Dearest Family,
I'm writing my letter tonight because I am
going back to Star Valley tomorrow right after I get home from the
temple. We planned to come home last night but a couple came to
Margaret's home on Wednesday and she didn't feel right about coming home
soon after they had arrived. She just amazes me - she invites SO many
people to come but she doesn't ever really know who is going to show up
and who isn't. Her mountain home is just open to her friends and she
truly does enjoy company - she doesn't ever worry about what she is
going to have for meals but it always seems to work out. I wish I could
be more that way.
The couple who showed up on Wednesday came
with all kinds of fresh fruits and vegetables and as they walked in, he
said, "I can fix Navajo Tacos" whenever you want them. The other couple
that was there had brought hamburger patties and fresh corn so we fixed
that along with a green salad and it was all delicious and he fixed his
tacos on Thursday night. That was very interesting for me - he had an
ice chest and he had some chilled "dough" in it that he made in the
shape of tortillas and he fried them and had "canned chili con carne",
chopped tomatoes, onions and lettuce on top and we all devoured them.
He finally confessed and said he had bought the "scone dough" from
Dick's market - I didn't know you could do that.
This man (Vance Campbell) is a retired
anesthesiologist and such a fine man. Margaret had arranged for him to
have a tour of the new Star Valley Medical Center in Afton so we all
went and we got "the royal treatment". That is a WONDERFUL new hospital
for Star Valley and they are mighty proud of it. I want Bob to go see
it sometime because they called him one night when they had an emergency
problem in his speciality and he was on call. Roy - they don't have an
anesthesiologist and they would welcome you with open arms. Margaret is
on the hospital board there and her foundation is also one of the
largest supporters. Our friend who is now retired went to medical
school with one of the doctors who works at this hospital and they call
him the Star Valley Dinosaur because he is the oldest one. When they
finished their medical training our friend settled in Davis County and
this other man went to Star Valley - he bought land there for $50 an
acre and owns a huge amount of beautiful land and our friend bought an
equal amount of land for the same price in an area near Preston, Idaho
and he says he can hardly give it away - funny!!!
We had so much fun in Star Valley and last
night we sat on Margaret's patio in our coats it was SO cool. It was
kinda' hard to come back to Farmington where we are still in an oven. I
am watching the news right now and they are showing the terrible fire
that is much too close to the Woolley's home. I really believe it is
further South than their home is but I am still worried and will call
them when I finish this letter - they have reported that many homes are
in danger of being right in the middle of it.
Ricky came to work on the computer soon
after I came home this evening. He has been helping Boyd at the Utah
Open Golf Tournament in Alpine - that's the tournament that Boyd won
last year. I was listening to the sports news tonight and the young man
they interviewed said that Boyd Summerhays was the best golfer in the
tournament and if anyone wanted to see the future Mike Weir they should
come to Alpine the next couple days - I guess the tournament goes
through Sunday. That's alot of pressure to put on Boyd but "he can
handle it"!!! I hope he does well the next couple days. They just
showed his picture on television as he was making a "good shot".
Patrice - Thank you for your nice letter. I
loved it when you said how happy you all were to have your family all
together after having Emily gone for six weeks and Timothy gone for a
few days. I remember those days and I wanted to put a "tent" over our
family and not let anyone go away.
Cheryl and Don came to get me last Monday
afternoon and we drove to Brigham City to put flowers on Grandmother
Forrest's grave for her 101st birthday. They had a terrible accident on
the freeway between here and Brigham and I have never seen traffic like
that. It took us 4 hours to get to Brigham - they had to close the
freeway and everyone was directed to the other roads. Cheryl's
temperature in her car read 102 and we didn't ever go faster than 10
miles an hour. Don was SO uncomfortable and there wasn't anything we
could do to help him. I'm sure my Mother would have told us to stay
home.
I was able to get a temple substitute for
this next Saturday so we will probably stay in Star Valley until
Saturday or Sunday.
Rick & Jean are in Vail, Colorado for a
medtronic convention - I'm sure it is cooler there. They will be home
on Sunday and Sarah will leave for Utah State - she will be in Logan for
school orientation this next week and then Ricky will go this next week
to start his Senior year. He has done a great job with my family
history picture project this Summer - he's on album 23 so he is almost
half way through - Ha!!!
I have been out of touch with John, the Bobs
and the Woolleys - hope you're all doing good. They are showing more
pictures of the fire above the Woolley's home and they report that many
families have been evacuated - they are putting them into the church
buildings for the night but I'm betting noone will be able to sleep.
I LOVE EACH ONE OF YOU SO VERY, VERY MUCH.
PLEASE BE SO VERY, VERY CAREFUL IN EVERYTHING YOU DO. Grandma B
XXXXXOOOOO