Let us be thankful...

I love this time of year.  It seems as if everyone really ponders the good in their lives and everyone seems a bit more friendly and grateful.  I think Thanksgiving time is a blessing for me in my life because it really makes me reflect on my life and when I do so, I feel the overwhelming feeling of gratitude for my life and all that I've been blessed with.  It's a great way to feel when entering the holiday season.  It's also a nice reminder to remember what really is important and not to get too stressed about the business of the Christmas season.  Things can tend to get overwhelming when you continuously see the ads for 'stuff' on TV that your kids 'have' to have, when you are busy trying to organize class parties, decorating your house, making it to the Christmas programs at school, spending hours addressing Christmas cards and making holiday treats, standing in super long lines at the post office, spending your spare time wrapping gifts, just to name a few.  But last night as I was snuggled up on my couch with the temperature right around 1* outside, I was mostly grateful for the simple things.  I was grateful that we are all healthy.  I was grateful that we had a warm house to come home to.  I was grateful to have the glow from our Christmas tree light the room and I was grateful to be sipping on hot cocoa while watching my favorite TV show.  The other day I was complaining to Dan about our teeny-tiny pantry, fridge, and freezer after coming home from the grocery store and then it hit me...I had NOTHING to complain about.  Complaining about not having enough space for all our food???  Are you kidding me?  Then I felt embarrassed.  What would a family struggling to keep food on the table think of my attitude?  From that moment on, I realized that I needed to always try to have a better attitude.  So, that night at karate, we donated food to the food drive they were having.  

It was a good reminder for me of what really matters.

We had a bit of an usual Thanksgiving this year.  We originally planned on going to Dan's parent's house for the holiday and then got a letter from my mom telling us that Jesse's mission farewell had been scheduled for that same Thanksgiving weekend and also my little nephew's baby blessing would be on the same day since family would be in town.  So, after lots of thought we decided that it was still important to try to do both.  KJ and I went up to Boise and Dan took Jack and Liv to Grandma and Grandpa Howard's house in Illinois.  I just couldn't miss my only baby brother's mission farewell.  My brother and KJ are extremely close and it was important for KJ to be there for one last good-bye.  Jesse leaves in exactly one week and will be down in Brazil serving a mission for our church for two whole years.  Which feels like forever in KJ's eyes.  We knew this day was coming as he's always planned on serving a mission when the time came, so we shed many tears, both happy tears and sad tears.  We know he will do great and the people of Brazil will be lucky to have him!  I just hate good-byes.

Dan had a great time visiting his family.  Jack and Olivia loved seeing their cousins.  And since Dan was in charge of pictures, we don't have any from their trip.  :)  BUT, my cute niece Emily did take a few pictures of some of the cousins together.  Thanks Emily!  Here are all the pictures she sent me.

But as for me...I always go overboard with pictures.  Let's just say, I had plenty from our trip.  

It was actually really nice to have some alone time with KJ.  To just chat one-on-one, it doesn't happen very often anymore.  We had to leave our house at 3 am (I went to bed at 1am) to make it to the shuttle on time to make it to our 'way-too-early-flight'.  I need to remember that around the holidays, flights book quickly.  Needless to say, I was exhausted but KJ was wide awake and excited to go on an airplane.  It was kind of nice to see the sunrise over Utah. The pilot let him sit in his seat and he thought it was awesome to get to push some of the control buttons.  :)  

We also FINALLY got to meet my new nephew Russell!!!!  I was so anxious to meet him, he was already 6 weeks old and I couldn't wait to hold him for the first time!  He is an amazing baby.  He already smiles and is so happy all the time.  AND he already SLEEPS THRU THE NIGHT!  He got a lot of love from all of us, he was a sweetheart.  I miss him already.  

We enjoyed our Thanksgiving with a lot of the family.  We stuffed ourselves full.  

Dan also said he had the best food at his mom's house!  They had ham and turkey and all he kept talking about was how good his mom's roasted ham was.  Thanks Judy for feeding my family so well!!!  Dan always misses his mom's cooking.  

We were some of the crazy people that decided to attempt black friday shopping at 

Toys R' Us.  It was actually a lot of fun.  Most of the others stayed out all night and also went to Kohls and Target.  I was done after the toy madness.  But it was fun.  Just so you know, we were #884 in line to get in.  We were tired and got a little creative while waiting, hence the huge pet store window decal stickers.  Although it was madness, it was fun hanging out with my mom, brother, cousins and aunts.  It's also fun to people-watch those who are really in to the whole thing.  We were just there for fun, but some of those people are just plain crazy. 

(Bottom middle picture is all of us all looking thru the ads after dinner)  

The next couple of days we just enjoyed being around everyone.  We had a nice Just Dance party and KJ enjoyed his time with some of his cousins.  

Our last day there was very bitter-sweet.  Nicole and Jason's baby was blessed.  It was a beautiful blessing and very special.  Then we had Jesse's farewell meeting where he gave a wonderful talk and my cousin Bradley did an amazing musical number.  After the meeting we went to my mom's house for a big going-away party.  We are sure proud of Jess and the man that he has become.  He is a great example to my little ones.  I'm grateful for that too because my kids really look up to him.  He will do great!  I can't wait to hear about his adventures over the next 2 years.  He will be an awesome missionary!

We also had Dan's Birthday the night before we left for our trip.  

HAPPY BIRTHDAY OLD MAN!!!

We are sure GRATEFUL for you!  You are the best!  We LOVE YOU LOTS!