Happy Thanksgiving

Last Sunday, Catherine and Mike spoke in their ward (Foothill 1st ward) on gratitude. (For a complete text of her talk, check out their blog.) One particular point that Catherine made was that we should acknowledge and be grateful for the small things as well as the biggies. In that spirit, I thought I should share some of the small as well as not so small things that I find myself grateful for and appreciative of. They are listed in no particular order:

1. My husband---Steve is amazing and I love and appreciate him more each day.
2. My children---they are talented, smart, kind, loyal---and they all married really really well!!
3. Carsen--who was the little pioneer who taught us how to be grandparents
4. Raegan--who insists that every picture she sees of Lance Armstrong is really a picture of Grandpa Steve.
5. Alex--whose red hair and big smile make us giggle
6. Temple marriage---mine and those of our children
7. Dad's mission to France--it has blessed my life with more than just the annual French dinner and I think it has blessed our children as well.
8. Cell phones--so I can talk to my kids every day---even the ones in Boston.
9. My Mom
10. Creations of our Heavenly Father---mountains, Lake powell, friends, family
11. Dishwashers and microwaves---I often remark (and you are probably all sick of hearing it) that I don't know how my mother and Grandmother Duncan handled family dinners and holidays for big groups without dishwashers and microwaves.
12. Our neighborhood family.
13. The heritage of strong righteous women who have gone before, serving as wives, mothers, leaders in the Church and community---who have left me without excuse for enduring to the end.
14. Dinner with Mike and Linda
15. Michael and Jennifer Bell---who have loved us through thick and thin and have traveled long distances every time to be with us in the temple for the sealings of our children.
16. Getting to know Sandra, Cort, Brad, Beth, diane, Bill, Jeff, Susan and all of the kids
17. Living in Utah so that I could see and experience the blessing of watching my children date and marry wonderful people.
18. University of Utah football---especially this year!
19. Missions to Haiti, Chile and Brazil
20. Eternal Family
21. Michigan (Let's go Blue!) and all our friends there
22. The Time-out-step where I would sit my kids (bottom step in our Detroit house or one of the bedrooms if it was too small for the three to fit) where they could learn to negotiate, work out problems and forgive one another.
23. Cherry Garcia ice cream
24. Hatches chocolates
25. Black Sheep Wool and Charlotte and Vonnie
26. Eror Family attitude that we can do or learn anything that we put our minds to---and to not be discouraged when things look hard.
27. Philo
28. Fasting as a family and being able to end it altogether even if we are far apart.
29. Egg Nog
30. Fall--my favorite time of year.
31. Making halloween costumes for my family members---big and small.
32. Patricia singing.
33. Patricia and Catherine singing together.
34. Patricia and Catherine playing the piano whenever they are home at Hilltop Road.
35. Lotoja weekend and the friends that go with it.
36. Health---mine, Steve's, Mom's our children's and our grandchildren's---easy to take for granted but such an amazing blessing.
37. Furnace in winter.
38. Air Conditioning in summer
39. Blogging as a form of staying in touch
40.Las Vegas
41. Reading the Book of Mormon out loud everyday with Steve.
42. High Heels
43. Sephora
44. Katie, Alec and our Hawaii Family
45. Boot heaters in my ski boots (they REALLY work!!)
46. The friendship with the Edwards family which has been in existence longer that I have known Steve or Kara has known Jeff
47. Computers
48. Email
49. Gardening
50. Steve being patient when I forget to work on or follow through with #49
51. Music--all kinds
52. Cirque de Soliel
53. Ward temple night---going with neighborhood family is a wonderful experience.
54. Pilates
55. Toys: skis, boats, road bikes, mountain bikes (with Brad and Beth), etc
56. Raybould family---when we moved into the avenues they welcomed us with open arms and hearts---and then continued that by alerting Ben and Liz that the Garffs were coming to their ward
57. Forgiveness---the fact that my husband and children forgive my weaknesses and mistakes and that my Heavenly Father does too

That's a partial list---Happy Thanksgiving. I look forward to sharing the upcoming holiday season with you and those we all love so much!! Thank you all for being part of my life! You make me happy!!!