Dearest Family,
HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO BOYD ON FRIDAY,
JUNE 17TH!!! I hope you have a very WONDERFUL day and I know Barji will
make sure of that. I just love the pictures you sent me on the internet
- I just accessed them. They sent me one of Boyd and Preston at
Chicago's "Six Flags" and it makes me SO happy to know what a GREAT
Father Boyd is and the fun he has with Preston & Gracie. They also sent
me a picture of little Gracie and her hair looks like it is getting
"manageable" - Ha!!! I haven't seen the children for about a month and
it is unreal how fast they are growing up. I believe Boyd & Barji have
been traveling some with the PGA and it is just wonderful they can take
their children with them and know they are getting good care.
Brett- I'm SO happy your folks have finally
heard from you and that you are doing GREAT. I think the MTC in Utah is
a big challenge for new missionaries and I imagine the MTCs in foreign
countries are even harder. It will be "real" missionary work when you
get your language "down pat" and you will have different challenges but
the kind you will just love!!!!
Ann, Bob & John have all been "out of
pocket" this week and I appreciate knowing where they are - I don't like
it when my children are gone and I don't know where they are. John has
been traveling again and I can't remember if he said he had been in El
Paso or San Jose - maybe both places. It has been fun talking to him -
he is VERY busy and happy. YOU WOULDN'T BELIEVE WHAT JOHN HAS BOUGHT
FOR HIMSELF!!!!! He has a new little "kitty" that he got at the shelter
and from the way he described her I believe she is a "calico" kitten.
He said he has SO many mice in his barn and also in his garage that he
thought a kitten was a necessity - from the way he described his mouse
problem I think he needs more than one. His neighbors have chickens so
they keep grain around and with John's horse food around I'm sure mice
have LOTS to eat. I just hope he doesn't get rats - I don't believe
kittens could handle them. He said he has named her "kitty" - John
loves animals of all kinds.
Annie and Ron went to Jerome this week to
spend time with Grandpa Russ - it has been a long time since they were
there so I'm glad they could go. They came home yesterday, Saturday,
and then will leave this afternoon to go to Arizona to spend a couple
days with Susanna, Steve, Jackson & Caroline. Annie has been VERY
homesick for their grandchildren and I know they will LOVE being in
Chandler with the Reeves' family!!! They will leave Arizona about
Wednesday and go to Hawaii where Ron has some business meetings and will
then come home in time for their church meetings next Sunday - they will
have a VERY fun and busy week.
Claire & Bob just came home from Nauvoo last
night. I received a letter from Claire just a few minutes ago and she
said they had a GREAT time - I have thought about them all week and have
had such a good feeling because Nauvoo would be a relaxing place to
vacation (at least for Bob). They have gone on some very busy vacations
where they have come home more tired than when they left and that
wouldn't be the case with Nauvoo. They ran into Don Nance Jr. from
Little Rock - do any of you remember him? He married the Horne's
daughter and they are in Chris Jordin's ward and Don has been her Bishop
for quite a long time and she just loves them and their family. I'm
sure Ann & Jean would remember Clarice Nance - her daughter rode to BYU
with them once or twice I think. I worried about Bob & Claires' home
flooding with all the rain we had yesterday. They showed pictures of
Layton on television last night and all the storm drains were backed up
and the streets around the Layton Mall were all flooded. Bob has worked
hard to fix the drainage problem around their home so hopefully they
didn't have any problems.
My Bishop told me this morning that he saw
Jeannie at the Tanner Clinic yesterday so I know they are all fine. I
had a sweet letter from Mary Ann during the week but I haven't talked to
Jeannie since last Sunday when she & Rick came to visit along with Bob.
I'm sure the Roy Mellor family is doing fine too. I thought of Emily
this morning at church because a young woman played a flute solo in our
meetings - I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR EMILY PLAY AGAIN!!!
