Dearest Family,
HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO JIMMY TOMORROW -
MONDAY, JULY 25TH!!! He will be 19 years old and ready to serve his
mission to Brazil. I love to look at the pictures of him when we were
all at Lake Powell - I think he has changed SO much from a year ago. He
is much more "outgoing" and happier and I know this will continue on his
mission.
Thank you, thank you to Jessie & Jared for
sharing their trip to Turkey with us. I have just loved their letters
and I hope to hear more about everything when they get home. Their
letter mentioned they would try to come home a few days earlier than
planned and I hope that works out - they are losing weight and neither
one of them has any weight to lose. I was especially interested in
learning about the underground cities - WOW, 7 stories and they went to
the 4th level. The stories about churches being carved out of mountains
- people in those days didn't have the equipment we have now so that is
TRULY miraculous. This is a trip they will never forget and I'm also
thinking they will be happy to just stay in America for a long, long
time - the terrorist attacks make traveling out of our country TOO
dangerous.
Many thanks to Susanna & Steve for the
pictures of Jackson's birthday party - after being with him at Lake
Powell I feel close to him and kinda' know his disposition and how he
would react to things like birthday presents, birthday cake, etc. That
little Caroline is such a doll too!!! This is the most difficult time
in the lives of the Steve Reeves' family as far as energy and
patience are involved - and it doesn't make it any easier to have to
deal with HOT, HOT weather!!! Jackson & Caroline will both be ALOT of
help with future siblings besides being more responsible for their own
safety. HANG IN THERE!!!
Ann, Jean and Claire came over on Thursday
to make a "Doom's Day Video" of Grandma B and I couldn't believe All the
elaborate equipment Claire brought - lights, camera etc. etc. I really
felt like a celebrity and I worry that I said "too much" about
insignificant things. I am at the stage in my life that when I get a
captive audience I just talk, talk and talk!!! I'm sure they will edit
it though and omit those things that may be embarressing not only to me
but to our entire family - Ha!!!! Annie kept saying, "Now, we don't
want you to talk about your children or grandchildren - just talk about
your childhood and early marriage SO that's what I did and when it was
over I realized the most important part of my life is my children
and grandchildren - I hope they will make another one when I turn 90 and
another one when I turn 100 - Ha!!! Hopefully I will be making videos
of them at that time. It was fun to see what was going on around me -
like Jeannie crawling around to get out of my condo to go to her home to
get more "tapes" without making any noise.
You all remember when Claire took the family
pictures of the Woolleys at Lake Powell. She brought the "finished
product" on Thursday and I can honestly way I have NEVER seen a more
beautiful family picture. When I first saw it I thought of Frank Lloyd
Wright's artistic idea that pictures and things should "meld" into the
environment and their picture truly does that - it is a "work of art".
We learned alot about Frank Lloyd Wright when we lived in Phoenix and
admired some of his buildings. GOOD FOR YOU CLAIRE!!! The Woolley
family makes an excellent subject to photograph too. I was especially
thrilled to see little Caroline looking SO happy - I was a little
worried about that - Ha!!!
John - thanks for your long phone visit. He
told me about his neighborhood party and the success his donkey was for
all the children. John had a touch of a flu bug - I'm thinking it was
probably the heat or something he ate. He said some of his friends at
work had also been sick. I stopped by his home on Friday on my way home
from Orem - I wanted to see his donkey but it wasn't there. He has
probably already donated it for the children's handicap center that he
told me about.
One of my friends in Orem passed away and
her funeral was on Friday. There have been quite a few of my Orem
friends who have died but their funerals have all been on Saturday and I
couldn't go because of my temple assignment. This lady was 85 years old
and she had hit a car as she was backing out on 800 South - they took
her to the hospital but she wasn't hurt so they sent her home. She said
she was tired when she got home so she went to bed and died - WHAT A WAY
TO GO!!! It was just WONDERFUL to see many of my former Orem friends
and neighbors and they were SO sweet to me. Do you all remember my
neighbor, Vonnie Smith? She was there and she is still living in her
same home and has meals on wheels and looks just GREAT. They all wanted
to know how John was - they miss him.
