Gratitude - Day 30

Day 30 - The Atonement

Today I am grateful for the Atonement because of the Savior . Without the opportunity to forgive and be forgiven none of these things we do , or become , or are ... would even matter - because we would not be able to return home and live with our Heavenly Father again . I am so grateful that I can make mistakes and still have some hope for the future .

I have a bit of mixed emotions today - being the last day of November and this being the last post for my " November Gratitude Log ." All of the other posts have been in no particular order - except for this one - I saved this for last because if there was no atonement , all of the other things would be in vein . I am so grateful for this Act of Love from my elder brother Jesus Christ and a loving Heavenly Father . I will FOREVER and FOREVER be

grateful and humbled !

Thank you very much to all of you who shared your gratitude logs along with all of us ;-) - it was a pleasure to read and share - thank you - I am grateful to YOU , because YOU help to motivate me .

Gratitude - Day 29

Day 29 - The Temple

I am especially grateful for the Temple - I love to go to the Temple . It is such a peaceful place for me ... even to walk around on the grounds can be so wonderful . Oft times I just go to sit and journal or read.

It can fill my bucket right back up ;-)

I am grateful !!

I am very grateful to live so close to the Mesa Temple and be able to attend as often as I want - very very grateful !!

Chocolate Chips

Here I ordered chocolate chips for the year ... Well - maybe almost the whole year . With my cakes and all I might need more , but I ordered 25 pounds ! Yes 25 pounds of them ;-) -- yum -yum . Yes - this says 1000 count !! Whheewww ee

Here they are in little baggies for easy storage - almost 30 bags !!

Gratitude Day 28

Day 28 - Beautiful Weather

I am grateful today for a gorgeous day !! It is beautiful outside and we have had rain in the last few days and nights , which we need so desperately bad . It is so wonderful to be able to open a window and smell the outside air . I love to leave the windows and doors open for a bit sometimes. I am grateful to live in a state where some of the year we can go outside without either freezing or dieing from heat .

Gratitude Day 27

Day 27 - Love

I am grateful for Love - to love and to be loved ! I have different kinds of love in my life - love for people , love of the way they act or the things they may do , love of my stuff ... home , cars , blingy stuff , crafty things , etc.etc. Love for my family ! We all show love in different ways ... we may do something for someone , we may actually say " I LOVE YOU " , we may give gifts , we may show extra respect , we may say extra special kind words. There are many ways to be loved and to show love . And I am grateful I have lot of these in my life - I am very grateful !!

Gratitude Day 26

Day 26 - Good Books

I am grateful for good books to read ! It is so NICE to be able to find books that are uplifting , clean , have a good story , the ones that I wouldn't mind letting my children read , that ones that help me be in a better mood , and help me to see the blessings in my life , etc. etc. This is just one of the many books I am grateful to be able to read - there are so many many more !

Of course - the best books to read from are the scriptures ! These are the ones that you can glean the most from , sometimes they are not the easiest to understand , but they have the most to give ;-)

I am grateful at the end of a LONG day I can sit down and read , even if it's just for a few minutes before I zonk out ... But for this I am grateful !

Gratitude Day 25

Day 25 - Pedicures

I LOVe LoVE pedicures !! It's so awesome to go sit in a chair and have someone rub your feet and legs and then at the end have newly painted and (since - I'm me ) decorated toes ... Usually when all the girls come down from Idaho we go get them . We have even walked into the place with 7 girls at once . Whhhheeew - those poor people ! Jay even goes with us . For my birthday Jay and I go get them . He's such a REAL man ;-) -- plus his daughters love to get pedicures with him !

I am grateful to have freshly painted toes nails !

Gratitude Day 24

Day 24 - Laughter

I am grateful for laughing, laughter , funny things to laugh at .... and on and on .. Laughing can completely change my mood - It can make me feel so much better inside and on the outside too :-)

In this picture below -- we had family pictures at the Temple a few yrs back and Becki was trying to get Jay and I -- well ... he pulled a PDA moment - which he NEVER does - and it was even a MARRIED PDA moment - which he Never Never does ;-) ... and of course Becki just kept shooting ( which was awesome ) . I can't post the actual photo to keep this a family blog (wink-wink) but my reaction is down below too . The girls were all dying !! It was a SUPER great LAUGH !!

Then here we are getting ready - and I had just gotten the girls all ready for their photos ... you know the hair out of the face , shirt on right , earrings facing front ... the important stuff ;-) ... so they thought it would be funny to primp me . Which , of course , it was funny !!

I am grateful to laugh and be with people who make life fun !!

