Thank you so much!‏

Dear Myrna,
You made my Cassie so very happy! Thanks for sending her story back to her!
She just squealed with delight when she saw the emails!
You are a sweetie!
*big hugs*
Love, Kim

Pitts Picnic

Hi, Myrna!
How are you??
I was wondering if you are coming down to go to the family BBQ/Picnic on Sat? It is scheduled for 5 p.m. at the Locust St. Park in Helper. I can give you directions if you need me to. It is down the street from R&A Market in Helper. It's NOT the main park in Helper by the swimming pool. It is much quieter. : )
It would be so nice to chat and catch up with the family. There is a nice place for the kids to play!

Aunt Pat, Elaine and Mike are coming tomorrow from Las Vegas. And my Dad told me earlier this evening, that Char and Wally are coming as well. It will be a fun time! We sure hope that you can make it. Please tell your kids. I don't have their addresses. But tell them that we all say "hello", and send our love!

Love, Cousin Kim

Dad called me yesterday, Tuesday, and told me about it. I have a problem. It is the Ute Stampede here and I am a newspaper reporter. I am supposed to go and take photos of the rodeo on Saturday, get the stats and do an interview. I don't know what to do about it. 
Myrna

Ute Stampede and the Mormon Handcart Pageant

The 71st ANNUAL UTE STAMPEDE for 2005, will be held  beginning Thursday, July 14, and ending Saturday, July 16. In addition to the rodeo, which you know and love, there will be an arts and crafts show at the county building Friday and Saturday. There will also be the usual City of Fun Carnival at the fairgrounds.

The Mormon Handcart Pageant: A theatrical reenactment, dedicated to the Martin and Willie Handcart Companies of 1856 and their Rescuers, both past and present. 2005 DATES: July 27-30.  Pre-pageant activities start at 6:30. Actual Pageant starts at "dusk" (9:15PM) Held at the Juab County Fairgrounds Outdoor Arena.

Grandma T. Brief Personal History

I was born in Price and as soon as I could grasp a pencil I began to try to write words. My grandmother, an elementary school teacher, encouraged me in all my writing efforts--even writing the brand name Maytag, which I copied from our washer, over and over again.

I lived with my grandmother because my mother, her daughter, was killed in an automobile accident on my 11-month birthday. My father enlisted in the war effort and left me in my grandmother's care.

I began composing stories and illustrating them when I was age five. I found it lucrative to sell the stories and illustrations to my many relatives. I had one aunt (Pat), in particular, who was always good for a quarter per item.

When I was in the fifth grade, my elementary school decided to begin a student-run newspaper. I was the first editor and held the job for two years. When I moved on to junior high, I became the female editor of the junior high newspaper (there was also a male editor). During this time, I also began writing some stories for the Sun Advocate, a bi-weekly newspaper.

I won a poetry contest (honor) and an essay contest (money) while I was in the seventh grade. I continued as one of two editors of the newspaper all during my junior high school days and continued entering writing contests and, from time to time, wining a few. I was also pleased that our newspaper placed in the top 10 in the various contests we entered.

When I reached high school I worked on both the high school newspaper and the high school yearbook staffs. Our newspaper and our yearbooks continued to win prizes and so did I. I served as one of the editors of the newspaper and was one of several students selected to be in an English class taught by a college professor, what we would now call concurrent enrollment.

I attended the College of Eastern Utah on an art scholarship but continued to work with the yearbook and newspaper. My freshman year, I did the artwork and copy for the yearbook as coeditor. I was proud that it was named one of the top five yearbooks for colleges of the size.

The newspaper, where I was an editor, was also honored for its quality.

My sophomore year, I was yearbook editor and continued to work on the newspaper. Both were again honored. My copy for the yearbook won a prize. This, and my work with the Sun Advocate, led me to try my hand at other writing. I married Leonard Trauntvein and we moved to Provo.

When Leonard graduated from BYU, we came to Nephi. We have been here for approximately 40 years.

I took a break from newspapers and had eight children. Then I began working as a correspondent for The Daily Herald and for the Times-News. Later, after Marilyn Keyte retired from the Desert News, I began writing for them. I worked full-time for The Daily Herald from the summer of 1989 through the summer of 1990 as Education Editor but decided I preferred the life of a correspondent and quit in 1990.

Writing has been a good experience. I have learned much about the world, people, and am still interested in almost everything. My family often tells me it's a good thing I'm a reporter and have a right to ask questions at interviews or else I would just be considered plain nosy.

