December 6, 1999 Farmington, Utah

EMILY - THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR LETTER!!! I loved hearing about your Thanksgiving and it sounded like your food was pretty much the same as ours - I would have liked to see your Mom's pumpkin pies with the leaf cut outs on them. There is a professional pie maker in one of the little clubs I belong to and she said she made 156 pies for Thanksgiving - that would put me in bed - Ha!!! She said she would teach me how to make them because I AM NOT a pie maker. I know Grandma Suzie's yams were good - there are sweet potatoes or yams in our grocery stores here that are as large as footballs. I AM SO PROUD of you and your Dad for making a ginger- bread house from scratch - I hope you took pictures of it. How long did it take you? Did you eat it or do you still have it on display? Aunt Ann is President of the Young Women's organization in the area where she lives and she helped 25 young women make gingerbread houses - they made all of them in her house and she said it was a "BIG MESS" but they were surely cute.

I am looking out my window at all the Christmas lights on the condos on my street and they are beautiful - I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!! I took four of my friends to Provo on Wednesday night to go to the open house at Annie's neighbors' home and it was WONDERFUL. It started to rain about an hour before we left Layton and two of my friends suggested that we not go - I am used to such huge monsoon rains like we had in Thailand that I thought they were crazy. Actually, it was quite dangerous with all the road construction. It took us three hours to get to Provo - there were two big accidents on the way that delayed us and the traffic was just terrible. There are not words to describe the open house and my friends were thrilled that we were able to go.

Jackie Coleman is one of Ann's counselors and her husband, Michael Coleman, is a world famous wild life artist and he has his studio in their home. They opened their home to people and sold tickets for the young women activities. The studio just takes your breath away with all the trophies of the wild animals Michael has hunted in the jungles of Africa and other places. As we were walking through the studio I kinda' stumbled and realized I was walking on an alligator. They served the most delicious desserts I have ever eaten and they were in abundance through- out their home. One of the nicest things about it all was the invitation to all the full time Elders who are serving in the Northern Utah Mission - it made me think of Ricky and I hope he is invited to good places during the holidays.

We had planned to have dinner at the Olive Gardens' Restaurant in Provo before going to the open house but it was SO late by the time we got there we decided to wait and eat afterwards. When we got to Annie's home, Susanna greeted us with "Mom has dinner already for you" - we were SO surprised and it was just WONDERFUL!!! She had made that special Mexican chicken casserole and then she had fresh frozen peaches that were out of this world. We just ate and ate and then Ron came and said he would direct us to the Coleman's home. I told Annie that it was a "magical evening" for me and my friends and I appreciate it SO much - my friends all LOVED THE WOOLLEYS' HOME. The weather had cleared by the time we left to come home so we got here in less than an hour.

The Weinert's home was in the Farmington Home Tour this weekend and there were 13 homes in it and I'm absolutely positive that none of them could have compared to theirs. Their home was just GORGEOUS - just elegantly decorated and it turned out to be a beautiful day. One of the features of their decorations was a HUGE Father Christmas right in front of their big windows by their piano (I believe they borrowed it from one of their neighbors). Jeannie had "potted" some trees that had been cut down and then she had put Christmas lights on them - they were on either side of Father Christmas and in front were two chairs where Mary Ann and Sarah sat to play their violins and that added SO much. They had many, many people come to their home on Friday night and then all afternoon and evening on Saturday. They are thrilled to have their home all decorated for the holidays so early in the month - now I hope they can relax and enjoy it.

I am proud of John - he made a special trip here this afternoon so he could see their home while everything is "fresh". He also helped me with my finances again - between the two of us we keep pretty good track of things - Ha!!! Mostly John. He had written out a check for $158.00 that we didn't remember what it was for - he called me a few minutes ago and said it was for the cabin tax. That is quadruple what it has been in the past so I called Byrd and he is going to the Court House in Price this week and see what happened. John REALLY, REALLY looks good and he says he is doing FANTASTIC!!! He told me that Michael went to his home yesterday to put a "prime coat" on the wallpaper in the grandchildren's former playroom so Claire can go down and wallpaper it with a paper that will be better for a young man's bedroom. I think Moki and Tar will be happy to have Michael there because John travels SO much. I know Michael will make good friends fast so he won't be alone very long - there are some WONDERFUL young people going to UVSC and I LOVE the institute there!!!

I was VERY busy at my little desk at ZCMI on Friday night and one of the associates came up to me and said "Look what your son did to me" as she put her face in front of me. Her nose was all red and my first thought was that one of my sons had been in an accident that involved her - then she started to laugh. It turned out that Bob had removed some moles from her nose that day. She raved so much about you Bob that I was actually a little embarrassed - really proud though!

Roy, Patrice, Emily, Timothy and Jesse will go to Seattle on Saturday to attend Aunt Liz's wedding - I am excited for all of you!!! I surely hope you will send me ONE picture of all of you with the bride, groom and Grandma Suzie and also Joan and her husband. I REALLY would like one for the "genealogy book" I am planning to compile. I have pictures scattered all over and it is still in the planning stage BUT I AM GOING TO DO IT. John said he hadn't heard from you for quite awhile - who is going to care for Sammie while you are gone?

I couldn't get my fireplace to go on and I tried everything. It seemed like the harder I tried the worse it was - the pilot light kept going out. I called the fireplace people and a man came out and it took him one minute to get it going - I was humiliated because I know they are super busy. It was funny - he took off one of the knobs and told me to just put it away - I guess I was turning it the wrong way - Ha!!! I am going to get a new garage door on Tuesday. I don't really think I need one but the condo council thinks I do. One of the condo owners has refused to get one so they had it painted and it is already starting to come off so I guess it will be for the best in the long run. I LOVE my condo and my neighbors. We are all going to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building tomorrow night for dinner so we can see the Christmas lights on Temple Square.

I will close by telling you all about a nice experience I had at work last week. A young man (In his late twenties) came in and asked to see a manager. They like me to "screen" them because sometimes it is about employment that has to be handled by personnel. I asked him to tell me why he wanted to see a manager and he said with teary eyes "I stole something a long time ago from the store and I want to make it right". I was VERY happy that the night manager who was there was also a young man and he is an unusually nice young man.