Month: December 2009

2009 in Review

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I must admit to being tardy in my Christmas/end of the year posting.  Since I was sick for 2 weeks at the beginning of the month I have been behind on everything else.  I still have a great deal to do work-wise, but I am making progress.  Luckily I work for understanding people including and especially my father who is patient and understanding with me.

Even with all of the illness and work I have managed to squeeze together a great Christmas season.  It all started at the beginning of the month when I volunteered for Festival of Trees.  I have been working on the planning committee this year, which has been a great experience.   The Festival of Trees is an event that raises money for Primary Children Hospital in Utah, which is a hospital that treats all children regardless of ability to pay. It was a neat way to serve the community and make new friends along the way.

I also continued on my two favorite traditions-  going to see Christmas Carol at Hale Theater Orem and participating in the Messiah Sing-in in American Fork.  Both of these traditions just make Christmas for me.  I also had my Christmas tree which I call my Memory tree.  It is full of ornaments that have significance in my life, that remind me of good times and memories.

Now I am finally getting that done.  Thanks for all of your comments through the year.  Please continue.  My blog gives me great happiness and satisfaction throughout the year.

2009 in review

Work-

Probably the largest part of my life revolves around my work.  I am fortunate to still be self-employed as a property manager/events coordinator/sales tax filer (that’s a mouth full hah!).  Basically I do whatever it takes to make a living and stay free and unfettered.  I LOVE being my own boss, setting my own schedule and motivating myself to succeed.  I have never taken kindly to being told what to do and work is no exception.  I love my job!

The most exciting work development of 09 has been my transition from vacation into long-term rental sales in August.  Due to some problems, we decided to forgo vacation renting and find tenants interested in at least a year.  Without any training I was able to find wonderful, reliable tenants for three homes in a matter of weeks.  I feel blessed with such results and it is one more proof to me that I am doing what my Heavenly Father wants.

With the long-term tenants requiring less management, I have been taking on more responsibilities for Grabber including doing some sales tax work and handing out free warmers at events around Utah Valley.  I love the art of making the sale and in many ways it brings me back to the street contacting we did on my mission.  Whether it is real estate, warmers or Book of Mormons, I enjoy talking with people and trying to help them.

Family-

Work has not been the only satisfying facet of my life.   The most exciting news for my family this year was the birth of my fifth niece Sparrow.  Ben and Nahanni welcomed their new baby girl in October, and she has been easy and sweet.  My only regret is not seeing her.  Hopefully I can get up to Portland soon!

Another big development for the year was my sister Anna’s acceptance into my alma mater BYU.  In August Anna moved to Provo and began her schooling.  Now she is 35 minutes away, which allows us to spend a great deal of time together (sometimes I’ve been as much as 4 times in one week!).  I love having my sister close by.

I have also had the opportunity to visit my sister Megan and the rest of my family in California many times.  Megan even hosted Emily Whitman and myself at her house for nearly a week in September for the first ever Roommate Reunion!  It was great!

Friends-

In some ways this year has been challenging friends-wise simply because a number of my best friends have moved/gotten married recently.  I miss my friends when they aren’t nearby.  Luckily, I have also found ways to connect with friends far-away.  Some highlights include visiting with Raelene in January after my cruise, seeing Emily at the reunion and 2 other times, a visit from Julia Graves in October and getting to see my old roommate Stefanie J in Hawaii in June. Visiting with old friends may be my favorite thing in the whole world!

Travel-

While my 09 travels do not compare with 08, I have taken some great trips throughout the year.  It all started with my LDS singles cruise in January.  It was a particularly bold trip because I went without knowing anyone and ended meeting many new people.  Plus, I got to visit Cabo, Mazatlan and Puerto Vaerta.  The best thing about the trip is due to the high fees I hardly used my phone or checked email for 7 nights. What a nice break!

In June I was fortunate to take another Hawaii trip with Camille.  This time my sister and her friends came along, as well as Stefanie and Camille’s friend Angie.  As always, we had a magical trip.  I can’t even describe how wonderful the beach is and how much I love Sunny Hawaii! Aloha!

Finally the year ended with several trips home for the holidays combined with my October trip with Emily at Megan’s.  I always love coming home and being near great family and friends.

Other-

In between all of this travel I‘ve been keeping busy with my voice lessons through Hale Theater Orem, and my real estate classes through Stringham Real Estate school.  I also love any chance I get to go to a movie, cook new recipe, read a good book or watch my favorite TV shows. If I get to do any of those things it is usually a pretty good week!

