Goodbye 2009.....Hello 2010

It sure has been a crazy year!! I lost track of time and haven't even blogged on here since Mother's Day weekend. We had a wonderful family gathering at Christmas time as we were able to share it with Dad and Mom who flew in from Arizona and as I type they are on a plane back to the warmer climate of Arizona. My cousin's from Florida Bret and Ursula came up north to celebrate both Thanksgiving and Christmas with us this year. It is amazing to stay connected to family. Brian and Jeannie hosted Christmas at their house once again with Jeannie's family and our family together. I love those times together.


Our year started out horrible as Ron lost his job due to economic downfall at Ecolab. We were very fortunate to have him find a job as a manager of a call center at AT&T and so far he loves the slower pace and less work hours, however the downside is that he is on 2nd shift and has missed a lot of family time due to the hours he works. Again we feel blessed to be employed when so many of our friends are not.


Ron and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary with a trip to Riverside Casino and Golf Resort only to be sequestered in a tornado shelter for 2 hours with 300 of our closest friends!! It will be something we will forever remember. Kylie also celebrated her 10th Birthday this year.

My stepson Scott graduated from High School in 2009 and is now working full time in Quincy. He turned 19 in the summer and is hopefully coming up soon to visit us.

Kylie is in 5th Grade and keeps us very busy. She played softball this year and came home with some hardware as they won tournament and league play. She is on a traveling Lady Rocks team in Basketball and our newest adventure is Volleyball for the RI Destroyers...she loves it. She continues to amaze us with her grades and her brain power. She has been selected again to attend IMSA (Illinois Math and Science Academy) in the fall and pursue her love of Math and Science. She recently won second place in her school at the Spelling Bee as well. She is my heart and I find that every day spent with her is my gift from God.

My newest gift is my nephew Bryce. He is now 18 months old and is a very active little boy who has killer eyes. He was featured on a cover of magazine for the Chicago land area so he is now a COVERBOY!! I am lucky that my Brother and sister in law open up their home to me almost once every month for me to come up and get my Bryce fix. He sure can make a person laugh and smile.

My parents are well. They continue to split their time between the QCA and Phoenix and enjoy the warmer climate. They just got done spending a week in the cold and snow of Illinois and are looking forward to their return to the HEAT! Health wise they have both had their problems but they keep a young at heart attitude. My mom will be celebrating her 72nd Birthday in January and my father 73 in September.

It has now been a year without my grandmother Leona Jordan and there isn't a day that goes by without me thinking of her and wishing for that ONE MORE DAY with her. I was lucky to spend so much time with her growing up and enjoyed spending time with her when I grew older as well. I have missed her terribly but have fond memories of her that make me strong and keeps me going. So if you are out and about at a casino this year sometime drop a dollar in a slot machine and think of her for me...you might just win.

Ron and I are both on the road to losing weight and becoming a bit more healthy. We have both lost a considerable amount and continue to work on it. The holidays have been a challenge but we vow to be strong in 2010. In September I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes and now must work hard in eliminating this from my life. I can beat it and I do intend to do so....how can anyone afford to have it as our insurance doesn't cover supplies...YIKES!!

I am still working for Dr. Simmer on a part time basis and am very active at Kylie's school and in the community. I did, however, in 2009 step down from a few of my commitments. I am no longer the PTA President and no longer Active in Jr. Board. I do however, still serve on both areas but in a role that does not require many hours. I did this for Kylie and for myself.

I hope you all had a wonderful 2009 but look forward to a better 2010. Take time to make memories, reconnect with a lost friend, say "I LOVE YOU" to people who mean the most to you and never stop discovering something new. We all need a little of all of that in our lives. GOOD LUCK in 2010!!

