Dearest Family,
CONGRATULATIONS TO BARJI AND BOYD - their
beautiful little baby boy was born last Monday, July 22nd and I am SO
thrilled for all of us!!! He is absolutely perfect in every way and of
course I think he looks like Barji - I hope they stay close by so I can see
him grow up and tend him once in awhile. I am going to have to fight to get
a turn - he has SO many Aunts, Uncles, Cousins and Grandparents who are
anxious to be a part of his life - just like little Wesley Reeves!!! He
came about three weeks earlier than they had expected but he weighed 6 lbs.
8 oz. so he was ready. I saw him when he was about one day old and I was
amazed at how round and beautiful his little head is with lots of dark
hair. Barji told me that one of his names will be Preston - that is Boyd's
middle name and a Summerhays' family name. They are doing fine and I am
anxious to see him again.
I went to Provo on Monday night to attend a
birthday party for one of my former missionary friends - Phyllis Hooker
Gunderson. It was held at the park close by where the Woolleys live so I
stopped in to say "hi" and they were getting ready for a Family Home Evening
at their home for Bishop Woolley's ward. Ron and Ann have been in Hawaii
for the week following the Sunday when Ron was sustained as the Bishop so
this was a good opportunity for them to all become acquainted - he is
perfect for that calling. It was Phyllis' 60th birthday and her seven
children planned this surprise party for her - she has 27 grandchildren - it
was fun!!!
"Pioneer Day", July 24th was a big day here in
Utah and it was REALLY hot. I enjoyed watching the big parade in Salt Lake
on television and they had good coverage of the Davis High School Band and
told about how they have been invited to participate in the Rose Bowl Parade
on New Year's Day in California - WHAT AN HONOR!!! I am SO proud that Brett
is in the drum line and they had good pictures of the drummers but I missed
seeing Brett and I can't figure out why because Claire said they took their
own pictures from the television screen and they could see him. He also
marched in the Bountiful parade and there was a big picture of the band in
the Deseret News paper and Brett's picture was very good in that one.
Our family all gathered at the Woolley Home on
Wednesday night before going to Sundance to attend one of their Summer
Plays. We missed Roy, Patrice, Emily, Timothy & Jesse; Laura and Bren;
Boyd, Barji & Preston; Ricky and Russell but I believe everyone else was
there. It was SO fun to meet Laura Mellor's friend boy, Dustin, Michael's
friend girl, Jana, Jessie's friend boy, Matt and Mary Ann's friend boy,
David. We had a delicious dinner - Timothy would have liked it because Ann
& Ron cooked GREAT hamburgers. John had brought his FAMOUS fresh corn and
avacado dip and chips, Jeannie brought a beautiful bowl of every kind of
fresh fruit available, Claire brought delicious Utah corn on the cob and I
cleaned out my vegetable bins and took a very healthy and lot fat veggie
salad that didn't have any flavor. Annie had a birthday cake made with all
the July birthday names on it - Ricky, Ron, Jimmy, Wesley and Preston - hope
my picture of it is good!!! I think it is WONDERFUL for Jeannie to
arrange for the ticket reservations. The play was "Dear World" with Maureen
McGovern and it was excellent except for the rain - they stopped the play
once to dry off the stage and then during the intermission it really started
pouring down so they cancelled it for the night. I was kinda' glad because
we didn't get home until after midnight and I was watching "ReRun" and he
had been in his little bathroom since 4 that afternoon. I appreciated very
much Rick & Jean taking me.
I LOVED visiting with Bob, Brett and Jimmy about
their trip to Guatemala and I appreciate so very, very much receiving the
pictures Claire has sent on the internet - WHAT A GREAT EXPERIENCE!!! I
also LOVED visiting with John about his new job and I just can't describe
the good feelings I have about his move from New York to Utah. I also
appreciate very much his making my plane reservations to go to California in
September to visit Dianne - Chris Jordin, Linda Smithers, Viola Munk and I
are all going to stay for a few days.