At Christmas time I feel so blessed to have a testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ and to know that His sacrifice saves me from sin and unhappiness.  I know that my Heavenly Father has a plan for each of us that if followed will bring us happiness here on earth and bring us salvation in the eternities.  I am grateful for my testimony of the Savior and the chance I have at Christmas to sing “Joy to the World the Lord is come!”

I hope each of you has a Merry Christmas and that we will chat again soon.  Thanks for all of your support and love during this year of growth.  Visit me soon in Draper and I can show you a great time!

Merry Christmas and God Bless, Rachel Wagner


Global Warming/Climate Change Conference

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This weekend the president is in Copenhagen, Denmark for the Global Warming Summit.   I think summit is a bit of a misnomer because it is basically a big ra-ra meeting for global warming policies and theories.  There is no discussion- no substantive debate.  Listening to the President and other liberal leaders you would think that everyone but total wackos agreed with the concept of climate change.  I have done some studying on both sides and the issue is by no means a set-in-stone theory.  While the globe has been shown to have warmed over the last 100 years the debate on what that really means and what should be done about it is still in the air- or at least it should be.   I’ve seen an Inconvenient Truth and to be honest I was surprised that it won an Oscar.  It is basically Al Gore in front of a power point for 2 hours- not my definition of exciting. Nevertheless, the content was interesting and disturbing; however, it was framed without any realistic opposing points of view.   Al Gore’s ideas are stated as a matter of fact- as if explaining a recipe, or like a how-to-guide for fixing the earth!

You may find it radical for me to be asking such questions but isn’t that a sign of the effectiveness of climate change/global warming smear machine?  What is wrong with asking a few questions.  I believe in recycling, carpooling, and every sensible act we can do to take care of the environment.  There is little debate that car fumes, factory emissions, and other pollutants are not good for the planet; however global warming activists go far beyond taking action to reduce pollutants- they want a fundamental lifestyle and policy change world-wide.   It makes me nervous that such sweeping, global decisions are made without any quantitative discussions.  Is that too much to ask?

Here is a video that explains well what I am trying to say.

Holiday Music

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One of my favorite things during the Christmas season is the music.  This year I even broke the cardinal rule and started listening early in November ( I know what a rebel!).   I have over 300 Christmas songs on my ipod, so I can put it on shuffle and listen to holiday tunes most of the day.  I like a variety of songs including everything from All I Want For Christmas by Mariah Carey and Santa Claus is coming to Town by Frank Sinatra to For Unto us a Child is Born from Handel’s Messiah and I Saw Three Ships by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

Sometimes I wish I could listen to Christmas music year-round.  I love the happiness and memories the songs evoke.   (I also love Christmas movies- Christmas Carol in all its variations, It’s a Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street, Polar Express, and even Charlie Brown Christmas- so great!!!).

Unfortunately most of my songs are m4a not mp3 so I can’t share them with you; however,  I am including a few mp3’s that I have.  Enjoy and have the best Christmas time ever!  Oh how I love this time of year!

Selfish Christmas Shopping and In N’ Out is Here!

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As many of you know the fast food chain In N’  Out has made it to Utah.  There are four locations opening in the next few months including one in Draper.  In fact, it is about 2 minutes from my house, which is mostly a blessing but also quite the temptation.  So far I have avoided the deliciousness mostly because of the long lines- the drive through still has long wait.  Opening week the drive through wait was over an hour!

For the past two weeks I  have been sick and miserable (and still have a strain of it hanging on for dear life!).  Finally today I decided to treat myself.  I dropped my dad off at the airport and did a little  shopping- finally bought some snow shoes, a slipcover for my ugly sofa, some shampoo/conditioner/makeup, an entry-way mat, and Christmas cards.   I went shopping thinking of getting gifts for Christmas presents but to be honest I have already gotten most of my presents.   I have a few more to make but that’s about it.  This leads me a little room to buy some presents for myself!  Let’s face it sometimes a girl just needs to spoil herself!

These are the shoes I bought.  They are called Bogs, and I know they are ugly but they are ultra comfortable, and  will be super in the snow. I am excited about the purchase because most boots/winter shoes are hard for me  with my wide calves and high arches! I’m very excited about them.

After all this bustling about I decided to brave the line at In N’ Out.  In reality it wasn’t too bad a wait.  I went inside and it took maybe 5 minutes to get my order.Then I thoroughly enjoyed a regular hamburger with grilled onions, french fries and a chocolate shake.  It was terrible for me but yummy- and worth it! The shake tasted good on my sore throat and the comfort food was great.  It made me happy.  The whole afternoon cheered me up.   I needed a nice productive happy day with good food.

By the way, I also got a lot of work done today  but I think you’all are tired of hearing about my work…