Thankful

It's never too late to be thankful! I realized that in the busy aftermath of having a baby, I forgot to write about Thanksgiving. Our initial plan was just to go out to eat somewhere. Just two weeks post partum I didn't quite feel like whipping up a Thanksgiving meal. Luckily we were invited to celebrate with some other families from the ward. There ended up being 8 adults and 5 kids in attendance so it was a lot of fun. Our two boys were both cranky and crying all morning, and both sacked out in the car on the way to dinner! We ended up letting Eli nap in the car for a while, and carried Owen inside in his carseat asleep, so we actually sat down to the meal kidless! After we stuffed ourselves and brought Eli in to watch a movie and play with the other kids, Brad and the guys played some chilly football out in the street. Eli got to watch Finding Nemo on the family's big screen TV - to him it was like being in the movie theater because he only gets to watch dvd's on his little tiny auto dvd player. It was a nice day, and I'm so glad we had good friends to share it with. Before we ate, we all went around the table and said a few things we were thankful for. The first thing that came to my mind was of course my family - my two beautiful boys and my recent amazing birth experience, and my wonderful hubby who is really my best friend and greatest support. I didn't list them all at dinner, but I'm also thankful for my parents who sacrificed greatly so my mom could be out here for Owen's birth, and for my sister whom I adore and miss, for our warm and welcoming ward and great friends out here, the unique niche we have found for ourselves and the experiences we've had out here, Brad's job, a warm and inviting home, this country of choice that we live in, and the light of the Gospel in our lives.

I'm also thankful that we are heading out West for the holidays! We will be in Utah on Monday and will be there through the new year. We'll be celebrating Christmas with the Bensons, and then my sister's wedding (yay Aubrey and Dale!)! We'll be in AZ with my parents after that until the end of January while Brad does a visiting rotation out there. So if my blogging drops off for a while, that's what we are up to. If you are going to be in Utah the week before Christmas and want to get together let us know (or in AZ after New Year's)!