I worked at the temple last Thursday for a
lady who had substituted for me some time ago. I decided that would be
a good time to do my "Rest Home Visiting" so after I finished at the
temple I went to Bountiful to visit a friend. She wouldn't even hold
her head up to talk to me and when the nurse told her that her friend,
Barbara was there she said "I don't know Barbara" - SO I LEFT!!! She is
90 years old and I understand but I'm not going to be too eager to go
back to see her. THEN I went into Salt Lake to visit Don at the
Veteran's Nursing Home - he was in the dining room and when he saw me he
called out "Hello Babs". We had such a good visit and he looks and acts
just like himself. I think he is happy there and it is a VERY nice
place. Cheryl takes him home ALOT and she even took him to Lehi
to decorate the graves on Memorial Day. Parkinson's Disease is a
terrible, terrible disease - he can't walk so that limits everything he
can do.
I went to Lehi to get the flowers because
they were still pretty and I can use them again. Don used to make those
little "bears" from tree bark and they are SO cute and Cheryl takes them
to the cemeteries along with flowers. Annie - your flowers were still
pretty but I didn't bring them home - I had to go on a Thursday and
since they don't clean up the cemetery until the following Monday I
hated to take them off - did you get them? Cheryl had also taken some
pretty artificial flowers and she didn't get back to Lehi to take them
off the graves - the cemetery managers just throw everything away.
One of the ladies in my condo village passed
away this week. She is probably the most unhappy person I have ever
known so I guess her death is a blessing. She was visiting her daughter
in California and fell and broke her hip and passed away from heart
failure during surgery. I am collecting money to buy flowers for her
family when they come on Tuesday to clean out her condo. It's kinda'
sad - she has a lovely condo and I guess it will be up for sale.
Ellen Mae had to go to a family funeral in
Logan on Thursday when her bridge club meets so she asked me to "fill in
for her". You know me - I haven't played bridge formally for at least
50 years. I couldn't turn her down so I said I would go. AND I WON THE
PRIZE - Ha!!!! It was a fun afternoon but a complete waste of time and
I just couldn't do that very often. Most of the women I played with are
in their late 80's or early 90's and have belonged to this bridge club
for about 50 years.
John has put all the picture project
pictures onto discs after they had been scanned on the computer. Claire
came over and got 6 of them and put them onto a DVD - I couldn't imagine
one DVD holding pictures from 6 discs but it did. I also couldn't
imagine Claire being able to do that - she is really a "pro" when it
comes to technology and I am SO thrilled with it. I have watched the
DVD three times and it is "3 HOURS LONG" AND I JUST LOVE IT. The
pictures are surely not professional but they mean more to me than
anything else in my home. I'm not sure if any of you will ever take 3
hours out of your busy lives to watch it but if you do I think you will
love it too. I know the background of each picture but you won't - BUT
THAT'S OKAY!!! It's kinda' like a newsreel of our lives. John had
intended to have them indexed according to dates but Claire couldn't do
them that way so we see pictures of the 1940's mixed in with the
pictures of the 1990's - but I think they are JUST EXCELLENT!!! I can
surely see many of my mistakes - I have duplicates of many pictures
because I couldn't remember if I had scanned them or not - OH WELL!!!!
I also have some that are in upside down - BUT YOU HAVE TO REMEMBER A
VERY, VERY AMATEUR PERSON TOOK MOST OF THE PICTURES AND SCANNED
THEM. The ones Ricky did are all done perfectly but not the ones I have
done. There are still about twice that many more to have put on DVDs.
AND I am not finished scanning some yet.
ATTENTION: MY DAHLIAS ARE COMING UP!!!! I
watered them good yesterday afternoon and then it rained and it rained
and it rained so I hope they didn't drown. I'm SO EXCITED TO HAVE THEM
GROW AND BLOOM.
That's all the news I can think of!!!!!
I LOVE EACH ONE OF YOU SO VERY, VERY MUCH.
PLEASE BE SO VERY, VERY CAREFUL IN EVERYTHING YOU DO. Grandma B
XXXXXOOOOO