Dearest Family,

 

HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MARY ANN TOMORROW - I am VERY proud of Mary Ann on her 23rd borthday!!!  She is such a hard worker besides still being so VERY, VERY thoughtful AND this is such an exciting time in her life as she is expecting their first little baby.  She's working at a hospital in the nursing program in Bountiful and going to school - I don't know how long she will be working before their baby is due in December.  I hope you have a WONDERFUL day Mary Ann - maybe breakfast in bed!!!

 

I'm thinking of Lee Anna and Chris - in fact, I'm thinking of all the Woolleys.  Lee Anna & Chris will be married on Friday this weekend and when I talked to Annie this week she said, "I wouldn't recommend to anyone to prepare a son to leave on a mission, remodel a home to build an apartment in it and then have a daughter get married all in the space of two months".  Besides all this - Annie started her teaching semester at BYU.  They are VERY happy with the way their apartment has turned out and if anyone can accomplish all this, the Woolleys can. We're all excited for the activities on Friday!!!  Susanna, Steve, Jackson & Caroline will come on Thursday and stay for the weekend - I think it is just WONDERFUL they have been able to come for so many of the special acitvities this Summer.  I will be SO happy to see the children.

 

I have talked to John several times this week - he has been traveling alot.  He was in New York during the time of the terrorist warnings - in fact, he said he rode the subway several times.  We are living in such a scary world - if it isn't the terrorist worry, now we must worry about the "bird flu"!!!  John has also been in Las Vegas and I don't know the other places.  He is doing good and says all his animals are fine.  I couldn't find the "comments" on my picture project so when I was talking to him he said he could tell me how to find them on the computer.  It is unbelieveable to me how the computer "works" - he had me put in many different numbers and access many different places and after about an hour the comments appeared.  I know that I am paranoid about the pictures and the comments and I also know Claire and John must be VERY tired of all my "worries".  THEY HAVE SPENT SO MUCH TIME WITH ME ON THE PROJECT!!!

 

I have also talked to Claire several times this week.  She sends me messages and asks for the numbers of certain pictures in the project and it is fun to access them so I spend more time than I need to just trying to find them.  I REALLY love that project and appreciate SO VERY MUCH all the time that has been spent on it by John, Claire, Bob and Ricky.  When that is finished I need to spend time on REAL genealogy work!!!  Ellen Mae was over this week and she couldn't believe that I had pictures of the Summer vacation trip after high school graduation that Ellen Mae and I went on with other friends. (Poor sentence).  Everyone has pictures like this and I'm glad mine are organized into a computer program where I can look at them easily and share them with my family.  I am VERY fortunate to have family members who are experts in this field and who are willing to help me - I don't take this for granted!!!

 

I have had messages from Jeannie this week too.  The Weinerts have been in Sun Valley, Idaho since Thursday on their annual family vacation trip - I believe they will come home today.  They were sad that Ricky couldn't go with them because of his work schedule.  I know it has been fun for Danny Flint to become better acquainted with his future in-laws.

 

Emily - I thought about you last week when I was watching our conference and listening to the Tabernacle Choir.  They have a sister who plays the flute as a soloist in almost every one of their special programs and it is beautiful.  They have the flute and oboe as a duet often too.  Do you have someone who plays the oboe in your Central High Orchestra?  Timothy - how is your saxophone coming - I hope you will continue to enjoy it and PRACTICE.  Jesse - I love to look at my pictures of you playing your piano and I hope you are practicing ALOT!!!

 

Brett & Jimmy - I'm SO glad your folks will share some of your letters with all of us.  You are having GREAT experiences and even though you don't think of them as being very great right now you will find out when you get older that they have influenced your thinking and entire outlook on life in a VERY postive way!!!  We live in such a protected society here in Utah and when we learn how other people live in different cultures we find out that we have MANY things to learn and understand.  I'm anxious for Jimmy to be finished with the CTM and do the missionary work he has prepared himself for.  I'm anxious for Brett to be transferred so he can hopefully live in a nicer area.  I had to laugh at what Annie said when I talked to her, "I know Brett and can understand his letters perfectly - he is a GREAT missionary"!!!

 

I am worried about the mudslides in Guatemala - I'm sure Bob knows the areas they are in and I hope they aren't in the places where you will all go.  My neighbors have a granddaughter who is serving a mission there and she is in one of the villages - they told me today that they will give me the name of the village and I'll let you know.  She is loving her mission and says she has seen insects and bugs that are huge, she has walked in mud up to her knees and has seen poverty she couldn't believe BUT she LOVES the people and the work she is doing.  She comes from a very wealthy family and has been spoiled SO much and I'm surprised she is doing SO well.  I met her when I went to Provo last year with her grandparents and she was working at a restaurant there - she's very pretty.

 

I have had a fun week.  I went to one of the most beautiful homes I have ever been in last Monday for a D.U.P meeting.  The woman who lives there is such an unpretentious woman and I have only known her for a couple months but I love her name - Millie Kay Francis.  Her home is WAY off the main road in Farmington and is quite hard to find and they have lived there for a long time - it is very secluded and they don't have any kind of a view but their home and back yard are SO nice!!!  I went to the dentist after that - he told me several years ago to expect dentures soon but this time he said there haven't been any changes so that was good news.  The next day my draperies were installed and I like them very much - you won't even think they are new, they just blend in but I have a GREAT view of the mountains and that's what I wanted. 

 

Margaret invited me to go with her to a "Cuisine Unlimited" open house on Thursday.  WOW - what delicious and beautiful gourmet food!!!!  The owners are good friends to Margaret and she has them cater her Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners often.  I would NEVER have them cater food like she does; turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, rolls, pumpkin pies, etc.  I know that we can prepare food like that BUT I would love to have some of their gourmet foods - I have never eaten food like that before.  They had food from different countries and their rooms were decorated to fit the decor of the countries.  Their sushi was especially good as well as their desserts.  It was funny because they had what I thought were "truffles" and I had several while we were there and then Margaret put one on my plate and I was too full to eat it so I brought it home.  The next day Ellen Mae came over so I divided it with her and after we ate it we started to laugh - IT WAS A RUMBALL!!!!  People were carrying goblets of champagne and we had diet coke.  They had the largest strawberries I have ever seen that were dipped in chocolate.  This company catered food for the Olympics and even went to Greece - they are probably the most popular catering company in Utah.  Margaret told me she pays about $800 for her Christmas dinner for 30 people.

 

I had a VERY funny experience this week.  The phone rang while Ellen Mae & I were in the kitchen and I usually let my answering machine get it when I have company but I was right by the phone so I answered it.  This foreign voice said "Mrs. Mellor, you need to remove your checking account number from your internet for security reasons."  I said "I don't know how to do that".  She said "You get your check book right now and give me the number of your checking account".  I couldn't believe it and I am SO gullible that ordinarily I would have done just that but thankfully I had the presence of mind to say "I won't do that until I talk to my son" and then she hung up.  I don't keep much money in my checking account so it really isn't much of a problem but it's weird all the scams going around.

 

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