Thankful Thursday

Today is Thursday and I have not posted my Thankful Thursday for a long time, so I thought I should do it today.

1. I am thankful for Gary. He is such a wonderful person. He is my best friend and my favorite person to be with.

2. I am thankful for our new bishopric. Our old bishopric was great and we will miss them, but I know the new men will do a great job.

3. I am thankful for the flexibility in my job. I love that I am able to call Shellie and change schedules if something comes up.

4. I am thankful for our beautiful home. I am so glad that we live here. I am thankful for the ability to turn this house into a home.

5. I am thankful for my love of reading. There are so many good books and I am so glad that I love to spend hours reading.

6. I am thankful for my big chair in the bay window where I get to sit and read while enjoying the view of the mountains.

7. I am thankful for the scriptures. They are the word of God and they help me to know what to do in my life.

8. I am thankful we are going to Hawaii with Lizzie and Luke soon. We all need a vacation.

9. I am thankful Sara is having fun with her friends camping, but will be thankful when she comes home.

I could go on and on, but I think you get the picture. I am so grateful for everything I have. I needed to say it today because it has not been such a good day for me. Now I can look and see what great things I have in my life.

Personal History

I completed my personal history for my Individual Worth Value Project. I was so excited when I was done and I am so glad I did it. It took me about 60 hours or more, so it was a long project. It was well worth it though. I was able to see how I have changed and remember many fun times I had as a child. It also helped me to remember how important keeping a journal is. Without my journals, I would have had a much harder time completing this.

I know this personal history will never be completed until I am no longer here, so I will be adding to the already 120 pages that I have periodically.

I recommend to everyone to start their personal history now. Hopefully, you will have as much fun as I did.

Happy Birthday!!!

Today is my birthday! I am 45 years old. Wow! I can't believe I am that old. I still feel like I am about 30, only it doesn't match because Doug is almost 25. It has been a great day so far. I got a new church bag for my birthday. My old one was too small.

This one is huge. I love it. It holds everything and has so many pockets on the outside and the inside. I can keep track of things without having to take everything out of it. I was going to make myself one, but then I saw this one at Target and had to have it. Thanks to Gary who bought it for me.

Lizzie woke me up this morning at around 12:10 am, so she could be the first one to wish me a Happy Birthday. She is so funny and I love her to death. She is one of my best friends. Sara is going to make me dinner (either her or Tasha, Jared and the kids may bring over something) and she bought me a ice cream cake for a surprise dessert. Can't wait to eat it later today.

Lizzie and Luke sent me a present. It got here last week. Lizzie wanted to make sure it got to me before my birthday.

This is so cute. I love Willow Tree statues. The flowers and the vines on the dresses intertwine. they go from one dress to the other. It's called "Close to Me" Apart or together, always close to me. It truly symbolizes my relationship to Lizzie.

Gary and I are not sick anymore, so that is one of the best birthday presents I could ask for. I was able to go to church and feel good. The best present I am getting is a trip to Hawaii. Gary and I are going to go with Lizzie and Luke to Hawaii from April 30 to May 5, 2011. I am so excited. That's why we are not doing much for my birthday. The big present comes later.

A thanks to all those who have sent their birthday wishes to me. Love you all!

Nice Valentines Present

So yesterday was Valentines Day. It is supposed to be a good day with love and laughter and presents. The Wilson 2011 Valentines Day did not turn out like we had hoped. Gary's present to me was to get me sick. I love my hubby and I know he loves me because he is willing to share everything with me. However, he could have kept his sickness to himself. So Valentine's Day was pretty sad. My birthday is coming up on Sunday, so hopefully we will both feel good enough to celebrate then.

We went to the doctors this morning. Gary was not getting any better, so we made the trip. Two hours later (they forgot the doctor wanted a chest x-ray, so we sat in the room for forever) we found out that Gary has Pneumonia and I have the onset of Bronchitis. Yeah for us! Then I dropped Gary off and went to the base to get our prescriptions filled. There was something going on and I had to drive about a mile out of my way to get to the hospital. So another 2 hours later and I was finally home.

Now I am just resting after having gotten Gary his lunch and made sure he took his antibiotic. It's going to be a long few days but this too will pass and we will be well again. It also allows me to work on my personal history because I can do that while I rest or watch TV.

I hope no one that has come in contact with us gets sick. Lizzie make sure you wipe your phone down so it doesn't come through to you. Can't have you getting sick when you have recruits coming.

Happy Valentine's Day

Just wishing everyone a Happy Valetine's Day especially to Gary!

To Lizzie and Luke: I hope you have a wonderful fondue dinner at home tonight. Can't wait for Hawaii! I am glad you have each other.

