June 11, 2000 Farmington, Utah

EMILY - Thank you SO much for your letter straightening me out about what Jesse meant in his e-mail to me. I just LOVED to receive Jesse's message because he had spelled his words phonetically and he told me that Emily was a teenage explainer and that was all he wrote. I took that to mean that she was telling Jesse what to do so I thought he meant she was "bossy". That isn't what he meant at all. Emily told me - she is going to be a "volunteer teenage explainer" at the "Museum of Discovery" in Little Rock and she will tell people how to use certain things in the museum. I THINK THAT IS JUST WONDERFUL EMILY and I am SO proud of you!!!

I have spent a lot of time collecting money for the weddings in our ward - I didn't think it would be that time consuming but I shouldn't complain. It gives me the opportunity to get to know some of the people in my ward when they come to my home to contribute.

I went to Provo yesterday to a Thai reunion and it was SO fun to see so many of the teachers who served together in Thailand. There are four Thai teachers here studying at BYU and they cooked a lot of Thai food - I love their curries. It was a potluck dinner and they asked me to bring "finger desserts" - in other words, cookies!!! I made Susanna's Oreo cookies and they LOVED them. I think it is important to not cook them too long and I used a little more than the 1/2 cup flour on the recipe. I hope you all received your recipes. I also made a cake and even though the Thai people don't usually eat a lot of desserts, they were happy to take the cake home with them.

Cameron married a darling girl from Lehi so they had the reception there and it looked like it would be hard to find and besides I have stopped going places like that alone. I used to think I had to go places with someone or by myself but I don't do that anymore - if I can go with another single woman I usually go but it's just too hard to go alone. I believe I have learned that from Margaret. I went to Provo with Sherm and Janet Johansen and Janet Asper and I was happy I didn't have to drive. It was SO funny - my home teacher called me on Friday and said, "Sister Mellor, it is our Stake Day at Lagoon on Saturday and I have some tickets for you to go. I know you would enjoy riding the Merry Go Round and see some of the shows". I was SO happy I had other plans - Ha!!!

John had the ladder up to his house when I got there but he said he wasn't having any problems. I imagine he was going to sweep all the tree branches and leaves from his roof. He was doing his laundry when I got there and I wanted to stay and help him. It looked like he had just returned from taking Mokie and Tar for a place to run because he had their kennels in his truck. He has an exciting couple weeks planned - it sounds exciting to me anyway but he says "Mom, it is work"!!! He leaves on Wednesday for Puerto Rico and from there he will go to Sweden and then to England. He said that in the next six weeks he will be gone more than three of them. He is trying to find a good responsible person to care for Mokie and Tar - I suggested some close neighbors. He doesn't want to keep them in veterinarian kennels that long and I don't blame him. It kinda' reminds me of when my parents wanted to have someone care for our dogs when I was a child and they would take them to my grandparent's home in Lehi. Leaving a dog is as hard as leaving a child isn't it?

I went to Boyd Summerhays' mission homecoming in his ward today and it was SO good!!! He really spoke from his heart and didn't use one note. Elder Hales from the Quorum of the Twelve came and he spoke also - that was such an honor for the Summerhays' family because they don't usually do that. Elder Hales is a good friend of Boyd's - they have golfed together. He has been very ill for almost two years and they didn't think he would live - I kept up with him when I lived with Virginia in Bangkok (Virginia and Mary Hales are sisters) and his recovery was touch and go for a long. time. Boyd's coach from Oklahoma State University also came - he flew in this morning and then planned to leave to go home this afternoon. I was very proud of Boyd as he gave his "report" - he didn't let the fact that his coach was non-LDS affect the things he said. I met his coach and I told him to take good care of Boyd and he said, "You can count on it". He and Barji are SO cute together. Boyd had parted his hair and Barji didn't like it - it kinda' reminded me of the maroon shirt Papa loved and I hated - Ha!!! Those are such insignificant things!!!

Mary Ann had played a violin solo in a ward meeting early this morning and then she and Sarah had to hurry from Boyd's meeting to go to another one to play at. They do a lot of that and I think it is WONDERFUL. Rick came for Boyd's talk but he had to hurry back to his meetings - Sundays are such busy days for all of you. We talked to some of Ricky's friends after Boyd's meeting - Ann Norton's sons and they are nice young men.

I talked to Claire for a few minutes this week. She said she and Katie had had a GREAT time at Lake Mead and did a lot of water skiing. Laura came by to say "HI" at ZCMI and I LOVED that. She is such a pretty, pretty girl. It is SO funny - I can sit by the phone for a long time at the store and it doesn't ring but when someone comes to visit with me it doesn't stop ringing - she didn't stay very long.

I haven't talked to the Woolleys this week but I have a BIG favor to ask of Ann so I will be talking or writing to her soon - I believe she has finished her teaching now. I can just imagine how very busy that family is with helping Susanna and Steve plan their marriage "things" - a WONDERFUL time in their lives!!!

I have to work during the day tomorrow. The woman who is the PBX operator during the day is getting married and she and her fiancé' are going to the temple tomorrow so he can take out his own endowments - (he is a widower but he wasn't married in the temple) - so I said I would work for her. She is such a lovely woman and I REALLY like her and she is very happy to be getting married and quitting her job. She has worked for ZCMI for 12 years.