Lisa

Happy Mother's Day

Today was a blessing. I spent the day in bed till 8:03am and most of you that know me know that I don't sleep in like that at all. I am usually up by 6am daily. So for me to sleep in was a pure gift. Kylie got up shortly after I did and came out of her room with a homemade card ran up to me hugged me and said "Happy Mother's Day". I love the simple handmade by her cards. I think I have kept them all. Inside her card today said " Hope you have a wonderful Mother's Day! You Rock because you are always there for me" What mother could ask for anything more than to be recognized for always being there?

We went to lunch with my mom and dad as well as Maggie and Len King. We had a simple lunch at Hy-Vee in Milan because we all could get what we wanted. It was nice. I know you are wondering why I am telling you all these details but I had the salad bar and the featured soup on todays salad bar was GOULASH. Yes goulash is a german soup that my grandmother would make on special occassions. I lost my grandmother in December and it was totally ironic that today GOULASH SOUP was on the salad bar. I had to have a bowl and think of her. It was the sign I needed today. I miss her horribly.

Ron, Kylie and I went for a walk at Black Hawk State Park before coming home. It was a perfect ending to a wonderful weekend. The only down side of it all is that Grandma wasn't with us this year and that my sister in law celebrated her 1st Mother's day in Chicago with her family and we weren't there for her. She knows we are thinking of her and love her and we hope her 1st Mother's Day with Bryce was special. My brother had better been good to her. I know he was he is a good guy.

I hope all of you had a wonderful day and enjoyed it with your family. What a beautiful day.

Our 10 year Anniversary

The Wymer family has been going strong for 10 years as of today. Ron and I are celebrating our 10 year anniversary. Wow how time goes by so quickly. I must admit I married a good guy and we have had our share of ups and downs but he continues to make me laugh every single day and has brought so much joy into my life.

Tulips were our flowers during the wedding. Purple and white to be exact my favorite flower. So to my surprise these were waiting for me on my table this morning and they make me believe Spring is here. I LOVE THEM.

He is full of surprises. We will be celebrating together at a later date as we will be spending a weekend together somewhere. We never had a honeymoon so we want to get away for a weekend after all my fundraising is done and since my parents are back we are hoping Kylie will get to stay with them.

So today for us take a moment to tell each other why you love one another. Take time to make you stronger as a couple. My favorite saying is that we can love and spend so much time together as a family but if we don't work on our relationship a family we might not have to cherish. Ron and I take time for one another, we talk things out and there isn't a day we don't say we love one another and show it. I am spoiled and I know it, but he also knows how much I love him.

Spring Break 09

My mother surprised Kylie and I with tickets for 2 weeks in Arizona. She used some of the money my grandmother left her and she wanted to fly us out to see them. It has been 5 years since we have been down here to visit. Dad took Kylie and I to a Cubs game on Wednesday and then he took his favorite person in the whole world back on Friday...it wasn't me for those keeping tabs. Kylie is enjoying the whole experience and is creating lifetime memories with her grandparents. Somehow my grandmother is smiling down knowing that her money was spent well and the memories I have with her are not being created between her great grandchild and her daughter. Ron had to stay home as he has started his new job and that will be very valuable to us in the future. Although we miss him we are having a great time. WE have another week here to create more memories. Hope everyone else is having a great spring break.

A sigh of relief!!

Thank you to all our friends and family who have been concerned for us these past few weeks. Ron found a job and will be starting on March 2nd. It has been driving him crazy to be home and not have a gig. Although this job is quite a bit less than what he was making at Ecolab we will do what it takes to get it done. The only other bad thing about it is that it is second shift and that he will miss a lot of our family time..he will however, be home on the weekends. We are very thankful and feel blessed there was something out there for him. I know that it has been very hard for so many and we have seen other people close to us lose their job as well. Tomorrow night is our annual Mardi Gras gala and we have a reason to celebrate. Hope all is well with out friends and family members.

A bit of News!!

