Sunday, November 30, 2014

November 30 2014

Today I am grateful to have my brother and his family back in this state so that when I plan right I can make the journey and visit with this super sweet family!
Today we did just that! We planned more right than wrong and actually got to spend a couple hours with them!
It was great to catch up and see all the kids! To watch Ford play with the littles and listen to them call him the "midget master"! That name will be forever what he is to Dave and Jen's kids! Started a couple years ago when he had been working at Carl's Jr. He came home from work when they were staying here one evening, and he was exhausted and the littles wanted to play, but he was tired, so he made up a game and said that the chair he was sitting in was his thrown and it gave him powers over the little kids and it made him the "Midget Master". That was the beginning and it will be what he is to them forever more! They love it, and so does he!  :) It makes me smile as well!
Anyway it was great to visit with them!
Here is the only picture I got before my camera died. At least it was a cute one!

Saturday, November 29, 2014

November 29 2014

Today I am grateful for turkey! Seriously. I really am.
I didn't cook one on thanksgiving this year because we went out, but I did cook one today! Costco had an amazing deal yesterday so we bought 2 turkeys and I cook one today and put the other in the freezer for another time.
Prepping and picking a turkey are not among my top favorite things to do, but the eating of the turkey...especially when it comes out moist and tender....yep! That makes me happy! And since there isn't a thanksgiving crowd around to eat it all up I have all kinds of things bouncing around in my head to do with said turkey once we get tired of plain turkey or turkey sandwiches!
Yep! Today I am grateful for turkey! :)
(AND great deals at Costco!)

November 28 2014

Today I am grateful for good wholesome entertainment. For the fact that is still exists and how very enjoyable it can be!
How talented those people are for being able to take images out of their minds and turn them into something people fall in love with!
I am grateful for feel good movies that though they may have some sad parts, they have a happy ending. I know in life the endings aren't always happy or funny, but when I go to the show I want to leave feeling at least as good as I did  when I went in. SO for a movie to have a crappy ending defeats the whole purpose of me being there.
Chet took me to see Big Hero 6 today, and though there were a couple tears shed, I left feeling up lifted. Very good movie! I recommend it highly.
Anyway....It's nice to have good wholesome entertainment out there still!

Thursday, November 27, 2014

November 27 2014

Today I am grateful for Thanksgiving Day. For the opportunity we usually get to spend with family on one side or the other. I do wish we all lived close enough that we could see everyone on this day, but that was not in the cards. So we will be grateful for those whom we did get to see!
I am also grateful for being able to go OUT to eat Thanksgiving dinner. Some would say, that that makes in NOT Thanksgiving dinner at all, but I disagree. I got to eat excellent turkey, cooked to perfection I had all the food I needed to fill my belly (plus some) and I got a piece of pie with my dinner that I got to take home for later when I was not so stuffed! Not to mention that instead of being the one cooking the meal, and working away in the kitchen while everyone else is visiting in the family room, I get to sit with everyone and enjoy company and eat all at the same time s everyone else! Biggest bonus of the day.....NOTHING TO CLEAN UP!!!  Yep! That's right! It might be the height of laziness but I am so grateful I didn't have to clean up from cooking a huge feast!
SO many things to be grateful for this day and everyday! SO very grateful!

Wednesday, November 26, 2014

November 26 2014

Today i was totally grateful for a hot lunch date with my favorite daughter! It was a lazy kind of day. With no work for either of us, we both slept later than we should have, and then got ready for an afternoon adventure down at Farmington Station. I took her to lunch at Cafe Zupas and then spent a bit of time shopping and exploring what the stores had to offer this time of year (besides a LOT of shoppers!)
All in all it was a fun trip and time well spent! I even got some Christmas shopping done for someone on my list! Now that is a productive day! Especially since I really don't like shopping so to go and spend time with my girl AND get shopping I needed to do done...2 thumbs way way up!

