Dearest Family,
HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO LAURA TOMORROW -
AUGUST 9TH!!! It was SO wonderful to be with Laura these past few days
during Michael & Stacis' wedding activities and she looks fabulous.
Laura will be 21 years old and she has already graduated from college
and has had ALOT of business experiences working at "Great Harvest" and
an accounting firm in Logan (I think that's right).
It was fun to have her tell us about her
more recent working experience as a camp teacher at an exclusive camp in
Maine - the 10 year old girls she is teaching all come from wealthy
families. Laura said they are good girls and fun to be with - it's not
like they were sent to that camp for "rehabilitation". She was happy to
be home for a few days and we were all happy to be with her.
The wedding reception for Michael & Staci on
Thursday night was about as perfect as you could ever imagine. It was
held in the "Cultural Hall' of their Stake Center which is the church
building where Bob & Claire & their family have attended since they
moved here. It was decorated beautifully with an "arch" filled with red
roses and those little white Christmas lights and MIchael & Staci posed
there for pictures and also to greet the MANY guests who came. I loved
the many pictures that were displayed around the hall and the one LARGE
picture of the two of them was simply elegant - A VERY HANDSOME &
BEAUTIFUL COUPLE!!! Staci's wedding dress was SO beautiful and of
course Michael looked great in his tuxedo. Brett was his best man and
some of Staci's brothers were groomsmen, Laura, Katie and some of
Staci's best friends were bridesmaids and their dresses were SO pretty -
red and black brocade silk tops with long black skirts. I was impressed
that Claire had made the ones for Katie & Laura. Staci's Aunt made the
other three. All in all it made a VERY glamorous and beautiful wedding
party. Claire & Bob both wore black.
They served delicious carrot cake and cheese
cakes, nuts, mints, punch and water. I don't believe I have ever tasted
better cakes and someone told me they were bought at Coscos - like Ann
says, "you can get everything you want at Coscos" - Ha!!!! The Relief
Society and friends worked in the kitchen and I laughed when Bob said,
"I'm going to have to buy our Relief Society President a condo or
something" - she certainly did work hard and was on "top of
everything". The tables were all just beautiful with red rose bud
centerpieces. Our family was all there except for Roy, Patrice, Emily,
Timothy, Jesse, Susanna, Steve, Jackson, Caroline Ann & Jessie AND we
all undersood why they couldn't travel that far from Calfornia and
Arkansas (and Costa Rica). They had brought the sofas and lounge chairs
into the reception hall from the foyers and that made it look SO homey
and comfortable. They had a white wicker love seat in the very entrance
and the red quilt we all worked on at the family shower was displayed on
it - a very tasteful decoration!!!
The Mellor family was represented by Paula
Pack and Nancy Hooper and that made us all very happy. That's the first
one Nancy has been able to attend but Paula has been to everything we
have ever had - they are very special relatives and I have such great
admiration for them and what they have accomplished. Paula looks better
than I have ever seen her - she lost 30 pounds as a gift to her
husband for their recent wedding anniversary - I wish I could do that!!!
THIS IS FOR THE RECORD!!! My sister-in-law,
Cheryl Forrest came on Friday night - she brought their gift to my condo
and she was almost in tears she felt SO bad. She said she hadn't read
the invitation good enough and thought the reception was the same night
as the wedding as it usually is. I took a picture of her with the gift
so I could show it to you as proof that she had good intentions. She
said there were a few other cars at the church when she went who had
also misunderstood the invitation. Cheryl looks like she is about 50
and she's about 65 she's such a beautiful woman. I'm SO glad Don is
not quite the burden to her that he has been - she took her family to
California for a week's vacation on the beach and she said this was the
first time they had been without Don. He is just not doing very well
and almost impossible to take anyplace.
I was THRILLED to have Ann, Ron & Jimmy come
spend the night with me on Thursday night. We had to be at the Salt
Lake Temple by 6:30 on Friday morning and it would have been VERY far
from Provo. As it turned out, John had brought his trailer to my condo
and Ricky & Russell helped him load some of his things he had had stored
here to take back with him. It was SO much fun to have Ann, Ron,
Russell & John visit with me after the reception and then have the
Woolleys stay. Jimmy & Lee Anna went back to Prove right after Staci
"threw her bouquet". John was "LOADED" up with his "stuff" and he went
back to Highland that night too.
The temple ceremony was very, very nice -
simple but the sealer said all the right things and I LOVED it. Let me
tell you who from our family was there: Ron, Ann, Russell, Rick, Jean,
Ricky, Mary Ann, David and of course, Bob & Alice Ezell and Claire's
sister, Carolyn and her husband Blaire Ferner. Barji, Boyd, Preston &
Gracie went to the reception for a little while but they didn't want the
baby exposed to lots of people AND I DON'T BLAME THEM and then they
couldn't come for the wedding ceremony.
