Attitude of Grattitude Week 1

It's that time of year again...time to be thankful! I mean, we're thankful all year long, but it's the time of year that my family really, really concentrates on all of the many, many blessings that Heavenly Father has given us. This is by far one of the best family traditions we have and it's so wonderful to hear the little things that come to mind as we go around and ask each member of the family what they are thankful for each day leading up to the day of Thanksgiving. It's so cool to see our little stick of a tree turn into a beautiful colorful tree representing all of our blessings. I love that as the leaves fall outside, our tree fills up and we can see just how blessed we are every day. It brings such a special spirit of gratitude to our home. So here are the blessings we are especially thankful for this week:

11/1:
Ben-mountains, Skylar-food, Nick-Book of Mormon, Kade-Dylan (Tong), Alexis- Cheesepants Dylan (you never know what you'll hear out of a 2 year olds' mouth?)

Cyndi- I am thankful to know who I am and know God's plan.I know that I am a child of God, a daughter of God, and that He loves me very much. He knows what I need and He is there for me. I feel so very blessed to have the gospel in my life and to have the knowledge of the plan of salvation that God has for us. If I didn't have this, I know that my days right now would be much darker than they are. I know that we will be reunited with Gabriel and that brings me great joy, even if I am not particularly happy missing him so much. I would be lost without knowing that the Lord has a great plan in store for me and my family. Knowing who I am and knowing God's plan is the greatest blessing I could ever have.

11/2:
Ben-friends, Skylar-family, Nick-school, Kade-Joy school, Alexis-food

Cyndi-I am thankful to live in such a wonderful country with so many freedoms, particularly the right to vote.It is such a blessing to live in such a great country as we do. We are so blessed to have the freedoms that not all have. There are so many injustices throughout the world, so many people that just don't have the right to do the many things that we just take for granted every day. One of the greatest things we have is a democracy, where we can help in choosing the way we would like our country to be run. Not everything is perfect, but we do have a voice if we disagree.

11/3:
Ben-good food, Skylar-books, Nick-turkeys, Kade-preschool, Alexis-Dono (Tong)

Cyndi- I am thankful that my husband has a great job doing what he loves to do. Ben hasn't always had the best of luck with jobs. He's an extremely hard worker and has always provided for our family, but we've struggled through the years and suffered through many lay-offs. Many of the companies that Ben has worked for haven't had very honest people there or have been start-up companies and we have never felt the comfort of knowing that he'd have a paycheck always coming in. We've always just been waiting for the day the company goes under and he receives another notice of being laid off. A year ago at this time, we were going through this once again. We've joked many times that Ben is really good at getting jobs. He's never been out of work for too long. We've known that because we've always payed our tithing, we have had this blessing. Now finally, for the first time in our marriage, Ben has a really good job. He is treated well, the company actually has money, the perks and benefits have been good (including a free trip to Lagoon for the entire company and their families), and we feel really blessed. His company is one that actually contracts him out to other companies, and for the last few months, he has been contracted to work at the LDS Church in their technology department. He couldn't ask for a better working environment and it's so cool to be able to see his work on their website. We are also blessed that Ben has a second job teaching web design at the Art Institute, which he really enjoys doing. Most importantly, Ben loves what he does. Of course he'd probably rather be animating Pixar movies or working on video games, but he's happy doing web design just as much, and him being happy at work makes me happy for him.


11/4:
Ben-good health, Skylar-knowing God's plan, Nick-leaves, Kade-the whole entire earth, Alexis-juice

Cyndi-I am thankful for Joy school and all of the cute kids I've gotten to teach along the way, especially my own. I'm also thankful for all the amazing moms that have helped to teach my babies too.

Our cute kids this year!

Last week I taught Joy school. It was a hard week but this was one of the highs of my week. I just love Joy school. I am so thankful that I've had the opportunity to stay at home with my kids, but I do love what I majored in, teaching kids. Joy school has given me the chance to still get to teach on occasion, and what's even better is that I get to teach kids that I know and love, especially my favorite kids in the world, my own! The Joy school program is so great too. We learn so many things about this amazing world we live in and it's all about finding joy in these things. I love being a part of Joy school!

Some of our awesome moms!

