Dearest Family,
CONGRATULATIONS TO BRETT!!! GOING TO BRAZIL
TO SERVE HIS MISSION - WOW!!! I LOVED the first message we had from
Claire saying his mission call had arrived in the mail and they had all
promised they wouldn't open it until Brett came from Provo to open it
himself - AND she was SO excited for him to get home. I walked down the
street to get my mail and while I was gone Brett called me and of
course, I wasn't home so he left a message telling me he wouldn't tell
me where he was going until he could talk to me personally and not on a
message. I was just going to call him when the phone rang and it was
Brett. He said he thought it was the "Riverera Brazillian Mission" or
something like that - he said there were 20 missions in Brazil. He will
leave on May 28th and attend the MTC in Brazil to learn the Portugese
Language. Too bad - Brett you won't be getting LOTS of "Care" packages
at the MTC in Provo!!! I am SO thrilled for you and I'm thrilled for
our entire family to be able to learn about Brazil.
CONGRATULATIONS TO EMILY TOO!!! Claire
shared an article with me that she had received from Patrice. It was an
article from the Little Rock papers reporting on the Arkansas Youth
Orchestra and the program they had presented recently. It mentioned how
the flute players had performed in an excellent way and it had "Emily
Mellor" as one of the players - I'M SO PROUD OF YOU EMILY!!! We missed
you at the luncheon for Jessie last week - I forgot to say that in my
letter last week - I wish you were closer to be with us at these affairs
but I'm also VERY happy you live in Little Rock!!! I love Arkansas and
have wonderful memories of Little Rock and the time we lived there.
CONGRATULATIONS TO KATIE TOO!!! She is in
Florida with her cheerleading team in a national competition and Bob
told me last night they have made it to the semi-finals - I will be
anxious to hear how they come out. Claire is with them and they'll be
home tomorrow night - Monday. Bob told me that he, Michael & Brett had
a "boys' night out" and went to Salt Lake for dinner while Laura & Staci
had a "girls' night out" and did something special involving a shower
for one of their friends. I'm SO glad they have fun being together like
this.
I LOVE to hear about my grandchildren and
all their activities. Jessie and Jared went to the Provo Temple
yesterday morning with their parents and Russell was with them too.
This was the first time for Jessie and she took out her endowments
before her marriage next Friday in the Salt Lake Temple. Times have
changed since Lynn & I were married - we couldn't do that so we were in
the temple for about 6 hours - TOO LONG!!!
Boyd has participated in the PGA AT&T golf
tournament at Pebble Beach in California this past week. Jean & Rick
treated their family to this as their Christmas presents so they have
all been together and I know they have had a WONDERFUL time. They will
be home tonight. I can just imagine how happy Preston & Gracie have
been to have SO much attention and I can also imagine how happy their
grandparents have been!!! It has been fun for me to watch the
tournament on television - that is beautiful country!!!
The weather reporters were "right on" in
their predictions this past week. They said we would have alot of snow
and moisture and we REALLY have. I have loved the snow and then it
started to rain so most of the snow is gone but the moisture is just
WONDERFUL. They keep warning us of flood dangers but I don't know of
any of us who are in flood areas. I feel SO bad for the people in St.
George who have lost their homes because of the rivers that have been
over the banks. There was alot of fog on the highway just South from
where I go to the temple and there were many cars involved in a terrible
accident on Saturday morning - I'm glad I went early and missed it!!!
There weren't any serious injuries and that was good.
There was also an accident just North from
where I live and not far from where the Bob Mellors live. A big tanker
carrying propane gas lost its brakes and hit a van and then rolled over
leaking the gas. The gas traveled to an area of new homes and connected
to a pilot light and then back to the tank and you wouldn't believe the
big explosion - it looked like the entire valley was on fire. It was a
miracle that noone was killed - some emergency people pulled the driver
of the van to safety or he would have been. They evacuated over 600
people and one of the ladies with whom I work at the temple said she &
her husband were among them. It was very close to where the Bob Mellors
live and it was the same night Brett received his mission call so it
added even more excitement to that night!!!
Sorry Roy - this is the only news I have for
my letter. Roy says I dwell only on the bad things in the world - AND
THAT IS JUST NOT TRUE!!!
Another sad thing so Roy don't read this
part!!! The newspaper this morning told about the death of the wife of
one of our church apostles - she was a good friend to my sister Lela. I
ran across some of the funeral papers for Lela not long ago and Dantzel
Nelson was one of the speakers. It said in the paper that she was 78
years old but I believe that is wrong - she would have to be 80 unless
she started school younger than others in her class. She was such a
nice person and Russell Nelson, her husband was a renowned heart surgeon
before becoming an apostle. They have 10 children - 9 girls and one
boy. He was in Little Rock attending our stake meetings when he learned
their last baby would be a boy and would be born soon so he hurried back
to Utah - I remember Lynn telling me how excited he was to finally have
a son.
I have talked to John several times this
week and he is doing fine. I have "messed up" the picture project again
and John's remarks were "Mom, you have done a million things right and a
million things wrong". I don't believe it is a serious "mess up" - I go
to that computer with fear and trembling because of the time we have all
spent working on that project. He had all the albums listed so they
were easy to access - I scanned more pictures and when I went to access
them I couldn't do it so I pushed some buttons and lost the entire list
of albums. John assured me they were still there - Ha!!!
I spent most of last week working on my
income tax - I have had papers all over the TV room. I will always
think I pay the tax accountant much too much money to check a few
columns but I guess that's life!!! I sent it to the same man who has
been doing it for years and his office is in Provo - Joe Larsen.
I went to the play "Seussical" on Thursday
at the Roger's Theatre in Centerville and it was SO well done!!! It was
a selection of Dr. Seuss' books and the costumes and talent were
outstanding. I am always just amazed at all the talent there is in this
area.
I'm looking forward to being with most of
you on Friday - we'll miss the Roy Mellor family. Good Luck to the
Woolley and Richards families as they prepare for this WONDERFUL
occasion - and especially to Jessie & Jared. I'm excited to be with the
Reeves' family, Susanna, Steve, Jackson & Caroline - be VERY careful as
you travel from Chandler, Arizona!!!
I LOVE EACH ONE OF YOU SO VERY, VERY MUCH.
PLEASE BE SO VERY, VERY CAREFUL IN EVERYTHING YOU DO. Grandma B
XXXXXOOOOO