Dearest Family,
HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO BRETT TOMORROW,
DEC. 26TH AND TO LEE ANNA ON THURSDAY, DEC. 29TH!!! Brett will be 20
years old tomorrow and Lee Anna will be 22 years old on Thursday - I'm
SO proud of both of you and I hope you will have WONDERFUL birthdays.
Brett's birthday will surely be different from any of his other
birthdays and I'm anxious to hear from his family how his "telephone
call" went today - they had talked to him yesterday to set up a time for
them to call him in Brazil. The phone system in the area where he is
serving is VERY different from any place we all know here in America -
Bob & Claire didn't know where he would be receiving their call - maybe
in a pay phone or in a member's home or wherever!!! These experiences
let each of us know how fortunate we are to live in a place like
America!!! This will be the first birthday for Lee Anna as a "married
woman" so it will be special and I'm SO happy for both Lee Anna & Chris
- what a darling couple they are!!!! I can just imagine how excited the
Bob Mellor family is to talk to Brett - Bob told me last night that he
sounded REALLY good in the few minutes they had talked to him.
I don't know where to start in thanking each
one of you for the FABULOUS 80th Birthday Gift you gave me last night at
our annual Christmas Eve party. The gift is an enlarged (24" by 30")
picture of the marriage of Lynn and me taken Oct. 1, 1947. I have never
seen anything like it and will cherish it for forever!!! I know that
all of you know of the famous "picture project" involving 13,000 scanned
pictures that have been in my albums for many, many years. People kept
telling me I would find they had all turned black because they were not
on acid proof paper and it worried me - SO - John set up a computer and
scanning project in my downstairs room and Ricky scanned pictures all
one Summer (2003). I took over after he went back to school in the Fall
and I scanned the rest of them. I kept getting into trouble and John
would come from Highland to help me - that was a big deal with his
Hummer and gas at over $3.00 a gallon - Ha!!! Claire was a constant
source of help and encouragement and a few months ago she suggested that
she would put them all onto DVDs for my Christmas gift this year. I
CAN'T BELIEVE THE THINGS SHE CAN DO!!!! One of the things that makes
this marriage photo so important is that when the photographer from
Logan was developing all the pictures he had taken there was a fire in
his studio and this was the only picture that survived. I have had many
people say "you both look so solemn and almost unhappy" - I'm just
grateful for one picture and it's VERY special to me to see what John
has made of it. Our reception was held in my parents' home in Brigham
City and I can still remember the draperies and everything in the
background.
WELL - last night when they uncovered the
gift you were all giving to me my first thought was "what an interesting
texture" for the background of the picture. It turned out to be MUCH
MORE than a texture. John had made very small prints of most of the
pictures in the picture project and somehow put them in the background
of our wedding photo. You just can't stop looking at it - I have spent
ALOT of time today looking at it and there are pictures of each member
of my family and many of friends and things that go WAY BACK!!!! It is
my "Mona Lisa" and I LOVE IT!!!! I know Annie has worked with John in
Provo too - I believe the printer is the Woolleys' neighbor who is a
professional artist. I also know it is a VERY expensive project that
you have all participated in and I hope you know that every penny and
every minute you have spent on it is WELL WORTH IT!!!! I am going to
re-arrange my living room to make a special spot where all my friends
can see it when they visit. John keeps reassuring me that it won't hurt
to "touch" it and I'm glad to know that because I point to certain
people in the background and will probably touch it ALOT!!! I will miss
the MANY phone calls from John as he has helped me for the last
three-four years and I will try to find another "project" - Ha!!! I
know that when you watch the DVDs that Claire has prepared you will say
to yourself "why in the world did Mother scan that picture - and there
are many you won't recognize but they are all important to me in my
life". I dearly LOVE the pictures of my children and grandchildren when
you were young and now as you are older and it is SO comforting to me to
know the pictures are SAFE. The video of me is something else you will
probably question - I was reading an article about President Hinckley
this morning and his biographer said "what you see in President Hinckley
is what you get" - I surely don't compare with Pres. Hinckley but that
video shows that "what you see is what you get" - it is not one bit
polished but I didn't intend to hurt anyone's feelings so remember
that!!!!! I APPRECIATE SO VERY MUCH the time Claire, Annie & Jeannie
spent in making it and Claire is SO generous in always bringing her
tripod, camera, etc., etc. to record important things in our family
activities. THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!
Speaking of "re-arranging" - Roy & Patrice
re-arranged the downstairs bedroom while they were here and it is SO
MUCH BETTER!!! I have kinda' lost interest in decorating my condo. I
believe the reason is mostly my age but honestly I have decorated homes
in Laramie, Phoenix, Little Rock, Lehi, Orem and now in Farmington
besides all the little places we have lived like in Fort Collins
and Raleigh. You would think I would be good at it by now wouldn't
you??? I have loved the Roys' visit - they came last Monday, the 19th
and left this morning, the 25th. I told their children they could come
live with me if their parents were ever mean to them - Ha!!! That will
never happen but Emily, Timothy & Jesse are SO delightful to have in my
home and I LOVE THEM AND I MISS THEM ALREADY!!! They went snow skiing
and it was good the first two days they went but all of a sudden our
temperature turned very warm and then we had rain that kinda' ruined the
snow. They went to Powder Mountain and Roy and the boys have been there
quite often so it is familiar to them. They had taken pictures that
looked very "wintry" and LOTS of fun.