Gratitude Day 23

Day 23 - Beautiful Pictures

Today I am grateful for pictures / paintings . I love to be able to walk through my home and be reminded of Prayer , Forgiveness , Sacrifice , My Savior , Healing , The Temple . Jay and I are majorly weak when it comes to going to Dessert Book or Seagull Bookstore . If there's a print there that makes us a tidge emotional -- it's just got to be had . In fact alot of these we have

bought for each other ;-)
( Some of these are pictures so sorry bout the glare from the glass )

This one Jay and Ashley come home with for me on Mothers Day -- booohooohoo

I got this one for Jay The Fathers Day right after Gavin ;-)

He got me this for Valentines Day

This is Jays Favorite !!

I am so grateful to be able to have such beautiful pictures of so many wonderful things in my home -- and very grateful to these artists for sharing their talents with us !!

Gratitude Day 22

Day 22 - Shoes / Boots

I am so grateful to have comfortable shoes ... I LOVE shoes , but I even LOve boots more !! Jay loves it when I wear my boots -- he is so funny , without fail he will always make a comment when I am wearing any boots -- which I love the comments too ;-)

( these are just a few of them )

I know there are many people all over our world that don't have many things - and shoes are one of them . Then they also don't have shoes that even fit . I have recently received a email with pictures of a woman in China with her shoes on , I have to say it was a bit graphic and I didn't want to post it , but my point is that I know some people are in pain with shoes.

I just feel lucky and am grateful to have so many options and shoes/ boots that I love to wear !

Gratitude Day 21

Day 21 - Creating

I am grateful to be able to create !! I love to sit down and make something or at least try ;-) I am so glad that I live in a time that I can get paper , pretty things and fuffy things to make just stuff with ... any kind of stuff . This is my "downtime" - it's the way I can unwind , sorta relax , and then can give something to a friend or family ... or myself ( wink, wink ) I have decided to take these gratitude blogs and make them into a book --- I just downloaded the cute pages from heidi swapp ... and whaalaaa . It's pretty fun !

Here is something we made for Jay for his birth of days last year ... I had the girls tell me reasons why " We Love Our Jay " - then i printed them and made a shadow box.

Instead of doing a boring resume on regular paper -- although pink with perfume on it is great ( snaps, snaps )

I decided to do a book and this is one of the first pages . I love to do scrapbook pages -- but sometimes ... well really only once ... get a tidge carried away ... I just don't know why ...

Another scrapbook page -- using " Glitz " stuff - gotta love the bling !!

I love to CREATE -- and for this I AM grateful !!

Gratitude Day 20

Day 20 - Good Music

I am especially grateful for good music . I love all types of music ... the only requirement I have is that it doesn't have bad words and a negative influence . But for the most part I love to listen for the different beats and hear the instruments . Music has played a major part of my life ... I have tried to sing for years , as well as I played the string bass for 9 years and electric bass . I have been in symphony's and have loved and been amazed at how the instruments could make such

beautiful music.

But I have wanted this Cd for a while now ... and couldn't wait for it to come out !!

It did ;-) Uplifting music has such power for me - as well as for my home . I play uplifting ( not just church ) music 24 hrs aday . It's in the background in

my kitchen . I am grateful for inspired and inspiring music !! And Especially those who share their talents so we can listen to them !

For this I am grateful !!

Our Trip up North to the North Pole

Ashlynn and I went to ride the Polar Express to the North Pole ... to see if we could catch Santa before he started his crazy month ;-)

It was fun -- we have never been to the North Pole

This was right outside our hotel ...

We had a scrumptious dinner buffet

Our dinner - right before we got on our train to go see " the big guy "

Here's the train getttin ready to pick us up

These were our very own chefs

Santa making his way down the isle

You can see Ashlynns head in the bottom corner -- he was giving her a gift ;-)

Breakfast the next morn in the hotel -- once again -- BIg time yUMMM !

On the way home ... loaded down with clothes and food for about a week ... Although we only stayed over night . But it was a nice time ! Relaxing , Cold Weather , of course - Seeing Santa , Sleeping in , Pretty much doing whatever we wanted .

Gratitude Day 19

Day 19 - Making Memories

I am grateful to make memories of fun times ... and maybe not so fun times . I am grateful that I am able to remember dates , times , places , activities ... etc etc . I love to be just sitting somewhere and all of the sudden out of no where I remember something funny that makes me laugh . I Love that my mind can remember !

Ashlynn and I went to Polar Express this last weekend and made some more fun memories ... I told her that we HAD FUN -- so therefor we did -- right ??

