September 11, 2000 Farmington, Utah

MICHAEL - one week from today you will be leaving to go to Italy. Your Mom and Dad tell us that you are excited and anxious to go and all of us at home are SO happy for you and we're looking forward to hearing from them all your news. I don't care what anyone else says - MISSIONS ARE HARD (but they're worth every minute you will spend) - and we're all proud of you!!! This will be the last letter I will send to the MTC but I promise to write each week and even though my letters are boring you will know I am thinking of you. Your Mom shared some of your most recent pictures with us and you look WONDERFUL - I wish I could lose weight the way you have. Most people gain weight in the MTC but you have lost it. Ann told your Mom about seeing you play soccer so maybe I need to do that - Ha!!!

PATRICE - Thank you for your letter. I worry about the children in all the heat you are having - I'm glad you have a cool and comfortable home - there are many people who don't have a cool place to go and 111 temperature is TOO hot. I had a letter from Dorothy and she said everyone in Little Rock had literally "baked" all Summer. I hope you will get rain and cool weather before long. I LOVED the story about your Mom's cat and will write about it for the other members of our family who "might" read my letter. Suzie (Patrice's Mom) had left her cat with them while she was on a trip and while they were on their trip to Utah they had a neighbor care for it in their home. Patrice let it out when they got back to Little Rock and she didn't see it often but she knew it was okay because it was eating the food she put out for it. THEN - she noticed it wasn't anywhere around and wasn't eating the food so she was VERY worried. She made "flyers" and went around their neighborhood looking for it but couldn't find it. Finally - someone close around in their neighborhood called her. A woman had awakened in the middle of the night to find a cat sitting on her bed. She didn't know to whom it belonged so she called the animal shelter to come get it. Patrice found out about it right in the nick of time - she called them but since they were closed on Monday, the day they usually put the animals to sleep, they still had her cat. I'm SO glad Suzie didn't have to come home and find her pet had been euthanized.

Speaking of cats!!!! My neighbor has two cats and they really are beautiful and don't bother me one bit but they live on my back patio. I have been having a lot of problems with skunks in my backyard - they have dug holes and made homes under my wooden deck. Bob has been over several times to "plug" them up and he took several planks off my deck and made barriers from the inside with wood and bricks so they couldn't get in. WELL - he went to the cabin on Wednesday to winterize it and brought me his "hav-a-hart trap" to trap the skunk. He made a peanut butter sandwich and put it in the trap and then "set it" - I was worried I would trap one of Martha's cats so I told her about it and she kept her cats inside that night. I was upstairs talking to Margaret on the phone telling her to listen for the trap to close because her window is close to that part of my backyard. While I was talking to her she said, "Barbara, can you smell that? I think you have caught your skunk". I ran outside in my stocking feet and the skunk was not in the trap but he had struggled to get out because his fur was all over the trap and I have NEVER smelled anything so bad. I made that skunk SO mad that he sprayed all over everything - I have scrubbed and scrubbed and had to throw my stockings away. Bob has offered to come back and set the trap again but I tell him that skunk can live anywhere he wants if he just doesn't spray again. I believe the big problem is the cat food Martha puts out for her cats.

ANNIE - Thank you too for your letter. I appreciate having Susanna and Steves' address and I will write to them soon. I went to the Utah State University football game on Saturday night with Margaret and some other condo friends and the stadium was packed so I know Ricky, Russell and Jessie were there. I kept looking for them after the game was over but I couldn't find them. Margaret is a big contributor to the University so she has a "platinum" parking pass and I thought we were going to park inside the stadium - Ha!!! We had tickets on the 50 yard line and it was such a good game. Utah State didn't play very well during the first half but they did very well after that and won the game by two touchdowns.

JOHN - Thank you for your phone call - I worry too much about you when I don't hear for so long. John travels back and forth from Utah to New York A LOT - he enjoys his work but says the traveling gets old. His friend, Laura, owns a home in Pleasant Grove and he has been helping her get it ready to sell. He says they have been removing old wall paper, painting, cleaning carpets, etc. I have always liked Pleasant Grove and I imagine her home will sell quickly. I could learn a lot from Laura - when I asked John about her horses he said, "Mom, you should see her pitch hay for them". Thanks for sending me the message from Barbara Howell telling me about my friend, Rhoda DeLong, passing away - she has been blind for at least 20 years and her death is a blessing - she is in her late 80's. I won't be able to go to her funeral in Logan tomorrow but I'll send a card to her husband who has been such a good man to care for her.

CLAIRE - Thank you for your messages too. I LOVE going to Brett's soccer games and he is such a GOOD player. He is on a "competition" team which means it isn't a neighborhood or school team but one that plays on a higher level for competition. Brett's team won the game I saw last Friday - I thought they played a little rough and I'm afraid I would have been out on the field during a few of their "collisions" but I guess that's part of the game. Laura is on the Davis High Tennis team and will go with them to St. George this week for a competition game (I think that's right). When I sat with Bob last week on the sidelines I realize how much more of a competitor I am than he is - that kinda' surprises me!!!

JEANNIE - Thank you for your messages too. Jean and Rick went to Sun Valley this past weekend and they had a good time and said it was beautiful and quite cool. Mary Ann stayed with me at night and Sarah stayed with one of her friends. I LOVE it when my grandchildren will stay with me. Mary Ann and her friend Matt went to the Utah State game also and we both got home about the same time on Saturday night - they had gone to the "corn maze" Friday night. Mary Ann and Sarah both have cell phones now and that makes it much easier for all of us. I'll have the lasagna recipe copied for you - I think that is special too - even after being frozen for four months. I LOVE the bagels - Thanks!!!

I went to Brigham City for the Peach Days celebration before going to Logan for the game. Margaret's son had one of his cars on display and it was "VERY WELL DONE". His car is an old 1928 truck he had had restored and it really is a beautiful old truck - I believe he has others that he keeps in his storage place but he just took this one to Brigham City. The Andersons are "car people" and especially this one son, Steve. They go to car shows in other places too and Steve is very active in that association. I have never paid much attention to this sort of thing but I do remember going to see some of Rockefeller's old restored cars in Arkansas and thought they were beautiful. I saw an old Studebaker on Saturday like the one Daddy and I had - we had saved our money for a year and then had to wait a long, long time before we could get our car because it was right after the war and they didn't have very many.