Happy Thanksgiving

I am really bad at getting behind in my blogging but I like to spend the time catching up so that I will have this in the future. But today I am going to take a break from playing catch up and focus on the wonderful day that it is...Thanksgivning!

I watched this video to other day about a man who was really grateful everyday of his life and how important it is to not just for one day a year. I 100% agree with him and while I don't do it for the world to hear everyday, I try to thank my Heavenly father for all my wonderful blessings each and everyday.

(This years Thanksgiving!)

I am most grateful for the wonderful family that I have! They are amazing and my best friends. I hate living so far away but things never seem to have changed when I go back. I love you dad, mom, Nick, and Kevin! And all of my extended family too!

I am grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ in my life and all the knowledge I have learned from it. I am grateful for a loving Heavenly Father that has blessed me with everything in my life. Each day is a new adventure and He is always there to go through it with me!

I am grateful for the wonderful friends that I have spread throughout the country. I have met so many wonderful people over the last couple of years I have lived away from home. Each one has taught me something and I know there was a reason for each of them. I am also grateful for the long term friends like Erika and Erca and Megan and Ashley who will all be around in my life for a while!

( last years Thanksgiving!)

I am grateful for trials and adversity in life. It is hard to be thankful for hard times but really that is where i have learned the most in my life and made me who I am today. Yes they are not always fun to go through but I am lucky enough to know that I don't have to go through them alone.

I am grateful for the chiropractor. After much time of not knowing things I am grateful to finally know what is wrong and be able to stet fixing it. It is not always easy when doing my therapy but I know in the long run it will be most beneficial!

I am grateful for my teaching job and the wonderful school I work at. When I interviewed I really knew right off the bat that I would love to work for and with them. Thank you David Gourley Elementary for helping me so much in my first 2 years of teaching! My second year is starting off a lot better than my first year. Also I work with an amazing staff and am grateful for all of them!

I am grateful for my health. While there are a couple things I am working out, I am really very healthy. I am grateful that I have insurance to cover a lot when I do need it. I am grateful that I can still be so active in my life.

Other things I am grateful for:
A home, clothes, food, bed, blankets, my jeep, a garage, sunrises and sunsets, sunshine, Utah mountains, lakes, rivers, and oceans, animals, Reese's cup holiday editions, Christmas time, Christmas music, country music, sweatshirts and sweatpants, the scriptures, warm showers, winter coats, neighbors, gas stations, police men and fire men, soldiers, dentists, doctors, hospitals, health insurance, furnaces and fireplaces, copy machines, laminators, printers, computers, iPads, cell phones, Skype, FaceTime, movies, shoes, boots, airplanes, books, Pilgrams, religious freedom, living in a free country and so very much more!!

I have always wanted to spend sometime serving others on Thanksgiving, but I hadn't found a good place until this year. I got ahold of the Christian Life Mission and they said they needed a lot of help this year. I was so excited to go downtown and be abe to help. I stood in the kitchen and dished out food as people came to take and serve it or some that just wanted to take some home. We were very fortunate to have a ton of food and I was grateful for all the people I met while there.

There was a lady who was also working in the kitchen named Renea and she was so great! We talked for a long time and we even started our own kitchen dance party. These people came up and were taking pictures and asked what the name of our group was and we came up with The Stuffing Servers on the spot! I love when you can just meet people and totally be yourself and not feel weird because you don't really know them. Thank you Renea from Heber for help making the day awesome!

There was another old man that came through the line and he couldn't stop saying how grateful he was that we were there serving. It was my pleasure to be where they needed the most help! Then he asked to share a message with us and from what I could hear and understand him he was quoting a scripture from another version of a bible but its message was still that charity never faileth and to serve people is to serve God. I wasn't there to be recognized or to be told how awesome I was, I was there because I know how much it means to be with family and if you cant be with family then at least around friends or happy people. I wanted to be that happy person that could help make someone's day a little brighter, and to be able to serve Gods children when he can't be here serving them himself. 

My last story comes from Gordon. He was a very big dude, tall and round. He immediately started talking and telling me his life story. He is an artist, and author, and he owns 15 small businesses. He was there because this morning he was interviewing a truck driver at a rest stop for his new book, and he bought some andom stranger breakfast who told him about the Christian Life Mission dinner. He told me how he's going through a divorce because he wife can't handle all of his lady friends. Apparently he has 225 lady friends that he takes care of. He goes out on dates with all of them and makes sure they are well off with anything they need. All I could think in my head was that this dude was a PIMP! Oh he was also a comedian and it was my mistake to tell him that I love jokes. This is the joke he told me: "my friend was a cashier at Walmart and for her birthday I was going to get her a bra, but I didnt know what size. So I asked a lady that was getting in her line to check her out and then came back and tell me what size she guessed his friend was. The lady told security and he got kicked out of Walmart." THAT WAS THE JOKE! Then he says, you can tell I'm a comedian right?! Uhhhhhhh yeah. I just did not understand him. So then he starts telling me about how he is an artist and if he stared at me long enough he would be able to draw me later when he went home. He said he would always remember my beautiful smile and pretty eyes. Now the funny thing was that there was a little black lady standing by him now and she was all, leave this poor girl alone and stop trying to hit on her. Gordon made a bad joke about me being to young, but the black lady was having none of it so she went to get the pastor to get him away from me. She came back later to check on me and we laughed about his terrible jokes. Oh but that was not the end of Gordon because he came back to ask if I wanted to be one of his lady friends!? Luckily the pastor came back over at that moment and saved me! Ohhh Gordon, what an interesting man!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!