True Companions

My name is Jennifer Woolf. I am Jerry’s favorite youngest daughter. Please forgive me if my thoughts are a bit scattered, but I just wanted to share a few of my favorite moments with you about my dad. My dad was…..well, my dad. He was big and tough and strong and yet sweet and caring and compassionate. And he knew everything about everything – or at least something about everything. I have never known a person whose quest for knowledge never ended. There was always more for him to learn, another book for him to read. And I am very curious to know if he had actually gotten the opportunity to read every book that he owned. Books were one of his many passions. It made me laugh to know that the women at the library had limited him to the number of books he could check out at one time. My dad read to me every night before bed for as long as I can remember. Even after my parents divorced, my dad would keep books at his house and call every night to read to me over the phone. He taught me how...

Jennifer is a bit preoccupied with assisting her sister with the formalities of the passing of a loved one, so I hope I don't do any disservice to his memory by writing this blog post. Gerald, Gerry, or Papa Bear as Jennifer lovingly called him, is Jennifer's father. I believe he passed away on June 24th, 2008. He was 80. Grandpa Shepardson was a very talented man, a concert-level pianist and very intelligent. He did a wonderful job of preparing Jennifer to marry me, because he loved music, photography, thrift shopping, "STUFF", dry humor, bad puns, reading, sharing the knowledge of his passions, and sarcasm. I love him and was sad to hear of his passing. I'm not sure if I expressed to Jennifer my admiration for her father, but I certainly hope she knows that I have always felt him to be a kindred spirit from the day I met him face to face. We love you Papa Bear! You will be missed.

Miss Jileighan Greer Woolf was born on Wednesday, June 11th at 2:58 p.m. She was 6 lbs. 1 oz. and 21 inches long. She is beautiful (not that I am biased at all) and perfect!! Both she and I are feeling great! She was my longest labor - but 6 hours still isn't bad!! Once she decided she was ready to come she came quick. I was admitted to the hospital to be induced Wednesday morning at 5:00 a.m. The doctor came to see me at 9:00 a.m. I was dilated to 3 and he broke my water. We figured at that point it would go really quick (as Danny was only 2 1/2 hours). Jilly had other plans. My doc came back a couple of times and at 2:00 I was only to a 4. At 2:30 the nurse came in and said that Jilly's heart rate was dropping with every contraction. If I was at a 6 that would be fine because she was moving into the birth canal, if I was still at a 4 we would have to figure out what was wrong. She checked me and I was barely at a 6. She was standing at the computer inputting the up...

Jennifer gave birth to a beautiful baby girl at 2:58pm. She weighed in at 6 lbs. 1 oz. and was 21 inches. She is healthy and happy and so are her parents. YAY!! Here are some pictures . .: (You really should read this first!) :.

Photography by jcvigi . (I know, scary!) 'Sup? Originally uploaded by mortonphotographic . Speaking of 10+ lbs. per photo... I must have had about 10 cameras on me.. Yikes!

.: (You really should read this first!) :. With the end of my pregnancy drawing near I wanted some pictures taken so that I could remember my belly in all its glory. Now, I know that I am huge....but I don't think I realized how huge I was until I saw the pics. See Andie - I promised!! Now, these have not been touched by Greg's handy dandy program that makes all bad things disappear - hence the reason my arms are still fat. :-) But this is me in all my glory. Everyone is amazed that I am willing to post them... but I actually think it is amazing what the body does when you are pregnant and I think it is fun to look at them. I am scheduled to be induced next Wednesday, June 11 th . So I am glad we were able to get the pictures taken before then. I saw a picture of a pregnant belly with a child's hand on it and tried to duplicate it. Kendall was sleeping so there are only 4 of the children behind me. Greg is going to touch this one up, focus more on the belly and ...

Our friends Bekki and Adam's 4 year old son, Garrett, lost his fight with Encephalitis yesterday. It is horribly sad and frightening how quickly something like this can happen. Garrett had a fever and went to bed the night before with some Tylenol and then never woke up. They tried to save him in the PICU but the swelling in the brain was too much. Please take a moment to remember them in your prayers as they can use all the comfort that they can get. Garrett's blog: http://garrettwrussell.blogspot.com/

So I have decided to start writing down all the things I eat. It really forces me to consider the junk I put into my body. Hopefully I will lose weight, but I think I will need to increase my exercise. I currently walk about 20mins a day during work (during lunch). I eat about 350 - 400 cals in the morning and about the same at lunch. Generally I eat around 1300 to 1800 calories a day. So I am on the right path. Having just started however, I am always 'hungry'.. like I need to munch on something. Sometimes my stomach growls, but I dont' really feel like EATING is the answer.. more like it's the HABIT. It is really tough. :(

OK. Andrea - you are right! I totally suck at this blogging thing. Can I blame it on my pregnancy (I do everything else!)? There are so many things I need to update! Pinewood Derby (Hunter placed 2nd), Easter (We had a great trip to California), Hunter's baptism, Hana's Baptism, Hunter first baseball game, Danny's first t-ball game. Oh my gosh I am getting overwhelmed as we speak. I will put all of these things in here one at a time. Keep watching....... I will try to quit being a slacker!!! (But not tonight I am tired!! - blame it on the pregnancy!!)

