Remembering Gratitude

As it is the last day of November, I had to account for my goal of recording things I am grateful for. To be honest, I am happy with the nine times I wrote about things I am grateful for. After all, that is 9 more times than I wrote the previous year. I must look on the bright side and say that is progress.

Let me recap the first nine things: family, friends, education, humor, diet coke, hobbies, religious freedom, and life. Now to catch you up on the other things I am grateful for this month. . .

1. Warm showers

2. Cuddly babies--nothing more peaceful than holding a sleeping baby in your arms

3. Fun-filled family visits

4. Sunday dinner with family

5. Work--although I hate the getting ready part, I am thankful to have a job to go to every day

6. The view of the mountains all around the valley I live in

7. My bed--nothing better than my own

8. Hairspray--what can I say, I am a product of the 80's

9. Good books to read

10. Ice--the pebbled kind is best, but anything else will do in a pinch

11. Good neighbors that watch out for me and sometimes bring my garbage cans back in

12. A home to live in

13. The smell of fresh lime and the taste of it in my diet coke with vitamins.

14. Candle tarts for my melter--smell as good as a candle, but without the smokey mess

15. Faith

16. A good chick flick

17. Games--you name it, I will play it, unless I am on an exhausting trip to D.C. where my body never quite adjusts to the time changes. Hopefully "D" will forgive me.

18. A good belly busting laugh complete with tears running down my face

19. Kids and all the great things they have to say

20. My camera--to capture those memories forever

21. My mom--although gone from earth, her love and teaching still guide me

22. My dad

23. Computers--for too many reasons to name

24. The temple--to remind me of more important things

25. Transportation--so many places I still want to see

26. My own two feet--and the ability to move

If you haven't taken time to think of all that you are grateful for, you should try it. It was harder for me than you might think. I know my list looks like it is full of mostly the trivial things, but in reality, I am grateful for every "little" thing in my abundant life. (Yes, I threw in a few more than the ones I committed for the 3o days of November. Why the extras? Because I really do have a lot to be grateful for)

I am so blessed!!
Now for a few cards I have been working on.

Cards vs. Craziness!!!

Black Friday is aptly named. That is to say that if you are brave enough to fight the crowds then you will end up in a black mood. I generally volunteer to watch the sleeping kids while my sisters and their husbands go shopping. This year however, all the kids were covered and so I stayed home and tried to finish up a few cards and tags for some gifts I am putting together. Boy was I glad I did when "A" called to tell me that while she had been at Walmart the paramedics were brought in three times--one man broke his shoulder, another woman broke her wrist, and a lady fainted. No sale is worth that to me. Then I logged on to check the weather and on ksl.com it said that a worker in an Arkansas Walmart died after the crowds broke down the doors and knocked him down in their pursuit of a bargain. So sad!

Well, on to the cards and tags. I used today's card sketch on splitcoast stampers for the layout design. I made my own patterned paper with a polka dot set I have, filling in some of the circles with snowflakes. The tags are part of the gifts I have put together for my neighbors. Every year I try to think of a gift that is not food related and that can be useful. These tags along with some wrapping paper and a cute poem are what I am handing out this year. If I get time to take a few more pictures I will share the other tags I have come up with. In all I have about 10 designs.

By the way--HAPPY BIRTHDAY "J" and "B"

Life

My funloving nephew "W" was in an accident last night, and so on this Thanksgiving Day, I am most thankful for life and for my angel mom that kept him safe. I'm glad he could feel her presence as his truck rolled at least 4 times that he can remember. All 3 boys in the truck were wearing seatbelts, thank goodness! I think all of us need to be reminded once in awhile that we have a purpose on earth and will stay here until it is our time to go. Pray for his friend that will need surgery.

Grateful for Religious Freedom

With all the backlash from proposition 8 in California, I have taken time to reflect on what I believe. I am grateful that even in this time of opposition, I can say proudly that I am thankful to be a memeber of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. In a conversation I once had, the question was raised, "What if you die and find out that none of what you believe is true?" My response was, "Everything I believe in makes me want to be a better person. How can I go wrong there?" There is certainly nothing wrong with wanting to be good enough to live with God again. Certainly better than what I would have to do in order to go along with what people are saying and doing to church members and church properties aournd the U.S.

Vitamins and Minerals?

Diet Coke now comes with vitamins and minerals. Sweet! Now I can get my vitamin C with that slice or two of lime and extra vitamins and minerals put right in the mixture by the coca-cola company itself. Imagine all that in one refreshing glass! I truly don't know if I should be happy or mortified at the prospect.

Although I know I need to quit what I call "drinking" soon, I am a Diet Coke addict. In fact, it is one of the things I often think of writing about when I think of my gratitude journal. However, since I continually "think about" seriously quitting, I am in the middle of a conundrum because how can you be thankful for something you know you should give up?

However, for today, or until I finally manage to give it up, I am thankful for

Diet Coke!!!!!!

Laughter is the best medicine!

I am grateful for...

humor!

Today I sat in church thinking of all the things I should be writing about during my month of gratitude and my mind turned to a road trip to Cedar City, and my thoughts caused me to laugh out loud at the most inopportune time.

You see, on this road trip there were five of us stuffed into a midsized car and "A" was being a good sport about being stranded in the middle of the back seat with her arms glued to her sides because there wasn't quite enough room for the three of us that had been relegated back there. Not to mention that my knees were shoved over next to her taking up even more of her precious space because there was only about 2 inches of leg room between the front seat and the back where I was sitting. At one point in the trip we stopped for shakes and she couldn't quite get the spoon to her mouth because of her trapped arms.

I found the whole situation quite funny. As I laughed I thought about how much better I feel when I laugh rather than when I cry. Thank goodness there are so many funny things in this world!

Education

Gratitude for education has several meanings in my life. First of all I am grateful that I have been able to obtain a good education. Education is also my livelihood. I am grateful every day to go to work and be around amazing teachers and children. There is something energizing about being around children in that setting. Having a child say hi as I walk through the halls, or bye as they ride off on the bus always brings a smile to my face. I love to visit the classrooms and see what the students are able to do. I love to see the energy and excitement teachers bring to their lessons each day. I am lucky to be in a field where I get to see such great things on a regular basis. I am so blessed!

Yahoo!

Finally a finished product has risen from among the scraps in my craft room! I have been playing with several layouts and had to get some cards in the mail for a swap I participated in. Nothing like a deadline to make me get something done. I thought the colors would work well for Christmas thank you's. Too bad I didn't make enough to keep one for myself. At least I have a photo so that I can reproduce if necessary. This brings me to my gratitude list for today. I am grateful for...

hobbies.

Since my hobbies include collecting paper and stamps, maybe I should say I am grateful for enough money to supply my hobbies. Like everyone else in this world, I need time in my life to relax and get my mind off of work and other responsibilities, so I love to create cards and scrapbooks. The thing I love most of all is that I have something beautiful to give away after all that time to myself.

I am so blessed!

Natural Beauty

I got up early this morning to get a few things done before going to work. I couldn't believe the beauty that came from all of yesterday's rain. There were huge puffy clouds hugging the bases of all the nearby mountains with the peaks standing tall in front of the rising sun. As the sun began to peak over the mountain tops everything looked fresh and clean. I wished for my camera at least 10 times as I drove 10 minutes to my sister's house. I am often amazed at the beauty all around me as I drive. This brought my mind to things I am grateful for that I could blog about today. I am grateful that I have beautiful things in my life. So much of the beauty that I see is found in nature. Since I didn't have my camera with me this morning, I chose to share a few shots of another experience I had when surrounded by beauty. I have been lucky enough to go to Hawaii several times. On one of my trips I got to swim in the ocean with wild dolphins and other sea life. When they dumped us in the ocean there were pods of dophins swimming right under us. If allowed I could have reached out and touched those right below my belly. As you can see they were more than beautiful--they were awe inspiring. I am grateful to live in this beautiful world with so many things created for my enjoyment.

I am so blessed!

2 for 2 Gratitude

100% so far! I know, only day two. I shouldn't get too excited, but when I went a whole year without writing down anything in my gratitude journal, I call that progress!

Today I am thankful for more of the people in my life...

Friends!

Trying to find pictures for this post, I realized that I really need to get some updated pictures of my friends. Once again, not all of the pictures above are the most current pictures (hopefully I don't lose a few friends by posting them here) but that shouldn't matter because I am paying tribute to the best things I have in my life and my friends are there at the top of the list. I have the most wonderful people in my life. My friends keep me sane, and help me be the best person I can be. Some are new friends, and some have stuck by me for years, but all of the people I call friends are amazing.

Once again...

I am so blessed!

Gratitude

Last year we made gratitude journals, and I thought what a great idea it was to take time daily to remember how blessed I am.

Did I write in it once? No! So this year I am going to start now, but start small.

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. I know, weird! Most people say Christmas, but there's too much hurry and stress associated with that holiday. No, I love Thanksgiving because I get to gather with my family, visit and enjoy each others company without needing to run off somewhere else. Not to mention there is all that good food and very little guilt about eating it since the main event of the whole day is dinner.

So with Thanksgiving being my favorite holiday, gratitude is a perfect theme for November. With it being the first day of November I am going to try to take the time to write blog about the things I am grateful for. One thing a day shouldn't be too hard. At least I can say that now...it is after all only day 1.

So here it goes. The number one thing I am grateful for is...

my family of course.

Here's a few of my favorite photos of many of my family members. The photos are not the most recent, but they bring back some fun memories!

How blessed I am!