Punta Cana baby!

I had a great respite with James my sister Diana and her husband Dan. I think the food may have given us something to bring back for keeps!

The resort was fabulous overall and beautiful. The beaches felt like milled flour. And the bartering in the market place was a work of art! I was complimented for my skills in pushing to the limit. Comment from a local "I've never seen anything like it!" I will always treasure that remark. After my success with the locals my sister Diana threw me to the wolves to Barter for her. I must say her ring was a great deal. But my bartering days are over for now. It's just too much work!

I loved my time with James. He was so attentive and complimenatry. I loved all the attention!

Me and my sister revert back to being a little immature and silly. Really for our age it is quite well obnoxiously wrong! And Diana is little miss pose and take a picture women. I must say it was good to have a few laughs. Poor Dan and James. They are both most excellent hubby's!

Going Home

Picture of Britt with the Rent sign out. I asked her to look sad. She did a good job of it:(
Coming to the end of my Most wonderful California Adventure! Our home here is rented, our new home in Draper is purchased. And James job is still moving forward (we hope). Life has really turned around a swirling 360 degrees around. I personally am spinning the a circle of which way to I go?

We felt we should buy this home we found in Steeplechase. Crazy? Absolutely! We did it because we felt that very house was the very house to buy. It was a bank owned home, and we felt it was a good deal. At the time of purchase we blindly believed that sometime in the future we would be able to get back to Draper. We made it our goal to get back. We just felt life is to short at this point life to spend so much time away from all that has been precious to us for 30 years.

With in two weeks James company was undergoing a reorganization. And he was in charge of organizing the huge changes. He then approached the CEO about working from Draper. Although James could not write his role into working from Draper things began to change. The Senior Vice President he was working with began to act non -involved. The next he knows he is asked to take the Senior Vice President position and the other leader was stepping down. Shocker to everyone. Doors began to open, crazy miracles to get us back to Utah. And all at the same time worried of how he could possibly make this work? We are still unsure of how his role will be successful in Utah? But we do know Britt is back in Utah with good siblings to help influence her growing up safe. And she is physically safe from intense bullying from Hispanic girls that wanted to beat her up from day one. Possibly boy drama?

Whatever the reasons are for our departure from Half Moon Bay and California are, we know they are clear as far as our being with family. And our need to do all we can to get Britt through these frightening years of teenagehood makes us willing to follow through with the move.

I taught my last Young Women's Lesson to the most dear, forever cherished girls. I came to love them and respect them. They have called a new counselor to replace me today. I do not like to think I could possibly be replaced! Just kidding, well kind of just kidding. I put my whole heart into this ward. I figures we would be here at least for three more years!

This next week consists of my Orencia infusion, my tooth implant (in which I'm terrified for!) , Young Women's, Bentley's hair cut, Father's, packing and much more! On the 23rd I'll fly to

UTAH, do some unpacking from Lehi and begin to put two houses into one home again.

I feel I really need a blessing! I really wish I could call on someone to participate with James but all I can come up with is my boys and my Draper friends. I haven't let anyone in that close in the last year to ask them to participate. Kind of a sad comentary, but a true one.

Crossing my fingers that my body and spirit will made it though this again. I will be thankful to be in Draper. At this time dear friends are nearing death, and family members are in need.

On a fun note the beaches in Punta Cana were beautiful and non-naked. We enjoyed our time there.

Armando Lopez's baptism

Dear Armando is nine years old. His dear sister Alejandra is the first person to befriend Brittany when we moved here. Ale had become inactive after trying hard to come on her own. She also worked Sundays and had several buses to catch.

Armando was baptized because the parents have regained commitment to the gospel. The two of them are not baptized because of the father still being married to a wife in Mexico. That would constitute a problem. He is working on fixing that problem. Brother and sister Lopez above with new baby named after Andrew the first missionary to teach them. And Lex a spanish speaking man in our ward who befriended them for years! Alejandra and Armando, James, Britt and the missionaries.

Both parents bore testimony and spoke at Armando's baptism. That little boy was beaming with goodness. This was a beautiful experience for me. Absolutely worth living here.

The missionaries above are the ones who baptized Armando. They also came to dinner the next day at our home. It was a great visit. Elder Archibald and Elder Minos.

Visiting Filoli

A absolutely beautiful day to visit the historical home and gardens of Filoli. A name I never can

remember! Luckily that's where my dear friend Susan Putnam comes in. She was my very skilled driver to and from. And my tour guide while visiting.

