Gratitude

I can't even believe that it's Thanksgiving this week! I was out walking my dogs tonight, my ears ringing from the cold, my breath visible in the night air, and I wondered - where on earth did Summer go?? It wasn't that long ago that I could walk my dogs at night in capris and a t-shirt. Now I have to bundle up!

But I got thinking... I was walking past all these homes that had Christmas lights up, and I've been listening to Christmas music off and on during November, and I realized how much I really love this time of year, in spite of the cold weather. I started a mental list of all the things I'm thankful for, and I thought I'd share just a few.

Family - I have the best family in the world! I love them all so much - parents, siblings (including my one brother-in-law), my adorable niece, aunts, uncles, cousins, cousins-in-law, second cousins, third cousins, my grandma's cousins... I love them ALL, so much! I feel so blessed to be born into a family like this one. My best friends are my brothers and sisters and cousins.

Friends - I have fantastic friends. True, a lot of them are family members, but I have some WONDERFUL friends that I've had since high school, college, and ones that I work with now that I can't imagine my life without.

My Job - Even though I complain about it from time to time, I am SO grateful for the opportunity I have to be working at a good firm and having a steady income, especially in today's economy.

Modern technology - like my cell phone that lets me keep in contact with family and friends and my car that gets me from A to B. I'm also thankful for modern medicine - I truly believe it is divinely inspired (most of the time, anyway) and it is a blessing to have doctors and medication for anything from the flu to childbirth. I never would have made it as a pioneer... I'm too much of a wuss. I need hot showers and a car to drive.

Speaking of hot showers... I'm thankful for the roof over my head, hot showers, and an abundance of food and water.

There are many other things I'm thankful for and am blessed with, but I just want to mention one more - perhaps the most important to me - and that is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I am so very thankful for a 14-year-old boy who had a deep desire to know which church was true, and had the faith to know his prayer would be answered, and was eventually given the charge of restoring the fullness of the Gospel to this earth. I'm so thankful to be a part of it, and for the knowledge I have of its' truthfulness.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I love you all! :)

Nap Time

Thank you to everyone that has been so supportive this past week - it was a hard one! But grandma's funeral was yesterday, and it went well. It was a beautiful day, and I loved seeing all my cousins and aunts and uncles. I have the best family and friends ever!

I took an extra bereavement day off work today, to try and put myself back together emotionally. But instead of staying home and being depressed, I went to my sister Marianne's house and baby-sat Addie all day. I could not have asked for a better pick-me up! I have the cutest niece in the whole world, seriously. I got to Mar's just before 9, so she could give me some instructions. She told me that Addie should be about ready for her morning nap, and then I could feed her a bottle around 10. But instead of napping...

She did that for probably 15 minutes or so! I was laughing so hard, I just picked her up and played with her until around 10, when it was time to feed her. She fell asleep while she was eating. She's such a talented little baby, too - she can sit up on her own already!

She just makes me melt! It was the perfect thing for me to do today - hanging out with Addie all day long. NO ONE can be unhappy around her.

Seriously, you can't even be unhappy just looking at a picture of her, can you.

I thought not.

Farewell, Grandma!

Asenath "Sann" Louise Passey McKinlay

June 1911 - November 2008

I 'love you first,' grandma!

Oh, The Weather Outside is Frightful...

Tuesday night America elected a man for president that I do not care for; I am not thrilled about the socialist changes that are coming, and I strongly disagree with the man's principles. But the office commands respect, and I will respect it. I will look forward with hope, as we were counseled by Church authorities to do this past General Conference, and pray that our country is not headed for as much trouble as I think it is, and hope that I am wrong about the man elected to lead it.

One bright spot, though, is that Prop 8 passed in California. HOORAY!! I whole-heartedly agree with this Proposition, and commend all that were involved in working to promote its passing. I didn't know how strongly I felt about it until I heard concerns from California residents about what would happen to their kids, and how it would affect their freedom to practice religion as a family. I love that it's not just Latter-Day Saints involved, but the Catholic church, the Baptist church, the Lutheran church, and many other churches, I'm sure. It's great to see how many faiths banded together in this one common belief, trying to protect it.

On to different topics... I woke up this morning to this:

I had to scrape SO much snow off my car! And this poor tree just had a little bit of time to turn colors before...

It's only early November - I wasn't prepared for this already! Oh well. It'll melt by the week's end, I'm sure. When I finally got to work, I turned on some Christmas tunes to lighten my mood. And NO, it's not too early! Turn on some Greensleeves and enjoy the time of year! :)

I took Indy and Bo out for a walk tonight, thinking they'd have a great time romping in the snow - which they did - but it's a miracle I made it back home without any broken bones. I didn't think about all the ice and all the possibilities of me slipping and falling on it.

Note to Self: Get better snow boots, preferably with metal cleats on the bottom.

November Chill

Hope everyone had a great Halloween! Mine was a success - I was involved in a big party at work, then had chili cheese dogs, donuts and cider with the fam, and watched Clue. The Aldrich Family stopped by, and so did the Palmers -SO fun to see everyone dressed up! Kate brought her friend LaToya to my office party to help out (or good off, whichever)...

... and Mar brought Addie in and put her in her cute monkey costume, and it turned out that another gal in my office had the same costume for her little boy, so we had to get a picture!


When the Aldriches stopped by, Natalie was adorable in her ladybug costume, and Jon was hysterical in his old man outfit. Shawn looked pretty cool in his b-ball costume, and Steve looked awesome as a Ghostbuster.

November first dawned warm and sunny, but this morning was more November-ish - cold, windy and rainy. I LOVED it! We turned on the gas fireplace tonight and I can hear "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" on downstairs. Oh, I LOVE this time of year!