September 4, 2000 Farmington, Utah

Happy Labor Day!!! I'm sure some of you are traveling and I hope you are safe and having a good time. I just came in from the swimming pool and we are having a beautiful day - I think they are keeping our pool too warm but I won't complain because it is always so clean and nice. I also weighed myself and if my scales are correct I have gained ten pounds this Summer - ugh!!!

I am SO happy to have my computer in good working order. They sent the new keyboard to Bob and he had it all installed by the time I got home - he also came over on Saturday and fixed many things for me. My back door closes much easier now Bob - THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! - also the automatic light. I have "something" digging under my patio - I put a big rock in the hole before I left on Tuesday to stop whatever it is but when I got home it had dug under in another place. I put another big rock in that place and so far I can't find anymore holes. Bob took up one of the planks in the patio and couldn't see anything but he said it smells like the "skunk room" at the cabin so it is probably a skunk.

I had a WONDERFUL time last week. I hope some of you will make that trip sometime. The play "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" was just excellent - it always amazes me when I see young people with so much talent and they have SO much fun together!!! That was at West Yellowstone and we stayed at a motel there that night and it had the best swimming pool with a fun circular slide - Mel was the only one who took a bathing suit. We all stayed together in one room - Mel, Ellen Mae, Gene (Ellen Mae's sister) and I and we played "Mormon Bridge" until the wee hours of the morning. Mel is such a good sport and we just tell him to close his eyes when we get dressed. We left the next morning to go to Jackson Hole and we went through the park on the way. It was fun to see "Old Faithful" and also all the "mud pots" and geysers on the way. We were saddened as we thought about the three young park employees who walked back to their dormitory in the dark and went into a HOT pool last week - one died and the other two are still in critical condition with burns over 85 percent of their bodies.

I LOVE to go to Yellowstone - my family now goes to Lake Powell each Summer but when I was young we always used to go to Yellowstone and we planned and saved our money all year for it. My Father built a food box that fit clear across the floor of the backseat and Mother cooked EVERYTHING we ate except for Mr. Goodbar candy bars - I tried to buy some while we were there but couldn't find them. We also depended a lot on the fish that Daddy caught and we stayed in a little cabin with a cook stove that we had to build a fire in. WONDERFUL memories!!!

We stopped at Jackson Hole on Wednesday where we had motel reservations. Ellen Mae, Gene and I shopped while Mel went to the Bar J Ranch to reserve places for us - it isn't far from Jackson Hole. The program there is the best thing I have ever seen - a man and his two sons (Humphries) entertain for about two hours along with two other men and I thought about Jessie because one of the men is the National Fiddler Champion. They serve a dinner of baked beans, beef bar-b-cue, baked potatoes/sour cream, corn bread, applesauce and spice cake. We are seated at long tables and they come around with coffee and lemonade and anyone who wants "seconds" of the food can have them. I wish I could remember how many they served on Wednesday night - it was in the hundreds and this is towards the end of their season. They come to Utah during the Winter and perform at various places.

Thursday morning we went to Margaret's home in Etna, Wyoming. She had some other friends with her and had invited us to come spend the day and night. She is such a gracious woman and made us feel right at home. Mel and the other men went golfing at the "Star Valley Ranch Golf Course". Some of her friends who were with her are from Brigham City and we had fun talking about mutual friends. She took us into Alpine where we shopped at a little gift store and then we went back to her home. She had invited other friends to come for dinner Thursday night so she had to get prepared. She had 13 people for dinner and it was just delicious - her Brigham City friends had just killed a beef so they had brought a huge roast and we had all the trimmings to go with it. She had also bought a new ice cream freezer so they made raspberry ice cream that was heavenly - I asked for the recipe and when I found out it was made with whipping cream, half and half and sweetened condensed milk I decided to forget it - no one in my family would eat it!!!

We spent the night at Margaret's home and Gene and I slept in the "bunk room" where she has 12 beds. We talked until late and I couldn't believe it but we slept until almost 10 a.m. Everyone else was up by the time we got up and I felt bad because they had waited breakfast for us and some of them needed to get back to their homes early - I didn't know that. We packed and started for home - we stopped at Gene's home and she fixed us lunch, then we stopped at the Utah State University Creamery and had an ice cream cone, then we stopped at the Gossner Cheese Factory and bought cheese, and then we stopped in Willard and bought peaches. IT WAS SUCH A FUN, FUN WEEK!!!

I have told Bob and John they could sell the Scofield Cabin - it makes me sad but it hasn't been used at all for the last five years except by Chris and Wayne. Bob got the things necessary to fix the big water heater and also all the things to fix the dock but I don't believe they have been fixed. I thought Wayne would enjoy doing those things but I had a letter from them saying they had only stayed in the cabin three nights this Summer and I didn't even hear from them while they were here. I told Bob we should ask $25,000 for it but then I changed my mind and said it should be $30,000 - he had already sent a letter to the owner of the land with the $25,000 price so I guess we will have to stick with that. They have increased the taxes in that County - I used to pay less than $100 per year but last year they were about $600. It will be interesting to see what develops. We probably won't have any interest in it until next Spring. I may go up there this next week to check on things. The big problem is that I have never learned how to "open" it in the Spring and "close" it in the Fall and besides that the group at Scofield West wants us to help with the work around the bowery and other places and no one in my family has that kind of time or interest. I would love to use whatever we get from it in helping to buy another piece of land somewhere fairly close and have the entire family have a part in it - does that sound interesting???

I hope each one of you is doing just GREAT!!! JOHN - Thank you for your phone call - I know we talked too long but it had been a long, long time since I had heard from you. I can just imagine how hard you have been working when you said you had been "weeding" in your back yard - that's a BIG job!!! ROY AND PATRICE - when we were watching TV last week they announced that Little Rock had broken records with their 111 degree temperatures - YIPES!!! Michael - it won't be long before you leave for Italy and I'm thrilled for you. I went to the "Officer's Club" at Hill Field for dinner with Margaret on Saturday night and I had a pasta salad - I was shocked when it came. It was a Cajun chicken breast on top of linguine (sp.?) and a cream sauce on top of that - delicious but I thought of all the overweight Italian people I know and I can understand why. I wanted to look up RICKY, RUSSELL AND JESSIE while I was in Logan but I knew I would never be able to find them - hope they are all involved in EVERYTHING at school. BARJI - Thank you for your sweet note. I was excited when I learned that Sergio Garcia beat Tiger Woods - all of a sudden I am interested in golf - Ha!!!