Here is a photo of the AWESOME pin Ryan earned, and gave to me, from serving as a poll worker during the election.
Thanks Ryan! It is a great addition to my collection of political pins.
Location : Address not available
Friday, January 14, 2011
Election lapel pin from Ryan
Here is a photo of the AWESOME pin Ryan earned, and gave to me, from serving as a poll worker during the election.
Thanks Ryan! It is a great addition to my collection of political pins.
Location : Address not available
Sunday, December 26, 2010
General thoughts on our blog
Okay, I love our blog! It is so much fun. I just clicked on the link saying, "to Ashley, love ???" and it was HILARIOUS! I was a total bah humbug! Great blog creating Chuck and helpers.
Hey, I love the Bodell tree of baby blankets! Can we use that as a side background picture?
If Amy already commented this, IT WAS TOTALLY MY IDEA! We were racing to get it suggested. I think I lost, but it would be a beautiful reminder of all the blessings our family has given us.
Hey, I love the Bodell tree of baby blankets! Can we use that as a side background picture?
If Amy already commented this, IT WAS TOTALLY MY IDEA! We were racing to get it suggested. I think I lost, but it would be a beautiful reminder of all the blessings our family has given us.
Merry Christmas Amy - 2010 Elder Gates
Well, another year has come for us all to post our Christmas present for whose name we were given. Six months ago I was given the call to serve as a Missionary and I finally landed in a place that has become one great big Service project, so I have decided to a post some of the things where I have done service. Many times, I have thought of the person's whose name I have. She is one of the busiest girls I know... and now I am extremely busy serving. In my mind, I have had thrill getting closer to her and thinking just a lot more in depth of what she is doing and what she has become, as I have dedicated my life to serving others. As I have been involved in doing the many service projects, I have thought many times of how I could fit a project to this person that I am doing my Christmas project for.
I will start with our Helping Hands project with one of our branches. We went to the prision (French for prison) and spent the day cleaning weeds and junk out of what we hope will some day be class rooms for those in prision who want to learn and can attend classes. We also cleaned out all of the cell's which were very small. I was asked by our Branch Pres if I would donate 2 bags of rice and cooking oil for the prision. They don't get much food there. So, Dear Amy... as to my knowledge you haven't been in prison yet, so I tried to figure out a different way to fit this first major project into your life. I decided that it reminded me of what a special little worker you were, and you always cheerfully supported our spring garden weeding and planting.
We have moved every set of our elders since we have been here. This project fits you, because of the trauma you have had in moving so much in the past year or so. I am so very proud of you that you have made it a fun adventure for your family, instead of a burden. Some, or should I say two, of the elders are a great help. Here we are moving this huge piece of furniture in.
I will not get another 2nd floor apartment if I can avoid it. I did not chose this one but spent a lot of time fixing things here. We found a much better apartment for these elders, so 2 weeks ago we moved the furniture "beast" out.
As we worked at the maternity hospital, I thought of your 4 beautiful children that you have and now we realize how blessed we are that you were able to receive them.
The last one that I will mention is how proud I am of you for all your service at church through the years. I decided that this was my main service to you. You have thrown yourself into many church activities, including dinners and major productions. I decided to help make sure that the sisters in our branch, who were called to be the Relief Society Presidency last Sunday, were able to provide dinner for over 200 people the following Saturday, which was Christmas day. I dedicated my Christmas Eve and most of Christmas Day, (After our white Christmas baptism) to helping them to their food, prepare it and transport it to the church, because they don't have cars. They would have had to do it all in taxis. We had 17 people plus the food, when we finally drove them to the church.
These are a few photos of what my day went like.
This is cooking chicken African Style. By the way, I baptized this Sister about 3 months ago. She is now the Secretary of our Relief Society.
The reason I have gone into these details is that I know how busy you are... but you are still always trying to help. You would jump on a plane and fly across the country, all night, just to help your sister by transporting kids back across the country... so she could go and enjoy a vacation with her husband. You are one in a million and continually give your time unselfishly. I am so very proud of you and I love you very much for developing that trait.
