Dearest Family,

 

HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO BOYD ON WEDNESDAY!!!  I hope you have a WONDERFUL day with your family.  I know Boyd has been gone for the past little while so I know it will be a happy day for him to be home and I also know that Barji will love to make him a birthday cake with Preston's help!!!  He's so young he will be able to have all his candles on one cake - Ha!!!

 

The big news for this letter is that we got to see that BEAUTIFUL Baby Caroline Ann.  I was SO thrilled to receive a phone call from Susanna on Tuesday morning saying they wanted to come "North" and see everyone.  I knew she was in Provo but I was worried that the long trip would be too hard for them with little Jackson and Baby Caroline.  They got here about noon and we could see right away that it would be too difficult to go to a restaurant for lunch.  We all like "Tasties" which is close to where I live but I didn't know we could get "Take Out".  Jeannie, Barji, Mary Ann & Sarah came right soon and Mary Ann, Sarah & Lee Anna volunteered to go get sandwiches at Tasties  Claire was surely a "last minute gal" and dropped everything to be with us.  The "Provoites" didn't have Claire's cell number and their phone line had been busy so they couldn't reach her - I was SO happy I had her cell number.  We had SO much fun as we crowded around my dining room table for lunch.  

 

Annie is such a good grandmother and could help with little Jackson.  It was fun for me to see how sensitive the cousins are to help.  Mary Ann hurried with her sandwich so she could help with Preston.  I notice this I guess because when my children were the ages of Jackson & Preston it was almost impossible to go anyplace.  Caroline Ann is such a little doll and to think I got to see her when she was just 2 weeks old was SO special.  She is just perfect in everyway.  I was surprised when Susanna told me that she is the first girl to be born in the Reeves family in four generations.  Steve, Susanna, Jackson & Caroline Ann are going to Florida over the Fourth of July holiday - what a thrill for Steve's parents.  It was fun for me to see little Preston & Jackson play with each other - they will be great friends throughout their lives - like Katie & Emily - and Caroline and Baby Summerhays.

We took "Four Generation Pictures" and other pictures and I hope I got some of everyone who was here:  Annie, Lee Anna, Susanna, Jackson, Caroline, Claire, Jean, Mary Ann, Barji, Preston & Sarah.

 

I got the pictures back from when Emily was with us and they are SO good - I miss her and having the "cousins" drop in to swim or just to visit.  I forgot to mention in my letter last week that Sarah, Katie and Emily had gone to the new library in Salt Lake City.  I think that is such an important thing to do and Emily thought it was very, very nice.  They have a new library in Little Rock and she told me about that one too.  The picture of the Woolley's home is so beautiful inside and out - I especially like the one of Emily playing her flute in their living room.  The ones of Emily with John and Emily at Lynn's gravesite are also very good.  I would scan some of them but I worry that it takes too long for you to download them.  CONGRATULATIONS TO RUSSELL.  I read a letter of commendation from UVSC while I was at their home congratulating him for his excellent grades this last year.  Russell is SO determined and will reach the goals he sets for himself.

 

Bob - THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR LETTER FROM SAN CRISTOBAL.  I can't believe all the difficulties you encounter when you try to do your health exams etc.  I hope you are home by now - I believe you were supposed to get home last night.  I think this experience will have a tremendous influence on the lives of Brett & Jimmy and I'm anxious to hear all about it.  One of my friends came up to me in the temple on Thursday and told me you had done thyroid surgery on her and then she said how much she admired you for the work you were doing for the poor people.  I told her about your expression that you were as happy as " a pig in mud" when you were doing it.  I love that expression!!!

 

I subsituted for a friend at the temple on the Thursday "mid day" shift.  I much prefer my early morning shift - I felt as though I had been in the temple for a week on Thursday.  I got there at 10 a.m. and left at 3:30 p.m. but we weren't very busy and on Saturdays we are VERY busy and the time goes by fast.  I love the time I spend there and it has been interesting to read about the Manhattan, New York temple in the paper this morning.  I'm SO glad that Jeannie, Sarah and Laura were able to tour that temple while they were in New York.  I believe it is being dedicated today.  Jeannie & Sarah had a WONDERFUL time and they were able to see three shows - that was quite an achievement considering they didn't have time for reservations.

 

I went to my Relief Society Family Enrichment night on Tuesday.  I don't believe I have ever seen so many efforts put into displays and handouts for a meeting.  The lady who was in charge is suffering from breast cancer and she has written books on "Literacy" which was the theme for the meeting.  I helped her put all her display materials into boxes and then put them in the foyer of the church for her husband to come load them into their van.  The boxes practically filled the entire foyer.  It was sad because there weren't many sisters there.  We made picture books for the humanitarian center after the meeting.  Another sister who was really involved has 2 year old triplets and a little 4 year old boy and she is a practicing attorney at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi - some of you may remember her parents, Karen & Earl Hatch who were in our ward in Little Rock.

 

I couldn't leave the television set on Friday.  I worked on the picture project downstairs almost all day and even though my television down there isn't the best, it was good enough to see and hear all the coverage of President Reagan's funeral.  I got alot done on the picture project so I didn't give the television my complete attention.  I am sure that most of you didn't watch it either because of your busy schedules or because you didn't want to BUT I thought it was WONDERFUL.  It is funny because I have the book written by Kitty Kelley about Nancy Reagan.  That book is holding up one end of my television set and it is very obvious.  She has had a difficult time with the bad things said about her while her husband was President but I admired the way she endured all day on Friday and also the ten years of her care with his Altzheimer's Disease.

 

I don't know how many of you remember my former neighbors, Ray & Roseanne Tenhoeve.  They lived to the North of me and they lived in the condos for about 15 years until they sold a home they owned in Salt Lake and had to use their money to buy another larger home.  They sold their condo and I met my new neighbors yesterday.  One of  their grandsons married a woman from Brigham City and her Father was a friend of mine and Margarets.  It will be fun to have them as neighbors.

 

My flower garden in the back of my condo borders the Oakridge golf course and the weeds accumulate there like you wouldn't believe.  There is no way I can get to them from my side of the fence and the only way Oakridge can control them is to spray them with weed killer.  When they do that, they kill my flowers so I don't want them to do that.  The racoons from the golf course have made a little trail to Martha's condo where she feeds them and there is a little "hole" in the fence.  I have wanted to crawl under there and weed that area but I wanted to do it when Margaret was here so if I got stuck she could come help me.  I asked her to do that and she said "You can't do that - that's trespassing".  SO, on Friday when she was gone and our condo managers were gone I decided to try it - we had had alot of rain and the ground was soft and perfect for digging.  It was quite easy and I got three HUGE bags of weeds BUT I tore the back of a perfectly good blouse - Ha!!!

You may have to visit me in jail but it was worth it.  Margaret just looked at me and shook her head when I told her.

 

That's all the news - I think.  I LOVE EACH ONE OF YOU SO VERY, VERY MUCH.  PLEASE BE SO VERY, VERY CAREFUL IN EVERYTHING YOU DO. Grandma B XXXXXOOOOO