Giving Thanks

Thanksgiving at our house rocked this year.

literally ;) there was lots of singing and music.

We had lots of family and friends including my second cousin Erin, my cousin Justin, Kelly and Lance and their girls, Flora and her roommate Amanda. It was good stuff.

Stuart and I were pretty busy in the kitchen but our labors paid off pretty well. Sadly with all the fun this is the lone food picture I have :(

But everyone looks happy at the end of the meal so I will call it a success.

My cousins were happy to help keep the kids (and themselves) entertained.

There were, of course, card and board games.

Even the shorties got in on the action.

 Little Cousins 

and Older Cousins

We are thankful we had so many people to celebrate this year.  We are blessed abundantly!

So Blessed

This year we had the neat opportunity to go to our Nation's capitol for Thanksgiving to visit Gigi and Eric in Washington DC.  As we toured the monuments and memorials it definitely hit me how thankful I am to live here in America.  Even though sometimes I worry about the direction of our Nation, I still love the United States.  And it was fabulous to spend time with family.  I only wish that Stuart could have joined us!

As always my greatest blessings are my family and the gospel of Jesus Christ.  I am so thankful that I can be with my amazing husband and beautiful children forever.  I love them and the Lord and count my blessings every day!

Gobble Gobble!

Hope you enjoyed your Turkey day!  We are so grateful this year. We have been blessed more than we can count.  We had a wonderful dinner with my family, and the only downside of the day was that Stuart wasn't able to make it home.  We are thankful that his sister Sharon and her family provided him with an awesome dinner later that weekend to celebrate!  

We Praise Thy Name O Lord

We are Grateful

We enjoyed having Gianina, Annika, and a friend Hanna to enjoy Thanksgiving with us this year.
The food was probably even better than last year, and I'm excited that next year we will probably have a table to eat on! We played the boardgames that have become our tradition...and there were probably as many deserts as dinner dishes!
We are so blessed this year. John Ballie said "The fact that man is thankful implies that there is someone to be thankful to." And we feel that the Lord has shown his hand in our lives this year. In the last year we have not only been blessed in our temporal well being with a beautiful home, good food, a stimulating education, opportunities for growth and improvement, but we have also been blessed with the start of our precious family. Over the last year we have been sealed in the temple and also welcomed a precious new spirit into our home. These things are the most sacred and special to us and confirm to us that we have a loving Heavenly Father and it is worth it to do all the things necessary to live with him in families someday. We also are reminded through these precious experiences that we are blessed to have our families with good mothers, fathers, brothers, and sisters and we are grateful to them for all the support and love that they have shown us this year. I don't believe that it is coincidence that Thanksgiving comes right before Christmas. Thanksgiving is not a self-congratulatory holiday, but a chance to look at the bounty we have been given and realize our blessings are more than we deserve. This opportunity puts us in the perfect situation to remember that we owe all our abundance to the Savior, and just in time for the season that is filled with celebration of his birth. Thanksgiving gets us in the mood to spread the joy of Christ through the Holiday season and to dedicate ourselves to being better Christians in the new year to come. We have truly been given much this year and wish to share the happiness we have received through our testimonies in Christ, for that is the source of all our precious blessings this year.

A prayer for this and all of your Thanksgivings to come:
May your stuffing be tasty
May your turkey plump,
May your potatoes and gravy
have nary a lump.
May your yams be delicious
and your pies take the prize,
and may your Thanksgiving dinner
stay off your thighs!

And enjoy your holidays this year!