Elder Quentin L. Cook - Heed the words of the Prophets. H. David Burton - Benefits of Helping hands and service efforts. Dean R. Burgess - Do you know who you are? You are a priesthood holder and a son of God. John M. Madsen - To the 12 year old deacons. We are rearing a royal generation. We must see our Sons as the divine and royal children of God. Dieter F. Uchtdorf - He was quite surprized to be called as a counselor in the First Presidency. He sustains and supports President Monsen with all he has. He told many stories of how major destruction can occur when we are off by a few degrees from our course. It only takes a little deviation to destroy a great many things. Do not delay corrective action or the consequences may be far too great. Henry B. Eyring - Have the confidence to keep your priesthood covenants. God has chosen you to hold the priesthood and has confidence in you. Go forward in faith. Bear testimony to all. President Thomas S. Monsen - Expressed his appreciation for ou...

Clearance story This story all begins on September 14, 2005. Greg and I had made the decision to get married the next time he was in town which would be October 15 th (Sweetest Day). I called the St. Paul , Minnesota Temple to make the appointment. They began asking me questions. One of the questions was “has Greg been sealed previously?” since the answer was yes they then asked “does he have a clearance?”. I was fairly new to this aspect of the gospel. I had no idea what a clearance was but I figured Greg knew a lot more about all of this than I did and answered “I’m sure he does.” They made the appointment for October 15 th at 1:30 p.m. I called Greg to tell him we were scheduled and told him about the conversation I had with the temple worker. His response was “What’s a clearance?” This did not bode well for us. Fortunately, I had an appointment with my stake president, President Painter, later that evening in order to get my temple recommend (as I ...

So lately I have been telling the 'clearance' story quite a bit lately. It has dawned on me however, that the story changes slightly, each time I tell it. I get the general gist of it, but it's much better with all the 'cool' details. So in the next couple of days, I need to collaborate with my wonderful wife and get the 'true' and 'complete' story written down. (I think I wrote it somewhere but can't find that record)

.: (You really should read this first!) :. So I have spent the last few weeks taking care of sick kids...and trying (without much success) not to catch anything myself. Hunter had strep and an ear infection, Danny has had a fever and severe stomach pains, Madison has pneumonia , and Hana has an upper respiratory infection. I have a stuffy nose (which the ENT says is totally related to the pregnancy), and cough and am now trying to get over a severe ear infection. FUN, FUN, FUN!!!! Here's the crazy part: The girls complain about their symptoms to their mom but she doesn't do anything about it except brush them off or give them a pill (who knows what that medication might be) then when they come to our house we bring them to urgent care BECAUSE THEY ARE SICK!! and she gets mad. Go figure!!! But at least everyone is being taken care of any are on a variety of drugs!! Keep us all in your thoughts and prayers that the illnesses will all leave and we can resume a resemblance of ...

Well, my friend Andrea came to visit from Minnesota. She came the same weekend as Hunter's baptism. It was wild and crazy and yet in the midst of it all I think she had a great time. For more pictures and details check out her blog at http://andersonzoo.blogspot.com/ . Of all the pictures that were taken this one is my favorite! It is the essence of a Minnesotan in Arizona in February!

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/07/us/politics/07cnd-repubs.html With the withdrawl of the only good candidate...where do we go now?? I have to lay out my position clearly and without question. You CANNOT vote for Hillary Clinton. This is not a request...This is the rule I have just implemented. If you do, I reserve the right to disown you as my friend, family member or favorite blog reader. The idea of Ms. Clinton running our country scares the *%#$$*&^* out of me!! As a woman, she would be viewed by many political leaders in other countries as inferrior and hold no political weight whatsoever. As a leader she would plainly.....just suck!! C'mon I was there when she implemented HIPAA. (you know what that means, right? Not Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act - it means Helping Increase Paperwork Across America). The laws she "implemented" were already in place, all she did was make twice as much work for every medical office in America. Which m...

I have seen quite a few of these since the death of President Hinkley. I have liked this one best so far. Check it out: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7433508959787481703&pr=goog Enjoy! Stand a little taller and strive to be like Him!

After reading Ryan's post from yesterday ( http://andersonzoo.blogspot.com/ ) I was prompted to post my dislike for the Arizona way of voting. I must say that when I registered to vote I was surprised that they asked me to declare my political stand by stating exactly what I was. Now, for those of you who know me best you should know that there isn't one way I am...which includes how I vote. I have never voted straight anything. I like to pay attention to who is out there, what they stand for and vote for the person who makes the most sense to me. Now, I must admit that sadly I am not nearly as political as those closest to me (Greg and Dad I am talking about you!!) But I arm myself with enough knowledge to make an intelligent decision. With this in mind I will tell you about the craziness we call voting in Arizona..... Apparently, Arizona feels it is their duty to prevent anyone other than republicans and democrats to vote in the primaries. And if you declare yourself ...

For those of you who haven't heard I thought I would let you know here. We are officially having a girl. We are sure as we had the ultrasound tech check 5 times. Each time she was sure she never saw a 5th appendage. As Joel says: The Woolf legacy doesn't live on. Sorry Dad Woolf - we will have to do better next time. I certainly can't say I am disappointed as this will be my first baby girl. Greg's response was...."well, I'm not surprised." (meaning: 13 Woolf grand babies and all of them are girls except the two I brought with me and the 1 his sister had....who isn't a Woolf) And then after a few moments he said "Oh, another wedding to pay for!" I have to admit I am excited for pink, frilly and bows. I have never gotten to do that. YEAH!! My Jack is still waiting....hopefully he comes next!!! (Lord, that is a strong hint, because I am not sure I could convince Greg into having more than two)

This is a composite (a pretty good one I might add). If you can't see the largest size or need one for printing, let me know so I can get you the highest resolution file. Love you all !!!

Okay I had to add this video because it is such an awesome idea that was so perfectly executed an is sooo funny! I have used a Babelfish or Google translation web widget and it is admittedly the same kind of dialog! LOL funny stuff!