If you haven't heard yet Ron did lose he job on Tuesday of last week. We are okay and feel this might be an opportunity to find something more or better in the next few weeks. WE are okay and we appreciate all our friends and family who have called to lend support or offer us help. We are very blessed to have so many friends. It has been told to us to let everyone we know that Ron is looking for a job. Experts say that the best form of networking is friends and family members. So keep and eye open for us and let us know if you find anything. Ron has been working for Ecolab for the past 10 years in several different management roles and sales and servie. He is tech trained via the Navy and has worked on copiers, faxes, banking equipment and of course all aspects of restaurant and hotel machines. He isn't afraid of work and this past week he has become stir crazy and hopes to find something to do soon. Thanks in advance for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers.

We survived and need one more miracle!!

Saturday evening turned horrible around the Wymer house. I became very sick. Spent most of the night in the bathroom and became dehydrated. I followed the doctors orders and starved my virus and became feeling better around noon on Sunday. My worst nightmare came true and Kylie and Ron caught this horrible stomach virus last night and we were in for yet another long night. They are both doing better and we feel we have beat this round of sickness. It wasn't a good weekend and start to the week around here.

Tonight we get word that Ron needs to meet with his boss tomorrow along with several other Ecolab employees. We have no idea why and they are not letitng us know. We are fearing his job is at stake and his current position with the company will be elminated. It is happening all over the place and we are not immune to it. In fact the last few days we haven't been immune to a lot of things. I know we are not the only family going through it as it is on the news nightly. However it is the scariest thing we might have to face yet. Please wish us luck and I will keep you posted. I thought 2009 was going to be a good year...not so far.

Junior Board of Rock Island

Most of you know that I am involved in Junior Board of Rock Island. This going on my 5th year with the organization. We have an annual Mardi Gras Gala fundraiser each year to raise money to aid different children organizations in the Quad Cities. Now that the New Year has begun we all swing into Mardi Gras mode as our evening is on Feb. 21st this year. Today was our attendants social, a afternoon of getting to know the young women who will be honored, pages and the crownbearers. I LOVE this organization. I have met some amazing women and feel very strong about our NEST Program that aids low income pregnant mothers to get proper prenatal care, this program is the reason why I do what I do within the organization.

I am hoping if you are reading my blog that this year you choose to join Ron and I on Feb. 21st at our gala. Great food, music and fun I will promise you. To order tickets you can go to www.jbri.org and purchase them. If you can't join us consider please making a donation to this wonderful organization.

Welcome 2009

2009 is upon us. The last month in 2008 simply got away from me. I didn't even get Christmas cards out for the first time since Kylie has been born. Amazing. We spent a week up at my brother's home to celebrate Christmas for the first time with Bryce. My parents flew in from Arizona and it was nice. They are back now in the warmth of Arizona. I believe they are happier people out there where it is warm 24/7 plus Dad will be able to take in some Cub games before the season begins. THIS IS OUR YEAR RIGHT??

Ron has had the whole week off from work. He had to use it or he would have lost the days. Since New Year's Eve the 3 of us have played games, battled ankle deep water in our basement and frankly have enjoyed one another. It has been nice to sleep in till 8am and not run around in the morning to try to get out of here. I got back to work on the 6th as Kylie returns to school on that day.

I hope 2009 will bring great things to all of you. I have a few busy weeks ahead as I will help with the Jr. Board of RI Mardi Gras Gala on Feb. 21st. Visit www.jbri.org to buy tickets if you want to join Ron and I . It is a great night and we raise money for the children of the Quad Cities.

Tuesday January 6th is also a spaghetti dinner/ Rally for David Levin who is running for the mayor of Rock Island. It is at Martini's on the river and we would love for you to join us that evening as well. Donation of $10.00 would be appreciated to help him fund his campaign for mayor. Change is coming to RI as well as the current mayor is not running this year in over 20+ years. David also has a blog and you can access it by http://www.levinformayor.com/ Don't forget to vote.

Life resumes to normal in a few days...The Wymer's hope you had a wonderful Holiday season.