November 5th 25 Years Ago! WOW! 25!

 Happy Birthday 

Willy!

25!

We can not believe it has been that long ago since the day you were born! That is crazy!

What a wonderful day that was. It was actually the first day I knew the exact day one of  my children were going to be born.

I had just reached my due date with my 8th pregnancy and when I went to the  Dr. who was in charge of delivering that day she said I HAD to be induced. They wouldn't let me go any longer. In fact I  was just barely due. But she was afraid I would never have the baby so she said choose a day in the next 2 days.  Well I chose November 5th. That is why you were born on that day.

It was Grandma Killpack's birthday and I was sure she would be excited to have one of her grandchildren born on her birthday.

Roy Rogers was also born on that day He is an old actor and  a man of real integrity so one day you can learn about him.

 Dad was sure you would be a boy as he had a very unique dream about a little boy and girl coming to our family.

He didn't want to tell me about it because we had so many little kids. Finally he told me and said,'I know we still have one more boy and one more girl. But We will just wait a few years.'
Well That didn't happen.  Mary was born and very soon I was pregnant again.

I kept trying to get him to think of other girls names as well as plan for a girl too just in case but he just kept on with boy names and boy everything.

Then you came. After all day long in the hospital you were born about 5:20pm on November 5th, 1987.

We were so happy to see you. You were just the right size a little over 8 pounds and just cute of course.

When we brought you home your sister Windy and Mandy NEVER would give you up.

She just thought you were great and wanted so much to name you Kevin. Oh the campaign was between Kevin and William.  Dad loved the name William and was going to call you Will...never Willy.  Windy loved the name Kevin.  We all loved the name Creed for your C middle name. We loved  the story of Creed Hammond   and thought that was a good person to be named after.
 

There are also many Williams in our family histories and again Joseph Smith's other brother was named William.

And so William won out over Kevin and Windy loved you just as much.

We all just thought no matter what we would never call you Willy!

You were always such a pleasant boy and so fun to have around. You just went and did whatever anyone of us were doing.
You loved to be around your family. That was all you needed.
There were no little boys in the area to play with and it didn't matter at that time.
You just loved being home or being with me.
We had so much fun in our yard with the animals, the trampoline,  the irrigation water to canoe in. We had the greatest playground set with a fire pole and everything.


There was a rope to climb and a tire swing and at night we would sit around the fire pit on the granny swing...which we still have.
We really had a fun house and a fun family for you to come into....and You Loved it.
You really enjoyed your family. The only thing you ever did ask was if we could get a little black baby for you to have as a brother. Sorry but this is the closest we could come to getting that for you.

You loved being out side and so during the day when I was working in the house you would play in the back yard all alone or with your two best friends. Bonzo and the pine tree.

Bonzo! Yes he rates right up there with Doogan Dog. A very valued member of our family.
Where ever you were Bonzo was. SO you and Bonzo would play under the Pine Tree (which had gotten a huge growth spurt since you were born) and you had so much fun. You would swing on the lowere branches and gradually climb up the tree. You would get higher and higher. The tree was planted right outside my kitchen window but  was now ginormous. SO you would sit up in this tree and talk to me through the kitchen window. But usually you play around at the bottom of it talking to Bonzo and the Tree.
I think the hardest thing for our family was when Cathy Oertli called us to say the new owners of our home cut down that tree.
That's all I want to say about that.(Boo Hoo)

You would take Bonzo in the car, in the store, everywhere we went. When you had to have surgery at 5 (same surgery sam had at 2 weeks) you insisted on taking Bonzo. Hardest part for you was the nurses taking Bonzo away so you could get prepared for the surgery.

You were just always so fun and so cute. All of your siblings loved you. You were never that spoiled baby who had to have everything or your own way.
You were always thoughtful of others instead. It's a good thing because it was really easy to want to spoil you.

