June 3, 2001 Farmington, Utah

HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO JOHN ON WEDNESDAY!!! I HOPE YOU HAVE A WONDERFUL BIRTHDAY!!! I wish you were here so I could bake you a cake and we could all have dinner here together. I was looking at pictures the other day of you blowing out candles on your cake - was that last year??? Time passes so quickly for me that I can't keep track of it. I haven't heard from you this week and I'm hoping you're not in Israel - the people there just don't value life do they??? The suicide bomber last week that killed about 16 people right in Tel Aviv where you said it was relatively safe.

My thoughts will be with the Woolleys this week as they put Russell into the MTC - I believe he goes in on Tuesday and will stay there for at least two months as he becomes acquainted with the languages of French and the native language of Madagascar. WHAT A GREAT EXPERIENCE FOR HIM!!! It is also a great experience for me - I didn't pay much interest in things that happened around the world before but now I "zero in" on all the news about Africa, Italy, El Salvador, Israel, Chili, Columbia, Thailand, etc., etc. I'll always remember when we left John at the MTC - we just said goodbye to Bob for two years as he left Little Rock to go to Provo and the MTC.

Bob and Brett will go to Guatemala this week too - we're surely a "traveling family"!!! I haven't talked to the Bob Mellors this week and that is VERY unusual. I took a nap yesterday after I came home from the temple and I was awakened by some kind of a noise that I thought was Bob opening my garage door so I hurried downstairs to say hello - BUT it wasn't him and I still don't know what it was. Anyway - he came over later and I had just left to go to the grocery store so I missed him. I always worry when he goes on these trips but I am SO proud of him and the GREAT work he does for the poor people in the countries he visits. This will be a GREAT experience for Brett and I know he will learn A LOT!!! BE CAREFUL!!!

Mary Ann leaves to go to Europe on Thursday with her High School group and I am SO thrilled she is able to go and she is VERY excited. She graduated from Davis High on Friday and I just LOVED her graduation - CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU MARY ANN!!! I was very impressed with everything - it was held at the Dee Event Center at Weber State in Ogden and there were 704 graduates and I believe everyone of them was there - girls in beautiful yellow cap and gowns and the boys in brown. She has SO many friends and they were all excited but a little sad too. Rick and Jean had hosted a dinner at the Lion House in Salt Lake on Thursday night for about 10 of her friends and their parents - they said there were 70 people there. Each girl gave a little talk and a tribute to her parents and then they had dinner. After Mary Ann's graduation they invited me to their home for a "graduation dinner" on their beautiful patio - she had chosen the menu of salmon, rice pilaf, cheese broccoli and "creamies" which is a low fat ice cream popsicle. Jeannie had made a delicious drink that I haven't tried before - strawberry and kiwi crystal light with diet 7-up. I left their home as Jeannie, Rick and Mary Ann left to go to an "all night party" at Weber State for the graduating class. I think this is the neatest thing - the school sponsors this party and they have many chaperones and the graduates play all kinds of games and eat all kinds of food all night and HAVE A BALL. Jean and Rick came over last night to visit and they told me that Mary Ann got home about 5 a.m. and one of her friend boys showed up at 7 a.m. to cook her breakfast - Ha!!! I told Jeannie several days ago that she had dark circles under her eyes and she snapped - "Thank You Mom" - so I didn't dare tell her last night that they haven't gone away. She's worn out!!!

I thought of Annie as I listened to one of the graduation speakers at Davis High. Ann was the school board member in the Provo district to present the graduates of Timpview High School their diplomas and give a little talk. She hadn't told me about it but Jean knew and so we planned to go listen to her but she was very definite in telling us to not come - NO BIG DEAL - so we didn't go. Bob was hoping it was in the evening so he could go too. Anyway she has promised that she will do it again next year when Lee Anna graduates and we can come then.

Another exciting thing this week - SARAH GOT HER DRIVER'S LICENSE!!! I don't believe the Weinerts could have crowded one more thing into their busy schedule this week. Sarah had an appointment for her final driver's test on Friday about the same time as Mary Ann's graduation so Ricky stayed home to take her to the place for the test and then they both came for the graduation - Jeannie said "I can't believe that all the things I planned today actually got done" - Ha!!!

Margaret asked me to go to lunch with her on Friday too - it was her 50th wedding anniversary. We had fun and she bought some tablecloths for her home in Star Valley - I told her she should buy something very special because ours was when I was in Thailand and I bought my ruby ring. Her children took her to dinner that night and gave her a dozen red roses and she was happy. She surely doesn't need one more ring - Ha!!!

Patrice - Thank you SO much for your letter. Emily will have such a good time with all of us and we're excited for her visit. July 4th is always such a special time in Utah and there will be LOTS of activities all month!!! The condo pool is open and I am SO relieved. The lady from the Health Department came and just about everything was fine - we have to fill in a space under one of our fences - it is supposed to be only 3 inches and it is 5 1/2. She took a million water samples to test and I thought about the pool I swam in every day at our apartment in Bangkok - they never did put any chemicals in it or test it and I couldn't see the bottom - Ha!!!

Michael - Thank you SO much for your postcard - WHAT A THRILL TO HAVE A PERSONAL MESSAGE FROM YOU!!! Your English is very good too so you are not only learning Italian but your English is EXCELLENT - I'M SO PROUD OF YOU!!! I am thinking you will be transferred to another city soon. Mary Ann is going to spend a lot of time in Italy - wouldn't it be fun if you ran into each other???

I hope I haven't forgotten anything - life has been very busy for my Utah family this past week and will continue through next week too. I am going to go to Star Valley with Margaret and other condo friends this afternoon to spend the week and we're all looking forward to it. I don't know where she gets her energy - she called me last night about 10:30 and she had just come home from a "dance marathon" with one of her granddaughters who is 6 years old and she had been gone all day. She left early this morning to go to Logan to pick up a 7 year old grandson before getting back for church. I must pack and it's hard to know what to take - it will be cool in Wyoming.