Thankful through Thanksgiving

I'm a little late with this, but then again, when am I not late? I want to take this month to document a little bit every day about what I'm thankful for. I have been incredibly blessed, so now y'all (yep, I"m turnin texan!), get a sneak peek into my wonderfully blest life!:)

I'm an all or nothin kinda girl, as in, I don't make my bed every day, but when I do, it has to be perfect, type of thing. Or an even better example is my overwhelmingly strong sweet tooth and the fact that I can NEVER have just one piece of candy...I so wish I could though, so I either eat all the candy, or none! So, since I'm all or nothing, I'm gonna make this an extra long post and catch-up on the last four days that I've missed. So settle in, this may not be a short post.

Looking back on my week and what I probably would have written, I'm going to start #1 with how thankful I am for my awesome swagger wagon (aka minivan). I am able to transport my kids to school, preschool, soccer, parties, grocery shopping and whatever else I have on my plate in any given day. I can open the doors at the touch of a button, which is awesome! The doors don't swing open, so I don't have to worry about the car next to us getting dinged, and there's a dvd player, which is such a huge lifesaver on most days. But on monday I was especially thankful for a comfy car as I drove to every hobby lobby in the houston area (literally, I went to seven on monday alone!).  It also has great storage space for all the stuff I was able to get at said hobby lobby's.

#2 would have to be how thankful I am for friends, old and new. Those who are there for me now, and help me manage my life by just being there and influencing me and my children for the better, as well as those who made up my past and helped me become the person I am now. It is absolutely amazing how much influence the people who surround us have on our lives, for better or worse. I hope my children can learn this early and make a point of surrounding themselves with good, decent people.

Tuesday I ran into an old friend I ran track with at the U, I hadn't seen her in 8 years, and ran into her randomly in the toy aisle at walmart. I was only on the team with her for two years, but man, I LOVED those years! I especially loved the girls I was able to spend day in and day out with as we practiced, and competed together.Then, at the same time my Amazing friend Allie saved me by picking Peyton up from preschool when I wasn't able to make it back on time. Friends are amazing and essential at all ages, truly!

#3 would have to be how incredibly thankful I am for the most amazing ward! Our ward family has made our lives in Houston so wonderful! One of the reasons why when we moved 3 years ago, we chose to stay in the same neighborhood was because of this amazing ward. It seems that when you're LDS, and most of your friends and interactions come from those in your ward, having a great ward family is essential. Some day we will move out of this neighborhood, but it's gonna be hard, cause I don't think we'll want to ever leave our ward.

Also, on the third of November we had our craft day for Relief Society, this is why I visited every hobby lobby in houston, it was so much fun, and I hope everyone was able to enjoy doing their crafts and get a head start on christmas. But the help I had from the women in the ward was amazing, and I have some of the best examples from the women in this ward alone.

Last but not least (for today anyway) as I catch up on my november thankfulness is #4. I am beyond thankful for my husband's job. I'm not always excited that he works in a family business, but there are some great upsides to it! His job supports our family, gives us security, health insurance (which has been invaluable this year!), and some flexiblity. Today as I went to the dentist..again, he was able to stay home for the morning and watch the kids so I didn't have to find a sitter or worry about Jaden (I'm a little weird about sitters when I have a baby). Because of his flexibility, he's been able to do real estate as well, and he's able to be there when I need him to be. There can be downsides to a family business, like the family doesn't get together a whole lot, probably cause the boys see each other every day and don't always realize how long it's been since we got together, but by far, the blessings we've received from his job far outweight the downside.

so, bear with me throughout the rest of this month as I post how very blessed I have been. I need to remember my blessings more often and express my gratitude for all I have been given. Hopefully I can remember to do this every day, we'll see!