When you finally went to school you loved it. You loved your teachers at American Heritage and learned so much so quickly.
I remember when we went to Nauvoo as a family and how you would get so tired at the houses during the stories they would tell but when you saw another house you and the others just loved getting in and listening to the church history stories.
You always had comments about the events in Nauvoo. When we finally got to Carthage you were so excited. As we went up to the room where the Prophet Joseph was killed you started to tell the guide the story yourself. He was so amazed. He said wow how did you learn all that in Primary?
You told him you didnt learn it at primary you learned it at school.
It really surprised him.


We have had so many fun times as a family.  With so many brothers and Sister things were so busy all the time and you just went right along and did everything...as long as I was there.

You started camping from the time you were teeny tiny. You slept in a little sleeping bag in a tent with everyone else.
When you were really little we took you to Ferron Resevoir with the cousins. You loved it . We would finish the dishes and we had a huge pot we took camping and we would heat up water and you would sit in the pot to take a bath watching all the kids run all over the area.
 
The bugs, the dirt, the outdoor bathrooms, non of it bothered you.
You loved for me to take you up American Fork Canyon  to see the leaves and hike Timpanoogas Cave.  It was so wonderful to be with you  because you were always so pleasant.

We really had a lot of fun together as you were growing up.
You did not like it when I started to teach PE at American Heritage because I was gone 2 half days a week. You hated it and so did Kurt. I would take you with me as often as I could and then the second year you went to Kindergarten and it was easier on you. But after the second year I quit so I could be home every day when Kurt was done with High School!

But Back to camping...
You have loved the camping in American Fork Canyon, Book Cliffs with your dad and Bryce, Valley of Fire for many Thanksgivings and Lake Alice.
There are numerous other places you have been I know but these are the ones I remember the most.

You love camping to this day and I am glad. There is something about living in the outdoors that teaches you lessons you can't learn other places.

You also loved all the animals we had on our little farm in Highland. The turkeys were your favorite.  We had every kind of animal you could imagine and you liked them all.

When we moved from Highland you really didn't mind...not like the rest of the kids. There were no boys your age at all there and so you were fine wherever I was and your brothers and sisters. But you did miss the animals.


When we got to Spring Lake (Now Payson) we lived on a farm and James lived close by. This was the best thing that happened to you then.
You loved to be home and James loved to be at our house and so pretty much James moved in. For a long time....JK
He didnt really move in but you two were insepperable.
You would run all over the farm eating all my boysenberries and Raspberries the minute they were ripe. THere were so many trees you were busy forever.


We had a dog then named Percy. We found him outside of Wally's one day in Logandale. We think he was a Manchester Terrier He was the greatest. You and James would go everywhere and so would Percey. But you stayed close enough that I never worried.

We had so many  apples trees everywhere to climb. It was so much fun watching you boys.
You had the trampoline right under one of the apple trees and if you weren't climbing trees you were on the trampoline.
You never liked to go to anyone's house but Candace Madsen could always convince you to come and play at her house with Hannah.
We had animals again in Payson and when you found some kittens you and James and Sam spent many days just keeping those kittens safe from Percy.
You spent your time building tree houses and you loved the little kittens the Madsens gave us.

So you built a cat tree. You would feed the cats up high in this tree and pretty soon they got the picture that if they were going to survive percy they would have to be fast and stay high in the trees. Percy just loved to catch them and bring them to us. He thought he was doing something good but He got them confused with the ground squirrels that were all over the place.

This dog was a hoot and his favorite thing to do was to find you and The other kids when you hid in the high grass fields. He would jump like a deer through the fields until he found you 
You also were so glad we were going to raise Turkey's again. For some reason this you really loved to do .

I will never forget the deep mud we had everywhere and how much you and Sam and Mary loved to play in that mud. And Katy.
 
Riding the 4 wheelers through the snow was great but when it turned to mud it was AWFUL but you guys loved it.

I remember the great snow caves you and Sam and Mary would build in the front yard. The snow there would stay forever because of the trees.
At night in the winter the Elk Herds and deer too but mainly Elk would live in our back yard. We would get up and go chase them with flash lights all bundle up or wake up to them fighting out our windows.

