Sunday, November 30, 2008

Giving Thanks

"Thanksgiving Day is the one day that is purely American." ~O. Henry

I enjoy this time of year to reflect on what I am thankful for. Granted, I'm trying to be better about "living in thanksgiving daily" but it's also nice to have a day to celebrate those things that we're specifically thankful for. I also love being with family to celebrate the holidays.



Here are a few things that I'm thankful for this year:

*My family. I really don't know what I would do with out them. I am grateful for their love and patience. I am so happy I was able to spend the majority of this week with them! But, right now, I'm also sad it's coming to a close. Did this week seem to go by faster than usual, or was it just me that noticed it?

*The gospel. The gospel means everything to me and I honestly don't know where I would be without it in my life. I love the gospel!

*My Savior. I am so grateful to Christ for His love for us and the ability that we have to draw closer to Him.

A few of the other things I am thankful for:

*Warm house
*Job
*Down comforter :)
*Pets
*The opportunity to live in this country and all the freedoms that go along with it
*Food to eat
*Money
*A car that runs
*Temples where families can be sealed for eternity

What are you thankful for this year?

My family has a tradition of going out the Saturday after Thanksgiving to cut down our Christmas tree. Usually we have a specific place we go but last year and this year my mom and I went to a new place to cut it down. Growing up our whole family would go to cut it, but both years my dad was working and my sister was in Idaho so my mom and I just went. Honestly, it takes a while to find the perfect tree, and this year was no different...but I think we found one in record time. It only took a little over an hour! We started out looking at the trees in the front of the farm and wound our way to the back. We would see one that we thought might work from a distance, but when we got up close it was either too bare or had a twisted trunk or was too short. (The poor trees, they're probably thinking to themselves "gosh, humans are so picky!")

After looking at many trees and not really finding one that was "perfect", we decided that we needed to pick one from the ones we had looked at. We narrowed our choices to about three from the front of the farm that we thought would be fine. Unfortunately, we just remembered them in our heads, but forgot to tag or identify them in some way. When we went up front to look at them again, we realized we had built them up to be "the" tree but couldn't actually remember which ones they were! Luckily there was one that we put a stick in (from the back of the farm) and we decided to go back to that one. After looking it over one last time, we decided it would work and cut it down. They had a little tractor that the tree was put on, so we wouldn't have to carry it, and it was driven up to the front of the farm. A little elf was even driving the tractor! He was so cute. After they shook it to get all the dead needles off, they put netting over it, put it in the car, and we drove it home. Now comes the fun part of setting it up and putting the lights and decorations on it. Such memories we have (and will have) of cutting down the Christmas tree! I love this time of year!

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Worth it?

I love free food! I went with my roommates and donated blood for the first time today here in Lexington. Honestly, I was impressed. Despite the uncomfort of the actual needle, I got a free t-shirt, card for a free meal at McDonald's, and a card for free chips and guacamole at Chipotle. Pretty sweet deal, huh? A little blood for almost two meals and another shirt! Plus, they had Little Debbie snack cakes and pop and juice machines for refreshment after donating. I think I will definitely go back. Incidentally, I used to be afraid of needles! I was so afraid that I even cried when they tried to give me the MMR vaccine in 7th grade. My parents had to drag me into the room so the nurse could give it to me. Needless to say, I'm not so afraid anymore, thankfully.

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Tag, I'm it!

A while ago my friend tagged me. Here goes: (some of them I edited because I didn't have 9 things)

9 TV SHOWS I WATCH:
-Law and Order: SVU
-Law and Order: CI
-Seinfeld
-Bones
-24
-CSI: New York
-As Time Goes By
-The Office (sometimes)
-House M.D.

9 FAVORITE RESTAURANTS:
-Olive Garden
-Outback Steakhouse (they have great rolls)
-IHop (just went there for the first time yesterday!)
-Josiah's (since closed)
-Mongolian BBQ
-Golden Corral
-Coldstone Creamery (does that count?)

9 THINGS I DID YESTERDAY:
-Went with a friend while she had her car repaired
-Went to the library and checked out books
-Ate at IHop
-Went to the store
-Had friends over and watched movies
-Checked Facebook
-Read my email
-Chatted with a friend
-Breathed in and out (pretty important!)

9 THINGS I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO:
-Thanksgiving with my family
-Christmas with my family
-Getting married
-Meeting new people
-The day I won't have to worry about money so much
-Having children
-Going to NYC (someday it will happen!)
-A new (to me) car

9 THINGS ON MY WISH LIST:
-A husband
-Children
-A dog
-Egg cups
-Phantom of the Opera movie
-More money :-)
-Being able to make better use of my time

9 THINGS I AM SCARED OF:
-Being alone
-Having something bad happen to my family
-Dark alleys
-Heights
-Getting lost (happens to me a lot though, I should be used to it by now!)
-Pushy people
-Speaking my mind
-Scary movies
-Haunted halloween parks

9 PEOPLE I TAG:
-Becky F.
-Sam C.
-Tara
-Jeanette B.
-Holly S.
-Rebecca A.
-Anyone else who
-wants to tag themselves...
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