I also have to be thankful for the awesome group of moms that I've had to do Joy school with through the years. We've always had such a great group of ladies that I really love and admire. I feel so comfortable knowing that my kids have been taught by these women that I trust and know will make their experience with Joy school a special one. I love you all of you ladies-Abby, Angela, Alisha, Becky, Christina, Lindsey & Tammy! Thanks for being the best teachers to my kids!!

11/5:
Ben-squash, Skylar-scriptures, Nick-air, Kade-family, Alexis-ranch dressing

Cyndi- I am thankful for modern appliances and the convenience they bring to my life.
This week we've had yet another stupid annoyance of something going wrong in our house. Our dryer has been broken. We even have gotten it fixed once and it broke yet again. What a pain! I have to admit that this is probably one of the appliances I rely on most around my house. We wash a lot of clothes around here! So all week long, I've been heading to the laundromat down the street (at least it's close & clean!) to dry our clothes. As much of a pain as it has been, I am so lucky to live in this day and age when I don't have to find a stream to wash my clothes in and then wait all day for them to dry. I get to cook in an amazing oven that I love, have my food cooled and frozen in a refrigerator and freezer, reheat leftovers easily in the microwave, and wash my dishes the easy way, in a dishwasher. What a blessing it is to have all of these appliances doing the work for me!

11/6-
Ben-ice cream, Skylar-friends, Nick-water, Kade-friends, Alexis-milk

Cyndi: I am thankful for Fall!I absolutely love the autumn season! Among the many things that Ben and I had to do this day, cleaning up our yard to get ready for the snow to fly was on the top of our list, even though I wish we could've been up hiking in the mountains that I love. But it couldn't have been a more perfect fall day to do spend outdoors, cleaning or having fun. I enjoyed being out in the warm, not too crisp, fall air and seeing all the amazingly beautiful color in all of the trees. I couldn't help but feel enormous gratitude to be able to enjoy such an perfect fall day. As I was cleaning up the yard, I noticed Gabriel's tree that we just planted. Now, when we picked it, we were already in love with the amazing red color of the leaves, but all of sudden, overnight, those leaves have changed to the most spectacular red of all. It is absolutely gorgeous! What a great surprise it was to see that beautiful tree, with the beautiful snow capped Mt. Timp. behind them. Gabriel's other tree has now lost all of its leaves but should be blooming with astounding blossoms in spring, my other favorite season. I feel such great love from my Heavenly Father and my sweet boy, Gabriel, in letting me savor such beauty while remembering them.

11/7-
Ben-Gabriel, Skylar-modern technology, Nick-pumpkins, Kade-Baby Gabe, Alexis-cookies

Cyndi: I am thankful for the opportunity to fast, especially when doing so on behalf of someone in need.We happen to be lucky enough to live in a wonderful ward full of some amazing people. However, our ward has seen more than its share of tragedies. After Gabriel died, a friend who had her own huge loss before I even lived here and I were discussing this and saying how it seems as if these trials and tragedies are so prevalent in our ward but maybe it is because we are able to truly strengthen and comfort one another having known the need to be comforted ourselves. I know that our ward has a strong unity to it because of the things we've had to go through as a ward family.

This last week a sweet woman in our ward had a massive stroke and now has a long recovery ahead of her. Our ward had a ward wide fast on behalf of her today. My thoughts and prayers have been with her family all week and I wanted to join in the ward fast. I have to admit that I haven't fasted very much in the years having my kids. I've either been pregnant or nursing for a lot of the time and so I didn't have the opportunity to do so. I've always had the spirit of fasting, but haven't actually skipped the eating part during these times. Even when I have, I can't remember the last time I actually fasted for two meals because I get such awful migraines that I can only skip one meal before my head is pounding and I am literally sick as can be. However when the fast was announced, I knew I wanted to be a part of it. It's a little bittersweet to me because I was glad for the opportunity to get to fast for someone specifically, but at the same time it was the first time fasting since Gabriel died. If he was still here, I couldn't have joined in the fast. But as it was, I was able to. I was also able to fast for both of the meals, without getting a headache, for the first time in years. I know that Heavenly Father blessed me to be able to fast today. I am so thankful that I could.