Robert writes home # 75 15 August 1996



15 August 1996
Dear Mother,
                For the last two Sundays I haven’t been able to get to my computer so I’m behind on my letter writing. But it was for a good reason. We have had a wonderful family reunion. My kids with their families started coming with Heidi Jo’s return from her mission on the 31st of July. Then Susie and Paul and kids came the next day, then Melinda and Dan and kids. Then Laurie and her baby returned with Charlie, on the airplane, on the 2nd (Charlie had been to EFY in Lawrence, KA, where Laurie lives). Her husband and the rest of her seven kids came a few days later in the van. Meantime, Mary and Jeff and kids came, then Pete came home on the 8th; then Carrie came home from her mission the next day to complete the family. It was wonderful. We had 36 people here. They were sleeping in all the beds and all over the floors and on the sofas and out in tents. Laurie and Paul and acouple of kids slept at one of her friends house. It was amazing that it all went so well and everyone had a wonderful time. My watermelons were still good. We went through about 40 of them, plus a couple of boxes of cantaloupes from Laurie’s friend. We also ate two or three five gallon buckets of grapes from my vines. Each family took turns cooking. Mary had it all organized so Janet and I didn’t have to do anything about cooking or cleaning. She had different activities planned for each night. We had a talent show one night, volleyball another, games another, a barn dance on Saturday night, family night on Mondays.
                We hired a professional photographer to come out and take a couple of pictures on Saturday morning; one of the whole group and one of the ten kids and Janet and I.
                The weather was in the nineties for the first week. It was great. Then it started to go up. By Saturday it was really hot by 10 AM when we were standing out there trying to get the right pose for the photographer. The days kept getting hotter and it peaked August 14 at 112 degrees. It was 110 today and is supposed to cool down to 100 by Sunday. It gave some nice variety to the reunion. It was nice most of the time but by the time they were leaving they had something to talk about. They started leaving Aug 13. Laurie was the last to leave. She left this morning. Now the house is empty again except for Charlie and Carrie (Sam went to cancer camp on the 12th-19th). Carrie is going back to BYU next Monday.
                It was a wonderful event. We planned it around the missionaries return and were able to get all the kids and grand kids together for a week. They put a lot of effort into getting here, coming many miles (from Iowa, Kansas, North Carolina, Toronto, Idaho, Utah) We feel so blessed. Charlie came home from EFY and never got back into his room for 10 days. He just had to put his stuff in a corner and sleep on the floor. Janet and, or, I made five trips to airports to pick up SF San Jose and Fresno. That’s no small feat with that traffic in the bay area. It’s a six or seven hour round trip to SF airport, but it was worth it.
                Sunday was a dual homecoming for both Heidi Jo and Carrie. The total family was there taking up most of the front three rows. In addition to the missionaries speaking, Mary had delayed having her baby blessed so she could do it at home in LB while the family were all together.
                Previous to that I had scheduled to have them report their missions at high council meeting on Thursday, the 8th of August, the day Carrie got home. She didn’t even go home first but went right from the airport to the Stake center to be released by the stake pres, then later, report her mission. Since Pete had never reported his mission. He went right back to BYU before we had a meeting. I had him report also. So there were three Miller kids reporting their missions the same night to the high council. I think that must be a precedent.
                This kind of caps an exciting summer for me. It’s really been fun. Five CES sessions to speak at and THE REUNION. Now we get ready for school to start up again.
                Charlie is still working at his job for the bee keeper. That’s been a great job.
                Megan is still working for Clark Pest control out of Turlock. It’s been fun having her close this summer. She’ll be going back to ricks in Sept.
                Heidi Jo hitched a ride back to Provo with Susie and Paul. It looks like Carrie, Pete and Heidi Jo will all be in Provo for the next while.
                I hope you are doing well. We pray for you everyday.
Love,
Robert, Janet, Carrie, Charlie and Sam
PS Heidi had a story published in the August ERA.



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