Weekly Report February 5, 2001
Dearest Family,
Jeannie called me last Saturday and said, "Mom,
Rick called me this morning from Price at 9 o'clock and woke me up - I can't
believe I slept that long". She had been super busy with Sarah and
the D'Ettes and had been in Orem for a dance competition most of the day on
Friday. Sarah was featured in their High School newspaper telling about
all her activities and it had her picture with the article and it was SO good.
I had such a fun time this weekend. Annie and
Russell had an appointment with Bob Friday afternoon to have some surgery on his
nose since it had been broken when he played football a couple years ago. He
wanted to have it done before he leaves for his mission - his papers go in today
so he will be receiving his calling before long. I didn't see them until
after the surgery so Russell wasn't too talkative Friday night but Ann and I
just talked and talked. I see her often but she is SO busy that we don't
usually have that much time together and I LOVED IT!!! Russell didn't ever
complain but he was kinda' miserable during the night so he decided to sleep in
the TV. room and Ann was close by in the other room. Saturday morning he
felt good so they went to the clinic and picked up his car - he had driven there
from Logan on Friday afternoon and left his car. They also went to a video
store and bought some videos for me so I would have some my grandchildren would
like when they come to visit - I am so "out of it" I have no idea what
is good and what isn't. These are the videos so they are in my closet for
you when you want them: "Cider House Rules", "Life is
Beautiful", "The Sixth Sense", "Notting
Hill", "The X Files" and "Star Wars". I am
thrilled to have them and will watch them - I promise!!!
Saturday afternoon Ann and I went to see Jean - she
is trying to decide on some fabric to do some "Window Treatment" for
their living and dining rooms and it was fun to visit. Since Jean was in
Orem on Friday she went to get Jimmy and bring him back here so he could stay
with Brett and not have to stay alone. Lee Anna is a little bit older and
wanted to stay in Provo - Ron has been in Hawaii all week on business and was to
come home last night. Bob and Claire took Brett and Jimmy skiing all day
on Saturday - they went to Snow Basin which is fairly close to Layton and had a
GREAT time.
I forgot to ask Bob if he skied too - I'm sure Claire did. Jessie came to
stay with me on Saturday night. She went to a party at a friend's home in
Brigham City and then came here - she wanted to be with Russ too. I was so
THRILLED to have her go to church with me yesterday - I'm so proud of my
grandchildren and love to "show them off". She is one busy
college student!!! She is involved in student government at Utah State and
will go to San Francisco this Wednesday for some kind of a convention. She
has applied for an internship for this Summer and hopes to go to New York - her
field is writing (I'm sure there is another name for it but I don't know it) and
she is very good!!! She is sad that she is going to have to give up her
music scholarship and quit the orchestra because she is too involved in her
classes.
John came home from New York on Saturday and I
wanted our Utah family to get together so they all came over about 5 o'clock on
Sunday after all our church meetings. John looks just FABULOUS - he works
out in a gym close by his office in New York and he is very careful in what he
eats and it surely does pay off!!! I wish I could be so committed but I am
not!!! I fixed tostados because I wanted those who wanted to just eat
lettuce and tomatoes could do that without the beans and meat. I don't
know what I did wrong but the tostados didn't ever get crisp like they did in
Montana when we fixed them in the mission home - probably because Brenda cooked
them there and I did it here. I think the children liked them but I do
better with casseroles. I LOVED HAVING MY FAMILY HERE - WE MISSED THE ROY
MELLORS AND MICHAEL!!!
John and Bob helped me with my finances and I
APPRECIATE THAT SO MUCH. I feel like I have lost my right arm now that
John has moved away. I have been trying to clean up my files and I can see
how much work John has done for me for many years and I have just taken it for
granted. I will "get with it" and learn what I have to do and I
know Bob will be a lot of help too - he is willing and it will be good for me - I
guess!!! John is available - it isn't like he has died or anything - Ha!!!
He keeps telling me that I will probably see as much of him now as I ever
have - we'll see!!!
We are having a little legal problem with some of
the land we own in Lehi. The ten acre part close to the lake that Don and
I divided so we each have five acres has a fence that separates it from property
owned by another lady. This lady has died and the estate's attorneys say
the fence is wrong and we need to give up some of the land. John has been
talking to the people in a Title Company for quite a few months trying to
negotiate an agreement. Don and Cheryl have called me to discuss it
because they had someone take them some documents to sign and they were very
upset. We have legal papers showing the property lines and I'm glad Bob
and John will help in trying to get it solved. I am definitely not good at
things like this. Aunt Marvel really protected her property and I'm proud
of her - she is probably very upset that we had to give up the dry farm and
canyon land because of the way things happened. I don't want those things
to happen again and it is up to us to protect what we have. John talked to
Don and Cheryl last night and he is a "pro" in dealing with people.
