er. I scanned this family photo, taken December 1982, so you could have a visual of the family.Just before we started collecting letters for Garner Gab, we tried a round robin letter system. This was the letter I wrote on July 24, 1983:
Dear Y'all, Here in hot Texas we have summer for sure. It was wonderful to read all your letters and feel your spirits. It really is great that all of the sons in the family have gone on missions. Our father is very proud, I am sure. My children loved the picture of you, Uncle Curt. They didn't even recognize Uncle Carl in the clippings, it has been so long since they saw you. It is great to keep these letters going, for we could grow so far apart without them.
We have been busy with many things since my last letter in March. Our trip to New York city was amazing, fun and wet. We left here on Thursday afternoon, arriving in the big city via a limo from the JFK airport to our hotel across the street from Madison Square Garden. On Friday we took an all day bus tour of the city which included the ferry boat ride to the Statue of Liberty, and ending with the view of New York City from the top of the Empire State Building. It was amazing to me to have never been in that city but all the places looked and sounded so familiar. The people walking on the streets in masses as you have seen on the movies or the advertisements is just the way it really is. Friday evening after an Italian dinner, we walked a short distance to the Shubert Theater and saw the Broadway show "A Chorus Line." I kept pinching myself during the show to make me realize there I was, a small town country girl in the Big Apple seeing a real Broadway show. It was a fairly clean show by Broadway standards, but not by Mormon morals and language. Then Saturday morning in order to feel as if we were really in New York City, we rode the bus to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and had to wait in the rain for twenty minutes for a bus going back to our hotel. We finally hailed a taxi and were only at the hotel a few minutes before we loaded the shuttle bus out to the airport. Our flight was delayed due to weather for two hours, putting us in Dallas Saturday evening at 10:30 p.m. It really felt like home to Steve and I as the plane flew in over the Metroplex. It was good to be back home.
The children dove into swimming lessons the first two weeks of June, I was busy with Primary work as president, home, and practicing for a quartet that I am singing with, preparing for our first performance at the stake 24th of July celebration that was held yesterday, Saturday, July 23. I can't begin to tell you how we wooed them when we sang "Chattanooga Choo Choo" with actions, dance steps and wearing our dresses that we had fixed up. It was great to sing with a group, reminding me of the many years that Linda and I, Janeen Jensen, and Jenny Walker sang together. We have been asked to sing a couple of time in August and we are going big time after that, right? I even got out the dusty violin and impressed them in Sacrament meeting today, playing "Come, Come, Ye Saints" with the closing special musical number. I can't believe all the people who ask me what else can I do, or isn't there something I can't do. I love that question, for I have a lot of experience that so many women have never had, growing up on a farm with all those brothers and such great parents. I realize now the experiences I had as a youth have enriched my life. We do have a great heritage.
If I told you how much Lana has grown, it wouldn't explain what a little doll she is. She talks a blue streak around home, but if a stranger comes here, or we are elsewhere, she is the shy quiet mommy's girl. I got out the word strips that I used to teach Erlynne to read when she was two, intending to work with Clark. But I have two avid students, Lana is so hungry to learn all those big words. She can read "mommy, daddy, nose, and lips" after two days of showing her the words and telling her what they say. Our family scripture reading in the Book of Mormon in the evening before bed, though not every night due to schedules, is her favorite time. She holds her little red New Testament that has been set aside by the older children when they got their triple combinations at Christmas. She has her "scriptures" and we are reading, and she says "and it tame (came) to pass"! Erlynne had her ten year old birthday the first part of the month, spending the day at Six Flags amusement park with Stephen.
Though we love it here, the ward and stake are growing, the business is progressing, there are certain draw backs. Missing the homecoming of Len and the leaving of Curt to and from the mission fields, the wedding of Chris and Marilyn (and speaking of which, welcome to the family Marilyn), and the birth and blessing of the new babies in the family. We really appreciate hearing about all the things you are doing through the letters. At times I am sure you wonder if the things you write will be news to anyone, but it is all news to us. We eat it up. We love it. This and a few phone calls are our communication with most of you.
We send our love to all of you. Until the next letter, which I think I could probably write again in the middle of October. Let's see if we can keep it moving. Love from Carma, Steve, Erlynne, Dallin, Clark, and Lana
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