Dearest Family,
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO RICK TOMORROW - September
18th. I hope you have a GREAT day Rick - I believe you are "30
something"!!! I'm very proud of you in your role as husband, father,
grandfather, son-in-law and church leader.
CONGRATULATIONS TO MARY ANN AND DAVID - How
Exciting!!! I am SO thrilled for both of you and for our entire family - I
think you are PERFECT for each other and I am anxious to hear about your
wedding plans. December 19th is a very beautiful time to have a wedding
with all the decorations and activities going on and I don't believe we have
ever had a family wedding in the Winter.
I was thrilled to come home to my computer and
find messages from all of you, a beautiful Grandparent's Day card from Jesse
which he had made in school, a new phone answering machine that Bob had
installed because my old one kept making a funny noise we couldn't fix (Roy
had given it to me over 10 years ago), news about Mary Ann's engagement,
wonderful pictures of little Jackson with Ann, Ron, Susanna, Steve, Lee Anna
and Jimmy, a newsy missionary letter from Russell - I get VERY homesick when
I am gone and it means SO much to me for you to remember to keep in touch
with me. I KNOW HOW BUSY YOU ARE!!! I really appreciate Bob bringing in my
mail and watering my geraniums too. Jackson is a beautiful baby - the
picture of him crying reminded me of Lee Anna - Ha!!! I have decided he
looks like Jackson with the Woolley eyes. Russell is surely learning how
important it is to be obedient - I appreciated his concern and compassion
for the church leaders who have disobedient missionaries. The Madagasy
language is unbelievable - I'm anxious to have him pronounce the words for
us when he comes home.
Thanks to John for making my airline
reservations to go to California - I can't believe how easy that makes it.
Chris made her reservations about two weeks before John made mine and he was
able to "match them up" and we were on the same flight - I also picked Linda
up in Salt Lake and even though she was on standby she was on the same
flight. Linda has two daughters who work as airline stewardesses for Delta
so she is able to fly with little cost but she has to go on standby - it
worked this time but it doesn't always work and she has to change her plans.
It was quite exciting - we were on the runway
when they experienced some problems so we waited for them to try to fix them
but after over an hour they had us go to another plane for the flight. We
were delayed about two hours and noone complained - there was a time when
there would have been many complaints!!! We were glad we were together so
we could all visit and the time went by very fast. Linda had her cell phone
so she was able to call Dianne and tell her we would be late. Garry met us
in California - we hardly recognized him. He is going bald so he wears a
baseball cap and he was in blue jeans and looked like a "little kid".
Dianne was at home waiting for us with a real "gourmet dinner" - Viola had
come in earlier so Dianne had already taken her from the airport to her
home.
I always hesitate to describe a home like that
because it is almost "unreal". Dianne is a decorator - she has had alot of
experience because they have moved many times as Garry worked for UPS and
they have always bought new homes so she has started "from scratch" to
decorate them. They lived in another home in Laguna Niguel for about 7
years and when this one came on the market she prevailed upon Garry to buy
it for her even though he said they were happy in that other home and so
were their children. That is difficult for me to relate to but we're all
different. Their home is in a gated community but I discovered that was not
unusual for that area. We each one had our own bedroom and bath (five of
us) and they have a beautiful swimming pool with hot tub attached right off
their kitchen eating area - I swam every morning and just loved it. Viola
and Linda joined me one morning. I was VERY impressed with Dianne and
Garrys' closet - it is huge and has glass doors on the wall cabinets to
protect the clothing.
I took alot of pictures and if you are
interested I will share them with you. We went to church on Sunday morning
and it was very nice and then Dianne took us to see their stake center and
honestly it is as large and as beautiful as our temples. Their son, Trace,
and his wife and two little children came for dinner on Sunday afternoon -
their little boy who is two years old started to scream the minute they got
there and didn't stop - Ha!!! They are expecting their third child in about
a month - Trace is a Physical Therapist and they live close by. Dianne had
fixed a delicious dinner and I'll send you her meatloaf recipe which was
delicious. We just rested and visited Sunday afternoon and then I had
invited two of my friends to come meet Dianne and Garry and my other friends
- we were college friends at Utah State and they have lived in California
all their married lives. It was fun to see them again - Bob and Melba
Hanseen and he was with New York Life Insurance Company. They are in the
same stake as the Power families.
Some of you may remember Dianne & Garrys' twin
daughters - Jaime and Janni. They visited at Ann & Rons' home one Summer
and Jessie "entertained" them because they are close to her age. Jaime will
graduate from BYU in December and then she is getting married - on Dec.
28th. Jannie won't graduate until next June. Jaime's fiance' came for
dinner several times while we were there and he is a nice young man - just
starting college and has just been baptized but he drives a big white truck
- Ha!!! I kept thinking about Jessie while I was there because San Diego is
just about 50 miles from where they live. My friends who came to visit have
a son who is an orthopedic surgeon in Salt Lake so I asked them why they
didn't move to Utah and Bob answered by saying, "Noone who has ever lived in
Paradise would think of moving to Utah". I thought of that as we landed in
a rainstorm yesterday - Ha!!!
We did everything we possibly could while we
were there - Dianne and Garry had planned this for a long, long time. They
took us to the beach, San Clemente, San Juan, the Mission where the swallows
come to Capistrano, shopping in a fabulous mall, a play at one of their
community theatres and we even went to "My Great Big Fat Greek Wedding" or
something like that - that is a darling movie and we laughed and laughed.
We also ate at some elegant places - Ruby's Restaurant isn't elegant but it
was my favorite.
Dianne and Garry have just bought a new townhome
up in Cottonwood Canyon - we all decided she needed some thing else to
decorate - Ha!!!
Chris stayed with me last night and then she
left this morning to go to Idaho to visit her sisters - one lives in
Montpelier and one lives in Idaho Falls and then Marcs' family lives close
by too. She is going back to Littla Rock on Friday.
The big political news in this area is the
"Legacy Highway" problem - those of you who travel the roads in Davis County
are aware of all the construction going on. When I drove in last night I
noticed the work close to Lagoon was stopped and I heard on television last
night that the Government has stopped the Legacy plan which was connected to
that construction. They say it is costing the taxpayers $40,000 per day now
that it has stopped - that is SO dumb. There is something about the
environmentalists that have complained enough to stop it. I don't know very
much about politics but the things I have seen close by where I live are
unbelievable - they just finished a huge construction section a little over
a year ago and already it is torn up to do it over again!!! I drove my car
this morning so Chris could follow me to get onto Highway I-15 because I
don't believe I could have given her directions to follow.
Governor Leavitt is not backing down - it's
kinda' fun to see all the commotion between him and Rocky Anderson, the
Mayor of Salt Lake. I am very much in favor of the Legacy plan - it's
supposed to cut down some of the traffic on Highway 89 and I-15.
That's all the news I think!!! II LOVE EACH ONE
OF YOU SO VERY, VERY MUCH. PLEASE BE SO VERY, VERY CAREFUL IN EVERYTHING
YOU DO Grandma B XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO