EOY 2012

December 2012

Dear friends and family,

Christmas is over already!! The New Year’s approaching! Where has the time gone? Without further ado—Highlights from my year:

From January through June, I taught a few English Composition classes at Colorado Technical University in Aurora and Westminster—Denver suburbs.

Beginning at the end of August, I was blessed to start teaching a couple Composition classes in Greeley at Aims, much, much closer than Aurora, and even a bit closer than Westminster. Other benefits include interacting with other English teachers, which I’ve had very little opportunities to do in all three of the other campuses where I’ve taught (NOVA, Kaplan, and CTU). I do really enjoy that and benefit quite a bit from it. The students here are also more of the traditional variety—18, 19, and mostly American, so again a different crowd than I’ve had. And I’ve enjoyed working with them. Sure, sometimes I’m baffled when they don’t know why conversations about guns and schools have changed since 1999, or when they don’t know who Mork and Mindy are. But maybe I like having that edge on them J. 
In May, I was called as the Relief Society (women’s organization) secretary and released as a primary (children’s) teacher. So I’ve been spending a bit more time on my calling than I had before. I missed primary for a little while and still do some. It didn’t seem a long enough stay, but as things go in the Church, I’m sure it’ll come back around eventually. Work in the Relief Society has been rewarding, too, as I’ve gotten to work with a few great ladies, with some turn over in the counselors.  
As the school year approached, I was hired by a young family to teach their two daughters French in their home. The girls are 6 and 9, and sometimes fun kids to work with. (Sometimes they’re as most kids are, particular after school hours—fidgety and ready to be done with it.) But I like both having the opportunity to work with my French and to work with these kids.
As the school year approached, I was hired by a young family to teach their two daughters French in their home. The girls are 6 and 9, and sometimes fun kids to work with. (Sometimes they’re as most kids are, particular after school hours—fidgety and ready to be done with it.) But I like both having the opportunity to work with my French and to work with these kids.

 In August, I started selling Avon. It’s been fun meeting new women through this endeavor (one of the reasons I signed up—to get to know my neighbors.) I’ve also met some through Avon meetings and through a couple Open Houses. And I like Avon products. On the down side, I really dislike multi-level marketing strategies. I haven’t made much money by it, though I appreciate all who have supported me! But I don’t know how much longer I’ll keep it up. You can still contact me, though, or go through my website if you’re interested in buying since I’ll still keep my account. Their prices are actually pretty good, but sharing the shipping with other buyers certainly helps.
This summer we had an RW (my parents) Quist reunion up in Post Falls, Idaho, with Aunt Patsy and Uncle Tim (Dad’s sister and her husband) joining the gang for a while as well as one of Pat and Dad’s cousins and her husband.  We had some good times there, hanging out mostly, in my sister Cyndi’s expansive backyard and at a nearby beach.

For Thanksgiving, we had another family reunion of sorts. First my brother Thom and his family came up from Leadville for a few days before Thanksgiving, which brought the locals up to the house. Then, the day they left, a few hours later, my Grandma Wilson, Aunt Gayle and Uncle Al came over from Orem, UT bringing Nicki up from Denver for a while on T-Day. To add to the fun, my sister Kim and her family came over from further south in Utah, too. So we had a nice full table and much to be grateful for.

So, I guess that brings it to the end of the year, eh? Do I have anything else to say? Um, I’m still single. No news there.  Health is doing okay. My sleep schedule is still a little wonky, but I’m kind of used to it.

Thanks to all for your friendship and familyship. Wishing you the best in safety and happiness with the holiday season and the upcoming year! In spite of the horrific things happening in our world, we still have reason to celebrate.  Christ came to save us! The New Year is an opportunity to improve ourselves, improve our lives and our world.

  

Happy Year End 2011

Dear family and friends, dear ones far and near

Come listen to my story (If you would like to hear):

This year began and ended in a state with lots of snow—

Yes, here I am writing from Colorado.

More snow indeed than I had in V-A,

And more of many other things soon came my way.

Early on found me in my ward’s primary

But now with my own class, of 4-5 year olds, extraordinary

My French work, too, continued, but in a different way.

Yes, to preschoolers I taught lots of new words to say

But soon came the time when other goals arose

And I had another opp to teach college English prose

So those are all the bland details--

The things you always ask

But of more than this my life entails

So now I’ll these unmask

I’ve 26 nephews and nieces now alive,

With ten of them near home,

But for Easter we had here 20.5

Yes, we were far from being alone

With that and other visits, I’ve had

Lots of fun being the favorite auntie,

In fact we had so much fun when clad

As princesses for my bday party!

In June I got to be niece again as well

When I rode out to Utah to stay for a spell

In Orem I saw Grandma W., Aunt Gayle, Uncle Al

And cousins, their kids, and a few old pals

Then on down to Ferron to share Adam’s baptism day

I did also do some hiking, and yes, even played.

And so the year has passed with many things sublime

Though I had my troubles too, just some from time to time

But these, the Lord Jesus has made me pass more happily  

Through His servants in the Church, friends, good doctors, and my family,

Now, I hope the rhythm of this poem hasn’t lulled you all to sleep

Or worse, driven you off the deep

But since you’re apparently still here, I’ll wish you all the peace

My Savior brings to me,

In this season of happiness, joy, and good memories.

                                                   Love,

                                                   Heidi Q.

20 years!

Yes, I graduated from high school 20 years ago. Am I really that old? Yes, I really am. And this weekend, my peer and I celebrated the landmark. I actually missed the biggest attended event, Saturday night, because I couldn't justify the money for a restaurant where I couldn't eat anything. But I went today to the park and was able to see some old friends and get a tour of the old stomping grounds, or uh, splashing grounds.

  Seriously, we toured just about the whole building, except the most important room--the newspaper room.
But since Chad and I were the only old newsies there, I guess we can forgive. I'm sure much, much has changed about how the put out the Insight anyway. We used lightboards where we literally cut and pasted our articles that we printed from the computer lab, which was in another hallway. The newspaper room itself had one solitary computer in the tiny office where some people were able to begin messing around with publishing software, but if any, only our last edition was published with it.

I wish I could have had pictures with more old friends, but if I had only one, I'm glad it was Chad. He was a great editor-in-chief to work with, and more importantly, a great friend.

Princess Birthday Party

For my birthday this week, I had the best theme ever, even since my own childhood. Early in the week, my mom called local family to see if they would like to come over and help me celebrate on Friday. (My actual birthday was Thursday, but that was a fun-filled day of work with stories for another time.) Well, as it turned out, my brother David and his son were going to go camping and so my niece was feeling sad and wanted to do something fun too. So, she and her mom had come up with the idea to have a princess party.  As a result, when my mom called, Sariah said, "Would it be all right if it were a princess party?" Well, of course! Mom actually called me to verify, since I was at work at that time. But that sounded fun to me. How many grown women get away with having a princess birthday party? Happily, mom called the other locals, and John's family were able to come, too. In fact, their little girl loves to dress up, as I thought she would.

On Friday night, as I was between sleep and awake from my nap, I decided I needed to dress up pretty fancy myself, and so I showered and pulled out an old bride's maid dress I had from 1999. I even put make up on, which I very rarely do, and capped off the costume with an actual cap--a tiara. Before long, my ladies arrived, almost all dressed very prettily. One, however, had to borrow a dress from Grandma, but it turned out to be an excellent opportunity to let us have an Indian princess amongst us. It's not often we get an Indian princess at great princess parties, you know.

Of course, it wouldn't be much of a party without princes. We were quite happy to have the young men join us, too!

 And, of course, the King and Queen must be included as they threw the party for us all!