July 14, 2002 Farmington, Utah

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO RICKY ON TUESDAY - 23 YEARS OLD!!! I hope you have a WONDERFUL day Ricky. I will never forget when you were born and how very grateful we all were for Rick and Jeannie to have a little baby after so many miscarriages. You have turned out to be exactly what they had prayed for!!! It seems like I haven't seen you for a long, long time but your Mom tells me you love your Summer job and will be ready to start back in college in the Fall - GOOD FOR YOU.

CONGRATULATIONS TO RON!!! Ron was ordained a Bishop for one of the BYU wards today - he is perfect for that calling and I'm SO proud of him. Ron's Father, Russell and his sister Mimi came from Idaho to be here when he was "set apart" this afternoon. Annie didn't get home from the reunion until about midnight last night and she was concerned about them being there without her but she said she had prepared food for Lee Anna to cook for their dinner.

The big news for this letter is that John has quit his job in New York and is moving back to Utah - I AM THRILLED. He is going to work with his former missionary companion John Lant. John Lant has built a business in educating children in reading and John Mellor is going to work with him in promoting and marketing the program (I believe I have that right). John Lant does alot of advertising on the radio and I hear this advertisement when I am in my car. I can't think of a more worthwhile business to be in than teaching young children how to read - it is sad to learn how many children and even adults who cannot read. I am excited to learn more about it.

I had a WONDERFUL time last week with all my family coming and going - except for some grandchildren who couldn't get away from school. The Roys and the Bobs came home from Lake Powell on Tuesday - they said they had had a GREAT time!!! They were with the Woolleys and Weinerts on Saturday and Sunday and then they put the houseboat on the buoy so the Roys and the Bobs wouldn't have to do it. The Roys and the Bobs and Jimmy stayed until Tuesday and used a "porta-pottie" so they wouldn't have to take the houseboat off the buoy and clean it. It sounds like ALOT of work to me but they really had a good time. Claire has sent all of us some pictures and it was a thrill to see Timothy skiing for the first time - he is very well coordinated!!!

Emily and Katie have been together since the Roys first got here and now Katie is in Little Rock so they are having LOTS of fun. I took Timothy and Jesse to Lagoon on Wednesday and I believe I had more fun than they did - that is really fun for me even though it was unbearably hot. They spent quite a bit of time at "Lagoona Beach" swimming and also playing miniature golf. I hope they will let Timothy pursue some golf lessons because he is GOOD. Jesse wanted to climb the "climbing wall" and they assured me it was safe so he did that and he is very GOOD and strong. I watched him climb from one place to another and thought I wouldn't even be able to make it half way.

Thursday morning Patrice and I started preparing for our family party that night. Roy went into Salt Lake and Timothy and Jesse helped me too - I am VERY surprised at how much help they are. They counted out the right amount of silverware, folded the napkins, ran up and down the stairs getting things I needed and just helped in every way and I appreciated it so very, very much. They NEVER quarrel or say ugly things and that pleases me SO much. I watched some of our relatives at the reunion and I was sad to see their unpleasant manners.

All my children were with me on Thursday night and I LOVED IT!!! Laura & Bren were with John, Rick, Jean, Barji, Sarah, Mary Ann and her friend David, Ron, Ann & Jimmy, Bob, Claire, Katie and Brett and of course, Roy, Patrice, Emily, Timothy and Jesse. I was surprised and very happy that Ron was able to come because Ann had told me she didn't think he would be able to come and that was a special effort because they had to bring two cars so Annie could stay here and leave the next morning for the reunion.

Some of them went swimming in the condo pool and then we all just visited and ate dinner - Jeannie had prepared some salmon for us because some people in our family are vegetarians and then we had salads, cold meat sandwiches and cake and ice cream.

The next day, Friday, was the "Mellor Reunion" so Ann and I left about 5 a.m. and picked up Jean and headed for Wyoming. Mark Pinegar has been in charge of the reunion and he did a GREAT job - he sent directions telling us to leave Salt Lake at 5 a.m. and we would get to the "Martin's Cove" area by 1 p.m. Ann and Jean took turns driving my car and we got there at 10:30 a.m. - Ha!!!

We decided we had time to drive to Casper which is about 60 miles further and then get back in time to meet the group at 1 p.m. Well - we couldn't find our motel - we drove all over Casper but later found out that the "Comfort Inn" where we had reservations was clear on the other side of Casper. We didn't have time to drive that far so we stopped at a Mexican Drive Inn and got some food to eat in the car on our way back to the Martin's Cove area.

