December 13, 1999 Farmington, Utah

I'm looking out the window on a Winter "cold scene" and the weather forecast is for more cold and snow - it's fun to be inside where it is nice and warm. I know all of you have to travel on the icy roads and I hope you will be careful. I'm also thinking of Roy and Patrice and their family as they enjoy a REAL family vacation in Seattle where they are attending Liz's wedding - I don't know when it is but since they are going back to Little Rock tomorrow I am assuming it was either over the weekend or it will be today. I hope Emily will write and tell me all about it.

We will have a fun Christmas here in Utah. Jeannie tells me that John is going to "spearhead" a serious mint making party - we will try to plan better and have enough scissors, etc. I would love to have everyone come here - it would make my decorating worthwhile - Ha!!! I want John to spend Christmas Eve night here so he won't have to travel back to Orem but he says it will be hard to get someone to take care of Moki and Tar - hopefully he will work that out!!! I will make "Thai Omelets" for anyone who wants to come here for breakfast on Christmas morning.

I went to Salt Lake last Monday night with some of my "condo friends" and we had such a good time. We had the famous buffet dinner in the rooftop restaurant of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and it was fabulous to say the least. There were 16 of us and Margaret had made the arrangements - we were at a big round table and just beautiful besides being delicious. After we ate we went to Temple Square to see the Christmas lights - WHAT A SIGHT!!! That is the first time I have ever walked around in there at Christmas time and it is REALLY spectacular - I have driven close to it but I have never actually been inside. The nativity scene is done so well. There were MANY people having their family home evenings there and it wasn't very cold so I loved every minute of it.

I went to my D.U.P. Christmas party on Wednesday - we had had a huge snow storm that morning and since all of us are REALLY old I thought maybe they would cancel it but they didn't. The home where it was held had steps to climb and the woman's husband had spent a lot of time trying to clear the snow but it was still very icy. I took a woman who has a difficult time getting around and I thought we would never get inside. It was a potluck dinner and I have NEVER seen so much delicious food. The daughter of one of the members entertained by singing Christmas songs - she has a beautiful voice and it was so nice. The people who own the home served a mission a few years ago and while they were gone their daughter decided to buy their home so when they returned they had this one built. It is on a large lot with horses in back - really a country setting!!!

I helped with a funeral this week that was very sad. I didn't know the woman but she has been a teacher in our Relief Society and she was such a talented lovely person - 46 years old and died of colon cancer. It was kinda' funny for me because I had signed up to take dinner in for the family last Sunday - Sunday is a good day for me to do things like that. They called me on Saturday night to ask if I would change and take it in on Tuesday instead because the Father wanted to cook for the family on Sunday - I found out on Monday night that she had died so I prepared a BIG casserole for family members who were coming in from out of town. In the meantime I had signed up to take a special Christmas Jell-O for the R. S. party on Wednesday. The viewing was held at the church on Wednesday so they cancelled the party but asked if I would prepare the Jell-O for the funeral dinner on Thursday and then they asked if I would "housesit" their home all day on Thursday. I ended up by getting someone to help me housesit because I had to leave for work before they would get home. It was a confusing time and I am going to have to repent because I "murmured" - Ha!!! This family has a married daughter and a married son and then one daughter who goes to Davis High School. The woman who died was a creative designer for "Wimpole Designers" and she went to Arkansas for some kind of a convention and had a serious fall and didn't recover.

My missionary companion, Virginia, has gone back to Bangkok to teach this Semester. There was a couple teaching in the northern part of Thailand and the man had a heart attack and they had to come home so they asked for another couple to come finish out their assignment. Phyllis Gunderson (from Provo) went with her and they were excited - they are both excellent teachers. I sent a wedding gift to Lek and Anan with Virginia because they were planning their wedding the end of the month or the first of the New Year - depending on what the fortune tellers advised them. The English teachers who replaced the first group will be coming home in March.

I had a long visit with Linda Smithers on the phone last night. Barbara Sondrup had asked for a frosting recipe she had sent to me and I had deleted it so I had to call Linda for it. Linda is working herself to death - she is making chair covers for some of the hotel dining rooms in Salt Lake and I guess it has been very successful. She is doing all the laundry by herself in her small apartment until she can move into another larger place. She is desperately looking for an ironrite and I feel SO bad because I gave mine to D.I. when we left Little Rock.