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I added a little link to the side of my blog. When I went to save the picture of our Savior to my computer the title automatically came up as "home". How appropriate.

A Day In The Life

7:17 AM

7:18 AM
7:24 AM
8:33 AM 9:04 AM
9:40 AM

11:19 AM 1:22 PM
1:24 PM- Will says, "This is my BEST Grandma."2:09 PM

4:33 PM- Good news from a friend.

5:20 PM

6:15 PM

6:59 PM

7:25 PM

7:31 PM

7:40 PM

7: 46 PM

8:10 PM 8:11 PM

8:25 PM

8:39 PM

8:40 PM

9:44 PM

10:13 PM
11:07 PM

11:46 PM

So In Love

A long long long time ago, before I had kids (which really was only about 4 years ago, but it might as well be a lifetime), my cousin Kiersten Hansen told me about taking her daughter Eliza to get her ears pierced. She said they were planning on waiting until she was 12 to get them done, but when they were in the mall, and she was only about 8, Eliza asked if they could do it. Keirsten said she looked at her daughter and was so in love with her in that moment, that she would have given her the entire world if she'd asked for it; needless to say they left the mall with a glimmer in each of Eliza's ears. Then Keirsten told me how you always love all of your kids, but sometimes there are moments or days that you are so in love with your kids.

I am so in love with my kids.

Everything Will says lately is so funny. He is wetting the bed in the middle of the night, and even though I am practically in a drunken stupor trying to care of him, I gladly do it just so I can feel his perfect skin and kiss that little round cheek of his just one more time.

Then there's Annie. My sweet, sweet Annie. She is perfection. I miss her terribly when I am not with her. My heart falters when she starts babbling "mamamamama" and looks straight at me. Her eyes are so bright and full of wonder. I don't think I will ever get enough.

I want this feeling to last for every second of every day. I know it won't. There will always be frustrating times and times when you are just trying to make it through another day. But for now, I'm going to relish it.

The Flying Tomato

I know I wasn't the only one holding my breath last night watching the men's halfpipe finals at the Vancouver games. As Shaun White made his first straight air at the beginning of his run, I'm pretty sure my stomach went with it. I'm no expert, and it was easy for me to see why he is king of the sport. Shaun White made it look easy to flip around in all sorts of insane twists while soaring 20 feet in the air. It was insane. And awesome. And I was freaking out to watch him win gold!

My favorite part about the athlete? He seems so modest about everything. I also think his hair is part of his power; kind of like the biblical hero Sampson. 1 inch of hair equals soaring 1 ft in the air... Don't you think? Go Shaun. Go team USA. Go Olympics. Who doesn't like spending two weeks making a really nice bum-groove in their couch while glued to the television?

End of an Era

When I was driving out of town last Friday, we passed the Movie Gallery and my jaw dropped. I've kind of been waiting for this to happen, but at the same time I can't believe that it actually is happening! I spent many a late hour at this store doing inventory, cleaning up messes, and organizing shelves. I also spent waaaayyyy too much time in a red polo and khakis. Being the store manager taught me a lot of important lessons about hard work and not taking on everything all by myself. I was lucky enough to be flown to Hollywood, CA in April 2005 because of this company, where I won an award for having the store with the biggest cash flow in my region. I was personally congratulated by Joe Malugen and Harrison Parish, CEOs and founders of Movie Gallery. I took this store from floundering to flourishing in the nearly two years that I managed it. It's hard to see it the way it is today.

Me, manager extraordinaire :)
One of my SCSA's (senior customer service associate) Katie Keefe.

Another SCSA- Erin Matheson (She was also my go-to-girl; if I needed anything she was there for me!)
I was celebrating because at the last minute one of my employees said they could work Christmas day for me. Movie Gallery was open 7 days a week 365 days a year, including all major holidays.
Another SCSA, Rachel Hendricksen. She was killed in a car accident in 2007 and I really miss seeing her. She was always so positive and had such a solid testimony of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

The following pictures are from my trip to Hollywood in April 2005 with my District Manager, Jeff Madrid and his wife Mieke (pronounced meek-uh).

Jeff posing for a picture with one of the many characters that roam in front of the Kodak Theater begging pennies off of tourists. You had to pay them to get a picture of them.

Mieke, Jeff, and Roxanne (a manager from Hawaii). Roxy was my roommate on the trip.
Me partying with a Kramer look-a-like at the Sony Pictures back lot party. (We also had back lot parties at Warner Brothers and Universal Studios- Universal even closed down the lower part of the park early so we could party in the park all by ourselves).
The best part about the Universal Studios back lot party was being able to ride The Mummy Returns over and over and not having to wait in line.
Me and a couple of people I don't know posing with the Jack Nicholson doppelganger.

My Movie Gallery Star Award- I always knew I would win an award in Hollywood one day. How right I was!

Goodbye Movie Gallery! Thanks for the memories.

Heart to Heart

The whole time you are expecting a baby there never seems to be an end to the worry. It starts with fears of miscarriage, escalates to some sort of disorder, and then after the baby is born there is a wash of relief. You are able to hold that little person in your arms, count fingers and toes, and kiss perfection in its truest form.

Just because you aren't the person that's pregnant doesn't mean that you are exempt from worry. I happen to have a lot of pregnant friends/neighbors/family members. Which means I worry. A lot.

After my nephew little Kenny was born I breathed the big sigh of relief. Phew! Another healthy little family member is here, healthy and accounted for.

Then he had a check up last week.

Kenny was having what was called PCVs. In simple folk terms, his heart was trying to beat when it was supposed to be taking a rest. Leslee and Clay's pediatrician had Kenny get an EKG and the results were sent to Primary Children's where they were to have a consultation with a specialist the following Tuesday.

I heard about Kenny's little heart problem from my sister, Cami. She was at work, worrying, and called to see if I was doing the same. After that call, I didn't stop worrying. I had nightmares and his little heart was constantly on my mind.

Saturday my Mom called to tell me that we were going to have a family fast for Kenny on Sunday. Since I'm nursing, I usually don't fast, but I felt like I needed to. I really wanted to. We began our fast Saturday night.

Sunday went as it usually did. Sacrament meeting was sweet, Sunday school was, well, Sunday school. Then it was time for Relief Society. One of the counselors in the presidency, Jill Winterose, was giving the lesson. She told of how she planned all week to just give the lesson that she had prepared for the Stake Relief Society activity a couple weeks ago because her week this week was completely insane, but she had this nagging feeling that she needed to give the lesson on something else.

And then Jill began to talk about hearts.

The entire lesson she talked about the human heart; how it is what keeps us going, its importance, its strength and fragility. My heart began to swell. Within just a few minutes of her lesson, I had the most peaceful feeling wash over me. I knew that Kenny was going to be okay. There was no question in my mind. Our Father in Heaven was listening. He heard our prayers on Kenny's behalf, and he was going to bless us.

I stopped worrying. And on Tuesday Kenny had another EKG at Primary Children's Hospital that was perfect.

He listens. We just need to act.

Kenneth Alden Wilson

I'm finally getting some pictures up of my handsome new nephew Kenny. Kenny was born on January 27, 2010 and weighed 8 lbs 9 oz and was 20 inches long. He is a good mix of Clay and Leslee, but he still reminds me a ton of what Clay looked like as a baby. I miss him already! They are such a cute family and I hope things go well for them in the future.

Kenny especially looks like Clay did in the picture above.

Three generations of Wilson boys! Kenny is the first one in our family that will pass the Wilson name on.