It was REALLY fun to gather with all our relatives and it is a trip I will never forget. Jeannie has a broken toe next to where she had her bunion surgery so her right foot is still in a cast and Annie and I had planned to put her in a handcart and push and pull her to "Cherry Creek" where we were all to meet. WELL - the handcarts are SO heavy that we decided to not do that. Ann had bought 100 chocolate candy bars to make "S'mores" and she had them in a cooler with ice and then we had 100 popcorn balls and rice krispie treats plus a water thermos besides our individual water bottles but we carried all that AND walked 3 miles to Cherry Creek. I know I have never been hotter in my life - not even in Thailand!!! I admired the little families that would pass us with their handcarts loaded to the top and it was hard but they never did complain. Many of the Fathers were carrying their little children on their shoulders and pulling the handcarts and I don't know how they did it.

We finally got to Cherry Creek and the "tent people" started setting up their tents. Mark and Carol Pinegar and also Jared and Stephanie Pinegar started preparing the dinner. They had bought all the food from "BYU Food Services" and then taken it to the campsite in a van and they had Coleman gas stoves to heat everything. We had barbecued beef sandwiches, COLD pasta salad, COLD water and apple crisp and ice cream. I was very hungry and it tasted SO good to me. It seemed a "Herculean Task" to get everything there, even the ice cream, and I admire them very much.

After dinner we all gathered at the amphitheatre and heard an Elder Madsen speak on the pioneer's struggles as they camped in that area on their way to Salt Lake - he spoke mostly on the young people's level and he surely had their attention. It was just a beautiful site with antelope in the background and by that time it had cooled off a little. After that was over we begged someone to take us back to where we had left our car so we could drive to Casper to spend the night. I don't believe I have ever slept so good.

We left about 7 a.m. on Saturday morning to go back to Cherry Creek only this time, we drove - Ha!!! I didn't realize that we could drive on the trail or I would probably have suggested that on Friday - Ha!!! We got there about 8 a.m. and most of the families were all packed up with their handcarts ready to go back to Martin's Cove. We left our car at the Visitor's Center and Ann and I started to walk and Jeannie decided to come by way of golf cart because her foot was hurting too much. We walked and walked and walked and it was simply beautiful. Martin's Cove is smaller than I had expected but it was exciting to see a missionary couple waiting for us and they told us some inspiring stories. That is very sacred ground and no motorized vehicles are allowed on the trail so we all had to walk but it was enjoyable with benches along the way to stop and rest.

Then we all met at "Dan Jones" cove for a testimony meeting and that was very special. Ann and Jean were unhappy with me because I told about my Great Grandfather who was in one of the rescue parties - his name is on a placque in the Visitor's Center. There are five Mellor names on the list of survivors of the Martin Handcart Company and it is important to me for my family to be recognized too even though it was a Mellor Reunion. There were some beautiful testimonies given - we have a great heritage and a great responsibility to be worthy of it. It was an inspiration to me to see all the families who had gone to great effort in making pioneer clothes to wear - most of them had pioneer aprons and some even had "bloomers"!!! They all wore long sleeved blouses and dresses and also the bonnets. Ann, Jean and I wore our bonnets but decided to not wear the HOT pioneer clothing we had taken.

Then we went back to the Visitor's Center where they gave us our t-shirts - they are not as elaborate as the ones John designed but they are nice. I have one for each family in a large size - I'll see that you get them. They said there would be a picture taken but Ann and Jean and I decided to leave so we could get to the Park City Outlet before it closed. We got there about 8:15 and it closes at 9 but that was long enough for us to get a few cosmetics.

The only sad thing that happened was to find out that the car Shirley and her daughter Holly who is expecting her tenth child were in had car trouble in Heber and they had to go back to Alpine to get one of Jared and Stephanies' cars. They didn't get to the reunion until about 8 p.m. on Friday. I hope my pictures are good so I can scan them and send them to you. I had a little problem with my car too - we wanted to open our windows to cool it off before we left the visitor's center and then we couldn't get one of the back windows to come back up.

I had left my condo in a disastrous state and I appreciate so very much having the Roys straighten it up for me. I have many problems getting the table "Put back together" with the leaves taken out and put where it belongs and they did all that for me. I talked to Roy this morning and scolded him for not eating the food in the refrigerator because there was SO much but then he told me that Claire had invited them for dinner on Friday. I still feel bad that I left them on their last day here but he told me they had a good time - they got to Little Rock about 5 p.m. yesterday and all was well.

Bob, Brett and Jimmy left on Saturday to go to Guatemala where Bob performs surgery on the people who come for help in a little village in a very obscure place. I talked to Claire a few minutes ago and she told me they had had airline problems - alot of rain and storms in Houston so they had to divert their plane someplace else and they may not get to Guatemala as soon as they had planned. I am so proud for them to give of their time and means to help those poor people.

Russell - you will be a GREAT zone leader and I hope the missionaries you work with will help you and not give you many problems. I love to read your letters - you sound happy and busy and THAT'S WONDERFUL!!!