June 5, 2000 Farmington, Utah

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO JOHN TOMORROW!!! We celebrated his birthday last night and I LOVED IT. I think it is WONDERFUL when all of our Utah family can get together and we always miss the Roy Mellors. Bob and part of his family came - Claire and Katie were at Lake Mead where they went to meet Claire's brother and his family. Claire's brother Steve has a large boat so they were looking forward to skiing and everything else that happens on a boating vacation. I hope they are home safe and sound now. The Woolleys came from Provo but Russell was on a trip with his church class and I believe they were hiking in the Grand Canyon - Lee Anna was on a trip to Lake Powell with some of her friends. The Weinerts came but of course Ricky is still in El Salvador. JOHN LOOKS GREAT!!! He is doing good and I wish he would come stay with me sometime because after he leaves I think of a million things I wanted to talk to him about.

It is SO fun to have Susanna and Steve be with our family - Steve is the kind of young man you feel as if you have known for forever - WE ALL JUST LOVE HIM!!! It was WONDERFUL to see Boyd again and I'm SO glad he lives close so I can see him often. He has promised me that he will wave to me from the golf course when he is golfing at Oakridge. We are all SO fortunate to have Susanna and Barji choose such fine, fine young men to be with. I appreciate the fact that they will stay and visit with the "older" part of our family - the younger "cousins" want to leave too soon but I understand. Boyd is having some health problems and that happens to many young people coming home from their foreign missions - he has appointments this week to see if he can get help for the parasites he picked up. I am not sure that Bob is completely free from his and he has been home a long, long time,. I just talked to my friend, Vicky, who lives in Star Valley and we served together in Thailand - she is still having problems and she came home shortly after I did. Just what you wanted to hear Barji - be patient with him!!! I have never met a sweeter young man.

John set up my slide projector yesterday and it was fun to look at some of our very old slide pictures. I am looking forward to time when I can look at some more of them. PaPa looks SO young and healthy in them - it has been a very long time since I have thought of him like that and I have a million pictures of him taken while we were in Montana. I also enjoyed seeing pictures of my parents and Granny Mellor and others and pictures of all of you when you were much younger. TIME PASSES MUCH TOO QUICKLY - you don't realize that until you get my age!!!

PATRICE - Thank you so very much for your WONDERFUL letter and CONGRATULATIONS on your new job!!! I can't think of anyone I know who is as well qualified to be the Librarian/Art Researcher at the Arkansas Arts Center - you are just perfect for that position and I am thrilled for you and also for the people with whom you will work. YOU ARE A NATURAL!!! I am also thrilled for Emily, Timothy and Jesse because the young woman you have hired to care for them sounds GREAT too!!! I'm SO glad you went to Riverfest this year - I have always felt like people in a community should support the activities planned for them. I want to know who climbed on the "climbing wall"!!! It sounds like it was such a fun family activity - skateboarding, food, food, food, etc. I'm sorry Roy, Timothy and Jesse missed their Buffalo river trip - you have had a lot of rain lately. I'm glad I came to see you when I did because I had fabulous weather then. I like to look at the pictures of your garden and try to envision all those plants growing into vegetables - I think that is GREAT!!!

EMILY - CONGRATULATIONS on your awards - I AM SO PROUD OF YOU!!! I am not one bit surprised that you are excelling academically (and every other way too) - you are a very serious student and I hope you will always enjoy learning. Your Math Olympiad this Summer will be fun and challenging for you and I would like to hear exactly what it is. I was SO happy to hear that you went to your friend's Bat Mitzvah - I have heard about Bar Mitzvah but I didn't know there was a difference between what the boys and girls Mitzvahs were called. Have I met your friend, Mimi? I can't imagine anyone your age being able to read in Hebrew. I admire the people who belong to the Jewish Faith. Roy's good friend, Tripp Strauss, is Jewish and his mother came over to our home in Little Rock one time to have me explain what the Mormons believe. She felt at that time there was a similarity between the persecutions of the Jewish and Mormon religions.

MICHAEL - CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR GRADUATION - I am SO proud of you too. I REALLY enjoyed going to it and seeing all your classmates in their beautiful caps and gowns. The boys wore dark blue and the girls were in light blue - I took some pictures and I hope they turn out good. I didn't stay very long but I saw Michael march in and listened to three speeches. There were over 700 in his graduating class!!! It was SO fun to be with their family.

I want to thank all of you for "cleaning up" last night. I HATE to use paper goods in my home so I decided that I wouldn't let you do any of the dishes if I used them - BUT was I ever happy to wake up this morning and find my home just like it was before you all came. Jeannie came over before church yesterday and helped me set the tables and everything so I had a VERY easy job!!! You all have so much to do and I wanted to make it easy for you but I REALLY appreciate all your help.

I went to Salt Lake one day last week with Ellen Mae, Mel and Margaret to visit with some college friends. The man was celebrating his 80th birthday and they had planned a party in Deer Valley (by Park City) but they found so many of their friends with serious health problems that they decided to just have lunch at Little America in Salt Lake with those of us who could come. it was such a fun, fun time. We met at 11:30 and visited until 3:30. He was from Scipio and she was from Holden and it has been fun to watch his career coming from such a small town. He has been an executive with New York Life for probably 30 years and knows Dick Cobb - we had fun talking about him - Ha!!!

I am LOVING my "computer station" and also my "sewing station". I find myself planning so many projects that I don't want to leave my home now. I am also enjoying my ZCMI work very much and will miss it when they say "Barbara, we don't need you any more" - and that is bound to happen!!! I got off work last Tuesday so I could go into Salt Lake with my friends so they asked me to work on Saturday - I was supposed to just work from 4 - 8 but they kept the store open until 11 p.m. and they wanted me to stay that long. At 9:30 p.m. when we weren't very busy I finally asked if I could go home and they let me. Meier-Frank (a division of the May Company) has one sale right after another. I used to get really excited with their sales but I don't anymore. I REALLY enjoy my temple work too - it is fun to see all the brides and grooms when I finish my assignments and they are out in front of the temple having their pictures taken.

Ricky - your Mom says you are still in that very "hard" area. When you get home you will be very happy you endured the hard times as well as the fun times. It is very discouraging to not have people interested in your message isn't it? Jessie - I will be thinking of you this week as you go through another eye surgery and I hope so much you will be happy with the results. John - I'm sorry I messed up the sewing job yesterday.