Thanks for your comments

I really really appreciated your thoughts and your comments and your feelings and your ideas. They were great. It is midnight and I am up with illness again - I will be so glad to have this all fixed!!!!

I heard you all and it looks like we aren't going to all agree with everything but that is a normal family so this is what I have decided - (this is not a democracy, it is a benevelant (sp?!) dictatorship!)

1 - we will have the Sunday or Saturday evening dinners with just a couple families at a time - that seemed to be a positive for everyone. I will probably pull names out of a hat to see who gets invited with whom. I agree that smaller groups means better conversational flow.

2 - Gifts - Mauri hit the nail on the head with the thought that a gift is my way of saying I love you. I enjoy finding things that will be appreciated and enjoyed. I disagree with Kris that you can't buy a decent gift for $15. I hate giving cash....that to me is no gift at all even though you may disagree with that. I will go ahead with doing it my way this year at least and see how it goes - spoiled aren't I!!!

3- Family parties - we will continue to have them...it is totally up to you whether you come or not. I will not stress or be upset if you choose not to - that is your right and your decision.

I loved the ideas of others taking the chance to be the hostess or to plan 'activity' type parties - I think that the hostess should be in charge of the paper goods and the drinks and then that leaves enough of the rest of us to have a good meal.

-We will continue to have our annual Easter Party, Mothers Day Party, Kris always does her kids's party since she has 3 birthdays in June, our 4th of July party, our day after Halloween party (that way you can trick or treat with YOUR kids in your neighborhood and then come celebrate the twins's birthday on Nov 1 and show off your costume that night too!), and I will continue to have my Christmas Eve party - we will have the nativity... I hope... I missed it so much this year. That takes care of birthdays for April, May, June, July, November and December. We WILL not leave out February, August and September....maybe we can combine the August and September birthdays - we will see how it goes.

We will attempt to keep things to a low roar and learn to use our indoor voices when we are all in the same room with each other - that goes for adults as well as kids. I feel it is important to share these times together as family - to let the grandchildren enjoy their cousins.

It seems that If I don't plan the parties, they don't happen (it is almost April and we haven't gotten together since December) - I love it when you guys say - "we need to have a party" ....we need to get together -

I guess in reality Kecia is in charge of our first organized activity party - we will call it a moving party! She just needs to tell us when they figure out the date. (Glenn will really need family to help with this one as he can only sit and tell us what to do and where things go - he will not be able to lift or carry or anything like that. He will probably lose his mind!! )

I love you all so very much and I thank my Father in Heaven for each of you every day - I am thankful for the friendships and the love - and the joy you add to my life.

Memorial Day 2008

Grandma Bea had a rough weekend emotionally but was doing much better Tuesday morning.
















The kids had this poem sitting on the bench by the headstone. Talk about a tear jerker!













This is a good view of the headstone on Colleen and Randy's graves. Its hard to see with the raindrops but it lists Colleen's name and birthdate and then Randy's name and birthdate and then in the middle one line down it says "
Returned to HeavenTogether
Jan 28, 2008












It's not JUST that they love grandma Bea but it was warmer and drier next to her!! :-)











This is the writing on the edge of the bench on Colleen's side of the headstone
















This is the writing on Randy's side!













This was what it looked like by 9:30 am on Memorial Day - more was added later!!

Easter Holiday

By the way Kecia - you look fantastic with your new haircut!!



This has been a nice weekend - Saturday we got together with my brother Kelly and his sweet Terrie and four of their five kids plus all of my kids except for Dirk and all of the grandkids and Grandpa Merritt and Jill and Ed and I. We had the party at Shawn and Kris's house because I didn't think there would be room at dads house for everyone we invited. It turned out to be a nicer day though still cool. Amee came too - with a cute boy in tow. Chase of course wasn't there as he is now in the mission field as Elder Nielson. Dirk of course is at Ft Lewis Washington.


We let the whole family search for presents and candy all over Kristanne's back yard. Then we ate and visited and visited and ate ...lots and lots of good food!

Da and Benji came as Dad and Jill were leaving and Jamie and Kelly came as Da and Benji were leaving!!

I simply enjoyed the whole day with my family. I love them all so very much.

Sunday morning Kecia and Glenn and Emma Lynn came to Layton to go to church with Grandpa Ed and I. She was still dressed in her cute bunny jamma's but it didn't take long for momma Kecia to get her all gussied up in her adorable pink fluffy dress














Of course, Emma wow'd everyone at church - she is such a happy baby. It was so fun to have Glenn and Kecia there and fantastic to enjoy Emma for those three hours!! After church we headed back to our house -I invited grandpa Merritt to come have dinner with Ed and I and Kecia and Glenn. I fixed a nummy Easter dinner and even got to use my china!! WOW!! Glenn and Kecia headed back home during the afternoon since they had another party to go to. Ed and I went home teaching at 5 pm and Shawn and Kris showed up shortly after we got back home - they were bringing back Ed's truck home after borrowing it the day before to get a mattress.

All in all, it was a nice weekend. I love you all

Christmas is such a Wonderful Time

Adrie the Angel

So many people complain about the Christmas Season and how commercial it has become - and maybe it has but that doesn't need to stop any of us from appreciating it for what it is. It is what is in our hearts that make or break the season.

From putting up the Christmas tree to listening to the Christmas Carols (during all of November and December!!) to buying just the right gift for our loved ones to open and get excited about.

We had a marvelous Christmas eve program with the grandkids doing the Nativity -they acted it out and we all took turns reading it. (Emma made a darling baby Jesus and our one and only wise man bowed at Jesus for five full minutes - hilarious!) We all sang the Christmas Carols and Kris and Jamie sang Breath of Heaven and Glenn sang Oh Come All Ye Faithful and then we ended the program by singing Silent Night in three different languages!!! It was such a special night. We Willdens have just so -so voices (actually a couple of my kids have nice voices - their mother isn't so lucky!) but they have married singers and it adds so much to our special programs.

I seemed to find gifts that everyone wanted in my budget (which I cut this year) and they all seemed pleased - Benji played with his stuffed bear and hugged it and grinned at it - he has the cutest personality - he is so inquisitive and yet such a happy boy - you can tell that he is loved and that his parents are so happy to have him.
This year I got to watch the excitement and thrill on the faces of nine of my ten grandchildren as they opened their gifts. (Emma just wasn't gonna get excited about her new dress or mobile!! Food mom food!!)

The excitement of opening presents started on Christmas Eve - About half of the gifts I gave this year were opened on Christmas eve because of the weather. I didn't think I would get to see the kids and grandkids again on Christmas day so we broke with tradition and exchanged alot of our gifts that night. I had purchased gift cards to Aeropostle for my 12 year old and 13 year old granddaughters (who are both turning 18 this year!!) The squeals of delight from both of them were fantastic. Then I gathered all three of Mauri's boys and handed them each a laminated card with their very own name on each of the cards and explained that it was a one year membership to the Children's Treehouse Museum in Ogden - they were so excited!! They love that place and are always asking Mauri to take them. I will be able to take them too! They each had a small gift to open besides that but they were thrilled and it sent happy chills all through me.

On Christmas Day I watched my other three grandsons open their gifts and each one of them were so spontaneously happy and excited over what I got them. Cade got a Mario game for his WII and Ethan got a fish book plus a shirt, and Jace got a Ben 10 game - thank heavens for moms and their suggestions to grandma - it really helps and it gave me such pleasure to buy and wrap and finally give them their gifts.

When we all get together at grandma's house it is planned pandemonium and Christmas eve was that and more - but the love we share and the joy we have being together makes it wonderful.

I am so thankful for the Christmas Season - for the joy it gives us, the love we feel with friends and family - and for our Savior's birth and the gift he gave to all of us - the atonement - we get awfully busy but there were moments in our Christmas eve program where I felt the love of my Savior and tears came to my eyes. I am so blessed...