History from the filoli website

Filoli was built for Mr. and Mrs. William Bowers Bourn, prominent San Franciscans whose chief source of wealth was the Empire Mine, a hard-rock gold mine in Grass Valley, California. Mr. Bourn was also owner and president of the Spring Valley Water Company whose property comprised Crystal Springs Lake and the surrounding lands, areas that are now part of the San Francisco Water Department. He selected the southern end of Crystal Springs Lake as the site for his estate.

Mr. Bourn arrived at the unusual name Filoli by combining the first two letters from the key words of his credo: “Fight for a just cause; Love your fellow man; Live a good life.”

Mother's Day Without

This was my first Mother's Day without my mother. I always loved mother's day! Not because I was a mother, but because I had a mother. For a good 40+ years I have enjoyed the hunt for a perfect mother's day gift for my mom. This year I kept seeing advertisements on TV and thinking Oh my mother would like that! Then

my mind would come to reality and understand that there would be no buying mother's day gifts for my mother this year.

So My personal gift was to talk to her. I thanked her for everything she gave me. I thanked her at this time more then anything for giving me my sister's. Because without them her loss would be unbearable without their friendship.

It was also my first year away from my children on Mother's Day. I did have James and Britt thankfully. James always puts forth is full effort in making Mother's Day a wonderful event. Even when he is headed out the door again for travel. Which was the case on this Mother's Day. You're a good man James!

Two gift packages came to the door that weekend. And one on it's way. I really thought they would forget. But Thank you kids for being fabulous!

But the greatest gift they gave me was one I will never forget. It brought powerful emotions to my very soul. It took me an hour to compose myself. Each of my dear children went to Payson and took flowers and placed them on my mother's grave. My mother's grave looked more like Memorial Day then Mother's Day. We love our mother.

Then to deepen the gift they visited with Grandpa Wilson. He had prepared food thinking he would have a lot of company for Mother's Day. Most kids had come early that week. So having my kids stop by and visit him, and eat his food was a blessing. I couldn't bare thinking of him waiting for company and no one showing up! My kids saved him and me from feeling that sadness. Thank you kids. In one act you showed a mother everything she hopes her children will become, giving, thoughtful, caring, good people.

Yeah! My sisters came to check-out my life and home here in HMB. I have been so excited for this day to come. I kept looking at Google to check the weather. It changes on a dime here on the coast. I wanted to pray for good weather. And then I reconsidered and thought perhaps I should pray for something a little more important. Being with my sisters will bring me the sunshine I need.

Lisa and Diana flew in with James, Britt and I on Sunday evening the tenth

of April. We had just spent that Saturday together at my nephew Adam's

wedding. We arrived to clear skies. I was able to share the beauty of HMB with them. Including a sunset at the Ritz.

I consider myself a BRAVE women! I drove the Wilson sisters two times into San Francisco. And ended up with only one parking ticket! Actually I must plead Innocent and blame it on the dysfunctional parking

meter!! My first parking ticket ever!

Hanging with my sisters is better than chocolate Cinnamon bears, or chocolate and caramel Macadamia nuts. Hanging with them made my world just plain yummy!

We drove and drove, ate, walked and shopped, and

LAUGHED! The below picture is a winner. It gave Lisa a good 10 minute laugh. We just had to join in with her.

Girls night out? Or should I say girls night in?

Seriously, these are three amazing women! How they decided to pull me in to be there friend I have no idea. But it has saved me from utter, bleak loneliness.

Right is Karen Kirby the Young Women's President whom I work with. She is also a Lawyer for the city of San Francisco. A degree she received while being a single mother of 4 small children on welfare! Next is Caroline Larsen. She is also a single sister who has never been married. She served a spanish speaking mission and is forever helping fellowship the Hispanic community helping bring them into the gospel. She has taken one Mexican boy in at the age of 16 and helped him to serve a mission as well as attend college in Utah. Not to mention she is musically talented up to the wazoo!

The dear friend cooking up dinner is Susan Putnam. AKA my visiting teacher. This is the V.T. that never officially visits. But sweeps me off to lunch, theater performances, adventures etc.. She was from Utah where she married and had children. She is now remarried to a non-member who has blessed the lives of her and her children.

The good was amazingly flavorful and original. She is known for her cooking skills. And she lived up to her reputation. Susan took all this on after putting her dear doggie down earlier that day. Her husband loved that dog like a child. Since Bo has never had children of his own.

She still pulled the night off beautifully.

Young Women Driving hard for Food Drive!

