August 15, 2000 Farmington, Utah

I have had a WONDERFUL week and even though it is already Tuesday and most of you already know all the news I want to write it for my journal and also so I can send a copy of it to Michael. MICHAEL - Thank you SO much for your letter to me from the MTC - it meant so much to me to hear how happy you are and your Mom shared the pictures you had sent to her so we could all see that you are doing GREAT. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!!!

I went to a Triple E meeting on Monday night- it was held at the home of a lady who lives in the trailer courts that are close to my condo and I had a good time. The name stands for "Energy, Enthusiasm and Endurance" - I think.!!! The ladies are all widows and very nice - they meet once a month and I probably won't want to go that often but it was fun.

Tuesday morning Chris Jordin came back from Idaho. We fixed lunch and then made a rhubarb pie - it was funny because I couldn't find a recipe for it so Chris tried to remember how to make one. It turned out delicious but we should have put flour or tapioca in it to thicken it - it was quite runny. We spent a lot of time finding a friend of Chris' who used to live in Little Rock. Her name is Charlene Wilkinson and her husband was a Bishop there and also in the Stake Presidency with Dick Cobb. He came to Utah for a liver transplant and they bought this home in Farmington - it is on Compton Bench and very nice. Mr. Wilkinson was a Vice-President with Systematics and Alltel and also an author of a book named "Getting Even" which sold quite well in Arkansas. Charlene is a very talented artist. He died shortly after the transplant so she has stayed in her home here - she has two children quite close by. She is only 58 years old.

Chris and I had planned for Barbara Sondrup and Linda Smithers to come to my condo and then we were going to have dinner together. Linda called and asked if we could meet somewhere in Bountiful so we went to "The Mandarin" restaurant - we invited Charlene to join us so she did and Barbara brought her Mother from Provo. Barbara came in with a two pound box of See's chocolates and we ate the entire box along with our BIG dinner. Jokingly, I invited them to all come back to my condo for rhubarb pie AND THEY ALL CAME and they ate the pie too - Ha!!! It was such a fun night and I believe Barji and Boyd thought we were drinking the way we giggled for hours (Boyd and Barji stayed with me for a few nights after their honeymoon and I LOVED that even though I didn't see much of them).

Chris left about 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday and then one of the lady missionaries who served with us in Montana came to see me. I tried to play cupid because I wanted her to meet the son of one of my good friends here in the condos - Ha!!! Todd Guthrie is 38 years old and he is still single - he has limitations because of having had a stroke when he was twelve years old. He works for the Land Rover Company and is a very nice young man and extremely handsome. Todd and his parents came for lunch with Becky Thomas and me and we had a good time but I am afraid Becky is too ambitious for him - she and her Mom run a very large swimming school in California.

Roy and Patrice, Emily, Timothy and Jesse came on Thursday afternoon - Boyd and Barji moved out that morning. I WAS SO THRILLED TO HAVE THEM COME!!! Bob and Claire came over before they got here and then Bob came back later in the evening and we all visited. Emily, Timothy and Jesse have all grown a little since last year but I saw them in April so we weren't complete strangers like we usually are when they come to see me. They are an absolute joy to have in my home - they left this morning and I miss them already.

Rick, Jean and Ricky came by for me on Saturday morning about 10 o'clock and we drove to the temple where we met the Woolleys - WHAT A FUN TIME THAT WAS!!! That is the first time I have been with Ricky in the temple. I am very impressed with all the friends who support each other during these weddings - I have never experienced that before. Ron's father, Russ, was there along with his sisters, Mimi and Sue - the Woolleys' Bishop and his wife and many of their friends and neighbors; Jackie Coleman, Brenda ?, Georgeann Dawson, Janet Lee and her daughter Christie and other friends of Susanna's' whom I remember but haven't seen for a long, long time. I hope SO much that these friends all stay close and do things together with their husbands.

After their wedding which was just beautiful we all gathered outside for pictures. I am very impressed with Steve's parents and family and friends. He has a brother, Jason, who is not active in the church but he came for pictures and the reception - I believe he lives in Florida. I'm anxious to see the pictures because the weather was "picture perfect" and Susanna's wedding dress is "out of this world". The Roy and Bob Mellor families were all there and also many friends. John was not able to come to the temple and we missed him - he said he missed his flight. THEN - we came back to my condo for lunch and that was fun. I had worried about that because I didn't think there would be enough time but it turned out just perfectly. John came for lunch and that meant a lot of driving for him because he had to go to Orem after his flight and change clothes because he hadn't brought a suit.

We all left for the Woolleys about 4 p.m. on Saturday and I cannot describe their gorgeous yard and do it justice - it was manicured so perfectly and their flowers were simply beautiful. The reception book was so unusual - it was quite like an album with pictures of Susanna and Steve on the black pages and then guests signed their wishes for them in silver ink. I LOVED seeing Ron, Jimmy and Russell in their tuxedos and Jessie and Lee Anna in their beautiful bridesmaids' dresses - they were the same design as Susanna's wedding dress only not with the "full underslip" and in light blue. Annie, of course, was just gorgeous in her blue suit and Steve's Mom, Janet was in a beautiful different color blue suit along with Steve's Dad, his brothers Greg and Jason in their tuxedos. Emily and Katie were in charge of the gifts that were brought to the home and Jimmy was in charge of the guest book and they looked SO beautiful and handsome. John brought his "co-worker friend", Laura Hawks, and she was lovely in a light green suit and it was good to have John not be alone.

I have NEVER seen a more beautiful or tasted a more delicious buffet than was served. They had caterers and that is the "only way to go" - Ha!!! They set up the buffet table on top of their hot tub - I hope I can describe all the food they served. Delicious pasta and vegetable salads, all kinds of rolls and breads, cheese block spreads that I would love to know how to make and decorate the way they did and chicken and vegetables served on those sticks (I don't know what they are called) and then fresh strawberries dipped in dark chocolate and decorated with white chocolate. The wedding cakes were very unusual and SO VERY GOOD - they had three of them and they were decorated with fresh flowers on top. You cut your own slices and then they had fresh raspberry sauce to put on top.

They had tables set up on their lawns - I was surprised how many they could accommodate. I was happy that three of my condo friends came - Margaret and Jean & Russ Mears. Their guests kept coming until way past 9 p.m. but Susanna threw her bouquet at 9 and Jessie caught it - good for you Jessie!!! We all stayed to see them off and that was fun - they had darling little bottles of "bubbles" that the children passed out and then when Susanna and Steve left to get into their car we all blew bubbles on them. Their car was decorated "properly" and they were SO happy. I believe they left Sunday morning to go to Florida for their honeymoon and then they will get ready for another open house at Steve's parents' home in Destin.

I am keeping my fingers crossed that our J. L. Mellor family picture turns out good - all the others too. We talked to the photographer and he said he could digitize pictures of Brett and Michael into our family picture so Bob will get good pictures of them and send to him. I forgot to say that we missed Brett in the temple pictures too - he was in Yellowstone with his scout group and couldn't get back in time and of course, Michael is in the MTC.

Monday - Emily, Katie, Timothy and Jesse and I all went to Lagoon. I know that I had as much or more fun than they did. Jesse wasn't tall enough last year to go on many of the exciting rides but he was tall enough this year and they really had a good time. It was fun to just sit back and watch them. The only time I REALLY worried was when they were in the "water park" - I had a difficult time keeping track of Jesse. I finally appealed to one of the lifeguards to help me and she was WONDERFUL!!! He is a good swimmer but the pools were filled with people and I wished that I had taken my swimming suit so I could have been in there with them. When we first got to Lagoon, Timothy who really has very good judgment grabbed Jesse and they started up to go on the "roller coaster". I just assumed it was a small one and after they were out of my sight I overheard someone say it was the roller coaster you could see from the street - THE BIG ONE. I hurried up to stop them and the worker at the top was so kind and let me stay in a place where I could catch them before they got on it - I stood there for quite awhile and all of a sudden there they were - they had already gone on it. They didn't seem a bit frightened so after that I let them choose what they wanted to ride on. Emily and Katie didn't want to be with us - they went on VERY, VERY SCARY rides!!! Jean had invited all of us to go their home for hamburgers after Lagoon and we got there about 8:45 p.m. Roy and Patrice were invited to go out to dinner with some University of Utah faculty members so they came to Jeannie's later.