Yesterday, my mother-in-law took my sisters-in-law and I out to celebrate Mother’s Day. We went out to lunch and then we went and pampered ourselves with pedicures. This post is about how each woman there is so absolutely remarkable that I can’t help but sit in awe as we chit-chat and just discuss life with each other. I find myself much quieter than usual as I am in their presence because I want to soak up everything they say.

Brooke – I relate so much to this awesome girl. Her trials are a bit similar to mine, but she is so focused — somehow her perspective of the gospel is right on and her hope for life is so inspiring. I wish for myself the courage that she has.

Jen is such a classy chick. Her taste is unmatched and so is her absolute DEVOTION to those that she loves. People who have earned her love are so lucky to have her in their lives.

Amber – Talk about having your priorities straight. Amber is never wavering. She never has to question what the right thing to do would be. She is the best wife and mother. When I grow up, I want to be just like her.

Of course, the woman that inspired this entry at all, is my wonderful mother-in-law Pam. She’s a mother-in-law I’d like to call mother. She is a pillar of strength to everyone around her. She accepted me into her family no questions asked. She supports all of the women I mentioned above and everyone needs her. In respect, she comes only second to my own mother. I love these Wily women and I’m overjoyed to be numbered among them.

I know it’s been a long time since I posted, but I did have a baby. Check her out at violet.wilys.com. She is a real beauty and after struggling with choosing her name, you’ll never believe what I finally decided on. Go ahead and check my earlier post about that. Why did I struggle with the name, I had it all along!

I’m pretty sure that only my husband Zachie will be reading this post, but I need to write it anyway and send it out to the world. I miss my friends. They died with their daughter last July and I still feel a hole in my life. Jana was one of my favorite people. She and I were like magnets attracting to each other at every get together. I always wanted to be around her. She was spunky and smart and loud and mean–and I loved every bit of it. That’s because when you were alone with her she was genuine, caring, sensitive, and just plain beautiful. Bridger has been one of my greatest friends over the past 18 years. When I say greatest friends, I mean that he was great at being my friend, because even though he was a guy’s guy, he had a real caring heart for me. I’ll never forget a time when I was struggling with something very secret and it was like he read my mind, knew everything about me deep down and just hugged me for several minutes. He didn’t have to say a word and I didn’t have to explain. That really sums up our relationship.

Jana and Bridger were the perfect couple, because they were near perfect individuals in my mind. They are two of the most influential people of my life and they left my life way too early. I miss them.

I know lots of people miss them so I want to start a forum in their honor. We can talk about them, post pics of them, and of course keep in touch with each other. Zachie, my brilliant, amazing, talented husband will surely help me make the site happen. Right?

As many people who will be reading this post know, I had a very short pregnancy from December to January ending in a miscarriage. The pregnancy lasted just long enough for me to get excited about baby stuff (and of course, not long enough to really start worrying about my possible inadequacies of being a mother!). I’ve tried to convince my husband that it is normal for most girls to keep a running list of baby names in their head, even in high school. When I found out that I was pregnant, I felt validated in writing the names down.

The short list of names soon became a table and everything evolved from there. The table has been revised several times with additions and subtractions. The list has become a living entity. It has a life of its own. Zach and I have a system of narrowing the list. He crosses one name off of the list each Friday and I can veto or add a new name to the list once a month. If we get pregnant in the near future then in about 10 months or so, we should have a couple of girl names and a couple of boy names. You can download the names below. Please comment on them, if you so desire. I would love to know what you think.

Top 10 Names for a Girl or a Boy

So Zach and I accompanied 19 Lehi cheerleaders to one of the most dangerous cities in the U.S.–Hollywood, CA. Needless to say, it was a very interesting trip. Zach seemed to enjoy himself most of the time (I think he’s finally living out his high school fantasies). I, on the other hand, struggled to “chill out” as Zach continually told me to do. The stress of watching out for 19 underage girls really got to me and I found it hard to relax enough to have a really good time.

The good news is that the girls had a fabulous time, which means that my planning was not in vain. I have spent about 4 months now planning this trip and they loved it. The highlights, in my mind, include:

• watching nearly 10 high school cheerleaders swim in the ocean fully clothed!
• laughing about the vintage 50s hotel that most would not consider a laughing matter.
• taking 2nd place at the competition.
• observing cheerleaders who originally thought that Hollywood would be a glamorous place realize that maybe Lehi, Utah, is actually the better place to live.

and finally . . .

• seeing my husband play “daddy” to the girls. (He was responsible for telling two creepy overage men to get lost when they were hitting on the cheerleaders!)

Though I couldn’t quite relax on the trip, there were some enjoyable times with my new husband. We got to spend almost an entire day alone at Disneyland, the most magical place on Earth. We had a great time–a flawless day. We also walked down the Santa Monica pier and the scenery couldn’t be better.

Welcome to my blog. I’m glad that you came because you want to see what’s new in my life. I plan on updating often, so keep checking back. I love Zach Wily.