Love, Dad
I will start with our Helping Hands project with one of our branches. We went to the prision (French for prison) and spent the day cleaning weeds and junk out of what we hope will some day be class rooms for those in prision who want to learn and can attend classes. We also cleaned out all of the cell's which were very small. I was asked by our Branch Pres if I would donate 2 bags of rice and cooking oil for the prision. They don't get much food there. So, Dear Amy... as to my knowledge you haven't been in prison yet, so I tried to figure out a different way to fit this first major project into your life. I decided that it reminded me of what a special little worker you were, and you always cheerfully supported our spring garden weeding and planting.
We have moved every set of our elders since we have been here. This project fits you, because of the trauma you have had in moving so much in the past year or so. I am so very proud of you that you have made it a fun adventure for your family, instead of a burden. Some, or should I say two, of the elders are a great help. Here we are moving this huge piece of furniture in.
I will not get another 2nd floor apartment if I can avoid it. I did not chose this one but spent a lot of time fixing things here. We found a much better apartment for these elders, so 2 weeks ago we moved the furniture "beast" out.
As we worked at the maternity hospital, I thought of your 4 beautiful children that you have and now we realize how blessed we are that you were able to receive them.
The last one that I will mention is how proud I am of you for all your service at church through the years. I decided that this was my main service to you. You have thrown yourself into many church activities, including dinners and major productions. I decided to help make sure that the sisters in our branch, who were called to be the Relief Society Presidency last Sunday, were able to provide dinner for over 200 people the following Saturday, which was Christmas day. I dedicated my Christmas Eve and most of Christmas Day, (After our white Christmas baptism) to helping them to their food, prepare it and transport it to the church, because they don't have cars. They would have had to do it all in taxis. We had 17 people plus the food, when we finally drove them to the church.
These are a few photos of what my day went like.
This is cooking chicken African Style. By the way, I baptized this Sister about 3 months ago. She is now the Secretary of our Relief Society.
The reason I have gone into these details is that I know how busy you are... but you are still always trying to help. You would jump on a plane and fly across the country, all night, just to help your sister by transporting kids back across the country... so she could go and enjoy a vacation with her husband. You are one in a million and continually give your time unselfishly. I am so very proud of you and I love you very much for developing that trait.
Love, Dad
The View is Electric!!!!!
When I read that I had Wayne. I immediately thought of volunteering at a fish hatchery because Wayne loves taking Dillon fishing. Then our Christmas plans changed to include traveling to Seattle to visit the Dittbrenners. I was excited, however, I could not figure out if this made it harder or easier for my service. Once we arrived, Charise and I were privileged to spend Christmas at such a beautiful house with a Thomas Kinkaid view. Yes….talk about your WOW factor! Well, after I came back to reality, I still didn’t know what to do for my service project. I looked up a fish hatchery not far from Wayne’s house. They were sort of closed for the winter, but did self tours and didn’t need any help.
I kept trying to invent some ideas during our relaxing days and excellent host and hostess’ tours. I noticed that the outlets didn’t work right. You would put a plug in and it would fall right out. For the first two days, I struggled with plugging things in and realizing that they had no juice. One day it took me about fifteen minutes to get a Christmas decoration to stay on. Then a couple days before Christmas Wayne and I were driving around town and passed a Home Depot…….Hey…….That is it……..OF COURSE!!!! I told Wayne I had to go to Home Depot to get some stuff.
I bought a ten pack of outlets, some tools, light bulbs, and a dimmer switch. When we got back, I told Amy to put blue tape on ten outlets that she wanted fixed. So during the past two days, I fixed the dining room dimmer, replaced some burned out bulbs, installed a door stop on the front door, and replaced the outlets. I am sure you are thinking… I thought this was Wayne’s service project. It is,…Wayne has been busy trying to close a couple of jobs and has not had time to fix them. And like Charise says, I cannot just “relax.” So I was totally stoked to have something to do. It was enjoyable for me to do. I did it in between all the fun stuff that Amy and Charise had planned. Wayne no longer has to worry about fixing them.
