Come Fly With Me....

I got my job! Woo Hoo! I am so excited. The interview process started at 9:45 and I didn't get home until 6:30 but it was all worth it. I am so excited! I am the newest Alaska Airlines customer service representative for Alaska Air. Eventually I will be working Part Time (20 hours) and I get full flight and medical benefits (including orthodontist... Darcy gets head gear later this year). I will either start Feb 4th or March 3rd (I want to start the 4th but I am wait listed for training). I am so excited!

Church News

Currently my calling is 2nd counselor in the Young Women. I love my girls so much. Their life is not easy. They have a lot trials. Each week I only have about 2 hours with them to help them know that their Heavenly Father loves them and so do I, the Church is true and if you Choose the Right and follow Gods plan...you will find eternal happiness.

Wayne is the 1st counselor in the Bishopric. He loves his calling. He enjoys meeting with members of the ward and issuing callings. He is great when he conducts. There is always a laugh or too. He loves it when people hand their tithing to him. He feels like people like him when they choose him to give their tithing to to him. So make sure when you hand in your tithing, spread it around with all the members of the bishopric.

Darcy is in CTR 11 - This year her teacher is Larinda Schott and Darcy loves her. I can't believe in a year and a half Darcy will be in Young Women! CRAZY!

Dixie is in CTR 9 - Her teacher this year speaks Japanese. The first Sunday of the year Dixie gave a talk in primary and she had just came from class with her new teacher. Dixie gets up and says, "Good Afternoon or as they say in Japanese, ASDLKFJALKCVUOW." I guess her teacher told them Good Afternoon in Japanese and Dixie tried to incorporate it to her lesson. She thought she was very clever.

Dillon is in CTR 6 - He is a bit of a card. A few months ago, someone from primary came into the clerks office to find Wayne. Apparently they couldn't find Dillon. He had asked to get a drink of water and they just assumed that he would get a drink in the fountain and come back. Apparently Dillon had other plans. He went out in to the car and found my water bottle and was hanging out in the car kickin' back for a bit. Needless to say...Dillon is now accompanied anywhere he goes.

Denim is in Sunbeams - She LOVES primary. She loves the singing, class time, the whole shebang.

MAN DOWN!!!

Each year we like to do a lot of Christmas Decorations...i also do some fall decorations. This year as I was putting up the Fall decorations, I told Wayne,"I hate doing these high decorations...they scare me...this year for Christmas, you are doing them." The first week of December we had a Relief Society dinner at our house.I told wayne he needed to change the cookie jar collection from fall to christmas. Remember...I told you you to do it this year."Oh, No amy. It is your dangerous...exciting thing in your life" Ha Ha Wayne...I don't need anymore excitement in my life...please take care of it. A few minutes later I am in the office and I hear a thump and then, "MAN DOWN! MAN DOWN!" Ha Ha Wayne...you are really funny! As I walked slowly into the front room I thought...who are you a Caption in Battle calling in on your short wave radio for reinforcements?...I found my Husband grabbing is foot and crying out in pain. I still thought he was making fun of me having no "Danger" in my life. It took me a good 5 minutes to realize that he was serious. Needless to say Wayne broke 4 bones in his foot. The good news is that I finally found time to write my blog...I am typing on a lap top in my husbands hospital room. He had surgery on December 26th. He is now somewhat of a "hero" of sorts to some as many husbands have told us that their wife told them to put up the christmas decorations and they said...Can't do it...I might end up like wayne.
One thing I learned from this experience is ..."Man Down!" Is not a laughing matter.This Christmas plans changed when we learned of Wayne's surgery date. So at the last minute we decided to spend Christmas in California. Again, good but short time. Wayne and i left Christmas evening to drive home to Las Vegas for early morning surgery the next day. Christmas was great because again, the full Gates Clan was together. I don't know when that will happen again, but it was fun to enjoy if only for a moment.

Wayne and I Cruise the Caribbean

After months and months of planning, the big day finally came. A few years ago, My parents took us on a cruise. We got to go with the full Gates Clan.(Full at the time...kids and all...this was before Hock and Ryan were in-laws). I knew then that I was a cruiser at heart!As was Wayne, the day we came home is the day we planned for our next one. Since then, I check every so often to see if a great deal on a cruise comes up.Back in May that day came up. I sent out a mass e-mail to all I thought would enjoy to come along. We ended up with a group of 20!To say that we had a great time is an understatement. It can only be described as Legendary!If you are reading this blog and say...hey I want to go on the next one...just let me know and I will add you to the list. I my onion, cruising with a group of fun people makes the cruise from lovely to LEGENDARY! I would love to cruise once a year...however, we need to sell our house first.

Thanksgiving 2008

Thanksgiving was a great time. The entire Dittbrenner Gang came to Las Vegas. It was great to have everyone together. The only bad part was the good times were too short. The day after thanksgiving shopping was fun as usual.

I get my Young Woman Medallion...again.

This past year I have been serving as YW leader in my ward. I have really liked getting to know all the girls. I have a soft spot in my heart for them. At the beginning of the year I thought it would be fun to earn my YW medallion again,so I set to work. I really liked being reminded about the values I grew up with. Faith, Divine Nature, Individual Worth, Knowledge, Choice and Accountability, Good Works and Integrity. It was great to be studding and setting goals in my life and activity trying to become a better daughter of god. One of my goals was to be a choreographer for "Dancing thru the Decades". It was musical review for the young men and young women in the stake. The purpose of the program was to get the young men and young women to get to know more kids in the stake. I thought it was a fabulous idea. I was in charge of choreographing the opening and finale. I even got to perform in the "Today" routine "Get your head in the game".

DC to Disney

This year we got the opportunity to go to Washington DC and Disneyworld with Kids Are Music. The kids got to perform with the group. I really enjoyed watching them perform. Dillon was Hilarious! He was great at hamming it up for the crowd. Denim was a great natural performer. It is 6 months later and she still sings some of the songs. She also fell in love with Bobby Collins. Still talks about him. Darcy was are friend maker. She got to know a lot of the girls on the trip that she still talks about. Dixie was the party animal. She reminded me of me. She wanted to see everything! All the museums and all the rides possible.

Home for Sale

2 years ago Wayne and I bought a piece of land on a Golf Course in Seven Hills, NV. After much blood, sweat (mostly Wyane's) and tears (mostly mine) about 6 months ago we finished the house and it is up for sale...know any takers?

For those of you that care...

For those of you that care what Amy is up to and are sick of waiting around for her to blog, I will update you. She has a fun interview next Thursday for a job with Alaska Airlines. She is way excited about it. The only problem is that they don't fly into Virginia or North Carolina. GRRR!! But we think that one of the companies partners may. But we are not sure how that works exactly. She is also excited b/c it may also give my mom and dad flying privileges. Good Luck Amy!

For My Sister

I have been bugging my sister to start this blog for some time. So I decided to start it for her. Hopefully she will see the vision and use it! Journal away baby! -Mitzi