Dearest Family,
I'm writing my letter tonight, Saturday, because
I am going to Wyoming with Margaret in the morning after church. I have
told some of you about a young man in Afton, Wyoming who Margaret has been
helping for the last 4/5 years who has been struggling with cancer - he died
last week and his funeral is Monday. He has had every experimental cancer
drug available at Mayo and also at the Huntsman Cancer center in Salt Lake
and it extended his life for a couple years. He has been making special fly
rods to sell to help with his medical expenses and Margaret has been helping
him promote them - he presented one to Vice President Cheney not long ago
since he is from Wyoming. His best friend is Rulon Gardner who won the
Olympic Medal in wrestling. Margaret has this gorgeous mountain home in
Wyoming and it is in such a remote area that she can't go there alone -
kinda' sad!!!
We had our closing social for D.U.P. on
Wednesday and Claire did the nicest thing for me. I asked her to come take
a group picture and it was REALLY fun to see her "in action". I had tried
to get the ladies in a setting for a picture and I could not get them to
move an inch - it's like they are glued to their chairs - Ha!!! Most of
them are in their 80's and Claire in a very sweet but definite voice told
them where she wanted them and they moved for her - I was SO proud!!! She
had been to lunch with her parents and then came to take the picture and the
hostess' home was very hard to find and I appreciated it SO VERY MUCH. THANK
YOU, THANK YOU CLAIRE.
This is the Memorial Day weekend and I hope
those of you who are traveling will be EXTRA careful - the traffic in Utah
is just terrible and there is construction EVERYWHERE!!! I drove to Lehi
yesterday to decorate graves and put the missionary flag on Lynn's - I
bought six of those potted chrysanthemums to put on our relatives' graves
and I put some artificial flowers on too but they didn't look very good.
It's hard to know what to do because when I decorate this early the fresh
flowers will just wilt before Memorial Day on Monday. I also went to see
Morris and Donna Clark - Annie had sent me a clipping from the Provo paper
describing an ordeal they had gone through. They decided one day to drive
to West Canyon to check on some cattle they have there and got stuck and
couldn't get their car out. They hiked as far as they could - he's 86 and
she's 78 and then they huddled up together and knew they would have to spend
the night in the cold. A young man from Pleasant Grove had the day off and
decided for no reason at all to go for a ride in that area - he found them
about 7:30 the next morning and called 911. They are lucky to be alive and
they're doing quite good - Morris leases some property from me in Lehi for
his cattle.
It was fun to drive by the farm and it is
absolutely unbelievable the growth that is going on - there are new homes
EVERYWHERE!!! Most of them are "starter homes" in the $150,000 range but
there are some more expensive ones too. I don't know how long we can "hold
out" before having to sell but I hope I won't be around!!! John came by on
Tuesday night to show me a diagram of some property next to ours that the
owner wants to negotiate an agreement on the property line. John does a
good job with that. He had Tar with him in the back of his truck - he is
going to have to make a safe place for him soon because it's getting much
too hot to keep him in a kennel.
I drove to Orem to see John's former home there
and there is alot of activity going on. The cottonwood trees are in full
bloom and there was cotton flying all over - the neighbors tried to get John
to cut them down - maybe the new owner will decide to do that. There will
always be LOTS of wonderful memories there but I'm glad John has sold it -
he had worked SO hard on it that I'm sure he is glad too!!!
I tried to find where Susanna and Steve's
home was in Salt Lake when I drove to Lehi - I thought maybe I could take
little Jackson for awhile but I couldn't find them. They were supposed to
leave yesterday and I'm betting they left early and I wonder if Ron and Ann
drove with them to help. Grandpa Russ and
his wife Kaye are staying with Ann & Ron while they are waiting for Russ to
have knee surgery. They have alot going on at their home!!! I'm anxious to
hear about Susanna and Steve and their new apartment and everything in Mesa
- that's a BIG adjustment and it is VERY hot there now and I can't help but
worry a little about them. I had told Dorothy and Dan about their move and
I had an e-mail from Dorothy giving me Carol's e-mail address - Carol is a
darling young woman and is expecting her third child in December so she has
put her work as a lawyer on the shelf for a few years. They live in
Chandler and he works in some way with Arizona State University in Tempe.
Thursday I went to Ogden with Margaret for what
she calls our "can run". We have been saving our soda pop cans for a year
or more and since our cub scout group has stopped getting them we went to a
recycling place - WHAT AN EXPERIENCE!!! I made $1.85 and she made $12.55
and I'm sure it cost her more in gas. The people who run this place have
roots in Brigham City - their name is Bloom and they rented the top of our
home on 6th East until their new home was being built and we moved into the
bottom apartment. That's been a million years ago but I remember it SO
vividly and Dorothy Bloom was at this place and we visited for a little
while.
This afternoon we went to Brigham City to
decorate our relatives' graves there - I don't really like to buy those
chrysanthemum pots because they blow over and dry out but that's the best I
can do. I need to have my folks' monument cleaned with an acid - you can
hardly read the Forrest name on it. I get a lump in my throat when I see
little Christopher's marker!!! I got 6 and Margaret got 15 - she always has
the Brigham City Floral Shop take fresh arrangements for her husband's
grave. When I was in Lehi the managers of the cemetery came to tell me I
have to trim the trees I planted 11 years ago or they will pull them up -
they were supposed to be miniature but they have grown too much and can only
be 5 ft.
I had a funny experience this morning as I was
getting ready to go to the temple. I looked for my little temple suitcase
and it was nowhere to be found. I had gone to the temple last Sunday for
training and that was the last time I even thought about it. I finally went
to the temple without my clothes and got some rental ones there and I looked
EVERYWHERE. I was just lost without all the things in my pocket and finally
one of the supervisors suggested I call Security. I didn't want to do that
but I did and the officer said he had a green tapestry one - I said mine was
blue but I would go look at it and sure enough it was mine - really it's
blue and green - Ha!!! They said they found it on the main floor of the
temple - I'm losing it!!!
Our condo swimming pool is open - I had planned
to go swimming tonight but I started to watch "Anna and the King" and the
time got away from me. I am SO interested in those Thailand films and they
make me homesick for my friends there - there is a big difference in the way
they portray the King in that movie. The King in Thailand is GREATLY loved
and he is very kind and does not have concubines.
Russell - how do they honor their dead in
Madagascar? They didn't have Memorial Day in Thailand but they had another
holiday for this purpose and they threw water on everyone.
I HOPE YOU ARE ALL DOING GOOD - I don't know any
of your holiday plans and maybe that's good. There have already been many
deaths on the Utah Highways this weekend and a young man drowned in Utah
Lake this afternoon - PLEASE, PLEASE BE VERY, VERY CAREFUL IN EVERYTHING YOU
DO. I LOVE EACH ONE OF YOU SO VERY, VERY MUCH. Grandma B XXXXXOOOOO