November 25 2014

On this day I am so very grateful for "breaks"  from work. One of the best perks of being a lunch worker for the schools is that I get the same time off as the students get. It is one of the things I am most grateful for about my job.
I told Chet, I don't know what I would do if I ever had to go out and get a regular 9-5er kind of job. I would likely go completely crazy! So this week I get 3 days off. Then we go to school for 3 weeks straight and then we will have winter recess/Christmas break and I get 2 full weeks off! Which I am totally already ready for. Even though I should not be that excited for that break yet, however; I totally am!
I love my job for the most part, don't get me wrong, but I LOVE having time off! :)

November 24 2014

On this day I was so very grateful that when I got up to go to work, it had not snowed! I know, I know...it is the time of year that we are suppose to get snow. It is to be expected and for some, they even look forward  to it (gasp!) Although I can not for the life of me imagine why. Even in pictures and the first little bit right after a snow storm, the beauty of all the white can not bring me to appreciate the wet and cold I associate with snow. I have tried, but I just can't. SO knowing that it had been suppose to snow all weekend and didn't really do what had been predicted, I was apprehensive that I would wake on Monday to find all the snow playing catch up!.
So again, I say I was very grateful that I didn't even have to scrape my windows! :) Happy day for me.

Sunday, November 23, 2014

November 23 2014

Today I am grateful for knowing how to cook. Even if all I cook is simple things, having the ability is truly a blessing!
Tonight for example, I made breakfast for dinner. Waffles eggs (cooked to order so to speak) and bacon. Not hard by any means, but not out of a box either. Waffles are always from scratch at my house, because they taste so much better than anything that could come out of a box or a bag. Yes, it takes a few minutes more, but it is so worth it!

I have met so many people in the last couple years that either hate to cook or simply don't know how and have not the desire to learn. That is part two of what I am grateful for. I learned how to cook and for the most part I usually enjoy it! :)

Saturday, November 22, 2014

November 22 2014

Today I am grateful for good friends and get togethers!
Tonight we attended a Friendsgiving, hosted by some friends we met a few years ago through some mutual friends. (does that make sense?)
Anyway, they hosted a Thanksgiving get together with friends. Since it is getting to the point that most everybody is busy, and Thanksgiving day is usually time spent with family, this was the perfect way for us to all hang out eat some great food together and just enjoy each others company. It was so nice. We haven't been out with friends for a long time it seems since summer is our busiest work time, so it was nice to be able to reconnect with everyone, and to even meet a few new people we hadn't had the chance to meet until tonight. A good time indeed! We will be doing it again soon and this time my house will place the location. :) I am so looking forward to it. Seems like more and more people are just too busy to make time for each other, and that makes the times we do mean that much more!

November 21 2014

Ooops, I feel asleep before I got this one entered...forgive me....haha.
On this day I was grateful to get the Christmas lights up before it started to snow! It may seem like a small thing to some, but to me, it was huge. Especially since I wouldn't have put them up at all if the snow had come first.
Megan came out while I was putting them and asked me if I was having fun. I told her no I wasn't and she asked me why I was doing it then. Well, the answer is sort of simple in a kind of complex way. I hate putting up the lights and taking them down, but I totally and completely enjoy looking at them while they are up. So since you can't enjoy them unless you put them up, and no one else is going to or would have the time to, I put them up out of sheer selfish enjoyment.
There you have it! I will try to get a picture and post it later so we can enjoy it on the inter-webs forever!

Thursday, November 20, 2014

November 20 2014

Today I am grateful for fun people I have been blessed to meet through the work place.
Today I had to help at a pan sale fundraiser for School Nutrition Association. when they called a year or so ago and asked me to be part of the area board,I only said yes, because they said it would help me get a manager's job. So I reluctantly agreed, and more often than not have not been thrilled with feeling like I was forced into this position.
Today, I was reminded that had I not accepted the position, I would not have had the chance to meet and work with some of the kindest most generous people I have today met! They really are great people. Especially the few that I have really clicked with, that I could sit and talk for hours with. (if I wasn't so selfish with my own time) They aren't the kind of friends I would call in a personal emergency yet, but given time they just might be.