It's a wonderful blessing to live life ;-)

Gratitude Day 18

Day 18 - Honesty

I am grateful for Honesty !! I'm not talking about the honesty of .. " honey - do these pants make me look fat " .. ( of course -they don't)

I'm talking about the honesty that you have from children telling the truth about what happened , about the honesty from working a full days Honest work , from having friends who tell you the Truth , from having created a life of being honest and so therefor people trust you , from having examples in scriptures and Prophets that teach us how to be honest and " JUST tell the truth " , from knowing that you don't have to keep your lies straight so you don't get your

stories mixed all up .

Honesty that I can look in my children's eyes and know I have nothing to hide . I am very grateful to have honest people around me and in my life !

My Birthday Breakfast

My Birthday breakfast surprise from Ashlynn ...

It was nice to come out and see this on the table ;-)

What a so sweet girl !!

Good thing I was dressed -- which doesn't happen very often at 6 AM in the

MORNING Time !

Gratitude Day 17

Day 17 - Children

Today I am grateful for CHILDREN !! I am grateful for my own children -- fur sure ! But I am also talking about other children in the world . I am so very lucky to get to work with all ages of children on a daily basis - young , medium , and not so young. Children are so very trusting , so forgiving , more eager to learn , generally more kind to others , more patient that most adults , more creative , almost always non-judgemental ( unless they have been tainted by us adults ) . Children are not prideful and are not effected by our society and the woes of the world around us. And honestly - I think children are oft times just more fun to be around :-) - No wonder why the Lord has asked us " to become as a little child "

I am grateful for our children and the future for them -- and the hope that I have for them in their lives ... which is amazing !

Gratitude Day 16

Day 16 - The Sabbath

Today I am especially grateful for the Sabbath Day . I am grateful that we have a day set aside to think more of Our Savior , to spend more time with family , to serve in callings , attend church meetings and sacrament meeting ,

visit others , try and rest ;-) . . . and so many other things ...

It's always nice to start a new week feeling more grounded and being reminded about why we are here on the earth and what Heavenly Fathers plan is for us !! I am so very , very grateful to have this knowledge .

Gratitide Day 15

Day 15 - Grateful for the ability to do Cakes .

Today I am grateful that I have been blessed and have the opportunity to do cakes . It has been such a blessing in my life . Years ago a friend asked me to do her " wedding cake " - it pretty much freaked me out for a minute then ... I went to work on learning . I will forever be grateful for that friend ( tara ) for pushing me to the test AND Believing in me !!

Then when I was a single mom - that gift was already in place ... so I once again was blessed ... with opportunity to stay home ( except for a few times ) with my daughter . That brought me A TON of peace at a difficult time . I know the ONLY reason why I have the talent is because of my Heavenly Father . He gave me the hands , the creative mind , the desire to bake ( all the time ) , and He continues to send people my way who order cakes . Without any of blessings , it would not be possible .

For this I am GRATEFUL !

Gratitude Day 14

Day 14 - Clean - Running Water

Today I am grateful that I live in a time and a place that has this ! It is so nice and wonderful to go to my sink , bath , shower etc. etc. and just be able to turn the water on ;-) -- and the toilet !! ( well -that's a whole nother major thing in itself !! )

For those of you who don't know me so well - i'm not really the hunter , camper, outdorsy , dirty kinda chick ... OK - I'm NOT AT ALL !

So - I am so very happy that I can drink clean water and wash with clean water . AND for that fact so is my family and the people who hang out with me ;-)

When I see natural disasters and countries who don't have these things .. I feel for them and once again am reminded of the sweet tender mercies I have in my life ...

For this I am grateful !!

Gratitude Day 13

Day 13 - Friends

Today I am grateful for good friends ! I have been very lucky

in my life to have good friends ;-)

People have come in and out of my life and even though I may not talk to them on a daily basis ... I still consider them my FRIEND . Also - through my life I have been hugely blessed to have the kind of friends that were good examples to me , and friends that I could call in a bind , and friends whom I could trust , and friends whom I could laugh with , and cry with , and share lots of things with ;-) .. . Thank you to ALL my friends !!

My Life is wonderfully blessed because of YOU !!

Gratitude Day 12

Day 12 - Another Year Older

I am grateful today to be another year older .... not to have more wrinkles and watch everything on my body change ( inside and out . rrrr.... ) But I am grateful because that means I have had another year of learning , laughing , loving , serving , and spending time with friends and family . Another year means I was healthy and
able to do many things every day !
For this I am GRATEFUL !

Field Trip for 6th grade

Ashlynns school had a field trip to the Az Science Center . I was lucky enough to be able to go with the 6th grade . I have a great job that is very kind in letting me have time to do them kinds of things ;-) Anyway - we went on the bus and had a great time ... I'm so glad she

will still talk to me and wants to hang out with me

( even in front of her friends ) -- which I know most of them at school already anyways .

I love all those 6th graders ! I do I do !!