So I want to thank you for a great Christmas vacation Wayne. Your house is beautiful and provided a great bedroom view. Thank you for letting me do something fun on my vacation.
Side note; Thank you Tiffany for the very heart felt comments. I know a lot of people that I think deserve that title more than me. But I am definitely flattered that people observe me as offering that much service. I hope I can live up to the title..THE PRESSURE!!!!!
Merry Christmas Wayne
I kept trying to invent some ideas during our relaxing days and excellent host and hostess’ tours. I noticed that the outlets didn’t work right. You would put a plug in and it would fall right out. For the first two days, I struggled with plugging things in and realizing that they had no juice. One day it took me about fifteen minutes to get a Christmas decoration to stay on. Then a couple days before Christmas Wayne and I were driving around town and passed a Home Depot…….Hey…….That is it……..OF COURSE!!!! I told Wayne I had to go to Home Depot to get some stuff.
I bought a ten pack of outlets, some tools, light bulbs, and a dimmer switch. When we got back, I told Amy to put blue tape on ten outlets that she wanted fixed. So during the past two days, I fixed the dining room dimmer, replaced some burned out bulbs, installed a door stop on the front door, and replaced the outlets. I am sure you are thinking… I thought this was Wayne’s service project. It is,…Wayne has been busy trying to close a couple of jobs and has not had time to fix them. And like Charise says, I cannot just “relax.” So I was totally stoked to have something to do. It was enjoyable for me to do. I did it in between all the fun stuff that Amy and Charise had planned. Wayne no longer has to worry about fixing them.
So I want to thank you for a great Christmas vacation Wayne. Your house is beautiful and provided a great bedroom view. Thank you for letting me do something fun on my vacation.
Side note; Thank you Tiffany for the very heart felt comments. I know a lot of people that I think deserve that title more than me. But I am definitely flattered that people observe me as offering that much service. I hope I can live up to the title..THE PRESSURE!!!!!
Merry Christmas Wayne
Saturday, December 25, 2010
My darling little sister Ashley, I ADORE you!!
Note: A sibling sitting next to me while I am typing this says I am way too long winded... so for those of you who want, just skip to the end.
Oh my darling little sister Ashley,
I honestly believe you are one of the greatest blessings in my life. The gifts of joy and womanhood are things that I will always honor and cherish about you. I remember the first time I met you, thinking what an amazing girl you were. Now that you are a mother, and a wife to my little brother... well, I just really struggle to describe the honor it is to have a relationship with you.
When I was given your name, I was thrilled. I knew that my gift of service was going to be to try to become more like you. I felt like by trying to live more like you, that I might be able to have my life serve others as yours does every day.
The first few steps were easy. First off, I had already made a goal to use ONLY (and I do mean ONLY) the recycled shopping bags from now on. I loved how you did it, and made it seem like such an easy thing to do. You acted as if, "Well duh, if it is better for the planet, better for others, why would I not do it." You gave it a selfish/unselfish type of feel. Like... if you try to do this one little thing, well that is a very small, unselfish change you could make in your life. I am happy to report that I have been GREAT at this. I would give myself a 95%. I will go into more details on this on my personal blog.
Next, I wanted to serve my children by taking the time to learn to cook healthier. I loved visiting you and having you make us such yummy meals that were REALLY healthy, but also DELICIOUS!
These might seem like dumb, well duh, thoughts... but I never realized how simple and easy it would be to take the time to plan, prep and cook healthier meals. I now serve only the high protein, whole grain pasta. It is yum and although it costs a little more, it is so much better for my family. I have added a lot of fresh vegetables to my meals. I used to use a lot of canned, easy foods, but now I have really learned to enjoy preparing fresher, healthier alternatives. (Grilled baby bell peppers... who would have thought how delicious, healthy and easy they are!)
