January 20, 2002 Farmington, Utah

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO CLAIRE ON SATURDAY!!!! I believe she is '30' something. I hope you have a WONDERFUL day Claire doing just what you want to do. The Utah "girls" in my family are going to have lunch together in honor of her birthday and that will be fun - wish you could be with us too Patrice. I love the "Garden Room" in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and I know how to get there so that's where we will go.

It is a very cold day here but it is beautiful and I love to look out my windows at the mountains that are covered with snow. I have worried since I learned that the Winter Olympics would be held in Utah that we might not have enough snow and that it would be too warm to make snow - no need to worry now!!! They are predicting snow the first week of the Olympics and that could snarl traffic big time so I guess I'll worry about that now. It's REALLY exciting to live in Utah this year!!! I personally think Mitt Romney has done a tremendous job in organizing everything and I'm wondering where politics will lead him next.

I have SO enjoyed Russell's letters and I'm anxious to find out if his family will hear from him on e-mail now and if it will be more often than once a month -Ha!!! I'm glad his Mission President's wife was on top of his Malaria illness - I hope he will find out what caused it so he can avoid whatever it was. I have never heard of Malaria that wasn't caused by mosquitoes. I didn't know what he meant by "seed-stock" investigators but Ann said they were probably more successful in terms of business, etc. than others. I'm anxious to have the Bob Mellors hear from Michael via e-mail. I know that Michael is VERY sharp with computers so if he can find a place to send e-mails he will do it. Claire's internet has been "out of service" so maybe he has sent messages but they haven't received them because of that.

Bob came over one day to shovel my driveway and back deck and also to put an anti-virus "something" on my computer. I wasn't home and I felt bad. I have talked to them on the phone and they are doing fine - BUSY, BUSY, BUSY. I talked to Jeannie last night and she was preparing to make cinnamon rolls for the youth leaders in their ward who were having a meeting at their home today. Ricky and Mary Ann are both home for a four-day school vacation - Martin Luther King's birthday on Monday. Sarah and her dancing group - the D'Ettes- have practiced for weeks for their competition which was held yesterday morning. Jeannie said they were in first place until one of their dancers lost her "hair bun" and they were penalized for that - that seems SO unfair to me. They were devastated but it is good to lose once in awhile. I think about all the athletes who spend years training for the Olympics and one little mistake or accident ruins it for them. THAT'S LIFE ISN'T IT??? I'm wondering if Jessie and Laura are home for the 4-day school vacation - I worry about them traveling when the weather is bad. I heard on the weather news that Logan is supposed to be 10 degrees below zero tonight - THAT'S COLD!!!

Don just called me and he is doing REALLY good. He had a birthday last week and he said he was 72 - I thought he was five years older than I am but he says he is just four. I had a good experience in the temple on Saturday. I was in the locker room and a group of women came in and I recognized Nancy Hooper among them - we were both SO surprised to see each other. She had two daughters and a daughter-in-law with her and it was fun to see them. I felt bad because I couldn't remember her last name - that's pretty bad!!! Worse than that though - I couldn't remember what relationship we were to each other and I said, "Now are you my sister-in-law?" She laughed and said "No, I'm your niece" - I've never been good at things like that. The Bountiful Temple has been SO busy this month - they live in the Jordan River Temple District but I guess that one is closed for cleaning.

I had my D.U.P. meeting on Wednesday and it was very nice. One of the members, Jeanne Ferrin, called me on Monday and insisted that she have it at her home and I was SO happy - Ha!!! The woman who was scheduled to have it was called on a mission to England so I was planning to have it. Jeanne has a large home and she has just finished remodeling her kitchen and wanted all of us to see it. The women in that "camp" are Davis County Oldtimers and it's fun to be with them.

The group leader of the "High Priest Quorum" in my ward called me the first of December and asked me if I would help with their Christmas Dinner and I said I would. That had to be cancelled because of other conflicts so it was held on Friday night. All of a sudden I found myself planning the toppings for baked potatoes for 100 people. I spent most of last week calling people to see if they would help - it sounds SO easy but it took so much time and of course, I ended up making several toppings because others couldn't do it. The party was very, very nice but I didn't get home until about 10:30 Friday night and with my temple assignment I was up at 3:45 Saturday morning and this month I have the late assignment and was in the temple for 8 hours. I was SO tired when I came home yesterday afternoon that I went right to bed - Ha!!! I am very happy though because another single woman in my ward has accepted the same temple assignment as mine and we can go together. She is in her forties and is an excellent elementary school teacher who has never married. I have always thought she was a VERY negative person but I like her and it is VERY hard to be a single person in our church. It will be fun to work with her.

Chris Jordin called me last week and she said Little Rock is having beautiful weather - cold but pretty. I know the Roy Mellors are busy, busy, busy too. I hope the azaleas, dogwood and other flowering bushes don't blossom too early and freeze. I think about Suzie going to Connecticut to see her newest little grandson who was born in Russia - that is VERY exciting!!! Chris said she had seen Cissy Beyers at their Stake Conference and she didn't think she looked very good - she has that genetic kidney disease and is on dialysis some of the time. John - thank you for your e-mails. I can't believe how warm it has been in New York - John walks home from his work quite often. It will be special to be with Laura on Tuesday!!!

I am going to a "Temple Instruction" meeting at our Regional Center tonight. Elder Boyd Packer is going to be the speaker and I enjoy his talks. President Hinckley was the speaker for the last meeting they had like this and they invited the temple workers and anyone living in their home - it was SO crowded that Jeannie and I had to stand out in the lobby. They have only invited the temple workers tonight so maybe I will get a seat.