Sweethearts Dinner

On Saturday, we had our annual Sweethearts Dinner and Dessert Auction in the Adamswood Ward to raise funds for girls camp. It turned out to be a great success. We netted about $2300 with about $450 in expenses, so we should have about $1800 or so for girls camp. Everything went so well and I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for helping everything go smoothly and for all of the Young Women leaders and our wonderful young women who helped.

The gym was decorated with hearts all around. We had 19 table set up with 8 place settings at each table. The centerpieces were plastic water bottles covered with beautiful valentine paper. We put beans in them topped with red hots and then put some suckers in each one. Linzy Fletcher had cut out heart chains from napkins to put around the bottles and then we had conversational hearts and mints scattered around. Linzy had put up lights that went from the basketball hoops to the sides of the gym. With the lights low, it was beautiful.

We made penne pasta topped with either chicken alfredo or meatball marinara. Last year we had not had some things heated enough, but this year it went well. The plates that were bought were white and square. They were very elegant. Everything was hot and delicious. Kelsey Zollinger again made homemade breadsticks. They were delicious. I don't ever want her to move because no one makes them like she does.

Sheri Knapp made a delicious salad with red onions, strawberries and candied pecans on it with a poppy seed dressing. Yum! We got many compliments on everything and most people said they had fun.

The girls were on top of taking care of their tables. They worked really hard and I was proud of them.

When dinner was almost complete, we started the dessert auction. Tammie Rees had placed all the goodies the girls and young women leaders had brought out so everyone could look at them before hand. Then Brother Leavitt began the auction. He is a great auctioneer. He got people to bid high, so we made about $1100 just on desserts. He made it so fun. He is hilarious. Gary and Steve Lemburg helped take the money.

What a great time for all. I feel so blessed to have the leaders I have working with me. Once someone is given a task, they complete it without me having to bug them all the time. What a blessing from the Lord!!

Sara was Gary's date and she had a good time too.

We are making sure to keep detailed notes for next year so that we do not have to reinvent the wheel again. It will make next year all the more easy. What a great start to Valentine's Day.

Reflections

Today I attended the funeral of one of my favorite aunts, Bonnie Jean Liedtke Wagstaff. I had not been able to get over to see her at the care facility and she probably would not have recognized me anyway, but I still feel like I missed an opportunity. Seeing my cousins and other uncles and aunts today and hearing about my aunts passing a few days ago has put me in a reflective mood.

Aunt Bonnie

I started my personal history the other day which has also made me reflective.

I have been remember all the things I did as a child with my relatives and friends. I remember going to my Aunt Bonnie's for Liedtke family Christmas parties. They have a home on Dimple Dell Road in Sandy. This home had a really steep driveway and when I was little I was always worried about sliding off the cliff in the snow. I also remember their stone stairs that led from the front door to the upstairs living area and the downstairs living area. They had another set of stairs at the other end of the hall, so us kids would run around and around, up and down both sets of stairs until the adults told us not to.

Remembering these family times also made me remember times when all the kids in our neighborhood would get together and play games. We would be together for most of the day playing football in the street, listening to Battle of the Bands on 1320 AM (Casey Kasem was the DJ. An oldie but a goodie), playing Ghosts in the Graveyard and Monster. What fun times we had.

Then I read Lizzie's blog and started remembering all the times I have had with her, Sara and Doug, and the new ones with Gary and Luke. I remember all the times we went to soccer tournaments for our vacations. I remember going to Disneyland when the kids were little and taking their first airplane flight, and then to Disneyworld. I remember the time I came home from Young Women and found spots of blood all over the wall by the stairs in our apartment. Doug had gotten a hold of my rotary cutter and cut his finger. It hurt so he waved it back and forth and got blood everywhere. I remember the time Lizzie stayed awake with me all night when we were driving us and some other girls to a tournament in California. I was getting tired and all the other girls were asleep, but Lizzie stayed up to keep me awake. I remember time Sara was visiting a friend and the friends parents took her to a concert. She forgot to call us. When we could not get a hold of the girls parents at around 2:30 am (she was only about 12) we had to call the police. When she finally arrived home she looked so sorry that I could not get mad at her. I also remember she sang her 1st solo in choir in junior high. The Spirit was so strong it made me cry. She still does make me cry whenever I hear her singing.

I remember when I met Gary. He was the professor of my history class when I went back to school to get my Associates Degree in graphic design. He told us to watch this piece of a movie. Then he showed the movie, Princess Bride. The part where the guy is testing Wesley with the poison. Then he paused it, put his face near the tv screen and asked if we saw any resemblances. He did look like Wallace Shawn and we all laughed. We became friends and it went on from there.

I remember when Lizzie texted me and told me that she thought she had found the man she was going to marry. Needless to say a few weeks later, she and Luke were up here and we were looking for wedding dresses while Luke and Gary talked in the car.

I am so grateful for all these loving memories and for the many memories to come. What a great life I have had and have now. I am so blessed.