I had noticed that a couple of my girlfriends were really starting to be catty about others. In thinking of you, I thought, I wonder how Ashley handles this? I have gone back to what I learned back when I was in Young Woman's. When one starts to "talk"about another girlfriend, I just try to point out that other friend's good points. It just makes me feel like I am trying to be a better friend.
I wanted to do a true "gift" to someone. Something "blog worthy". I feel like in changing my way of thinking, I have, in a small start, changed the person I want to be. But what is really "blog worthy" about that?
I sent out an email to all the mom's in my ward that have kids in primary. I told them I was newer to the ward, but that I would love to be their "drop off spot" for their kids when they go to the temple. I have teasingly done a couple of reminders, but I still have not gotten any takers. (I know!!! I would totally take advantage of the offer if someone gave it to me!) However, in truly trying to do this, I have had three moms email me and ask if there was any way I could help them with their kids, even though they were not going to the temple.
One was a mom that needed help the first couple of days, while she went back to work and was figuring out a childcare arrangement. The next was a mom that is brand new to our ward, and was just put on bed rest at the 6 month mark of her pregnancy. Her 3 year old Sophie was really wanting to play so she emailed me to ask if I could help one day. I immediately called her and said, "Yes! I am totally open the next two weeks. We will pick her up at 8am and you can tell us what time each night to bring her home.
The third is another new mom who I ADORE! She just had her fourth baby in October, and her oldest is 6. They moved here in September and her husband works two weeks out of the month on the East Coast, so she is alone with these kids a lot!
The yucky flu with high fevers and upchuck has been going through her family for the past month. It keeps dragging on. I have called her every time I have been to the grocery store in the past month and a half, and I always ask her what I can get for her. She always says nothing... so I have changed what I ask. Now I just call her and say, I am getting milk for you... Non-fat or whole? Bread, Wheat or White? Candy or fruits and veggies? What are you in the mood for?"
She used to say nothing, but after a couple of deliveries of what I like best, and I keep telling her, "I'm bringing it over to you anyway... Do you want me to choose for you, or do you want to give requests?" So now she sweetly tells me what might help her out in her life. She is a joy to serve.
Okay, so I am totally bawling while typing this. I think that is why I have procrastinated all day. I knew that I would feel your sweet spirit while thinking of you and in trying to tell you how much I love you. I know my sisters tease me about "Ashley Whoo Hoo" but seriously, you are Ashley Whoo Hoo to me. If I haven't said it five times already, Ashley, I adore you!
I remember the day you were sealed to Chuck in the temple. It was a CRAZY day... and I just remember thinking, "This girl is amazing, and she deserves ALL the blessings of heaven. I hope Heavenly Father has some wonderful blessings ahead of her in her life." I often wonder what makes you the woman you are. Is it your parents? Your upbringing?
Oh Ashley, my sweet little sister. I am so in love with you. It is an honor and a joy to be your big sister. You make me want to be a better mother, a better sister, a better friend. But most of all, a better daughter of God, because then I might truly be more like you in all ways.
Yeah, I don't really have a picture that goes along with this post... but this random shot is of me trying to make memories being a good mom. Amy says we have to have a picture with our post. Is that part of the rules? :)
Oh my darling little sister Ashley,
I honestly believe you are one of the greatest blessings in my life. The gifts of joy and womanhood are things that I will always honor and cherish about you. I remember the first time I met you, thinking what an amazing girl you were. Now that you are a mother, and a wife to my little brother... well, I just really struggle to describe the honor it is to have a relationship with you.
When I was given your name, I was thrilled. I knew that my gift of service was going to be to try to become more like you. I felt like by trying to live more like you, that I might be able to have my life serve others as yours does every day.
The first few steps were easy. First off, I had already made a goal to use ONLY (and I do mean ONLY) the recycled shopping bags from now on. I loved how you did it, and made it seem like such an easy thing to do. You acted as if, "Well duh, if it is better for the planet, better for others, why would I not do it." You gave it a selfish/unselfish type of feel. Like... if you try to do this one little thing, well that is a very small, unselfish change you could make in your life. I am happy to report that I have been GREAT at this. I would give myself a 95%. I will go into more details on this on my personal blog.