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

November 19 2014

Today I am so very grateful for music! All kinds of music (well, mostly all). It makes me feel things. It takes me back in time. It can help me see how the future might look. It reminds me of people, places and times I would love to revisit, and also times I hope to never have to revisit again, but that I learned huge lessons and made huge personal growth through. Those are some of the things music does for me!
Sometimes just a tune is enough to lift my day, and then sometimes the words touch me to my soul! Music is magic, and I love it!
This for example is a song that when played correctly and well, will forever soothe me!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wxrB41PMhw  I hope the link will work, for anyone who chooses to click it. :)
Now off with me to bed listening to music to soothe my soul!

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

November 18 2014

Okay for some this post of gratefulness might seem silly, but that's okay. This is MY blog and I will be thankful for what I am really thankful for. Silly or otherwise.
So that being said, today I am VERY grateful for the seat warmers in my car! I call them butt warmers, because that is exactly what they are. I will start to use them long before most people, and I will continue to use them long after most people have turned theirs off for the season.
I love my butt warmer!
Plain and simple and pretty straight forward. It's the little things :)

Monday, November 17, 2014

November 17 2014

Today I am so very, very grateful for my teeth!
I had the opportunity or misfortune, however you want to look at it, of going to the dentist today.
This time luckily I was only there for a cleaning, which is painful in it's own right, but not nearly as bad as having to have something drilled on or whatnot.
Anyway, I was thinking about all the work I have had done on my teeth, and the fact that I still have my own teeth in my head. It make me feel much better.
I wish I had taken better care of my teeth when I was younger, and I might have been able to avoid having some of the work I have had done, but over all, my teeth are in pretty good shape and I am very grateful for that!

Sunday, November 16, 2014

November 16 2014

Today I am grateful for computers and the internet. I like it best when it works the way it was designed to. Today I have been having issues with a virus, and it is making my life a bit more difficult than it normally is when things are running smoothly.
Which in turn has in reminded me how good we have it now, compared to back when we got our first computer! WIth dial up and waiting forever for things to load and we thought we had it SO good! Haha, makes me really appreciate what we have today!. The love hate relationship we have with our computers and the internet, So glad it gives us a way to keep in touch with those we love in a way that we truly never thought possible back when it all got started.

Saturday, November 15, 2014

November 15 2014

Today, I am grateful for clean laundry, and a washer and dryer that make said clean laundry a much easier task than in our parents youth.
I will be the first to admit that I gritch and moan about the never ending task of laundry. It seems that just as soona s you finish it all up, the is already a mounding pile growing in the laundry room of newly dirtied articles needing to be laundered again!
I actually don't mind the sorting and washing part, as much as I mind the sorting to find that which can't be dried, so I can hang it to dry, and the folding and putting away. That is the part that I really don't like. Oh, and let's not forget the ironing  part....I HATE  the ironing part!
Still again, even with the ironing part, I have got it so much easier than those in past times! My iron plugs in and is for the most part light weight and has built in steam! Yes, I do have it good!
I love the smell and feel of clean laundry, even if I don't love folding it and putting it away. So sitting here amid a pile of sock that need to be sorted (his/hers) mated, then put away, I am completely grateful for clean laundry and the whole simplified process! :)

November 14 2014

Today, I am continuing on along the same lines as I headed yesterday. Today I am very grateful to have a job that most of the time I love!
I love working with the kids. Working with them in a way that is not like being their teacher, but still being able to get to know them and enjoy their personalities. To feel for them and worry for them. I wish we still lived in a world that would allow us to just grab them up and squeeze them! I would! I do have those few that are so very willing to just throw their little arms around me and hug me, and though we aren't suppose to have physical contact with them, I will ALWAYS hug them back! The way I look at it, if they are comfortable enough with me to hug me, and are in need enough to want a hug from me, then they will get one! I love these kids! I have loved the kids at every single school I have worked at! Fro the high school, to the junior high and now at the elementary. They are so very different, but each age group has had something to offer.
THat is what makes it so easy for me to say I love my job and I am so very grateful for it!