I remember the floods of 1982-83 when I was wading through mud with a cast on a broken ankle, a few private arguments with politicians, climbing a mountain with a pencil in my mouth, a notebook under one arm and a camera around my neck. I've flown in a gas balloon, a helicopter, and an airplane because of my job. I have talked to important people in government and in my neighborhood. I have learned not to be so shy but to remember to listen.

It is an interesting life. “Every person is a story,” one BYU journalism professor told me. He was right. What you may think is boring about your life; I will probably think is exciting. Incidentally, the one thing I don't like writing about is myself.

I also enjoyed art and, in particular, watercolors. However, oddly enough, it was the oil paintings that I sold. Teachers purchased most of them. I did have a one-man show at the bank while I was still in high school. I haven’t kept up the painting, however, I found it was discouraging to get everything out and then have so many little helpers. It was better just to do projects with the kids to start with—much less frustrating and just as fun.

The nigth I was born, Christmas Eve, my father had just been diagnosed with pneumonia. He was sent to his mother’s home to spend time away from Mom, who of course, was expecting me. She went into labor that evening and Uncle Morgan, Dad’s bother, drove Mother Elaine to the hospital in a dump truck. When the nurse came out to give the good news to the “father” Uncle Morgan informed them that he was not the man.

My Dad and Mom looked forward to actually spending a Christmas together after that fateful one they spent apart. It wasn’t to be. Mother Elaine was in an accident and died on my 11-month birthday, Nov. 24. She was buried on her mother’s birthday, Nov. 26.

My father went to war serving as a Sea Bee, a part of the US Navy, in World War II. I used to pray that he would be safe. I had a vision of him on one side of a palm tree and a Japanese soldier on the other side. He tells me, that at times, it was something like that.

Aunt Renee and Uncle Max were a great part of my life. For a short time, during the war, we lived with them. In spite of rations, Aunt Renee always managed to have some canned shrimp for me. On my birthday, we had red Jell-O, which I thought was like Santa’s tummy. Uncle Max always saved me a piece of sandwich from his lunch so I could have a treat when he came home. However, we soon found a house nearby and moved there. Nevertheless, all through my life, my cousins and Aunt Renee and Uncle Max remained important to me.

My Dad remarried a wonderful woman, named Edna. They had three daughters together. Edna was not the typical stepmother and always treated me with love and respect. I continued, at my request, to live with my grandmother.

The best thing that ever happened to me, of course, was marrying Leonard and having a family. They are the light of my life. There is nothing else as wonderful nor as important. I honestly liked (and still do) being a mother and I am glad that it is my life’s work. Being a grandmother is a treat, sort of like frosting on the cake or a big piece of fudge for dessert. It is also a great thing to have a spouse, as you all know. Our love and friendship continue to grow and I am thankful that I married a man who is a strong member of the church since that is so important to me.

My creed is best explained with the following quote: "To you I say with all of the energy of which I am capable, do not become a weak link in the chain of your generations. You come to the world with a marvelous inheritance. You come of great men and women... Never let them down. Never do anything which would weaken the chain of which you are a fundamental part." --President Gordon B.

Hinckley

Grandpa is having a party for his sister!

Grandpa Pitts has rented a park unit in Price for Saturday, July 16. He would like as many as can to come. The party will start at 5 p.m. The occasion is the visit of his sister, Aunt Pat Lubbe, who now lives in Las Vegas, rather than California. It is potluck. 

Grammy is worried about attending because it is the last night of the Ute Stampede and she is assigned, as usual, to take photos. The Stampede starts at 8 p.m.

Hi, Myrna!

How are you??

I was wondering if you are coming down to go to the family BBQ/Picnic on Sat? It is scheduled for 5 p.m. at the Locust St. Park

in Helper. I can give you directions if you need me to. It is down the street from R&A Market in Helper. It's NOT the main park in Helper by the swimming pool. It is much quieter. : ) It would be so nice to chat and catch up with the family. There is a nice place for the kids to play! Aunt Pat, Elaine and Mike are coming tomorrow from Las Vegas. And my Dad (Bob) told me earlier this evening that Char and Wally are coming as well. It will be a fun time. We sure hope that you can make it. Please tell your kids. I don't have their addresses. But tell them that we all say "hello", and send our love!

Love, Kim

The Buzz’n Joneses

It sure has been a speedy month. I’m not sure, but I believe that Einstein was right about time being relative. It seems that when I was young, time went so slowly, but the older I get the quicker time passes. At this rate, I feel like within a year’s time (relative to me) I will be a grandma and have gray hair. Gone are the days when I used to count down the years before I could get a driver’s license. The odd thing is that Jim and I graduated from high school fourteen years ago. Oh well.

