Dearest Family,
HAPPY THANKSGIVING to each one of you - each
year goes by faster for me and I can't believe it is time for
Thanksgiving already. We all have our favorite Thanksgivings and I have
many favorites but the one I have been thinking about the most lately is
the Thanksgiving I spent last year with the Roy Mellor family. It was
just perfect in every way. I will always remember raking the leaves in
their backyard with Sammy playing with us - actually I didn't rake but I
watched Roy, Timothy & Jesse. Patrice cooked a delicious dinner with
each of their children (especially Emily) participating - Grandma Suzie
came over to have dinner. We went to the Clinton Presidential LIbrary
the next day and toured the area around it - it has changed SO much
since I lived there. I remember a Thanksgiving we had at the Weinert's
home when they lived on Cherry Blossom and we hiked to a little lake
close by and Papa made whistles for the children out of tree limbs. I
remember the many Thanksgiving dinners we had at the Woolleys with their
special tablecloths and decorative place cards made by their children.
I remember the VERY special desserts Claire brought to the Thanksgiving
dinners. I ALSO remember hearing about the Thanksgiving dinner that
John hosted at his Orem home when I was in Thailand. When did we have
Annie's special "sage" dressing? That was last year but it must have
been for Christmas - that is certainly a memory. I also remember many
of my childhood Thanksgivings in Lehi when all my Garland cousins came
to our Grandparent's home and we played baseball in the big field by
their house and they killed a pig and gave the children the "bladder" to
use as a balloon.
This Thanksgiving will be a happy memory too
- we are having just gorgeous Fall weather. I am going to cook dinner
and I hope someone will come eat it with me. I have invited the Weinert
family and John but I haven't heard if they will be able to come. Barji
& Boyd and their children will spend time with the Summerhays, Mary Ann
& David will spend time with the Parkers and Jeannie said they wanted to
go hiking or skiing as a family in the morning. Claire and Bob and
their family will enjoy the day with Claire's family. Annie, Ron,
Russell and Jimmy will go to Arizona to be with the Reeves' family, Lee
Anna & Chris will go to California to be with the Marlais family amd
Jesse & Jared will be with the Richards family.
Claire had such a WONDERFUL dinner to
celebrate Bob's 51st birthday last Sunday. It is always SO MUCH FUN to
be in their home - especially with Laura and Katie. They are so full of
energy and they are also good "cleaner-uppers" while the adults watched
the Guatemala video that Claire had made SO quickly after receiving the
pictures just the day before AND I LOVE IT. The pictures of all of you
working together for such a good cause makes me SO happy. It is fun for
me to see pictures of Reid Folsom - he hasn't changed much in the last
twenty years when we were with him and his family in Montana. Jeannie
dropped in for a little while and we all had such a good visit!!!
I went to Ann & Dick Cobbs' home on Monday
night to have dinner with them and Tom & Barbara Brown - do you remember
them? They had been in Idaho for a funeral for Tom's brother-in-law and
stopped in to visit with the Cobbs on their way back to Little Rock.
They look exactly the same as they did when we were with them in
Arkansas. It was fun to hear about their children and other friends in
Little Rock. Tom is the Patriarch in the Little Rock Stake and he has
had cancer but it is in remission for now. Barbara has lost some of her
hearing and I can relate to that but other than that she is in good
health.
John - I talked to Chris Jordin one day this
week and she told me that Tommy Andrews got married in a ceremony at
Pinnacle Mountain. He had been married before and has a little boy.
Chris said the wedding was REALLY nice and was decorated in abundance
with little pumpkins.
I went to a neighborhood shower for Sarah on
Thursday night. It was held in the home right next to the swimming pool
- I believe some of you thought it was going to be a clubhouse or
something because of its design. It is a BEAUTIFUL home with Christmas
trees in every room. The Weinerts have VERY nice friends and it was fun
for me to see them again. Sarah is greatly loved and she received some
lovely gifts. As I was leaving I ran into Rachel who went to Guatemala
with all of you - she said "Sister Mellor, your family is AWESOME!!!" I
told her you thought the same of her.
I was SO surprised on Thursday night to
receive a phone call from Annie telling me she was coming to see me the
next morning. I WAS THRILLED!!! I LOVE it when I can have a "one on
one" visit with my children and learn what is going on in their lives.
Jimmy is home from Brazil on a medical leave and she told me about
that. He is doing just GREAT and looking forward to continuing his
mission after about 3-6 months of treatment. The lesson taught by Jimmy
was necessary for our entire family but we must be careful to not "self
diagnose" which I tend to do. The important thing for all of us to
learn is to not expect perfectness in this life - we certainly want to
strive for it but we're just plain mortals and we must accept that for
ourselves and for others.
I decided to clean out my garage yesterday
afternoon after I came home from the temple and get my Christmas
decorations out of their boxes. I wanted to watch the BYU/Uof U
football game so I put my little television set out in the garage and
went to work and listened to the game. I wanted to cry when the U won
the game - I guess they out played BYU but when they went into overtime
I was sure the "Cougars" would win. I came into the house for something
and by the time I got back out to the garage, the game was over - I
couldn't believe it!!! They both wanted "Bowl" bids and I haven't heard
if they have received them.
I can't think of any more news. I LO9VE
EACH ONE OF YOU SO VERY, VERY MUCH. PLEASE BE SO VERY, VERY CAREFUL IN
EVERYTHING YOU DO. GRANDMA B XXXXXOOOOO
You should see my living room - TALK ABOUT
CLUTTER!!!! I brought the Christmas decorations in and just put them on
chairs and tables and it is a big mess. I am having my bow and candy
cane Christmas tree again and it's clutter itself.
I'm SO thrilled the Roy Mellor family will
be with me the week before Christmas - the 19th to the 25th. I talked
to one of the ladies at Sarah's shower and she told me her family was
coming from California for Thanksgiving so I told her about my family
coming from Arkansas for Christmas. I said my home wasn't very large
and I hoped they would be comfortable and I loved her reply when she
said, "My home is very small but THEY WANT TO COME"!!! I hope my
Arkansas family will always WANT TO COME.
Do you all remember how we used to hike
"Pinnacle" on Thanksgiving day as a family? It was SO wonderful to have
the college kids home and just be together.
Brett - Your Mom says she thinks you are
happy and trying to enjoy the Brazilian people. She also tells me you
are having baptisms and some of them are even attending church - Ha!!!
We had a missionary report on his mission this morning in our church
meetings. I didn't know him because I was in the other ward when he
attended meetings and when I saw him on the stand I thought he was one
of the youth speakers - he looks too young to have been on his mission.
I don't know where he was serving - I believe it was in one of the
Florida missions. I think about you SO often and I wish I could send
you some of our cool weather - that hot weather "gets to you" doesn't
it? My thermometer said it was 30 degrees on my deck this morning - it
warms up during the day though. They are opening some of the ski slopes
so there is snow in the mountains.