I went to Nordstroms after the funeral and
walked through the mall - WOW, has that ever improved!!! I saw another
former neighbor, Heather Steel and we had a good visit. I bought a
"chocolate truffle" and put it in my purse and I didn't want it to melt
so I tried to find it as I was driving on a road just East of the Mall.
I'm sure I probably swerved a little and the car in back of me honked
"like fury" and it made me SO angry that I honked back. When the car
passed me it was my former neighbor Sherrie Savage in a huge new
cadillac and she had been at the funeral. I felt kinda' silly but I
just hate it when people do that. Many of my friends at the funeral
came up to me and said "Are you still driving" - I feel SO young but
must look SO old!!!! Sherrie will probably spread the word that I was
swerving all over the road. She doesn't live in my former neighborhood
anymore.
I left John's home about 3 p.m. and I got
home about 5:45 and it is usually an hour drive. The heat had buckled
the road so they had closed three lanes around the Point of the Mountain
and we literally went about 3 miles an hour for two hours. I had swiped
a can of Pepsi from John's home and I was SO glad I had it. I didn't
dare run the air conditioning while going that slow so I rode with the
windows down and it was over 100 degrees. I thought about Annie who had
made that same trip only going South on Thursday and I have decided to
only go on the freeway early in the morning or late at night from now
on.
Thursday afternoon after Ann, Jean & Claire
had gone I had a phone call from Ellen Mae & Mel inviting me to go to
the "Rehearsal" for President Hinckley's 95th birthday party. They had
an extra ticket and they were very hard to get. I'm SO glad I could go
- it was just WONDERFUL. They had substitutes for some of the
performers who would be in the final program and they were even better
than the original ones. The conference center was almost completely
full and it holds 21,000 people. I was especially impressed with Donny
Osmond - he had composed a song for President Hinckley that was so
beautiful. There was supposed to be a tenor to sing "Danny Boy" which
was a favorite of President Hinckley and he couldn't be there for the
rehearsal so Donny Osmond sang it and it was not in his voice range and
he was so good about it. Gladys Knight couldn't be there for the
rehearsal either so her substitute was a young, beautiful and pregnant
woman who had an absolutely gorgeous voice. I watched the "real thing"
last night on television and I couldn't believe Mike Wallace - I have
never seen him so animated and happy. He did an excellent job paying
tribute to President Hinckley - they have a GREAT friendship.
The Mormon Tabernacle Choir and their
orchestra are always sensational but I believe they were more than that
for this party. One of the young women who plays the flute made me
think of Emily - she had a major part in one of the solos and it was
beautiful. I was also reminded of the time we used to go to Jessie's
special opportunities with the Provo Symphony orchestra and I learned
that the "concert mistress" is the first violinist. It was interesting
to see how each one of the performers went to her to shake her hand
after they finished their performance. (Do I have that right?)
I am watching television while writing my
letter and they have announced that Lance Armstrong has won his 7th
straight "Tour De France" bicycle race. It reminded me that Claire told
about Bob and how far he rides his
bicycle and I wish I knew the miles he rides. I noticed that he is very
thin in his shoulders so I hope he knows when "enough is enough". I
know that he just loves it and I'm sure it is GREAT exercise if he just
doesnt "over-do". Laura is also a GREAT bicyclist and I think it is
WONDERFUL.
Utah is celebrating "Pioneer Day" tomorrow
and I will enjoy watching the big parade in Salt Lake on television.
The 24th of July commemorates the day the L.D.S. pioneers arrived in the
Salt Lake Valley and they celebrate in a BIG way. Lagoon put on a huge
fireworks display last night and it was fun to watch from my condo.
Margaret is upset with me because I couldn't go to Star Valley with her
- she left yesterday for a week. Cheryl & Dons' children are having a
party to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary on Wednesday and they
are only inviting Cheryl's sisters and Don's sister and I just couldn't
deliberately miss it. I also have to ask myself "who would water and
care for the tomatoes and flowers in Margarets and my yard if I didn't
do it". Margaret is completely oblivious to things like that.
I went to Park City with Margaret on Tuesday
and came home on Wednesday and we had such a good time. They were
having plumbing problems in their home in Park City and she wanted to be
there when the plumbers went to fix them. It was cool and fun. I
worked on the "reminders" for my Box Elder High School reunion while I
was there and I put them in the mail yesterday - 121 of them. I'M HAPPY
THAT IS DONE.
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