Next, I wanted to serve my children by taking the time to learn to cook healthier. I loved visiting you and having you make us such yummy meals that were REALLY healthy, but also DELICIOUS!
These might seem like dumb, well duh, thoughts... but I never realized how simple and easy it would be to take the time to plan, prep and cook healthier meals. I now serve only the high protein, whole grain pasta. It is yum and although it costs a little more, it is so much better for my family. I have added a lot of fresh vegetables to my meals. I used to use a lot of canned, easy foods, but now I have really learned to enjoy preparing fresher, healthier alternatives. (Grilled baby bell peppers... who would have thought how delicious, healthy and easy they are!)
I had noticed that a couple of my girlfriends were really starting to be catty about others. In thinking of you, I thought, I wonder how Ashley handles this? I have gone back to what I learned back when I was in Young Woman's. When one starts to "talk"about another girlfriend, I just try to point out that other friend's good points. It just makes me feel like I am trying to be a better friend.
I wanted to do a true "gift" to someone. Something "blog worthy". I feel like in changing my way of thinking, I have, in a small start, changed the person I want to be. But what is really "blog worthy" about that?
I sent out an email to all the mom's in my ward that have kids in primary. I told them I was newer to the ward, but that I would love to be their "drop off spot" for their kids when they go to the temple. I have teasingly done a couple of reminders, but I still have not gotten any takers. (I know!!! I would totally take advantage of the offer if someone gave it to me!) However, in truly trying to do this, I have had three moms email me and ask if there was any way I could help them with their kids, even though they were not going to the temple.
One was a mom that needed help the first couple of days, while she went back to work and was figuring out a childcare arrangement. The next was a mom that is brand new to our ward, and was just put on bed rest at the 6 month mark of her pregnancy. Her 3 year old Sophie was really wanting to play so she emailed me to ask if I could help one day. I immediately called her and said, "Yes! I am totally open the next two weeks. We will pick her up at 8am and you can tell us what time each night to bring her home.
The third is another new mom who I ADORE! She just had her fourth baby in October, and her oldest is 6. They moved here in September and her husband works two weeks out of the month on the East Coast, so she is alone with these kids a lot!
The yucky flu with high fevers and upchuck has been going through her family for the past month. It keeps dragging on. I have called her every time I have been to the grocery store in the past month and a half, and I always ask her what I can get for her. She always says nothing... so I have changed what I ask. Now I just call her and say, I am getting milk for you... Non-fat or whole? Bread, Wheat or White? Candy or fruits and veggies? What are you in the mood for?"
She used to say nothing, but after a couple of deliveries of what I like best, and I keep telling her, "I'm bringing it over to you anyway... Do you want me to choose for you, or do you want to give requests?" So now she sweetly tells me what might help her out in her life. She is a joy to serve.
Okay, so I am totally bawling while typing this. I think that is why I have procrastinated all day. I knew that I would feel your sweet spirit while thinking of you and in trying to tell you how much I love you. I know my sisters tease me about "Ashley Whoo Hoo" but seriously, you are Ashley Whoo Hoo to me. If I haven't said it five times already, Ashley, I adore you!
I remember the day you were sealed to Chuck in the temple. It was a CRAZY day... and I just remember thinking, "This girl is amazing, and she deserves ALL the blessings of heaven. I hope Heavenly Father has some wonderful blessings ahead of her in her life." I often wonder what makes you the woman you are. Is it your parents? Your upbringing?
Oh Ashley, my sweet little sister. I am so in love with you. It is an honor and a joy to be your big sister. You make me want to be a better mother, a better sister, a better friend. But most of all, a better daughter of God, because then I might truly be more like you in all ways.
Yeah, I don't really have a picture that goes along with this post... but this random shot is of me trying to make memories being a good mom. Amy says we have to have a picture with our post. Is that part of the rules? :)
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