January 4, 2000 Farmington, Utah

JESSIE - I appreciated your WONDERFUL letter so very much!!! I have thought about Jessie so often but I didn't want to mention it in my weekly letter because some of you don't want personal things like that mentioned. She is going to have surgery on her eye (I believe it is to put another contact in the eye that was injured about 10 years ago) - it has been planned for a long time but she had to wait until she was old enough and she will have it on Thursday. I'm not really worried about it - I'll just be happy when it is over and I know all of them will be too. She said she is so frustrated about only having one contact in that she is ready to do it herself - Ha!! I wish Dr. Ririe could do it because he has been her eye physician since the accident and he is SO good but he has retired. Jessie has spent a lot of time on the internet since coming home from Hawaii - she has registered and arranged her schedule at Utah State and she has also paid her fees plus her violin lesson fees ALL ON THE INTERNET - Way to go Jessie!!! They had a WONDERFUL time in Hawaii and I was SO thrilled to read about all their physical activities and I could see Ron's hand in the planning. They kayaked 2 miles on the Wailua river and then hiked 3 miles through a muddy rainforest where Jimmy plunged into the mud and was covered from head to toe with black mud - I can just envision that can't all of you??? He got cleaned up in the river and then they hiked 4 miles along the coast line of the island. FUN, FUN, FUN!!! They also visited Pearl Harbor and got inside the USS Missouri and the burial site of the USS Arizona. I was so THRILLED to read that when they got home they watched the video of Papa telling about his war experiences. I am SO happy we have that too, Jessie, as a tribute to him. Your bed and room are always ready for you and you know where the key is - remember that and I don't care if you bring friends too. I bought some electric blankets for the beds downstairs if you need them!!!

JEANNIE - Thank you for your letter too - it was a long one and I LOVED IT!!! They spent New Year's Eve playing games with their neighbors and watching the New Year come in throughout the world. Mary Ann was at the Steed's condo in Park City and Margaret talked to her family a lot and then she would say, "Barbara, I know where your granddaughter is".. THAT IS such a WONDERFUL family!!! Barji went to a party with friends and Sarah had a friend come be with her. Ricky - was it a big celebration in El Salvador? As we watched the celebrations all over we often thought we could see young men in dark suits and white shirts and ties and then we would remind ourselves that the missionaries wouldn't be out that late.

PATRICE - Thank you for your letter too. I took your flowers to Star Valley and they were JUST BEAUTIFUL!!! When they came for me on Thursday morning the van was just loaded with all our luggage and food and one of the men said, "Barbara, surely you're not going to take those flowers" and I said "I am and I will carry them on my lap all the way". I am SO glad I did because they added SO much and they had New Year's noise makers in the bouquet (The Roy Mellors sent me a flower bouquet for my birthday). I want to hear all about the "Heifer Project Ranch" where you were planning spend New Year's eve.

CLAIRE - Thank you for your letter too and I'm happy that Michael is settled in at John's home. The Bob Mellors had all the Ezell Family for New Year's Eve. Steve, Claire's brother, came in on Wednesday with his family and Alice invited me to come to their home that night for dinner. I had to work so I knew I couldn't go for dinner but I didn't think it would be SO late when I got there. ZCMI was REALLY busy so I didn't leave the store until 9:30 p.m. but the big problem was finding

JOHN - I tried to call you last night but you weren't home. John took all my knives home to get them sharpened - he is SO frustrated when he comes to my condo and the knives won't cut soft butter. Michael came home last night and I believe he is going to bring them to me today. I talked to Bob last night - I was concerned about where Michael is going to hang up his clothes because that room doesn't have a closet. Bob said that Claire took down a clothes hanger to put in the closet in that big room down there. This is an overwhelming experience for Michael - I hope SO much that he likes UVSC - it's a GREAT school. John - did you do anything exciting to bring in the new millennium?

I LOVE Margaret's Mountain home in Wyoming and this time it was just magical. I have NEVER experienced such luxury in such a beautiful place and Margaret is SO gracious!!! She had planned such a special time for all of us. I admire her because she is REALLY having problems with the sciatic (sp.?) nerve but she won't give into it and she NEVER complains. The Steed family has a lady who cooks for them for special occasions and this time she fixed a HUGE prime rib roast for us to cook, she made three huge containers of different soups, potato, asparagus, and chicken noodle with homemade noodles. She also fixed a HUGE green salad, twice baked potatoes and a chocolate cake. We had that on New Year's Eve and Margaret had the cutest favors for each of us. We watched the news coverage throughout the world until it came to Idaho (they don't get the Utah channels there) and that was fun. We had taken ham and other things for sandwiches and one night one of the ladies made Mexican burritos. We always ate in her large dining room with special red, white and blue table settings.

I slept until 11 a.m on Friday and they all thought I had died. December has been a busy month for me and I guess it finally caught up with me. We went into "Thayne" to shop after I got up and that was fun - it's a little tiny town but they have the best hardware store there. Margaret had to buy some "pellets" and "logs" for her fireplaces. She has them throughout her home besides elective heaters all over - it is very comfortable. It has 6-8 bedrooms, with private baths and television sets - a huge living room where there is a huge fireplace that opens up into the dining room, a big family room downstairs with all kinds of things for her grandchildren to play with - a big children's slide and playroom with a window so you can see what they are doing. Besides all this they have all kinds of outdoor play things - I believe they have 10 snowmobiles but we couldn't go because her property didn't have enough snow - I was glad.

Can you believe the maintenance on something like this? I changed the bed linens where I slept and was washing them and she said, "Barbara I pay Deanne the same amount whether she makes up one bed or a dozen" - she has a couple take care of it for her. I am definitely "out of my league" but she is VERY sweet to me!!! I thought as I looked at the eight of us who were there - one couple has gone on two missions to Africa, one couple has gone to Norway on their mission, another couple went to Switzerland and Margaret and her husband went to Canada - I couldn't find better company anywhere!!! We all went to church in "Etna" on Sunday morning and it is a little country church and they had the sweetest testimony meeting I believe I have ever been to. I became nauseous and thought the meeting would never end and when I got back to Margaret's home I went right to bed and slept for about 3 hours - I really believe I have a touch of the flu. One of the men who was with us was ill when we first left and I am going to blame him - Ha! I'm feeling much better now. I had my flu shot too!!!

My Brigham City friends had a birthday party for me on Tuesday morning-delicious breakfast. I drove to Orem on Wednesday to go to Wayne's funeral and I LOVED seeing my old ward friends THEN I stopped at John's home and it is SO WONDERFUL - I LOVE IT. He has bought a wicker couch and chair for his den and it is SO homey - he also bought some plates and soup bowls. I made myself at home to his bananas and candy.