It was great and we really had some good times together there in Spring Lake and it really caused you kids to become close.
But the best thing that ever happened to you was when we moved to Spanish Fork.

You were closer to James for one thing. You started going to the same Elementary school James did but he was a year ahead of you.This makes sense since he has always been about 10 feet taller than you.

When we moved to 'Spanish' you fit right in with James and his group of friends. IT was so wonderful. They all became so close to you. We even had boys your same age in our ward. That was nice. For a while every friend you had just TOWERED over you. It looked so funny to see you walking down the street with your friends. They were all such fun boys and you loved being with them.
 
You still did not like to leave your house though. I remember mothers calling and asking if please could you come to their sons birthtday party or similar. I would say yes. But no matter what you would not go. So We  had everything at our house.
 And they came here. There was not a day that your friends were not at our house. Some days it was just all of you sitting out on our driveway talking for ever.
Around me you were so quiet and agreeable and I believed you were until I met Wynette .
 

She told me she thought her son hung around you at school. She described this really loud silly boy that made everyone laugh all the time. I told her that she was wrong. That you were not like that at all. It must be a different boy. Then they changed the ward boundaries.

She told me this many times until finally she came and said 'It is your son! He is the Crazy Boy!'  this is what Bryce would call you. Or the Funny Boy! Something like this.

You two became the best of friends. Either the two of you  or all your big group of boys were together every day.
 

But you were all really kind and loving kids. You all cared so much for each other.

You had way too much fun together all of you.
 

I am sure most of the stuff I don't know about but what I do was pretty funny.

For a very long time you had so much fun just creating fun ways to have fun. Like playing with that black corrigated Sewer pipe in our back yard for so long and then put  Brad in it.,
canoeing down into the Hollow, making a buffalo in my living room,

Going to Macey's moonlight madness sale and buying as much Root Beer as you could, Jumping and playing on my trampoline until it was no more, Playing Paint Ball in the Hollow, Paint Balling Drew in the back yard and filming it and your mother turning you all in to Drew's mother, pulling stuffed animals across the road, Potatoe guns, Water Balloon Launchers, sledding wherever you could find that was extreme, skateboarding down center street and other streets at night.

And your favorite thing to do with your friends was to get together and have a barbecue with stakes you bought at Macey's.

You loved doing this. You would all stand around cooking the meat and talking for hours. Either at home or Christensens or Dietz's you loved those barbecues. You loved visiting and being with all these friends. We never had any more problem with you not wanting to leave home again. It was just that wherever you went you all ended up BACK at our house. This was a good thing though for me.

You were so funny Willy. I am sure I did not get to see half of what your friends saw in your humor. Mandy remembers when Evelyn pointed out to us that as the rest of the family was carrying on in conversation there was Willy  un-noticed making some really funny comment or gesture over in the corner.

Your Gollum was my favorite.

When you were old enough you started shooting guns. Your brothers and your dad love guns and you are just like them . But you are a much better shot than any of them. That became your next favorite thing to do. To go shooting with your brothers. Then when they didn't have time you took your friends. You ,Brad and Bryce and James were always looking for something to go shoot at.

 

We had animals again in Spanish Fork and the farm was close enough to the house that you boys could go shoot on the farm if possible or canoe down the river if it was high enough.

 

Again the camping was very important here.  All of your friends in Spanish Fork loved to camp also and you guys had  good time camping.
 
Whenever dad would clear a big area on the farm he would pile the branches so high and save them for you and your friends to light it. So many nights you would all camp around the Bomb Fire on the farm. 

You always loved to go fishing and so when you had James and Bryce who would go fishing and camping with you it was Heaven.

Now you had so many friends to fish with it was great.
 
But I think Lake Alice was your greatest place to fish.The years you and Bryce and James went fishing at lake Alice were so great. You had to take a huge supply of fish hooks because Bryce had the hardest time holding on to those fish hooks.




