Dearest Family,
HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO JARED ON THURSDAY,
THE 26TH!!! This is a very busy and exciting time for Jessie and Jared
so I know it will be a special birthday for him. They are in Seattle,
Washington where they are going to "investigate" the law school there
and meet some of the faculty members. Jared has been accepted into
their law school and I believe he is VERY interested in finding out more
about it.
HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO CAROLINE ON FRIDAY
- she will be one year old and she is such a beautiful little girl!!!
The Reeves family is going to Florida to spend some time with Steve's
parents and they may have already gone - I can't keep track of all that
is going on. I hope Caroline has a birthday cake wherever she is and I
know she will - even if it is a day late or more!!! I can just see
Jackson helping her eat it - Ha!!!
This has been such a WONDERFUL day with the
family getting together to give Brett a good "sendoff" for his
mission!!! Michael & Staci came from Providence, Laura came from
Layton, Ann, Jimmy & Russell came from Provo, John came from Highland,
Boyd, Barji, Preston & Gracie came from West Farmington, Mary Ann &
David came from Layton, Ricky came from Salt Lake, Rick, Jean & Sarah
came from Farmington and we all met with Bob, Claire & Katie at the
Mellor's ward chapel for their 11 o'clock meeting. Bob conducted their
sacrament meeting and that was special for me - he reminded me SO much
of Lynn!!! Brett gave such a GREAT talk and he will be an excellent
missionary in Brazil. He leaves Tuesday morning and will attend the MTC
in Brazil for three months before going to his assigned place - I have
already forgotten the name of it and I should have brought home a
program because it was printed there. He said it was kinda' in the
middle of Brazil and since Brazil is supposed to be about the size of
the United States that would put it in the place of Kansas?????
I can't believe that Jimmy has received his
mission call to Brazil too and he said he thinks his assignment is on an
Island in Brazil. Won't it be fun to hear their reports when they come
home in two years - THAT SEEMS LIKE A MIGHTY LONG TIME TO ME!!!!
We all went to the Bob Mellor home after the
meetings for a DELICOUS DINNER - chicken kabobs, rice and all the
trimmings. It must have taken Claire many days to make so many kabobs
and they were filled with purple onions, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, red
& green sweet peppers, VERY tender chicken etc. I haven't been in their
backyard for a long time and I was amazed to see how beautiful it has
become - it was manicured perfectly and everything that was supposed to
be in bloom was and they had a tent set up to serve and it reminded me
of being at the "Greenbrier" in White Sulphur Springs, W. Virginia where
I used to go with Lynn for special parties. Their parrot "Howard" has
made a home in their tree by their patio and that was fun - little
Preston couldn't take his eyes off him. I'll bet Preston sleeps good
tonight - he loved the trampoline and would run into "Gammy Weinert's
Arms" a million times. A DARLING LITTLE BOY!!!
We missed Ron, the Roy Mellor family, the
Steve Reeves family, Lee Anna, Jessie & Jared - it didn't used to be
this hard to get the entire family together but I guess that happens in
all families and I'm just grateful for those who can come for our
get-togethers. I LOVE being with my family. I will miss having my
Davis County family drop in tonight but I will surely understand. Rick,
Jean, Barji, Preston & Gracie came over last Sunday night - Gracie likes
me and it is SO wonderful to have her come and be happy here. They gave
me a "Four Generation Picture" - Jean, Barji, Gracie and Grandma B - it
is even good of me and I love it. Gracie is a clone of her mother and
Preston is a clone of his father. It was WONDERFUL to have Bob & Claire
come over last Sunday night too - they brought their recent pictures
from Guatemala and I'm still in shock when I think of all the things
Bob, John & Russell did on this last trip there - AMAZING AND
WONDERFUL!!!
Last week was VERY busy one for me. I went
to Paradise, Utah on Monday to attend a funeral for one of my college
friends, Florence Henderson White. She has been ill for some time so it
wasn't a sad time - they had a graveside service for her and asked her
closest friends to speak. After that a few of us went to lunch in Logan
and I got to visit with friends I haven't seen for over thirty years -
former sorority sisters and their husbands. I got home in time to go to
the "Empty Nester's" meeting and that was special - the speaker was a
young man who had spent two years in Iraq. Tuesday I went to Willard to
get my hair cut. Wednesday I went to my D.U. P. meeting and since the
Captain was ill I had to do many things because it was our last meeting
until September. Thursday was Ellen Mae's 80th birthday so I went to
her home for a few minutes and later to another D.U.P. meeting where I
was installed as the Company Historian and listened to the Church
Historian tell about the history of Farmington and that was very
interesting. Friday I picked up Janet & Virginia and we went to Salt
Lake to meet with former Thailand Missionary Teachers - we went to the
"Thai Siam" restaurant on State Street and the food was SO good. Later
Friday night we wll went to the annual Humanitarian Reunion at the
Humanitarian Center in Salt Lake and had another delicious dinner. I
didn't think I would be able to get up in time to go to the temple on
Saturday morning but I did - Ha!!!
We have gone from Winter to Summer really
fast - it is beautiful here though and not too hot yet. I planted my
"Dinner Plate Dahlias" and after talking to Ann, Jean, Claire & John
today I believe I planted them right. I have a gardner friend at the
temple and she told me I had to plant them vertical but the directions
said to plant them horizontal so I did. That is such a special
Christmas gift from the Woolleys and I will think of them when they
bloom and I'll probably take LOTS of pictures.
I enjoyed watching "Tony Perkins" from the
Good Morning America show last Monday. He was broadcasting his weather
show from Little Rock and interviewed many people from there. I didn't
recognize any of them but I did recognize the "River Front" place where
he was standing. I have fabulous memories of going there when I was in
Little Rock last Fall and I LOVED it.
I had a phone call from your cousin Carol
Ann Willardsen last night. She is VERY worried about her daughter Rosie
who has been very ill for the past month and they don't know what is
wrong. They took all kinds of biopsies but won't know the results for
another week. She also told me about your cousin JIm Braithwaite - he
had an aneurism a year ago and was without oxygen for too long and she
said he will never work again and his daughter is very ill with lupus.
They're having a hard time.
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