November 13 2014

So this is a little late. I fell asleep before I could make the entry last night.
So what I was going be thankful for today/(yesterday) was I am so very grateful to have 2 wonderful ladies that I get to work with every day! I completely enjoy both of them and their very different personalities. Having worked in the school lunch program now for over 12 years, I can tell you that finding people that you can work with everyday and still get along and like can often be a challenge. So the fact that we can and do is something pretty cool! So today my thankfulness is for Cathy Maisey and Michelle Ritchie! 2 of the best ladies in lunch lady land! :)

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

November 12 2014

Today I am so very grateful for my immediate family. Chet, Megan and Ford. I spent this afternoon running errands with and for Megan. I was picking some things up for Ford and took Megan with me. It turned into, get a couple of things done for Megan and Ford, and also make sure to pick something up for Chet for his birthday.
Then home again, home again giggity gig! To make a cake for Chet. German chocolate from scratch with the home made pecan frosting! YUM!
ALl the while trying to help Ford get ready to take off for California with Ali this evening. (I worry  about them traveling....I can't help myself)
Anyway, there was nothing really profound, just a whole bunch of little things reminding me that I need to enjoy this moment as it might never come again in the same way.

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

November 11 2014

As I sit down to unwind after a day of work and workouts, the thing I am so very grateful for this evening, is running HOT water!
I don't often think about it much. So easy is it to take for granted  the things that we are so use to in our everyday lives.
Today, however; I thought about it as I was needing a nice hot shower at 2 nice sweaty workouts. Thought about back in the day when they were lucky if they got to bathe once a week in a wash basin and sharing each others water. (gross)
Now we have the luxury of almost instant hot water on demand. We are so very blessed (spoiled) and we often forget to be grateful for some of these little, yet not so little things!
So thankful for hot running water!

Monday, November 10, 2014

November 10 2014


Today I am SO very thankful for this beautiful place I am privileged to call home. Both of these photos were shot today within just minutes of each other! The beauty that surrounds me daily astounds me, daily! I haven't always wanted to live here, and sometimes I still wonder about moving away, however; I have always, and will continue to always think it is beautiful here!

Sunday, November 9, 2014

November 9 2014

Today I am grateful for our parents! Both mine and Chet's! They play such an important roll in our lives and helped shape the people we have grown into.
Life gets busy and both time a distance make it harder and harder to make time to get to see them or talk with them often, but it can't change that we think of them often.
we actually got to go over and visit with Chet's Mom and Dad today for a while, and I spoke with both my Mom and Dad on the phone, since St George is not just a 15 minute drive from here. I hope they are all doing well and I hope they know how much we love them!

November 8 2014

Today I am thankful for 4wheeling. It may sound silly to some, especially to someone who has never done it. I, however; find it exhilarating! Not to mention the double perk of being able to be outside ALL day and enjoying just being able to go! I love it! And I love the time it gives me to spend with Chet and learning the things he tries to teach me. It s good thing he is a patient with me, as I can be a very slow learner. 
Today was a great day to go ride and I am so glad for possible the last chance this year to do so. The only thing that would have made it better is if the kids could have gone with us. Still, we did go with Chet's brothers Rick and Trent and their wives, so all in all a very fun day! I think I will feel every inch of my body in the morning!

Friday, November 7, 2014

November 7 2014

Today I am grateful for our house. Our home and all the things that come along with it.
I spent most of this afternoon and evening cleaning and trying to organize our house and stuff! We have so much stuff and I have been feeling more than a bit overwhelmed by it lately. I am ready to purge some of the "stuff" that we have and let it become someone else's treasure.
Anyway, as I was putting things away and cleaning up, I was thinking how blessed we are to have this space. No, it is not my dream space, but it works for us, and it works very well for us!
And the yard that goes along with it....now that is another post altogether, but now that it is too cold to go out and enjoy it, I will just let it be included in this thankful post! ;) So blessed and so grateful!

