January 23, 2000 Farmington, Utah

ANNIE - Thank you SO much for your Hawaii pictures. They are GREAT and it looks like you all had a Christmas you will never forget. I loved the pictures on the beach and the big boats in the backgrounds of them. I also enjoyed receiving your e-mail telling about capturing a "RAT" - I can't believe it could have been that big - you must have been feeding it good for a long time - YUK!!! I will NEVER forget the time John shot the rat in our basement - I'm sure I have told you all about that many times. They told us the biggest culprit is having dog food around so we changed our methods of feeding our dogs and didn't have any problems after that. I still can't believe that LeeAnna is driving - you really need 6 cars don't you?

SARAH - Thank you for inviting me to your basketball game and then your Mom "uninviting" me. I'm SO thrilled you would think of me anyway. I had planned to go watch Sarah "cheer" at a game on Thursday but Jeannie left me a message on my phone saying she didn't think Sarah was going to cheer after all so I didn't go. I believe Jeannie, Rick and Mary Ann went to the Steed's condo in Park City to spend Friday night - Matt's parents own it with my neighbor, Margaret, and they were having a big "Sundance Film Festival" affair there. Margaret had invited me to go earlier in the week but I had promised Dianne I would spend a day with her.

ROY AND PATRICE - I have watched the terrible cold weather in your part of the country but I believe it has missed Arkansas. I think the most frightened I have ever been is when I tried to get my children home from their schools in Little Rock when the weather turned cold and icy. I want to come visit you but I will wait until Spring and when it is best for you to have me come. The Woods are moving from Leawood and they have lived there for 35 years - I can relate to how hard that is going to be for them. I believe I have told you that.

JOHN - Thanks for your e-mail. He has been traveling to New York this week, I think. I ALMOST came by to see you today but then I remembered that you were traveling and I didn't think Michael would appreciate having me surprise him with a visit. Michael - I want to hear about your classes at UVSC!!! John - I think the Frisbys must think I have "lost it". I wrote to them and said I was disappointed that I didn't receive a Christmas picture of their family and then when I went through all my cards yesterday I found they did send me one. Sometimes I just put my cards away until I have time to enjoy them and I didn't get to it until yesterday.

I have been "traveling" a lot this week too. I went to Salt Lake on Thursday to meet Dianne and Linda Smithers for lunch - the "Garden Room" in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building is such a good place to meet friends and it is easy for me to get there in about 15 minutes. Linda had news that Marge Lucas passed away on Monday and they had a memorial service for her in Fort Worth on Wednesday and they were having another one in northern California later - that is where she grew up. Linda and her daughter, Deniece, were planning to go to the one in California. We laughed about having Linda and Ed Lucas end up together but that is a real possibility and it would be great for both of them.

Dianne had brought pictures of her grandchildren and it was fun to see them. They all got together on Thanksgiving and had a professional photographer meet them at the beach and they were all dressed up in darling clothes - the little girls had old fashioned dresses on with cute hair pieces to match - they have four girls and three boys. Dianne and Garry are doing good - Jaime and Janny will finish this semester at BYU and then they will likely go home to California and finish their schooling there (they aren't happy at BYU)!!!

I "traveled" to West Jordan this morning to attend the missionary homecoming of Jeff Pack. He is such a good looking young man and has served in Korea. Mel Pack, Jeff's father, is the Bishop of their ward so he told Jeff he wanted him to take the entire meeting. Jeff sang "How Great Thou Art" (in Korean) with Paula accompanying him and then he spoke for 50 minutes. His father also told him that he didn't want him to prepare anything but to just talk about his mission. I was VERY impressed!!!

I had a letter from Paula inviting me to come and she said that Shirley, Elaine and Ramona would also be there. Glen came with them instead of Elaine and when I asked about Elaine they told me that she is "in love" for the first time in her entire life - isn't that WONDERFUL??? She went to school with a boy in Manti who says he has always loved her and since his wife died three years ago he decided to "court" Elaine and wants to marry her but she isn't divorced from Earl so that is a problem. Shirley and Glen are the same and look GREAT. Ramona has moved into a home that provides assistance and she says she is very happy and there isn't a dull moment and the food is REALLY good. It's unusual for Ramona to be interested in eating so that is a good sign - Ramona is still beautiful!!! Paula was always SO sweet to come see PaPa and me when we lived in Orem and she brought her children and had Lynn tell about their father and grandfather and their childhood. She is a great genealogist and takes more pictures than I do. I admire Paula very much - can you imagine teaching piano all these years to support their family - she has 46 students now. Mel is a geologist but for some reason has never had a job - now he is working re-finishing old bathroom tubs and showers and has written a book about depression so maybe he has suffered with that. I hadn't seen Mel for a long, long time and when he first came to see us in Orem he had this huge lump right in the middle of his forehead. I was shocked and said, "What is that"? I should never have mentioned it but since I did I suggested he go to see Bob and have it removed and then I called Bob and told him to expect him and they didn't have any insurance. WELL - about a year ago he went to the dentist for a root canal and while he was there the dentist removed the lump. HE LOOKS 100 PERCENT BETTER!!! Paula and Mel have two daughters at BYU - one is studying speech pathology and the other one hasn't decided on a major yet. They go to school and then quit to earn enough money to go back. They also have a daughter on a mission in Portugal who will be home in August.

Nancy and her husband and 7 of their 9 children were there and they are very, very special young people. The son who wasn't there is serving his mission in Georgia and their oldest daughter has four children and lives with her husband in Delta so she didn't come either. One of their sons is in medical school at the University of Utah Med. Center and he is married and has a little boy about 14 months old and he is SO cute!!! One of their daughters teaches Braille at the blind and deaf school in Salt Lake and she is darling - she also "signs" for the deaf.

I also went to my DUP meeting this week and that was very, very nice. When I had it at my home I just served a small dessert - last month was our Christmas party so we had a big potluck dinner that was delicious and then this month they served a chicken salad with hot rolls and then peach pie alamode - there are some excellent cooks in that group. The hostess this month is a professional pie maker and she told us that she made 150 pies at Christmas time!!!