November 6, 2000 Farmington, Utah

This week has surely gone by FAST and when I look at my calendar I didn't do anything special so I guess it's just my old age. I really thought time was supposed to drag when you got older but that's not the case in my situation. I have great plans to do genealogy but you can tell I'm not that excited about it or I would do it. I don't want to get into the "mess" it would take because I want to use pictures and since I have at least a million it would make a "mess" - Ha!!!

I hope you are all doing GREAT. I was SO thrilled to have my Utah family come for dinner last night and they stayed long enough to REALLY visit - I LOVED IT!!! I was especially happy to have my grandchildren "stick around" - usually they leave right after eating but last night it was so fun to listen to them talking and laughing. I also LOVED having Susanna and Steve with us. I always hesitate calling the Woolleys because they have to drive SO far and it's late before we can all get together but I left a message on their phone and Ann called me back and said "WE WANT TO COME" - I was SO happy!!! I am around "old" people so much that it is REALLY refreshing to be with newlyweds and Susanna and Steve are SO happy and "upbeat". Steve will graduate in December and has already found a job in Salt Lake with a business firm. They want to move North - I would love to have them live with me - it is surprising how close Salt Lake is to me.

Since Bob's birthday is next Monday I wanted to have a birthday cake for him. WELL - Chris Jordin had given me a recipe for a cheese cake that she said was "out of this world" so I planned to make that and put birthday candles on it. I got all the ingredients but it called for "amaretto" and I went to two grocery stores and couldn't find it - I thought it was some kind of flavoring like vanilla but it called for 1/4 cup and I knew that was too much vanilla. I called Chris but she wasn't home so I left a message - when she called me back she was laughing and said it is a liqueur (sp.?) and it comes in a big bottle that I could get at a liquor store. Can you see me going to a liquor store? In desperation I went to Smiths and bought a cake and wrote Happy Birthday on it. It was good!!! Annie also brought a cake that I LOVED - it was a Gingerbread cake with cranberries in it with a rum sauce and whipped cream. I told Jeannie I was going to make her potato rolls because I LOVE them but she insisted on making them for me and I'm glad she did because I wouldn't have had time to make them and they were delicious.

John really has a lot going on his life right now and I know it was hard for him to take the time to come and I appreciate it SO much!!! He had just come home from New York on Saturday - I don't know how he does all he does with the traveling and everything. He looks SO good. - for awhile I thought he looked "emaciated" and I hated that. He hasn't heard one thing about Tar but he says he lets Mokie come in his house once in a while and I'm sure they both like that.

Bob and Claire took me to a Thai restaurant in "Roy" on Friday night - that is a little town just South of Ogden. I haven't tasted good Thai food like that since I left Thailand. I was SO thrilled to see Bob enjoy "hot" food - I think it is absolutely WONDERFUL but I have never known Bob to be able to eat it. My condo friends go out to eat quite often and I have told them about this restaurant - now I will be able to tell them how to get there. I may go for lunch all by myself sometime!!!

I had a funny experience on Saturday. I left to go to the temple at 4:30 a.m. and got back home at 2:00 p.m. I am usually home at least by noon but there had been a "roll over" of a gasoline tank on the freeway and they had to close the roads for almost two days to get it cleaned up. I couldn't imagine what the problem was with all the traffic piled up - it was like a "parking lot" with huge, huge trucks all over. Finally I asked a lady in the car next to me since we were stopped together and she told me what had happened.

Brett played a soccer game that started at 1:30 - usually they have been in the mornings and I couldn't go because of the temple. It was just a beautiful day and I enjoyed watching him play - he is very good!!! Bob and Alice Ezell were there too and I'm happy to see Bob doing so well after his knee surgery.

Roy and Patrice - when Chris called me she said she had finally met Susan O'Donoghue - I said, "You mean Suzie". I guess she was introduced to her as Susan at the Center where Chris and Barbara Andrews go for lessons of different kinds each week. Chris was SO happy to become a little acquainted with her. She also told me that the Pastor of your Unitarian Church had given the lesson in one of the religion classes. She and Barbara don't go to that class so they didn't hear her but Chris said she talked to many people who had attended it and they were VERY impressed with her. I have always been impressed with her when I have heard her give her sermons. I know the leaves in your area are just gorgeous - I miss Arkansas!!!

I went to the Roger's Theatre with my condo friends - I saw the musical program of some of Andrew Lloyd Webber's songs again. I think they do such a GREAT job at that theatre. I wish my family in this area would get season tickets for next year - they are putting on "Peter Pan, Sound of Music, Forever Plaid, 4th 1776, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Arsenic and Old Lace, and the Christmas Carol". The tickets are $54 for the season. It is all local talent but I don't know how it could be any better. I found out that one of the main performers is the model for Joseph Smith in all of Liz Lemon Swindle's pictures - he has a beautiful singing voice.

I have worried so much about that little boy who was lost in our mountains. (His father left him in his truck while he went scouting for deer and he got out of the truck and walked over two miles before lying down and not waking up in the cold, cold weather). He was only two years old. His father will never be the same and I feel so bad for him - he and his wife were separated and she has been cruel towards him as they have interviewed her on television. The volunteer searcher found him on Halloween night and he himself was lost in the mountains and had wandered overnight in the cold weather until a ranger who had lost her dog found him and directed him to safety. It was truly a miracle they found him. I remember having Daddy tell me about losing Bob when they were duck hunting when Bob was about 13 years old - I know Daddy was heartsick even just telling me about it. I remember too losing John in the mall one day while I was in line waiting to check out my groceries - he was looking at magazines one minute and the next he was gone. He walked on the highway trying to get to our home on Leawood and a man who lived close by saw him and took him into his house and called the police. I had called Daddy who was at church and when he came to the mall we called the police. Daddy brought Annie with him and the two of them went to get him at this man's house -they thought she was his Mother because he was SO happy to see her. I don't think there is a parent alive who hasn't made mistakes with their children.

Tomorrow will be an exciting time for our country. I have heard many people complain about all the "politics" on television but I have really enjoyed all that I have seen and I think we are fortunate to have two good candidates running for President. I personally am Republican and want Bush but I will have to say I think Gore would be good too. I think they will both be so relieved to have the campaign over but it will be a real let down for one of them. As Ron pointed out last night though Bush will still be Governor of Texas and I don't know what Gore will do.