Mary is still growing like a weed. She had her first Daddy-daughter night on the 21st of June. I got to spend the night on the mountain with the fourth year girls at girls’ camp. He and Mary stayed behind. They had a great time together. It was a good thing that he stayed behind as Mary came down with an ear infection that night. They lost a couple of hours of sleep in the middle of the night, other than that they both faired very well. As a matter of fact, when I got home at ten o’clock the next morning, Jim had fixed the garbage disposal, mopped the kitchen floor, and vacuumed the front room. What a wonder! We now have a full-blown walker on our hands. She enjoys being able to do things on her own steam. We enjoy it too. She is a lot of fun. Mary is now the proud owner of four teeth. She got her bottom two teeth in May, and now she has sprouted her two upper eyeteeth. It appears that she is out to show us that things can be done in more than one way.

As a family we spent the fourth of July weekend in Idaho for the first ever Jones Family (Jim’s siblings and parents) reunion. It was a lot of fun, but we were both glad to return to our very own .2 acres here in Nephi. We also like doing things on our own steam. (So you didn’t know where Mary got that from?)

We have included some pictures of fun things that have happened in our family. The first is of Mary in the swing that Shawn and Kim gave us. She loves it. Another is of the hailstorm we had two weeks ago. It hailed marble-sized hail for five to ten minutes. It pretty well killed our spinach, and put holes in the leaves of everything else. The last picture is of Mary and I going down the slide in Ft. Green. When Jim moves bees, we meet him at the park in Ft. Green and have a picnic dinner. Mary loves it! You guessed it, we love it too!

We hope that you all have a wonderful month.

We love you all.

The Magnificent Seven (Almost)

AnnMarie and the rest of the Howards have been busy doing the usual summer things—hiking, swimming and playing at the park and at home. The good news is that there are so few weeks left of summer (not that that makes the kids happy) and AnnMarie will soon have the baby. The countdown for the beginning of school and for delivery of the baby is about the same. The doctors have decided that AnnMarie will have a caesarian on Aug.16. That is just a few days before school starts. The doctor’s upped the date because the baby was measuring so large. AnnMarie had just adjusted to the old date, which was just after school started so has had to rethink the news.

Brandon has been busy, like all of the men in the family, working. He will still be bishop for

a while so stop waiting for him to be released. The stake president talked to him and told him to start praying that someone would move into the ward who would be worthy of being bishop. The stake president had not found anyone who met Heavenly Father’s requirements. That means that house-hunting and moving plans are now on hold, which may be why nothing has been found to date.

Matthew has such a cute accent that an animated cartoon writer AnnMarie and Brandon know wanted him to say a few words for a cartoon project. It didn’t go well. Matthew spent the time crying and would not say anything. So he was not used and ended up getting paid a with a sucker and not the money he would have made.

The Fabulous Four

Erin and Donovin spent two weeks with Grammy and Gramps. They were in Nephi for the camping trip with Todd and family. They enjoyed playing with the cousins and being spoiled by Grammy and Gramps. They spent one night at Jim and Julie’s house and another at AnnMarie and Brandon’s. They like the sleepovers and think they are lots of fun.

Erin is getting to be quite a young lady. She even ate Grammy’s cooking and didn’t complain. She is very smart and is looking forward to starting Kindergarten this Fall. She enjoys singing, can write her name and likes to write letters.

Donovin is also very intelligent. He can recognize many of the letters and especially likes the letters “O” and “S.” He also counts and can recognize many of the written numbers. He thinks Erin is wonderful and likes to do what she is doing. She doesn’t always like that but most of the time the two get along very well.

Their trip home was quite exciting! It wasn’t certain that the exchange was going to be able to be made in Beaver. The road had been closed near St. George because of the wildfire that was burning out of control there. However, the fire died back enough to allow traffic through although David and Bree were held up for awhile because only one lane of traffic was being allowed at a time. They arrived in Beaver where they met Grammy and Gramps and Erin and Donovin started back to St. George. On the return trip, they were not allowed to use the freeway and had to make a detour through Pine Valley.

David and Bree took the kids to the park for a fun day on July 4. They went to the fireworks

in St. George this year and all had a great time together.

Grandma Barbara says she was glad to have her grandkids back in St. George. Myrna and

Leonard miss them. It’s nice to be loved!

Oh! Hi! Oh!