Thursday, November 6, 2014

November 6 2014

Today I am grateful for when Chet gets home, after he has been on the road and gone for the night or nights as the case can be.
I am glad when he gets home every day really, but when he has been gone, and I have spent a night or more trying to sleep without him and worrying about his safety while on those long drives...it makes me VERY grateful when his van rolls into the driveway! And then at night we I get to lay down next to him and sleep better than I ever do when he is gone!

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

November 5 2014

Most of the time, I really hate being home, or anywhere for that matter, alone. (Unless I am exercising, then I kind of like it)
Every once in a while though, there is something kind of nice about the quiet and not having to think about anyone else right at this moment in time. For just a moment of time. It doesn't last, and I wouldn't want it to. I prefer having people I enjoy here and home with me, keeping me company.
Today, has been a run here, and run there kind of day and I spent it mostly by myself, and I was dreading coming home to an empty house and the quiet that comes with it, but for some reason tonight, it is been almost soothing.
So tonight, I am grateful for those quiet little moments, when it feels nice to be alone. :)

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

November 4 2014

I know I am grateful for this every year, but I truly AM, so there is no reason to not include it again this year!
Today I am grateful that my body still works great and that I can get out and move it and get exercise! That I can be physically active and on the go without fear of not being able to move tomorrow.
Not to mention all the side perks that have come with it. Like meeting all the new people at the classes we have gone to and getting to spend extra quality time with my kids! I am also grateful, that unlike me, they didn't wait until they were getting older, to decide that being in better physical shape is important. Working a little here and there, they are now in better shape and stronger than they previously had been. Hopefully it will be something that stays with them and will help them be happier and healthier for a long, long time!
GET PHYSICAL!

Monday, November 3, 2014

November 3 2014

Today I have been reminded how very grateful I am for cars! Automobiles! Modes of transportation.
We get so comfortable with what we have, that sometimes the only way we remember how very blessed and spoiled we are, is when something in the way we live everyday is disrupted.
Today I was reminded how quickly the ordinary can sometimes be taken away, and become even more desirable than it was before.

Let me explain just a little bit. Ford came home telling us that something had gone wrong with his car. He grabbed his dad and out they went to look and see what they could find the problem might be.
Long story short, he has lost a belt and it needs to go to the shop for repairing. I am glad it wasn't something major, especially since Ford hasn't even paid the car off yet! Not that it is ever a good time for a car to break, but when you're still paying for it, it seems to suck a little more, than if it were already paid for.

Anyway....it just got me thinking about, how blessed we are with all the modern conveniences that make our lives so much easier, and how much harder it would be to do some of the things we do without them. Especially now that it is getting cold! I can't imagine having to get places by walking or open wagon, COVERED wagon for that matter! We are just so blessed! In more ways than just cars, but that is the one I thought sof especially today.

Sunday, November 2, 2014

November 2 2014

Today I am thankful for the simplicity of sleeping late, waking slowly, having some me time (exercising) and then getting leisurely ready for the day. Then spending the rest of this chilly day with the love of my life. We really didn't do much which makes it all the more enjoyable!
   We visited with some family then on home to hot homemade soup! Yum! GOOD day!

Saturday, November 1, 2014

November 1 2014

Let the thankful month begin.
Today I am thankful for something so simple, you most of the time wouldn't even think twice about it.
I am thankful for the random chance to run into someone at a store or place of business that you haven't seen or heard from in forever. The chance to stand blocking the isle and chatting for probably an hour, when it only seems like just a few minutes?
To catch up on some big things and some not so big things, and just remember why you liked talking with these people so much in the first place!
We had that opportunity today and it was GREAT! I wish it happened far more frequently than it does! I miss people face to face, and I need to work on that as much as anyone else, but it sure is nice when we do get the chance to be face to face and don't have to just run, because we are SO busy! :)