A long time coming...

I've been meaning to post a picture of this AWESOME mural Greg helped paint for a looooong time now (they finished it in October). It's on the side of a pre-school in South Ogden (40th and Washington for those in the neighborhood). It was really fun to see it come together and people driving by would stop and ask about it when Greg and his friends were working on it. Enjoy!

One Year

One year ago today Greg and I went on our first date. It's been on my mind today so I thought I would recount the night. It went a lot like this (for me at least):

I already knew I had a huge crush on him and was therefore quite nervous. So nervous, in fact, that I don't even remember what I wore (this is unusual for me--being nervous as well as not remembering what I wore to an "event"). He was very punctual. And sooooo good looking. The theme of the night was uncontrollable amounts of talking/laughing. We went to dinner at the Macaroni Grill in SLC and quickly realized that we have a lot more in common than we previously knew. I had serious butterflies. Not just thoughts of "oh, he's cute," but actual flutterings in my stomach that made me wonder just exactly what I had eaten for lunch that day. My food was literally cold by the time I got around to eating it. I kept thinking to myself, "I can't wait to tell Caleb how right I was about this one." You see, I had been telling my brother Caleb for months that Greg totally wanted me, he just hadn't realized it yet. BUT, someday he would wise up, ask me out once, and it would be GAME OVER for both of us. Caleb had summed it up to total self-absorption, but that soon changed...

After dinner, we went to a Jon Schmidt concert that was sponsored by our shared employer. Greg's boss (aka my previous boss) was there with his wife and I could tell they were wondering about us. We accidentally sat in the wrong seats and an usher had to show us our real seats which were situated in the middle of all our fellow co-workers that were also attending the event. This, of course, lead to more questioning glances. Or so it felt. I had a really hard time keeping quiet during the performance. How could I not point out the atrocious holiday sweater being worn by the man two rows in front of us or the hilarious dance moves of the guest performing break dancers? I knew Greg would appreciate such things. Needless to say, I'm sure the people around us were annoyed by our whisperings.

As the concert neared its end, I began to dread the thought of going home. The night was going far too well to ever end. Greg seemed to be enjoying my company and was at least pretending to laugh at all my jokes. Then I began to worry I was seeing the situation through rose colored glasses and in came such self-destructive thoughts as, "I wonder how many other girls he tried to ask out before me? I'm sure I was at the bottom of his list. Do I have something in my teeth? I knew I should have looked in the mirror after dinner...."

We slid around on the icy sidewalks of the U of U as we made our way back to Greg's car which led to the idea of going sledding. A rather clever thought considering neither of us were wearing sledding appropriate clothes or in possession of a sled. So, we ventured back to Ogden. After many failed attempts to "sled" on the wake skate Greg happened to have in his trunk, we found an abandoned sled and continued the fun until we were completely frozen. Then, instead of getting in the car where it was warm, we slid around on the ice in a parking lot until 2 a.m. I was really feeling the inklings of "GAME OVER-ness" at this point. We talked about everything. I confessed to getting thrown out of the Grand America Hotel (a story for another day) and he talked about his mission, etc., etc,. etc. It was pretty much all on the table by the time we got back in the car.

Then for everyone's favorite, "the doorstep scene." I'll admit, it was a little awkward. We had worked together for almost a year at this point and I really had no idea what he was thinking. The doorstep for the apartment where I lived at the time didn't help the situation either. I just remember thinking (like I always had) that it was the guy's job to lead the doorstep finale. All I really remember is that we didn't even hug. I felt really stupid after for not initiating something but I didn't want things to be weird if he wasn't that into me (although I REALLLLLY hoped he was). It turned out just fine considering he kissed me only 4 days later, not to mention the fact that we have now been married almost 8 months :)

I still get butterflies when I think about that night. Thanks for taking a chance on me my Greg :) I love you.

Memoirs of Thanksgivings Past

I have Thanksgiving on the brain.


Is it possible to not completely LOVE this holiday? Granted there was the Thanksgiving when I was 4 and was relegated to Grandma Billie's to spend the holiday by myself (with no shirt on as I recall) while everyone else partied next door at Grandma & Grandpa Hancey's. Oh no, I wasn't bitter; granted this banishment was due to no wrongdoing on my part but rather a consequence of contracting Chicken Pox. In my parents' defense (so as not to paint my childhood as one of neglect and them as the guilty offenders), two babies under the ripe 'ol age of 4 months were present.


Other Thanksgiving memories:

• Hoping one of my cousins drew my name for the family Christmas gift exchange so I knew I would get something cute. Don't get me wrong, I love my brothers BUT I found out quickly that other girls knew what you would want better than boys.
• Wondering what they talked about at the "adult table" in the other room.
• Laughing at my Dad for spending more than one feast at the kid's table.
• Winning the family challenge by gaining 7.5 lbs. (All weigh-ins are monitored by another participant to ensure adherence to the rules.)
• Dominating the "Rootbeer Float Pie Contest" of '07. Ok, so "dominating" is up for debate but those pies certainly were tasty.
• Writing what I'm thankful for each year in the gratitude notebooks.
• Loving being with family.

What will tomorrow (my first Thanksgiving as a married woman) bring?

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

I'm playing around with the formatting. No need for alarm :)

Introducing...

Kendra Lynn Wilson

Born November 18, 2008

to Andy and Carrie Wilson

6lbs. 15oz. * 20 in long

Four Generations

Great-Grandma Diane, Grandma Michele, Kendra and Daddy

*She is soooooooo cute :)

7 months

I love you my Greg.

Something New

You should learn something new everyday, right? How about this.......

I think we're all aware we use trademarked words instead of their generic equivalents on a frequent basis (Kleenex anyone?). I credit this to good marketing; not just because I work in marketing....... BUT, did you know that Dumpster is a trademarked word?

Other trademarked words I often use:

• Jell-O
• La-Z-Boy
• Silly Putty
• Q-Tips
• Xerox
• Band-Aid
• Crock-Pot
• Google
• Bubble Wrap
• Hula-Hoop
• Jacuzzi

Does anyone really say "cotton swabs" instead of Q-Tips these days? My point exactly. Don't even get me started on Crock-Pot.

Everybody was kung fu fighting...

If you haven't seen Kung Fu Panda, you must go to Redbox today. (And get it, of course.)

WHY?

#1: Jack Black is.....well, Jack Black. How DO you describe Jack Black? He's some kind of mix between a child playing with LEGOs for the first time and a drunk.

#2: There are such amazing quotes as:

Monkey: We should hang out.
Po: Agreed.
Narrator: But hanging out would have to wait...

AND:

Po: There is no charge for awesomeness.....or attractiveness.

#3: It's just plain funny.

A Tale of a New Hat

This is my new hat.

It's a lovely new hat.

One more reason I love Target.

Wikipedia

Wikipedia is frying my brain. I have been in the process of creating THIS PAGE for a little while now and it's what I would call "reasonably complicated." It's a good thing you can look at the formatting for other pages; otherwise I never would have figured out how to format the columns. It's definitely been a good brain stretching exercise.

On an unrelated note, I had a Reese's Crispy Crunchy Bar today. Kind of weird.

A Taste of Halloween

Here's my Work Crew on Halloween

L-R: Elsa (Yoda), Wendy (Princess Leia), Rory (Jedi), Andy (Darth Vader)

We threw a pretty kickin' Halloween Costume Contest.

Between intergalactic travel and the occasional battle

with a Sith Lord or two, of course.

Happy Halloween!

And Happy Birthday Kate!

We hope PA "treats" you right today :)

Love you!

As of late

I've had a seemingly unquenchable craving for CRAFTS. That's right. I bet you thought I was going to say cucumbers (for those that know me well) or chocolate (for those that know the natural food preferences of women in general - including me). I don't know why I've been having these cravings, but they have manifested themselves in a multitude of exciting projects. Everything from crepe paper decorating and cupcake frosting to quilt sewing and Halloween costume fashioning (for a giant inflatable man no less). Because that's what I've been craving as of late.

PICTURES COMING SOON.

Note to self

If the lunch you brought from home looks so gross that you know your co-workers will wonder what it could possibly be when they open the breakroom fridge, don't label it as the solution to their curiosity. Just don't eat that kind of "food" anymore.

We Recommend...

Shanghai Cafe
145 E. 1300 S. SLC
Really awesome Vietnamese food. They specialize in vegetarian dishes (although they do serve meat as well) and tofu never tasted so good. Try the vegetarian fried egg rolls and vegetarian chicken lemon grass. YUM!

The Organ Loft
3331 S. Edison St. SLC
Old silent films with live organ accompaniment = something everyone should see at least once. It's only $5 and popcorn and drinks are cheap too. Go early to get a good seat.

Note: This was the agenda for our date night last Friday and it was a blast! We saw the classic Phantom of the Opera with Lon Chaney and it was a packed house.

INCREDIBLE NEWS!!!

This just in: We just won a 7-day stay at a condo in Lima, Peru!!! We were at a Boys and Girls Club benefit dinner and one of Greg's (FREE) raffle tickets won us the trip! The condo has 3 bedrooms, so if anyone wants to go to Peru with us next year...........We're thinking we'll go in April for our anniversary.

One word: STOKED.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY GREG!!!

28 years ago this adorable baby boy was born.

[The day after he was born]

[Blessing Day - November 1980]

[Look at those cute chubby feet :) ]

[CLASSIC 1980's photography - 2 years old]

[Sooooooooo adorable - 4 years old]

[Looking gooood]

[Bobcat!]

[Take a CLOSE look at the shirt and pants - NICE.]

[Graduation May 1999 - Bonneville (clap, clap) Lakers (clap, clap) - just for you Greg]

[Dancing (?) in the MTC - on his way to the Philippines]

[Soooooo hot.]

[Grendy - December 2007]

*editorial sidenote: this was taken the day of our first kiss :)

[Engaged]

[Married]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEETHEART!!!

*Wendy's sidenote: I realized that I had never seen a baby picture of Greg so I riffled through all the photos Mama Willis could throw at me and these are just a few of the gems :)

My husband is 12.

Don't worry, it's just biscuit dough.

[We had a date night with some friends @ Jared's property in Ogden Canyon. 10.03.08]

Wendy, Greg, Jared Hales

[Don't worry, Jared had his own date. I hate sharing Greg :) ]

What's in the coffee table?

We (somewhat) recently purchased this coffee table:

Part of our attraction to it was that we could display things in it. So, what's in the coffee table right now?

Old spraypaint cans.

We plan on switching things up every now and then (we already know we want to do Christmas ornaments come the holiday season). Any ideas for cool display items?

More Bitesize Updates: ***Sorry for the weird formatting. I eventually gave up trying to fix it.***

Greg is gone deer hunting = time for me to finish a long overdo update:

AUGUST

Greg's friend Scott visited and they played a little wiffle ball.What was the final score again Scott? Har, har. Really though, we love having you visit!

Labor Day weekend meant some Grade A camping in the Uintas with the Willis crew. We had a great time hiking, fishing, 4-wheeling, camp firing, dutch-ovening, etc. Greg threw his first snowball of the season thanks to the snowfall that collapsed our tent the last night-luckily we were sleeping in the back of Ma & Pa Willis' Honda Pilot.

[Nice catch Christie (Greg's sister)!]

SEPTEMBER

We went for a long overdo hike up Adams Canyon.

Greg and his brothers (Leigh and Brad) competed in the Ogden Valley Triathlon @ Pineview Reservoir.

L-R: Greg, Brad, Leigh

Our new favorite thing = homemade caramel apples...

We've made better ones since these but there were still TASTY!

We were invited to watch the Weber State Homecoming Football game in President Millner's box. Lots of good food and fancy company - we felt like VIP's. We highly recommend it :)

Chalkboard? Talk about old school.

We found this awesome chalkboard at Down East Outfitters (pictured here in our kitchen with a little love from Greg's mad art skills). We can't decide what to hang next to it...

"Stayin' Alive" keeping people alive

This is an interesting article.....

CHICAGO — "Stayin' Alive" might be more true to its name than the Bee Gees ever could have guessed: At 103 beats per minute, the old disco song has almost the perfect rhythm to help jump-start a stopped heart.

And in a small but intriguing study from the University of Illinois medical school, doctors and students maintained close to the ideal number of chest compressions doing CPR while listening to the catchy, sung-in-falsetto tune from the 1977 movie "Saturday Night Fever."

And my favorite part of the article:

"I heard a rumor that 'Another One Bites the Dust' works also, but it didn't seem quite as appropriate," Gilbert said.

What I'm thinking right now:

[This is inspired by recent e-mails at work from Greg asking what I'm thinking about at that very moment. Isn't he adorable?]

• How much I love listening to Greg sing along to his iPod while getting ready in the morning. He has a new cover of the "Oogie Boogie Song" from The Nightmare Before Christmas -done by the one and only Tiger Army- that he gets really excited about :)
• I haven't worn make-up pretty much this whole week; not sure why. Although sometimes I don't put any on in the morning so I can have a refresher before I pick Greg up from work and it makes me feel way hotter (so glad I just admitted that).
• Some of the toliets at work have the auto-flush feature and others don't. I opt for the non-auto-flush; that's just a surprise I don't appreciate (translation: I found out about the auto-flush toliets by accident one day.).
• There are signs hanging up at my work that say "Making Ethical Training a Success." I laughed the first time I saw one. Why? Because of this:
  

• This is awesome.
• Favorite quote(s) from last night's episode of The Office: There's just too many good ones to pick from. Check them out. Or even better, watch the full episode.
• Pie. I got an e-mail telling me that Culinary Arts is going to be selling slices of pie for 25 cents at 11:00. Nope! Just kidding. I was just offered FREE donuts AND chocolate milk at 10:00. Sorry pie, you snooze you lose. And, I love chocolate milk so you really didn't stand a chance. This brings me to a story though:

STORY: The pie that is being sold at 11:00 today contains a mystery filling (according to the e-mail). Don't worry, I'm sure the people that made the pie know what's in it. I hope. Anyway, if you can guess what's in the pie, you get free lunch. Is it worth the risk???

STORY #2: A few weeks ago, Sunday September 14th to be exact, my Greg was in Denver and I journeyed down to K-Town hang-out with some Wilsons for the day. On that day, my Mom made a pie. She called it "mock apple pie." I was uncomfortable with that. Then, when she wouldn't reveal why it was a "mock" of real apple pie, I became really uncomfortable. I didn't eat that pie. Even after she told me what was in it. The best part is that now I don't remember what it was.......little help Mom?

• I love Fridays.

A Request

Dearest fellow bloggers,

My one and only will be gone having "manly time" (aka deer hunting) with the other Willis men for a few days next week. This means it's my chance to eat some serious mexican food :) [For those of you that didn't know, Greg doesn't enjoy Mexican cuisine.]

That brings me to my request: if you have any great recipes, please share! You can even post them on your own blog for others to enjoy as well!

Just to clear things up, I will be lonely and depressed without my Greg so if anyone wants to get together I would love it! :)

SIX?!

Sunday was our 6 month anniversary! We celebrated on Saturday by taking a trip to Park City and then stopped in Salt Lake on the way home for some delicious P.F. Chang's (I can't even see those words without salivating).



I really can't believe how fast six months have passed......




Thanks to many of you fellow bloggers who helped make April 12th, 2008 the best day of my life. And mostly, thank you my Greg for choosing me :)
I love you!

The Human Touch

I continue to be amazed by Stephanie Nielson and her family. Today, on her sister Courtney's blog, their brother Andrew wrote a "guest blog" about "The Human Touch." I never thought I could feel so much love for and from a family I've never met. I honestly feel the Spirit anytime I read their posts. I encourage anyone who wants a boost to read this post.

A Love Note

To my sweetheart,

I adore you. Thanks for putting up with all my craziness. Thanks for helping relieve my stress yesterday. Thanks for taking me shopping (I love my new outift ;) Thanks for curling up with me on the couch to watch a scary movie and for squeezing me during all the scary parts. Thanks for telling and showing me you think I'm beautiful. Thanks for being mine :)

We all know that love is not a feeling, it's an ability; and I love, love love you.

Dear Amy,

Remember how we used to sneak Jolly Ranchers out of the emergency preparedness kits your Mom kept in "the fruit room" when we were little? I was thinking about that yesterday afternoon while doing the dishes. Why? I have no idea but it was a funny memory. I hope you and your cute family are doing well. Love you!

iPod(s)

Greg sold the good 'ol iPod Touch yesterday. He also found a 30g iPod Classic being sold on KSL (love that website) in South Ogden that we picked up last night (making for a nice little profit). The best part was the previous owners left all their music on it. The likes of everything from AFI, Christina Aguilera and The Black Eyed Peas to O-Zone (Which I'm still appauled Greg had never heard--I called to tell you that last night Bob), Mo-Tab and Justin Timberlake. And don't forget Mariah Carey, Sulja Boy, The King's Singers, and the scores from just about everything done by Hans Zimmer. It made for an entertaining night of singing songs Greg really wished I didn't know all the words to. I still have "Always be my baby" stuck in my head....."




....."you'll always be a part of me, I'm part of you indefinitely, boy don't you know you can't escape me, ooh darling 'cause you'll always be my baby"

Things to tell Greg:

• I almost left the house with a stripe of grease from your bicycle chain on my leg this morning. Good thing I took that last look in the mirror before heading out! I'm still loving the previous owners of our house for leaving that full-length mirror.
• NieNie's sister cjane really got me today (like she does every day). [For those of you that haven't heard about Stephanie and Christian Nielson, be prepared to shed more tears for someone you don't even know than you ever thought possible. Thanks for sharing the inspiration Kate!]
• I found a starfish in my desk. Random.
• I can't wait for our weekly Office party tonight. [Wait back up. Do you think that I'm retarded?]
• I love that you do manly things like change the oil in the car.
• Pretty much I just love you.

Dear Allie,

Remember when we saved all those Yoplait yogurt lids to help raise money to fight breast cancer? I'm glad we did that. I'm sitting here eating a Yoplait original strawberry flavored yogurt and it reminded me of you.

I miss you.





P.S. No fear fellow bloggers---a good update is coming soon. It will include such things as: camping, hiking, big/little sister bragging, new job status, the Ogden Valley Triathlon, football, missing my Greg, etc.

"Yatta!" ("I did it!" in Japanese thanks to Hiro on Heroes)

Good news! I was offered a job yesterday working in the marketing department at the Ogden/Weber Applied Technology College. So, I start on Wednesday next week. A lot of things just seemed to fall into place for this job opportunity to come about and Greg and I both feel like it's where I need to be. What a relief!

*Warning, this post contains random dribblings from Wendy's brain. Be afraid, be very afraid.*

What is it about blogging that makes it so, I don't know, cathartic? I think it's partly because I've always had a 'thing' for writing. Not so much that I consider myself 'good' at it but rather that I've always been drawn to it, in a sense. I guess I just like getting my thoughts on paper (the computer screen, etc.) to see if they make sense outside of my head. Writing this is making me wonder why I've never been much of a journal writer...probably because I have so much to say anytime I try that it just takes too long. Maybe that's because I tend to be detailed. I'm sure I've driven many of you who will read this crazy because I just can't seem to spit out a story without lots of unnecessary details (Sorry Greg, I know you're often the victim of this one. I love you! :)


I have an even bigger 'thing' for words than for writing in general. In fact, the improper use of a word during a Sacrament Meeting talk led to Greg's first thoughts of becoming "more than just friends" with me. Or so he claims. I know he was actually in love with me long before that (Thanks again for the over-inflated confidence Dad!). What I'm saying is this: good words used well will always win bonus points with me. One of my most prized possessions is my dictionary (set), no lie.

Another reason I enjoy writing is that I love reading. I'm currently reading (studying) Jesus the Christ and it is incredible. I'm embarrassed to admit I hadn't read it until now. Talk about a book with words I have to look up! I'm eating it up. I'll post more thoughts on this later.

I also enjoy blogging because I love reading what others are thinking about. Chances are if you're reading this, I've probably already checked to see if you've updated your blog as well--so keep it coming! :)

Bitesize Update(s)

• Leigh (Greg's oldest brother) and his wife Jamie had their baby girl (Quincy) Saturday (08.16). She's beautiful. I'm convinced the only reason she cried when I held her was because she needed a good burp :)

• We love the Olympics. But, Bela Karolyi is right-it was a "rip off" in the individual vault competition and the Chinese gymnasts are certainly not 16. As he said, "They are using half-people."

• I'm still on the hunt for a new job. I had a good interview yesterday (08.18) but the job's a bit far away. There's potential for what seems to be the best situation so far--I should hear the verdict by the end of the week.

• We love pasta salad.

• Greg's team - "Liechtenstein" - won the company Olympics at the Bank of Utah picnic Saturday (08.16). Pictures soon to come of Greg competing in such events as synchronized swimming (giggle) and sculling. He also brought home a $50 gas card from the drawing, which we promptly used. They haven't chosen the winner of the flag contest yet but someone dared to say (to our faces I might add) that Greg's masterpiece won't win. Bah!

• We love fresh vegetables from our very own little garden.

• I got stung by a bee the night of the opening ceremonies (08.08.08) and had a crazy allergic reaction. Sorry, there's no pictures but I assure you it was disgusting. The swelling didn't go away until Tuesday/Wednesday (4-5 days later). I literally couldn't fit in regular shoes come time for church that Sunday. Lovely.

• We love the show Heroes. We had never seen it until last week and now we're hooked.

• Greg is helping paint a mural for the exterior of a South Ogden preschool. Check out the progress if you're in the neighborhood (40th and Washington)! We'll post pictures soon.

• We love going for a good run right at sunset.

• Some of our basement walls are merely painted concrete which makes for a cool delight on these hot summer days. We're thinking that won't be the case come winter but we have a wood burning stove we're eager to heat up.

You need to know when to stop.

Yet another example of why the camera phone is just about the best invention ever (unfortunately we were too appalled by the situation I'm about to relate that we didn't think to use said camera phone to document the event until it was too late):

We did a little grocery shopping Monday night (nothing says F.H.E. like Macey's case lot sale-going on now!). We were just about to pay up and get out when we noticed the (in our opinion) odd choice of food items by the people in line behind us. Really it just amounts to one item over and over again considering the people were purchasing somewhere in the neighborhood of 25 tubs of margarine. (See why we needed a picture of this?!) I hesitate to ask but WHY WOULD ANYONE BUY THAT MUCH MARGARINE AT ONE TIME? Seriously. I know that you can buy certain brands that have a longer shelf-life but I don't think this was that kind of margarine. Greg was thinking maybe it was on sale and they run one of the taco stands around town so they go through a lot of margarine...who knows? YUCK.

So, if you tried to buy some margarine at the Macey's on Washington this week and found there was none to be found, we know who did it.

"Girls only want [husbands] who have great skills."

It just so happens that my husband does have great skills! As evidence I will now post a recent project he tackled, nay, mastered for an upcoming work event. Each department designed a flag to represent them and I dare say you are about to view the winner of the contest. Who knew stencils could be this cool?

Disclaimer: I didn't get any pictures of the actual making of the stencils for the flag BUT it took a good 8 hours to make them as well as 2 more hours to paint. I wasn't much help for most of it so I served as cheerleader.

And now for the flag painting... (see the slideshow below)

Impressive, eh? Good work honey!

Click here for slideshow!

"What's that got to do with this, Peach?"

If you were wondering what the last place in the world I expected to find a scripture printed was, you're in luck! It just so happens that I found it Wednesday night on a bag of hash browns. That's right, I was cooking hash browns for "breakfast for dinner" and what should I find but Isaiah 30:18 printed right there on the bag. Sooooooooo random. And no, that particular scriptural reference has nothing (as far as I can tell) to do with frozen diced potatoes. Here's the verse that was printed on the bag: Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion.

P.S. I pulled out my Bible and the verse reads as follows in the King James Version: And therefore will the Lord wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the Lord is a God or judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him.

P.S.S. Lee, you inspired me so we had waffles in your honor as well :)

P.S.S.S. I think they were Western Family hash browns.

Wedding Album

I tried to make another slideshow with more wedding photos but some of the files were too big and I'm far too lazy to shrink them all down today. But, to make up for it, I posted the album that our photographer put together (click on each image to enlarge if you so desire). We are going to swap out a few pics before it goes to print, but you get the idea :)

Correction: apparently it won't let you enlarge the pics...at least it isn't working for me.