Our Young Women helping with The Second Harvest food drive. Young Women helping included Britt Whitchurch, Aria Chee and Colleen Coberly. It was an early Saturday Morning at the Pacifica Safeway. Where courage and bravery were at the forefront. We had a little taste of missionary rejection syndrome. Asking people to donate was not an easy thing for the girls. And lucky me had to set the example of how do it. Not just once, but over and over again when the girls courage faltered. My eyes were open to the total disinterest in giving shown by the people that came to Safeway's this day was shocking! Was it because people are having hard times themselves? Or possibly they have been asked one to many times. Or simply was it that the Girl Scout girls selling Girl Scout cookies out yelled us at the front doors?

You thought loosing your homework came with excuses! I thing the reasons people couldn't donate won the wacko excuses, excuses of all time. But thankfully for humanity we filled several buckets of food for the needy. And girls including you Britt were fabulous! I was worn to shreds, and Audrie and the girls kept going and going. Great experience

Yes Virginia it does snow in California!

Ahhh the power of “I love you” I’m so far away from home and kids. At times I feel lost on foreign soil. And then the phone rings, a child’s voice (a grown child) and a I love you

a lot mom resonates from the cellular lines. I’m filled for the day, grateful and content.

Flavors of HMB

Sincerely, I wish I had pictures to help describe the people and area in which I live.

On countless occasions I have wanted to scream stop! Could I please take your picture? Knowing that my friends from Utah would be totally enthralled with the unique, strange and quirky, eclectic human side of Northern California. I wish I could give you an accurate view of HMB. It would leave you with a smile on your face. It's like going to the Jelly Belly factory and sampling colorful jelly beans of flavors unrecognizable. Then going over and buying a bag of the misfit jelly beans that were discarded in the discounted grab bags. And all the while loving each and every flavor! That's my Half Moon Bay!

Rain, Rain Rain! This is coastal rain wet, windy and wild. As it rains and I drive soundless in my

BMW X5. I drive a bit grumpy wishing this dark rain pattern would disperse. My perspective then changed. I saw two Hispanic men wearing barely a rain jacket to shield them from the rain. They were pedaling down the coastal highway against the whipping cold wind and lashing rain. They were peddling with all their might and barely going anywhere. The looks of their faces were stressed and distorted. Further down the street several more Hispanic men traveling on bikes early this cold morning to get to work. the majority of immigrant workers are illegal and don't have the documentation or the money to afford cars or gas.

I felt grateful, yet a bit selfish for driving past them in my car.

Later that morning I had to drive up to Stanford Medical Center. Again I found a sight that although similar from the Hispanic men on the bikes, this time it made me smile. Young Students from Stanford University were also riding their bikes in the rain against the wind. This time though they did it with a yuppie flare. A flare that comes from a Liberal  minded, environmentalist crowd. Yes they rode their bikes, but the look was  distinctly different. These students had on stylish rain coats, packs of different sorts and they were sporting umbrellas as they rode. Yes against the wind they carried their umbrellas. they pulled and struggled against the wind to peddle. And I pondered with a smile and saw humor in this attempt to beat the laws of mother nature. Ahhh You've got to love it