We all went as a family into Salt Lake on
Tuesday to see the L.D.S Church presentation of "Savior of the World" -
the Woolleys, the Weinerts, the Bob Mellors and all their children were
there too. John was out of town and couldn't be with us. We also
walked through temple square to see the Christmas lights and they were
SO beautiful as always - the weather was just perfect. Emily has spent
ALOT of time with Katie and Katie even came to spend one night with
Grandma B - we made beds on the couches in the TV room and it was fun
for me. I promised to make fudge if they would come and then I forgot
and they didn't remind me. The Roys went to Highland on Friday to be
with John and they met Ann & Ron at "Cobellas". I was hoping the boys
could ride John's horses but his ground was SO wet from all the rain
that the horses were muddy - they couldn't even get to see his barn.
The party last night at the Weinerts' home
was absolutely WONDERFUL!!! It was a fondue party and I have never been
to one before and I was REALLY impressed - I could have stayed by the
fondue pots and eaten all night. Jeannie said she and Rick had counted
about thirty family members there - I'm going to try to list everyone
who was there: Jean, Rick, Ricky, Barji, Boyd, Preston, Gracie, Mary
Ann, David, Anna Jean, Sarah, Danny, Ann, Ron, Jessie, Jared, Russell,
Jimmy, Lee Anna, Chris, Bob, Claire, Michael, Staci, Laura, Matt
(Laura's friend/boy), Katie, Roy, Patrice, Emily, Timothy, Jesse and
Grandma B. We missed Susanna, Steve, Jackson & Caroline who left today
to go to Florida to spend the holidays with Steve's parents and also
Brett who is in Brazil on his mission. Little Baby Anna was the "chosen
one" being passed around to all the cousins - she is a perfectly
beautiful baby and SO good!!! Preston & Gracie made it SO happy for
everyone - beautiful children!!! John brought his famous guacomole dip
that was eaten quickly - we baked a turkey for sandwiches and Patrice
made a delicious green salad. Rick kept bringing out more shrimp and
everyone had all they wanted besides meatballs, little sausages, etc.,
etc. I felt bad for Bob as he was struggling to eat with the braces on
his bottom teeth - he is losing much too much weight with just eating
oatmeal. I want to record the reason Bob is having braces - "One day
while he was working on a little boy, the little boy called out to
his Mother and said, Look, the doctor has crooked teeth". I had never
even noticed them. We were all too full to eat the beautiful birthday
cake but I have eaten it today and it is FABULOUS!!!!
The "Gingerbread House" decorating was fun
and I believe everyone won recognition - I liked the "Romantic Award"
given to Lee Anna & Chris. I also liked Timothys and
I insisted that he bring it to my condo and I love seeing it to remind
me of the party. Jared spent a GREAT deal of serious time on his and he
had to keep Jesse from knocking it down so finally Jared painted Jesse's
face with the frosting - I have a cute picture of that!!! Russell &
Jimmys' house was "spectacular" - two or three stories high. Katie and
Emilys' house was VERY artistic. The grand prize was given to Preston -
he had written "Presto" on it with the frosting. I hope my
grandchildren NEVER outgrow that tradition!!!
Claire had made the cutest "television game"
called "Name that Baby". She had baby pictures of all the family
members that were put on the television and then we guessed who they
were. It was fun to see how we didn't recognize many of the members now
you are grown up. She also showed the Guatemala video and it helped
remind us of the importance of helping others whenever we can. I
continue to be SO VERY PROUD of you as you serve in that area to help
those people who need medical help SO much and also help in teaching
them basic skills to keep healthy and to learn to take care of their
property.
Roy and Patrice got home today in time to
have dinner with Patrice's Mom - Grandma Suzie. She has a birthday on
the 27th also and she will be 75 - I hope she will have as happy a
birthday as I have had. I admire the Roys for arranging their schedules
to be with all of us during the holidays and then get back to their home
to be with Patrice's Mom. I believe Patrice has this next week off her
work in the Little Rock library and that will be good for her. She is
surely a talented "knitter" - she completed a hat while she was here so
she could wear it skiing and then she started on some socks that are
beautiful. Jesse is a talented "picture puzzler" - he put together a
500- piece 24 by 18 inch puzzle of the Lehi Rolling Mills while he was
here. I tried to help him but I really wasn't much help and I believe
he stayed up most of the night on Friday to get it completed and he let
me put the last piece in the next morning - Ha!!!! Timothy and Emily
love to read and that's a talent too. Roy worked on some kind of a
puzzle - kinda' like crossword but more complicated and WAY over my
head.
I can't think of any more news - I LOVE EACH
ONE OF YOU SO VERY, VERY MUCH. PLEASE BE SO VERY, VERY CAREFUL IN
EVERYTHING YOU DO. Grandma B XXXXXOOOOO