I have beern trying to find the owners of some
beach towels left at my home when you were all here - noone wants to claim
them. There were also some "beads" left and Patrice wrote that they belong
to Jesse so I sent them to him but I feel sad because I had written him a
little note and forgot to put it in the package - I AM FORGETTING TOO MANY
THINGS!!!
I didn't get home from Idaho until late last
night Sunday, so I am writing my letter this morning, Monday. I went to
Rexburg, Idaho on Friday evening with some friends from Salt Lake. These
friends were in the second English teacher group going to Thailand and since
I stayed in Bangkok to help in the training of this group I was assigned a
companion by the name of Myrth Kidd from Rexburg. John and Bob met her and
would agree with me that she is REALLY a character!!! When I first met her
I thought she was much too old to come to Thailand but then found out she is
five years younger than I am and has ten times the energy. I was upset with
her much of the time we spent together because she insisted on taking taxis
EVERYWHERE and only buying her groceries in the most expensive stores in
Bangkok - she was upset with me because she thought I was "tight" and wanted
to ride the buses EVERYWHERE. The reality of the situation was that I had
been there 14 months and pretty much knew the bus schedules and taxis
drivers would tell us they knew where a certain place was and then would
spend an hour going in circles trying to find it - Ha!!! Anyway, we ended
up being very good friends and she has been to see me several times.
The Rexburg City has hosted the International
Dance Festival for over twenty years and Myrth wanted SO much to get the
dancers from Thailand involved because the lady assigned to be in charge of
our teaching group in Bangkok was a dancer and her name is Lek - Ann, Jean,
Bob and John have all met her. This dancing group came from Thailand three
years ago and I hosted them when they were invited to participate in the
Bountiful Dance Festival - Myrth was still in Bangkok at that time so her
family in Rexburg hosted them. ANYWAY - they came to America about a week
ago and were in the Dance Festival in Rexburg all last week and Lek, Tew and
Juice (all Thais) have been staying with Myrth. She invited other teachers
from the 2nd group and Virginia and I to come be with them so we were there
Friday & Saturday and then came home yesterday. I just had a MARVELOUS time
and Myrth has a lovely, lovely home - there were 14 of us for dinner
yesterday and 11 of them were staying with Myrth. She lives out in the
country on a large piece of property with a field of potatoes in her
backyard - just beautiful. She has a yard full of flowers and it is
beautifully landscaped and she does everything except the grass mowing. She
has ten children and I could tell from working in her kitchen that they come
"home" for meals very often - she has restaurant size pans and bowls!!! It
was a choice experience for me and I took lots of pictures and I'll share
them with you sometime - I came home with great admiration for Myrth. She
became ill while she was in Thailand and had to come home five months early
- she was SO ill the church wouldn't let her come alone so the wife of the
Country Director traveled with her. She is the type who goes and goes and
goes until she drops.
The Brother & Sister with whom I rode to Rexburg
have just received a new calling - they are going to be in the church
hosting department assigned to take dignitaries around the humanitarian
center. They had people from Nepal come on Friday. The couple who took
over as country directors from Marc Hall have also received a new calling
and will be working in the church office building in Salt Lake recruiting
volunteers for "Latter Day Saint Charities" - they will have to leave their
home in Oregon and move to Salt Lake for two years. These couples are SO
excited about their new callings and they remind me of when Lynn and I were
about their ages and we had SO much enthusiasm and energy for callings like
that but age has surely taken it out of me - Ha!!! I am going to help with
a luncheon for the 25 Thai dancers on Wednesday in Bountiful but that is
about my limit!!!
Russell - there was a group of dancers from
South Africa in the dance festival and I thought about you. There were
probably about ten couples who danced and they were in their fifties or
sixties - very different from the dancers from Russia, Poland, Canada who
danced the Ukrain dances, China, Mexico and Thailand but we enjoyed them.
One of our Thai friends said he thought they were the best ones. I think
about you SO often as you deal with the Elders who are on their missions for
the wrong reasons - HANG IN THERE!!!
I believe that is all the news. I LOVE EACH ONE
OF YOU SO VERY, VERY MUCH. PLEASE BE SO VERY, VERY CAREFUL IN EVERYTHING
YOU DO. Grandma B XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO