6/11/01

Just read all the latest news that has been posted....Murray your trip to Germany and all your sight seeing besides keeping your job going must be very exciting.

Tyson, I was especially interested in reading your news as all I knew about you was that you were working in Poland. It was great to hear some of the details. You are definitely a chip off the old Triplett block with your scientific mind. Good luck as you continue your work and go on to school.

Tara, I didn't realize that you just went to Mexico...that is how behind the times I am. I will have to ask you more about the details. Getting sick was not fun...The last time we were in Mexico, just over the border from Del Rio, Texas, Steve got deathly ill. He wanted to blame it on the food, but we think it may have been coming from a day or so before. Well, that's another story.

The news with us is that this this a most beautiful summer so far...we are GREEN! I mean the hills and everything (not us actually, that wouldn't be beautiful). We've had lots of water where all around us I guess everything is in a drought. The hills here are covered with wild flowers. I love a beautiful green summer. Our alfalfa froze twice so that isn't good news. The bumper crop that started out got slowed up a bit.

Chris just got back from Curacao (wrong spelling, probably), and will go to Albequrque in a week and a half. Our climb up King's Peak has been post poned to August because of his change in scheduling. That gives me more time to get in shape for all the walking.

Dana is being flown all over the U.S. for various reasons with his job. I hope he likes to travel.

Wendee went into premature labor a week ago, and spent the week in the hospital. She is home now and has to take life easy, hoping the baby will wait a little longer to be born. Her mother is there to take care of her. The baby is due July 12. She wanted it to come early, but not this early. Weston, understandably, has had a rough week of training.

Joseph is graduated...and "got that twist." He and Jason and Kyle do a lot of running around between work hours. I guess that is normal, but I want my boy home more, just being here. They are floating the Green River this afternoon and will camp somewhere along the river, and come home tomorrow. It does sound fun.

Well, I guess that is the highlights from here. It was so nice to see all the family at Memorial Day.

Love, Marie

Weston and Wendee and family will be moving to Alaska, I don't know the name of the Air Force Base, in September. They will be there for three years. They are definitely excited about going there. So are we, (Marie and Steve) as it means we might get a trip to Alaska.

Say, family, surely there is more news. Let's hear from you guys.

We are in the middle of calving here at the ranch. The babies are so cute, and like all babies, like to play. We enjoy seeing them run and jump around, and poke their noses into every crack and cranny---curious. It's fun to watch the mother love that radiates from the momma cows to their little ones, too. Mother love is strong, even with animals, or sometimes especially with animals.

I have been subbing this week for the aid in Mc_______. There are 7 children in the school, two teachers, one aid, a custodian and a cook. Do you think they are a little overstaffed??! It is a great little school. The children are so nice, and they get such one on one attention.

We went to the Rendezvous last evening, saw Mark and Tyson there. It hasn't changed, nothing new there, but it was kinda fun. I've been bottling peaches, Steve has been hauling fire wood. He and Milton usually go up together. Yesterday was Joseph's last day of work, he has worked at a raft rental place in Dutch John all summer. Robin is waiting for an interview from the Stake President in preparation for her 2nd mission.

We had a lovely time in Jackson with family...stayed in some cute little cabins, went to hear the Bar-J Wranglers, rode the tram up Rendezvous Peak, and looked through the shops. It's fun to do things with your kids and grandkids, I'm sure you know what I mean.

Love, Marie

We had a fantastic trip with the Church History Tour we went on. We flew from S.L. into Rochester NY, then went to Palmyra and saw the E.B. Grandin building where the Book of Mormon was published. Then on to Canandaigua where we stayed overnight on Canandaigua Lake...one of the finger lakes.. It was such a beautiful area, it was misty, overcast, and rainy, but still beautiful.

We went to the sacred grove, the home of Joseph Smith Sr., the Peter Whitmer Farm in Fayette, the Hill Comorah. Actually seeing the places made Church History come alive, and was so neat. I love New York, that part of it, at least. It is very laid back, old towns and houses, not any construction that I could see, narrow roads, except for the highway, and lots and lots of trees. The leaves were turning, it was so beautiful.

We went to Niagra Falls...very interesting...and to Fairport Harbor on Lake Erie where the Saints sailed to when they came to Kirkland. We went through a lighthouse and a museum there, then on to Kirkland to see the Issac Morley farm, the Kirkland Temple and old cemetary across the street, the Newel K. Whitney Store, and the John Johnson farm...all places where significant things happened in the restorataion and early church days. Oh, we saw the quarry where the stones were taken for the Kirkland temple.

Well, that was about it, but very interesting and inspirational as well. We slept in the best hotels, and ate like pigs, and had a bus driver to take us around...no worry about finding our way or traffic or anything like that. The tour guide was wonderful and knew all kinds of tidbits of church history. I wish all my family, siblings and children could go on that very same tour.

Dear John,
I sent a message to you two days ago, but I think I lost it and it never got to you. Sounds like your children are all doing wonderful things. Congratulations to Murray. His life will be very interesting traveling all over the world.

Tommy, glad you are home from Japan, also Matthew and Russell from Europe. Everyone probably had a great time...lots of stories and experiences to share.

Dana will soon be moving to S_________ to work in the new plant Icon is starting. He has a raise in pay and a new position and possibly lots of opportunity for advancement. So he is pretty happy about that. In October Chris will be moving to the O_____ area for a couple of years. In October Weston and Wendee will move to Arizona, then to Texas, to train to fly the F-16. It will be pretty intense for a family man, but guess he will manage.

We had a very nice visit with all the kids home(except Chris, wish he could have been here too). At the end of the week we had a three-day Wilkinson reunion. Lots of work. We needed a week to rest up afterward. Steve drove back to Oklahoma with Weston so he wouldn't have to drive alone---Wendee had gone to her parents for three weeks. Steve then flew home. Lots of coming and going. Linnea was here for a few days. We had such a good visit, though she spent much of the time with Mom.

We had a wonderful week the end of July with our children, everyone except Chris. It was so good to have Weston, Wendee and Kylee spend some time with us. Also we got acquainted with their two dogs, Sadie and Scooter---very nice, well-behaved dogs who had traveled all the way from Oklahoma with them in their small car. They must have been really crammed in. We had a Wilkinson reunion at the end of the week. It was a great time. Wendee's parents came up and took her and Kylee back for a visit as Weston will be in California for 10 days (he is there as I write this.) Steve drove back to Oklahoma with Weston so he wouldn't have to face the long drive alone. He then flew home.

We've bottled rapsberries from Bear lake---Steve went and picked them up---picked and froze peas---and done the fair. In other words, been busy. Priscilla and I are still 'foolish' enough to put ourselves through the stress of taking all that stuff to the fair, and since we both do it, it is rather fun and interesting, Also we earn some money....a minor detail... Linnea left this morning. She has been here for a few days. We always have such a nice time. She is a wonderful, wonderful sister.

Joseph is at work, getting a little tired of the grind, but still hanging in there. (I always [wondered] what that statement meant exactly, are we hanging like bats, or by the back of our clothes on a nail, or what?) Steve is up on the mountain getting wood, Robin is chasing a cow out of the yard, Sara's Kurtis is in the den still asleep, and I feel like taking a nap. And that is life here in M__________.

Murray, congratulations. Your life is very exciting, also exciting is the life of Matthew and Russell, and Tommy. You must all have such wonderful stories to tell and experiences to share. I'm happy for all of you.