Dearest Family,
HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO KATIE ON THURSDAY,
MARCH 31ST!!! KATIE WILL BE 17 YEARS OLD!!! I receive pictures on the
internet of Katie with her family and friends and she is such a lovely
and outstanding young woman. Thank you for your recent letter Katie - I
hope you have a WONDERFUL BIRTHDAY.
I hope you are all having a VERY HAPPY
EASTER today. It is a beautiful day here in Utah but it is quite cold.
Thank you all for remembering me on Easter. We have a very small choir
in our ward but they are outstanding and the music in our meeting this
morning was just gorgeous. My neighbor here in the condos is the
pianist and she is SO good - she inspires me to practice playing the
piano again.
Patrice - thank you for your letter. I am
VERY happy that you like "Napoleon Dynamite" - I wish I had been the
first to send you the video. Patrice and Emily left on Friday to go to
the Northeast to visit some colleges. I wish Emily would consider going
to college close to Utah (we have some mighty good colleges in Utah) but
I know she will have good choices and it will be fun to hear what they
are. She still has another year in High School. I know the two of them
are having fun on their trip - Patrice said they had alot of snow in
Massachusetts so it will be a cold trip and quite different from the
beautiful flowers in Little Rock. It is nice to think of the fun Roy,
Timothy & Jesse are having at home - I have seen them "in action" and
they are GREAT pals!!!
This time of year brings back many memories
for me as I remember our children looking at colleges and planning to
leave home. THEN I think of Jessie & Jared as they have to make
decisions about where Jared will go to law school in the Fall. They
have MANY choices!!! I believe they are "leaning" towards Washington D.
C. but they are also tempted to go to Arizona because Jessie has
opportunities there to teach at ASU in Tempe and also work on her Ph.D.
Susanna & Steve - thank you SO much for your
messages and those beautiful pictures of Jackson & Caroline. They are
beautiful children and I love the picture of Steve too on his birthday -
Ann told me that Susanna had a surprise birthday party for him. I'm SO
glad they are happy in Arizona - we just loved it there. Susanna - you
are a REAL pro and I'm proud of you to be able to send pictures on the
internet.
I love the pictures Claire sends too. She
sent one of Bob on his bicycle and his friend is wearing a helmet but
Bob isn't - I'm sure he does though. Claire said they go on 25 - 30
mile rides - WOW!!! Claire's Mom had her 75th birthday and the picture
of her is VERY good - she thinks she is recuperating too slow from her
heart surgery but that's normal. Brett is pictured with his arms around
some beautiful "babes" - they're Katie's friends and he will miss them
on his mission.
I had some pictures from Dana Woods ? too.
They live on a little farm West of Little Rock and their goat, Mandy,
gave birth to twins, a doe and a buck. The pictures are SO cute and
their children love helping on the farm. I would never have suspected
that Dana would be a "farm wife" but she is VERY happy and their
children are VERY smart!!!
I enjoy receiving letters from missionary
friends. A couple with whom I served in Thailand is now in Armenia (I
think that's where they are) and they are working on getting pure water
into remote villages. The letter I received this week said the church
is providing a $240,000.00 water project to help them. The water
project they are using now was put in by Russia about 40-50 years ago.
I admire this couple very much and all those who help others in remote
areas. I am making "book bags" for the schools in Asia - does that
count?????
Jeannie & Barji - thank you SO much for such
a fun time last Tuesday. Jeannie came for me and took me to Barji and
Boyds' new home. They have done a GREAT job in decorating it and it is
just BEAUTIFUL. There was not one thing out of place so the next time I
go I'm not going to let Barji know I am coming and I hope it is
"cluttered" - Ha!!! Little Preston is SO proud of his "plastic house"
where he can jump, jump, jump and jump!!! I have never seen anything
like that - they have an electric pump that puts air into tubes that
make into a HUGE house where children can play without getting hurt in
anyway. The best thing about my little trip there was that Gracie would
let me hold her - she is SO pleasant and beautiful and just smiles all
the time. Boyd is out of town this week. His sister, Rebecca, had
complications from the birth of her baby and she has been in intensive
care this week. I hope she is much better by now.
Annie & Jessie - thank you for such a fun
time on Wednesday. Annie came for me early in the morning and spent
time with me in my condo and then we went to Salt Lake - the Gateway
where we met Jessie for lunch at the "Do-Do Restaurant". Jessie's short
hair is just darling and I LOVE it. It was SO much fun to have her tell
about their honeymoon in Mexico - they really did go to a remote place
and explored places most people don't ever see. Their accomodations
surely sounded different - no walls separating them from others. It
made me think of some of the schools where I have taught in Little Rock
- classes SO close to each other. THEN we went to Jessie & Jareds'
apartment and it is darling. They will be happy when they get some
couches from Jared's father's office sometime soon. It is in a nice
part of Salt Lake City and they are SO happy!!!
John - thank you SO much for your phone
call. John & Annie are going to help me figure out why our Lehi
property is not recorded like it should be. John recommended that I not
go to the court house in Provo until I have corresponded with our
attorney. I wrote to our attorney, Rodney Wilkinson but I haven't heard
from him. WE NEED AN ATTORNEY IN OUR FAMILY!!!
I'm going to go over to the Weinerts to see
their family ion a few minutes. Jeannie is having them for dinner and
even though I have already eaten it will be fun to see them and then
they won't feel like they have to come over tonight - Ha!!! Claire is
having her family for dinner tonight also and I hope they won't feel
like they have to visit me later. Holidays are such fun "family
times"!!!
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