John seems to like New York and tells me that he
never gets bored. He is home until tomorrow and will spend time working in
his home in Orem and also taking care of some business and then he leaves on
Tuesday morning to go to Washington State and St. Louis before he goes back to
New York. I hope his home sells soon - there are two other homes in that
neighborhood that haven't sold yet either. This is a bad time for real
estate in Utah and I believe it is that way all over - maybe things will pick up
in the Spring.
I talked to Joy Geisler the other night - I called
her on her birthday. I couldn't believe all the hardships that people went
through in Little Rock during the month of December and I feel bad now that I
didn't call the Roy Mellors more often. I'm sure Roy and Patrice must
think I am very insensitive to their situation. Joy was without heat and
power for four days - she said it was 40 degrees in her home during that time
and she just piled blankets on her on her couch in her living room and stayed
there. I don't quite understand why but she said her stove was such that
she could cook her meals. She said there were trees down on her street so
she couldn't get out and her family couldn't get to her. I guess it will
be even more time before things are completely cleared out. Chris and
Wayne wrote and told me they didn't ever see their family because they were
staying with their son's mother-in-law near Searcy and her power went out so
they went back to their home in Florida. Chris and Wayne were in
Plainview.
I had lunch with some of my former missionary
companions on Thursday and that was a funny experience because I couldn't hear
anything they talked about. I went to my internist on Monday for my annual
checkup and she asked me if I wanted the wax in my ears cleaned out. Bob
has always done that but I know how busy he is so I said, "Yes",
thinking I wouldn't have to bother Bob. WELL - the nurse squirted water
into my ears and it just stayed there. She told me of some oil stuff to
get at the pharmacy to soften the wax and then she made an appointment for
Thursday morning to remove the wax. By Thursday I was completely plugged
up with water and oil and couldn't hear anything. I got up very early that
morning to make a cake to take to the luncheon so I could get to her office by 9
a.m. and then at 8:30 she called and said she had an emergency and wanted me to
come in on Monday. I was SO frustrated so I called Bob and he said he
would do it - I went to his office after my luncheon and he helped me SO much.
I will NEVER have anyone squirt water in my ears again and I don't think
they should ever do that to anyone. Bob has special equipment that does
such a much better job and of course, with his expertise, it made all the
difference in the world.
Barji and Boyd have had a sad experience in
Oklahoma. The college basketball team had traveled to a game and some of
the members of the team had gone on a different plane with some of the staff -
the plane crashed and there were ten people killed. Boyd was close to two
team members who were killed so they have spent a lot of time with their families
and also the other members of the team. Boyd also travels by plane when he
participates in his golf tournaments. I don't like air travel but I guess
things like that can happen other ways too. It was SO good to be with
Susanna and Steve last night. Steve is liking his job and Susanna is
liking her nursing school - she said she was in a rotation of gynecology this
semester and is learning a lot. I think a nursing career is WONDERFUL - she
will be able to use that all her life as a homemaker and will always be able to
get a job if she wants one.
Emily - the Mormon Tabernacle Choir presentation
yesterday morning on television featured flute players and it was so beautiful
and reminded me of you. I hope you and Timothy and Jesse are loving your
schools - we all miss you very much!!! We hope you are all doing GREAT!!!
Michael - I'm SO happy that your family has received
the negatives you sent to them. They were late in coming along with some
other letters he had written and they were all worried that they were lost in
the mail. I am SO happy your Mom will share the things in some of your
letters with all of us - YOU ARE DOING GREAT. I had to laugh at Jeannie
the other day - she had invited the missionaries in their area for dinner but
then they were invited to go to the Jazz basketball game with friends so she
took them pizza. I know they probably enjoyed that more that having dinner
in their home. I hope you get invited out a lot. Things have really
changed since we served in Montana - Lynn really discouraged missionaries going
for dinner with members. We think about you a lot and miss you.
I LOVE YOU ALL SO VERY, VERY MUCH. PLEASE BE
SO VERY, VERY CAREFUL IN EVERYTHING YOU DO. Grandma B
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