Those days at Lake Alice are priceless. When Bryce finally brought his parents it was even better. This is when we really got to know  THE CHRISTENSENS. !
We did more than fish and we learned so much during those years together.
This place will always be a special place to our family. And that's all I can say about that.
The fish were never too big at Lake Alice...And...I think the biggest fish you caught ever was when you and ROBERT went fishing on that really special secret spot on the Provo river. That was the best Mothers Day Fish Fry Ever.

I talk of all this fun you have had in your life so far but I need to point out what a HARD,HARD worker you have been and still are. All of  my boys are such strong hard workers but Willy you are very disciplined when it comes to work. You can work like your dad. You can do anything you put your mind to.

When we need something to be done we call our boys. This is a blessing Willy.

To be a responsible self disciplined worker. You will never be hungry. No matter who is President because you can work hard.

You have been so willing to help and serve other people.  I remember you and Dad going to help Ken Hendricks in his Yard when he and Barbara Hendricks were sick. You pruned and cleaned their whole back yard.Never complaining.
When the cousins all help grandma clean her yard...you are there. When your neighbors need their yard shoveled you would go do it.
When one of your siblings needs help you are there. 
You have always been willing to go serve even when it is inconvenient or uncomfortable for you.

This is something you are really good at.It's just in you.

You are also very good at speaking in church. You started out in Primary volunteering for talks, helping to prepare them and then when you got up to give them you would not. So I would just give your talk like nothing happened. Something told me inside not to make a big deal about this but to just be patient.
 

Then one day when you got up to give your talk you told me 'you don't have to help me mom.' and I didn't from that time on. And now you give the  best talks.

You have always honored your parents and this is a blessing to us but it will come around to bless you as well . You will see.

You didn't want to go on the trek one year but because your parents really wanted you to participate you did. We knew it was hard but you did it.

You never got discouraged when it took 10 years for your mom to make your Curious George blanket even though you were like 19 when you finally received it.

Whenever dad and I came around you and your friends you were so glad to see us and treated us with so much respect... even when we popped into the Theater you would treat us with a great amount of respect.
 But this is how you treat everyone.

 In High school you had an exceptional History Teacher who gave you an even greater love for the History of this country. That will always be important in your life.  Don't ever give up on your country and its constitution.

Now you are in College you are finding you can do anything you put your mind to even more than you could before. You are so smart.

You love studying the human body and learning about Health. This is exciting  You are also learning more about the Church and the Gospel of Jesus Christ! This is the most important thing as it will help you to link all these things together.

Because you will find that all thing point towards Christ.

You love your family and cherish their relationships.
You are the best Uncle Willy Ever.

 

 Ask any of the Kids.
They love you. Look at what an example you are to them.

You BABYSIT them!  That is kind Willy!

You go out of your way to help your brothers and Sisters when they need you Just so you know that their family is taken care of.

Bless you Willy for being such a giving wonderful Son and Brother and Uncle.

 

In all your doings with your friends and family as you have gone this far in life I want you to know something very special about you.

 

You have always had a sense of what is right and what is wrong. Many times in your life you had choices to make and some times we would sit back and watch and you always chose the right thing to do.   You had a sense about getting into danger and before things got to dangerous you would quit and come home. And you had the same sense about people. This is important for you to know about yourself.

You are an amazing young man Willy

We love you!

We Love all the wonderful things you are discovering about yourself. 

We love your curly receding brown hair and greenish bluish eyes.

We love that you are crazy and funny and that you love to have fun. We love how kind you are to everyone. 

We love the respect you show to your sisters, sister in laws and other women. Especially your mom!

We love the way you Honor your Priesthood and are willing to serve and bless the lives of others in your ward and family and the world.

We love that you love to do what is right and have a desire to  become the best William Creed Wollenzien  you can become.


There are so many things I could put in this blog and it still would not come close to expressing the feelings we have for you as our son.

We love you so very much and are so proud of you.

Happy 25th Birthday!
Mom and Dad

Enjoy Every Minute!