Happy Birthday Elder Ririe

                                                               Elder Ririe serving in the Post Office

        We served in the Post Office on a Sunday afternoon...He is holding a leather case that the riders would put the mail in and hopefully it wouldn't get wet or lost!  Imagine how rare it was to actually get a letter delivered.  Important letters were duplicated and sent three different times to insure that they would actually get to the recipient!  We have come a long way...sort of!  The postal system started in 1830 and mail usually came by steamboat or overland.  Letters were not in envelopes...they were folded and the postmaster would seal it with wax...I guess that was where stamps came from..the stamp they put on the wax..  The really interesting thing about sending letters was that  they were charged by the sheet and the distance the letter went...so to save money, people would write their letter and then turn it and write over their writing again...tricky right?...People were so clever and creative.  We are learning so much and admire how hard life was back then and how hard people worked!
      Well today is Grandpa's 70th birthday!  That's a big one.  He is serving in the Brickyard making bricks, and I'm at the John Taylor home...but I have a later schedule.  The good thing is that we don't have to perform tonight so I'm fixing him meatloaf...(I know Woo Hoo!)  We had a party on Sunday evening after the fireside and had about 20 people over for dessert.  Life is good here...simple, we are learning it takes very little to live happily.  We are so grateful everyday for all of our family and friends...We do truly miss you and pray for you all!