I don't believe I have ever seen so many
pictures being taken after the marriage. I know we were outside the
temple for at least an hour and a half posing for pictures - some of
them will surely turn out!!! Staci has a wonderful and LARGE family and
they were all there - some from Connecticut and California - it was fun
to see all of them posing for pictures. I loved watching Kris, her
father as he watched things approving of everything BUT it was Maxine,
Staci's Mom who was in the "middle of everything". She has such an
abundance of energy and is very much like Claire in knowing what she
wants and directing the photographers and guests to be sure to be in the
right places. Claire is SO good at things like that and she had made a
"wedding video" that was being played for all the guests in the foyer of
the church to see while waiting to go through the line.
We all went to the "Jade Room" in the Joseph
Smith Memorial Building for an absolutely delicious wedding breakfast
after all the pictures were taken. The food couldn't have been better
and Bob did a "professional" job as master of ceremonies - I didn't know
he "had it in him" - Ha!!!! He made all of us feel so comfortable and
didn't leave anyone out in giving responses and comments to Staci &
Michael - AND THAT IS A REMARKABLE FEAT!!! I didn't do a very good job
when he asked me to say a few words BUT then I never do. Brett offered
the first toast and it was perfect. I wanted to tell about our
experience with the skunk in the "Hav-a-Hart" trap when we were in
Scofield with Michael but decided that wasn't appropriate. Staci &
Michaels' parents, other grandparents spoke and also their siblings.
Staci has two young brothers and they are full of personality and just
darling.
One of the things about the reception that
stands out in my mind was the "dance time" after the line had finished.
I have been to other receptions when they had dance time but I had never
been to one where they had an emcee organizing it and I think that made
a world of difference. JOHN AND BOB EVEN DANCED WITH ME!!!
John was here when I came home from the
temple on Saturday morning to get more of his things AND TO "BACK UP"
all the genealogy picture project that I had finished with the
commentaries. It must have taken him all morning and I can't describe
how thrilled I am with what he has done. He showed me how we could
access the pictures; for example - if we want a picture of John in 1982
it is SO easy to get it on the screen by going through a certain
process. I am SO impressed with how it has turned out and I would be
the first to admit that I have included alot of DUMB pictures but for
the most part it is a record of our family's life for the last 50 years
and many pictures of the Mellors and Forrests before that time. NOW I
am going to start on "album 39" and subsequent albums that will be dated
1996- 2004 and will also include pictures I am just now finding that
weren't in the orignal albums. It will take me a long time to complete
but I REALLY have an incentive now that I know how it turns out. John
has spent many hours with this project and I appreciate him SO much - I
also appreciate the many hours Ricky spent last Summer scanning so many
pictures. - THAT WAS A HUGE JOB!!! John is also taking care of the
"farm stuff" - he is in contact with people who want to buy the property
but he has contacted Stan Lewisothers who think like we do - it's the
best investments we can have now.
I went to the "Temple Party" yesterday
afternoon and that was so much fun. It was held at a park in Bountiful
and the theme was "pioneers" and many of the people came in pioneer
bonnets, etc., but I didn't. I made a cake and most of it was eaten so
I guess it was okay. "Brother Brigham" put on the program - a man from
one of the wards in Bountiful goes around different parties and
gatherings and tells stories about Brigham Young and he looks like
Brigham Young with lots of white hair and a white beard. He said he had
57 wives but most of them were old and just needed to be taken care of -
I thought that was interesting.
I went to another ward meeting this morning
to hear Sarah and one of her friends play a violin duet. They played at
the ward meeting where I used to be a member before they divided our
wards. They played "How Great Thou Art" and there wasn't a sound in the
whole meeting - IT WAS JUST GORGEOUS!!! I thought the children had been
SO noisy before they played and then it just seemed they had a spell
come over them and you could have heard a pin drop. I WAS SO PROUD OF
SARAH - I wanted to stand up and point to her and say "she's my
granddaughter" - BUT I didn't. Jeannie came to hear her play too but she
couldn't stay because of her responsibilities in her ward so I didn't
get to talk to her. I dropped by their home yesterday afternoon and
they were caring for Preston & Gracie to give Boyd & Barji a break.
That little Gracie is SO darling and good and Preston is a PISTOL!!!
I had an e-mail from Claire this morning
and she & Katie have gone to California to "get away" for a few days.
Is this the last week of school at BYU for Brett - maybe he will be back
home soon. I can't keep up with everyone and it may be that he will
stay for the Winter semester.
This is all I will say about the "Hacking
Case". I found the picture of Lynn & me with Mae & Wayne Hacking and I
just want to cry when I look at it. That is about the saddest thing I
have ever known - my former neighbors in Orem have promised to send me
Mae's address but so far they haven't done it. I would just like to
send her a little note - this will just kill her. I don't attempt to
understand mental illness but I'm sure Mark was a VERY sick person. I
hate to think of them looking in the landfill for Lori's body when Mark
has told so many lies how can they be sure he was truthful about where
he put her. The bottom line of all this is "DON'T EVER TELL LIES" isn't
it?
I can never tell when I am at the end of the
page - I print all my letters and it's frustrating to start a new page
with "I LOVE ETC.,"
I DO LOVE EACH ONE OF YOU SO VERY, VERY
MUCH. PLEASE BE SO VERY, VERY CAREFUL IN EVERYTHING YOU DO. Grandma B
XXXXXOOOOO