March 5, 2001 Farmington, Utah

The big news for this letter is that John was in the earthquake in Seattle!!! He said his plane had just landed about half an hour before it happened and he felt the ground shake and saw everything moving and windows crashing - I asked him how he knew it was an earthquake and he said it was very evident. WHAT AN EXPERIENCE!!! He was SO thoughtful to call and tell us he was okay and I appreciate that very much. He said it was very interesting to walk around the city and see all the damage - I'm so happy there were few fatalities but I guess the structural damage is in the billions.

I know Liz and her husband live in the Seattle area and I hope they didn't receive any serious damage. Our Winter has just been crazy - they have been reporting for the last couple days that New York was in for the worst ice and snow storm in the last fifty years. John called tonight and said that has been up graded so I guess it won't be as bad as they had expected.

I have seen Jeannie and Bob almost every day this past week - I feel SO bad that they have neglected their own families to help me but I surely do appreciate it. I know I have never been so sick in all my life - I started with the flu last Saturday and it started with a cough, then went to my sinuses, then to my stomach with nausea and finally to my head with head aches. I am not kidding when I say I couldn't lift my head off the pillow and the only thing that helped was an ice bag and to lay down. I laughingly say I have never been sick in my life until I moved to Davis County and I have had the flu every year since I moved here - I have been very careful to get the flu shot each year too!!! Jeannie made me hot tea and bouillon and soda crackers with butter - Bob brought me baked chicken, potato salad and Kiva juice or I would have died - Ha!!! I am much, much better!!!

Annie - I looked for you to come every day but I'm glad you didn't. It's a good thing your job allows you to change your schedule when you have more important things to take care of. I know how involved you are in getting Russell's visa ready and it's important that you do it plenty early so he won't have problems in leaving on time. I will never forget how frustrated I was when Virginia didn't get her visa in time and we couldn't leave as we had planned. I remember that I wanted Roy & Patrice and their family to "see me off" but they had to go back to Little Rock before I could leave. I can just imagine how excited Russ is - I am convinced that no one knows where Madagascar is. I thought it was just me but when I tell people about it the standard response is, "Where in the world is that?"

Jeannie, Rick and Ricky are going to Las Vegas this weekend to be with Barji and Boyd. Boyd is in a golf tournament there and they will have such a good time together. I believe Barji is coming home in April for a couple weeks and it will be SO good to have her home - Boyd is going on tour.

Bob and Claire are going on a cruise - Greece and Italy. They leave on Sunday and will be gone about ten days. Laura is going to be "in charge" and they will be just fine. I will be anxious to hear all about it. It's always fun to hear all about the exotic and delicious food they serve. I was with friends one time and they told me about a woman who "ate herself to death" on a cruise - they claimed that it really happened - she ate so much that she had a fatal heart attack right on the ship. That would be my luck - Ha!!!

Chris Jordin called me this morning and she said Little Rock has had lots and lots of rain but the sun was shining today. She had been out raking leaves - she said the leaves had fallen last Fall just before their ice storms so they hadn't been raked before now. I'm anxious to hear about the "math counts" competition - is it over?

John is supposed to go to Indiana on Tuesday if the planes are able to leave New York. He is enjoying his work and knows it is really a learning experience for him - he says he has learned a lot about the Israel culture - he travels some with men from Israel.

I was cleaning my closet one day last week and found some of Lynn's keys in one of my purses - I know you would all remember them. He had this thing that had screw drivers around it connected to all his keys. Anyway, the key to the four wheeler was there along with the key to our safety deposit box in Lehi that we had to have drilled out because we couldn't find the key - lots of other keys too that I have no idea what they're for.

This has been an unexciting week here in Utah so that's all the news. I LOVE YOU ALL SO VERY, VERY MUCH. PLEASE BE SO VERY, VERY CAREFUL IN EVERYTHING YOU DO. Grandma B XXXXXXXXXXXXXOOOOOOOOOO