which is a little sandwich, soup and donut place - there were only four of us - Ellen Mae, Carol Dunford, Margaret and me. It was fun!!!

I am still enjoying my work. I worked late last week since they are keeping the store open until 10 p.m. some nights and 11 p.m. other nights. I think it is dumb because we're not that busy. They had a "Christmas Kick Off" on Saturday morning at 8:30 a.m. and David Haight who is the store manager gave an excellent talk. He emphasized that the spirit of ZCMI will be how the employees make it after the May Company takes over. The change is VERY emotional for all the long time employees and I am beginning to realize that I just started to work there when they were all very concerned about their jobs and under a great deal of stress. David says the new people coming in are some of the nicest people he has ever known - we'll see!!! I have to call David to the phone quite often so when I first started I asked him "Shall I call you Mr. Haight" and he made it very clear, "My father is Mr. Haight - I am David". He's a nice man.

I had 11 messages on my computer to answer when I got it fixed. Many of them from Thailand and some wanting to know what Thanksgiving is all about - I'm going to suggest they find out about it on the internet. We tried to teach all of them when we were there but I guess they have forgotten.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL OF YOU - WE WILL MISS THE ROY MELLOR FAMILY WHEN WE ARE TOGETHER AT THE WOOLLEYS. I know Patrice's Mom, Suzie, will be with them and they will probably have other guests. We all have much to be thankful for!!!