Todd and Amy shared their good news while they were visiting in Utah. They are going to be parents again. The wonderful new addition to the family is due in December. As time goes, that is not too far away. Amy had been wondering why she was so tired and had attributed it to the move and all the work that went into leaving one place and settling in another. However, when she didn’t get feeling better she consulted a doctor and learned, for certain, the good news.

Todd spent his time in June traveling back and forth between Utah and Ohio. He, Amy and the kids camped out with the Trauntvein side of the family in Ponderosa Campground, not too far from Nephi. Most of the family took time to come for dinner on Father’s Day and then stay overnight. 

The next Sunday, Michael was ordained a Deacon at the Gordon’s home in Lake Shore. The ordination took place just after church. The TNT family now has two who hold the priesthood.

Todd then returned to Ohio and work. Amy and children visited family in Nephi, Lake Shore and other spots nearby. It was the Lake Shore community celebration while they were visiting and so they were able to enjoy that event. The kids even, or course, got to be in the parade. Amy’s brother and family from Texas came to visit and the cousins were able to spend lots of time getting to know each other better and traveling around to places they wanted to visit. Todd returned to Utah. The family spent July 4 attending the parade in Provo and then traveling to Nephi for a barbeque and fireworks. Todd had purchased a large package to share before and after the community fireworks were over.

On Tuesday, the TNT family and the Gordon grandparents set out for a visit to Yellowstone. The Gordons then returned home and the TNT family continued on to Ohio. They will return in September for Tyler’s baptism, which will be held in Nephi on September 24, just days after Tyler’s birthday. Grandpa T will baptize him and Grandpa Gordon will confirm him.

Boltons and Waites En Mass

Melanie and Kirsten and families spent the last two weeks together touring Massachusetts, Main, New York and anywhere else they could think of that was nearby. They even visited Uncle Don and Aunt Thelma in their trailer home away from home. They were treated to rice crispy treats and punch. Uncle Don and Aunt Thelma are seeing more of the extended LHT family than they do when they are in Utah. 

Braden is the one exception to the touring company. He is in Utah visiting his Grandparents (Who are glad to have him and his cheerful personality in their house!), taking in EFY (Especially for Youth) at BYU. He helped Grandpa one afternoon as he worked to get the house ready for paint, visited with cousins and Aunts and Uncles. His hope is that the fishing trip he and Gramps are planning doesn’t get rained out. He will also go to the Ute Stampede on Saturday as Grammy’s helper.

Howard is the other exception to the Waite and Bolton tour. He is in Singapore.

Siovhan is working for her father’s company and is raking in the big bucks (that’s dollars and not deer or guys). It will, all too soon, be time for school to start and then it is back to Utah.

So, our ex-Stake President gave a talk today in Sacrament Meeting. It was of course on the subject of Father's Day. During his talk he made the mention of how sometimes in parenting that one spouse teaches in a different way than the other. He told us of a young woman who went to her mother and asked her mother, "What qualities should I look for in a spouse." To which the mother then replied, "Go ask you father, he did a better job at it than I did."

Kirsten and Jared are planning to visit Utah in August. Kirsten wants to be in Utah when AnnMarie has her baby. Lucky for her, Jared has a conference in Provo at that time.

The Bolton family is finally in the age of high speed Internet instead of dial-up. We have two new addresses: Bolton family information can be sent to: hbolton20@comcast.net; cellmel@comcast.net Hope to hear from you soon. We will have the AOL account open for a few more weeks, but after that, it will only be Comcast.

The only day that the airline could offer us for Braden’s flight was the 4th. He will be at EFY from the 11th to the 16th. On the 16th he will need someone to pick him up at BYU, then he will be with you until the 28th. He hates being in Massachusetts, and I figure that he will be okay being back here after he has been away for a little while--absence makes the heart grow fonder. Braden graduated from the eighth grade. It was an interesting program. It was in the eighties, and we had the ceremony in the gymnasium at the Middle School. For some reason, they turned the fans off when the ceremony started.

Braden’s flight information.

Date: 28JUL - THURSDAY

Flight : AMERICAN AIRLINES 1980

Departure: SALT LAKE CITY 11:55 AM

Arrival: DALLAS FT WORTH 3:29 PM

Flight: AMERICAN AIRLINES 690

Departure: DALLAS FT WORTH 5:02 PM

Arrival: BOSTON 9:35 PM

In response to a lesson that I was trying to teach the children in the car yesterday, I learned that wisdom comes in many different guises. I had told the children that Jesus had told us that we should have Him etched in the fleshy tables of our heart, because He had us etched in his flesh. Mikaela responded: "I don't just have Him on the table, but He is on the shelf, on my bed and all over in my room in my heart." I couldn't top that.