October 23, 2000 Farmington, Utah

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ROY AND PATRICE ON WEDNESDAY - YOU ARE NOW "THIRTY SOMETHING". I hope you two go out to dinner to celebrate It is SO convenient for you to have your birthdays on the same day - how did you do that? I will always remember when Roy told us that he had found the girl he was going to marry and her birthday was on October 25th, the same as his and her mother's was on December 27th, the same as mine - VERY SIGNIFICANT!!!

I have thought about Laura and Jimmy a lot this week. Laura had all four of her wisdom teeth pulled on Wednesday and Jimmy injured his thumb during a football game and has a cast on it all the way to his elbow. Annie said the ligament had torn away from the bone (I think that's right). Mary Ann said that Laura was at school so she must be getting along good. I'm with Claire - why do we have to have wisdom teeth anyway - Ha!!!

I have talked to John and he is doing good but is very, very busy traveling all over. He had a sad experience that I keep thinking about - on his way home from the airport one day he saw a brown lab on the side of the road that had been hit by a car. He stopped and picked the dog up and put it in his truck because it was dead and hurt so badly that he couldn't tell whether or not it was Tar. He took it to his vet to have him check to see if it had a micro chip in it to identify it - it wasn't Tar. I personally think Tar was stolen and is having a good life and I wouldn't be surprised to have him returned some day to John.

I hope all of you are enjoying the beautiful Fall weather like I am - I worried that we were going right into Winter but not so, we have had a lovely Fall. I have had a VERY busy week and as I look at my calendar for this week I am happy to not have every day filled - I LOVE to stay at home and just "putter". I know all of you with your busy schedules would also love to stay at home and putter.

Ellen Mae called and asked if I would like to go to Salt Lake and the new church conference center on Tuesday to get in line for tickets for the tabernacle choir Christmas program. We left here at 8:30 and got in line at 9:00 - actually it was a very comfortable line because they seated us in the conference center. Would you believe we finally got our tickets at 11:30? There were thousands of people there and even though we were on the 8th row we had to wait that long. We got six tickets each so I hope some of you will go with me or I will give you the tickets - it is on December 16th and we have to be there by 6 p.m. or they give the tickets to people who are on "standby". We had so much fun visiting - we never seem to get enough of that - Ha!!! Ellen Mae called me after we got home and told me that our tickets were not very good ones - she knows more about the seating than I do and it was printed on our tickets and we are way at the side. Oh well - they kept announcing that there were not any bad seats in the entire center. That building is spectacular, unbelievable and wonderful and I'm glad I don't live too far from it because I'm sure there will be many great events there. Tuesday night I went to a "Condo Birthday" party for four people who have birthdays in October. They reserved a restaurant for us so we were the only ones in it. We had so much fun and laughed and ate and laughed and ate. My neighbor, Margaret, was one of the birthday persons - I am the oldest of the group.

Wednesday I gave the lesson in our D.U.P. meeting and I am about the youngest of that group. The lesson was on the early pioneer families who settled Carbon County and that had special interest for me because of our cabin in Scofield. I have been very impressed with the families who come to the church in Scofield to present the programs for their Sacrament meetings and after studying their genealogy I can understand why. There are only 28 families living there now and there used to be over 200 when the mining operations were in full swing. The church is dependent upon Helper and Price because they don't have enough Priesthood in that little town so members from those towns come to give the programs and preside over the sacrament. The early pioneer families sacrificed and suffered SO much.

Thursday I went to Murray to be with my brother, Don. Cheryl had asked me quite a long time ago if I would come care for him so she could go to Mesquite with her daughter Pam who was celebrating her 40th birthday. I had such a good time and Don is doing GREAT - he kept saying "I don't really need you here" but I think he was glad I had come. We had many good visits and I took him to his physical therapy on Friday morning - he says he hates that but I went in with him and the facility is fabulous and I know it is helping him. Their son, Clint, and his wife were having their second baby in a hospital close by where Don lives that day so I took Don to see his new grandson in the evening on Friday - he was very happy because they are going to name the baby "Conner Don". The baby is just perfect. Clint was going to spend the nights of Friday and Saturday with Don and then Cheryl would be home on Sunday. Don has a good family - all the boys came to the hospital to welcome the new baby and he wasn't even born until 3 that afternoon.

Saturday after I came home from the temple I went to Logan for the Utah State football game with Margaret and some other condo friends. That was one of the best games I have ever seen and Utah State won. The weather was supposed to be cold and rainy but it was just beautiful and we had so much fun. They have hamburger and hot dog stands around and I had a "bratwurst" that was delicious - I would never cook one for myself at home. I thought of Rick - Ha!!!

Sunday after I came home from the nursery at church I took a two hour nap and then I went to the Weinerts for a delicious salmon dinner. I was happy to be invited so I could get "caught up" on Jeannie's trip to Denver. She was gone for almost a week and she said her dietician meetings were very good and she learned a lot. Those meetings have always caused a great deal of stress for her but she said these were not that way - just informational. She has to do that so often in order to keep her registration up to date. Ricky had come home to welcome his high school friend home from his mission but he only stayed Friday night and then went right back to Logan - I was disappointed he wasn't there yesterday.

I have been concerned about Michael this week as I have heard about the terrible flooding in Italy. I'm sure you are okay Michael and I am wondering if you are involved in the "cleanup" - so many of the missionaries help in that way when they are serving in areas where disasters hit. I feel SO fortunate to have so many interests throughout the world - the water problem in Russia is so unpredictable and my friends who are serving as Mission President and wife there often don't even have water in their mission home. My friends in Thailand keep me informed about things going on there and I feel like I am a part of it. Chris Jordin called me the other day and she and her sister are going on a trip to Thailand - actually they are going in other parts of Asia and will spend two days in Bangkok.