My Mother and Eternal Friend

HELEN WILSON

| Visit Guest Book

Helen Jean Steele Wilson 1928 ~ 2011 Our beloved wife, mother, grandma, sister, friend - Helen Jean Steele Wilson, 82 passed away Tuesday, January 25, 2011 at her home after a courageous battle with cancer. Even with her cancer she was an inspiration to us all, saying life was wonderful and worth living. Helen was born Oct, 20, 1928 in Goshen, Utah to Raymond Duane Steele and Golden Blanche Sorensen. Helen loved growing up in the town of Goshen where her beloved father was mayor, educator and author of "Goshen Valley History". Like her father, she embraced learning and excelled in reading, writing, penmanship and spelling bees. She had fond memories of ice skating on Howlers Pond and Goshen Dam, enjoying Easter Egg Hunts on Sand Hill with her family, and frequenting Milo's confectionary store with friends. One of her special memories was working side by side with her father in the alfalfa fields on their 40 acres in Genola. Helen graduated with high honors from Payson High School in 1946. She attended BYU where she was a member of the BYU volleyball team. She married Shirley Wilson September 9, 1950. Their marriage was solemnized in the Manti LDS Temple June 26, 1952. They are the parents of seven children. Helen's first love was her family -devoting herself to homemaking and raising her seven children. Later in life, her greatest joy was being a grandma, loving and supporting her 32 grandchildren. She was a talented homemaker and beautiful seamstress. She was resourceful and hard working and capable of tackling any job such as bookkeeping for her husband's upholstery business, gardening, canning fruit, painting the house inside and out while keeping it clean and attractive. Mom and Dad enjoyed traveling together throughout many parts of the world. They recently celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary. Dads love and devotion to our mother will always be remembered. During her life, among her many talents and hobbies, Mom embraced music. She played the piano and was 1st chair clarinetist in High School. She sang with the Goshen Singing Mothers at the age of 12 and sang most of her adult life in church and civic choirs, including La Nesta Chorus, and Payson Civic Choral. Helen was skilled at short hand, recording patriarchal blessings for the Stake Patriarch's at age fifteen. Before she started her family, she was a longtime teller and stenographer at First Security Bank in Payson. After her children were raised, she worked at Payson High School for 14 years as a counselor secretary and later as a front office attendance secretary. In 2002 Helen was awarded the "PHS Distinguished Alumni Award". She was a longtime member of the Payson Civic Jr. Cultus Club. Helen served in many church callings, including Visiting Teacher, Primary President, Relief Society 1st Counselor and teacher, Young Women Advisor, Primary Pianist and Compassionate Service Leader. Mom loved life and the people in it. She was a friend to all. She had unconditional love and possessed the ability to make a person feel loved and special. Mom was smart, wise and witty and had a fun personality; she was a good sport and laughed easily. We shall miss her sense of humor and clever sayings. Mom loved reading the scriptures. Her faith and commitment to the gospel made her a source of spiritual strength for all of us. She was and is a faithful daughter of God with a strong testimony of Jesus Christ who valued her membership in the LDS church throughout her beautiful life. Survivors include: her husband, Shirley, Payson; children, David S. (Colleen), Santaquin; Dennis R. (Michelle), Cottonwood Heights; Diana (Dan) Steele, Elk Ridge; Lisa (Terry) Montague, St. George; Fran (James) Whitchurch, Half Moon Bay, CA; Doug (Jill), Payson; Kent (Loni), Spanish Fork; 32 grandchildren; 18 great-grandchildren; siblings, Paul Duane Steele, Payson; Dorothy Blanche Wilkenson Burdick, Salt Lake City; step-siblings, Elora Hilderbrand, Mississippi; Carol Nielson, Chico, CA. She was preceded in death by: her parents; siblings, Louis Faye Rohrbaugh, Evelyn Elaine Done Pazzaglia; step-siblings, George Burgi, Eugene Webb; one grandson and one great-granddaughter. Funeral services will be Saturday, January 29, 2011, 11:00 a.m., in the Mtn. View 5th Ward Chapel, 789 East Arrowhead Trail (700 North), Payson. Friends may call at the Walker Mortuary, 587 South 100 West, Payson, Friday, 6-8:00 p.m. or at the church Saturday, 9:45-10:45 a.m. Burial will be in the Payson City Cemetery. Condolences may be sent to the family at: www.walkerfamilymortuary.com.

Being home

The last week I have been caring for my precious mother. It has been a joy to serve her. There is nothing left of her body but bones and a very strong spirit. On one day my dad and I wept as she lay incoherent on the couch. We thought she would never become fully conscious again. But there is no one like my mother! That night as Joshua came and sat down beside her and said "Grandma It's Joshua I'm here, I love you." My mother opened her eyes. The two hugged and mom continued to pat Joshua's arm with tender love.

Aaron and Annie, Chris and Alana all visited. The next day my mom decided it wasn't time to go. When I went to check on her she was

awake and alert. She smile and said you are a gem. Then she said actually you

are my Precious Gem! My mom never complains. She is faithful and valiant in every moment. She continues to give to us. When it is our time to give.

I have flown back to California. I was expecting to have a funeral. But not today (momma said!)

Pictures:

Me and my dad

Me and my mom

Joshua and Grandma

Aaron, Grandma and Annie

My mother has taken a downward turn. We were well aware and knew that there was no other way for her to go. We have seen miracles by having her live this long. And miracles to have her return to being mentally sharp and alert. Very true, real miracles indeed. Oh but I love my mom so dearly. No matter how this story unfolds, I will miss her deeply! I ache deep within my heart and soul. I feel anguish to the core of my being. My mother and has always been my everything. And the loss of her being with us will be incomparable to anything and irreplaceable to me her daughter.

I am very homesick tonight. I just want to go home!