Merry Christmas Spencer! Love, Alyssa

This year, I had the opportunity to do service for my cousin Spencer! I love Spencer so much, and I've always felt like we've had a special bond and he's always been so inclusive to me. We have so many fun memories such as attempting for an entire summer to watch Pirates of the Caribbean and only getting 15 minutes into it, or the time that we dressed up in gorilla suits and ran around for the fun of it (see picture below). :)

I've always admired a lot of things about Spencer. He's such a positive person and is so great at showing genuine love to everyone around him. This year was especially exciting for him because he got married to the amazing Talia!!

As I thought about what service I could do for Spencer this year, I decided that one of the best things I could do would be to help him during his wedding. It wasn't a huge act of service, but I helped serve cake at his wedding and also picked up garbage afterwards. I'm so happy for you Spencer and so glad I had the opportunity to do some service for you this year!

To Cristina Love Katherine

I have been so proud to watch your journey since sweet David passed. You have stepped up and taken care of your family and yourself like a champ. I love seeing you learn to take care of your body with exercise and nutrition. It's so good for your mind too according to Pres. Monson. Your keeping your children anxiously engaged with music and sports and service. It's marvelous to hear the steps you've taken to connect with transplant recipients and their stories. We have all been blessed and have grown so much having you in our lives. What a journey it's been for all of us in all capacities.

I really wanted to help you physically with flooring and I still will. Just let us know when. :)

When Liz told me about her friend Katie who lost her husband similar to yours my heart went out to her immediately. I was happy to help and donated money to the go fund me to help with this sweet stranger and her eight children.

I also was able to finish up some quilts for the humanitarian center at welfare square.

We're grateful for your family.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas Bruce from Kevan

Merry Christmas Bruce!  Though I was tempted to find a way to somehow find service opportunities by fishing or golfing in your honor :)   we both know that true service in your behalf eventually needs to involve a paint brush.

 

On Labor Day, the Whipple family spent the day serving Aunt Gay.  The older girls cleaned and scrubbed her barbeque grill.  The younger kids helped weed and paint.  Laura and I painted her back deck.  The wood was definitely worn by the elements and in great need of some love.  So, that is exactly what we gave it.  After several hours and a couple cans of paint, the deck looked absolutely beautiful.  You would have been so proud.

 

 

Thank you for giving me (and our family) the opportunity to serve our beloved Aunt Gay in your honor!

 

 

 

 

 

to Lexi from Maegann

This year, I had Lexi and since she use to volunteer for Operation Smile and now sells Lip Sense, I wanted to do something with "smiles". So I got little smiling quotes with laffy-taffies and passed them out at school. People really liked them. One friend of mine mentioned that it's really great because a lot of kids at my school think they dont really have much to smile about this time of year. But I was able to remind them that they do. 

To: Andrew Love: Libby

This year I had Andrew. As I sat and thought about all the amazing qualities that he has one of the ones that stood out to me was how hard working and helpful without complaint he is. So instead of a service I set more of a New Years resolution. Normally I am the type to make resolutions and then being awful at keeping them and mostly forget or give up completely. But this time I was absolutely determined to go strong. So I made the resolution to be more organized in my own space (my room, back pack, planner, etc.) and also be more organized about my time. I tried to spend a lot less time on my phone and more time being with people I love and trying to keep things organized. I learned really quickly its not easy but definitely possible to break old habits. With the clean part of the story, I had to keep in mind that keeping up is easier than catching up. Normally I wait for a couple of days, then clean. But I tried really hard to keep it consistently clean. This made so much more of a difference than I thought. I felt so much more in control of my life and a lot happier in general. And with that comes organization of time. I knew I spent a lot of time on my phone, but what I didn't realize was how often I would check it for just a couple of minutes at a time. I wouldn't normally spend hours at a time on my phone but it definitely was something I regularly checked. I realized that when I wasn't checking my phone, even if its just checking the time or if I had any notifications, I felt a lot more a part of my friends and everyone around me's lives. My friends tried it with me and we all agreed that  at the end of the day, it is hard breaking old habits, but its definitely worth it and our time spent together became a lot more meaningful. Anyway I know I didn't do any noticeable service for the year but I am very grateful for the new habits formed and the closer relationships with everyone around me. Merry Christmas Andrew! I love you!

Merry Christmas Brian! Love, Nicki

"Hello you Beautiful Bodells!" Brian says in his booming deep voice a few times a week on our Marco Polo group.  He then proceeds to share with us what he's made for breakfast for his cute family.  I love this on many levels.  I love that he's connecting with our Bodell family that maybe wouldn't know him well otherwise.  I love that his kids get a hot breakfast in their tummies to start the school day.  I love that he sacrifices his sleep/time to make that happen. 

I love breakfast, but I am not a morning person.  I have been less generous with my time/sleep and my kids grew up eating cold cereal most of their lives. To be fair, Erik has started to make Jacob a big breakfast every day, but that is not me.  I love to sleep in.  As I thought about Brian I thought about how much I admired this attribute in him.  I resolved to make some hot breakfasts for my family!  I work at 7am, and most of my kids would have to travel to my house for breakfast so week-days were out.  I set aside several Saturdays and invited my kids to breakfast.  We had Christmas Casserole, crepes, pumpkin pancakes etc... and my family gathered around the table to start our weekends together. We enjoyed the time and food!

I realized this was kind of a selfish service since I really do love yummy breakfasts.  So, I also decided to buy some food for the food-bank and donate it.  Hopefully this will help families in need get some food in their bellies too.  Merry Christmas Brian!

Brother-in-laws are the greatest... I should know. To Wes, from Al

I've had brother-in-law's since I was 5. So I know how important they are to a family. This year I was given Wes's name to do service in behalf of. An opportunity provided itself, when a different brother-in-law (Cindy's brother Craig) needed help moving across the continent. I flew to New Hampshire on June 16th, and spent three days packing up my brother-in-law's house, to help him move to Utah.

Craig & Danielle had lived in New Hampshire for over 10 years, and as humans on planet Earth tend to do, had accumulated many things. I helped to sort, pack, load, and clean everything there. We slept on couches and air mattresses until even those were packed. On the day the truck showed up, and I assisted in packing everything Craig owned into an ABF truck.

I wouldn't fly across the continent, to help just anyone to move. Family is family and I'm glad that I was able to help Craig in this endeavor. Wes, if you ever need help for anything, even if it's moving across the world, let me know. I'll be there.