10 Things I am Very Grateful For

10 Things I am Very Grateful For

1. I am so grateful for my husband. It's common knowledge that he is so sweet. But he is also incredibly supportive. He is always there for me, helping me whenever he can. Every test day when I'm freaking out (and all the other many days I'm stressed) he is there, comforting me, telling me I can do it.

2. I'm thankful for my daughter. I never want to take it for granted that I have a beautiful, healthy baby girl. Not only that, but she's also such a happy, well-behaved child. I am so lucky.

3. I am grateful for my husband's job. With a nationwideunemployment rate of 9% I'm grateful my husband is not in that category. I grateful that it's a job he really enjoys. And that it's flexible enough that if he needs to take some time off he can, or he can do a lot of the work from home.

4. On that same note, I'm grateful for our 5 minutes in the morning and evening. This semester our schedule's have worked out really nice. JP comes home after coaching swim team, helps me finish getting Gabrielle ready in the morning, so we can drop her off at daycare together. Then we go up to campus together, and we have five minutes every morning walking from parking to talk and be together. Then at 5 I just walk over to his office, and we go home together, we get another 5 minutes walking to the car to talk about our days. Those small little moments have been so amazing. They've made such a difference, and I enjoy how close I feel to JP.

5. I'm grateful for my parents. I have wonderful and amazing parents. They taught about me hard work, integrity, respecting others, and following your dreams, and so much more. I also want to say that I'm so thankful that my parents are still married, crazily in love 25 years later. (Trust me, go to their house and you'll see way too much loving going on.) They example has meant so much to me, especially as I go through my own marriage.

6. I am grateful for sunshine. I'm one of those people who is incredibly affected by the weather. Sunny days make me so happy. But living in freezing Logan, with it's long winter, and the constant inversion that comes with the winter, it can be a long time in between the days I get to see sunshine. So the days when it's sunny and bright I'm very grateful for the brightness, the warmth and vitamin D.

7. I am grateful for personal prayer.  Prayer has been a great strength and comfort for me. I'm thankful for my Savior, my Christ. I am thankful for the strength He gives me, and His love.

8. I am grateful for my education. I'm thankful for the opportunity. I'm also thankful for my particular school, too. It has been a perfect fit for me. I love the atmosphere of Utah State, and I like the education and experiences I've been having here.

9. I am grateful for my talents. I realize that might sound a little arrogant, but I don't mean to be cocky. But I was blessed with the ability to grasp scientific principles easier than some of my classmates. (Yes, I still study like crazy mad.) With the field I've chosen to go into, it's been (and will be) a huge blessing and help. I wonder though, if my talents were different, maybe my interests would be too.

10. JP and I have been very blessed. Things in life have managed to work out for us. We haven't had any major trials or hiccups thrown at us. Yes, there have been small bumps, but nothing terribly drastic, and nothing we couldn't handle. I'm grateful that we haven't had any catastrophes happen to us. All of the scary moments in the ER have managed to resolve themselves, no scary problems there. Our van is still running, the day it stops we'll be in a heap of trouble, and I'm so glad is still turns on when I turn the key (most of the time). Finances can get really tight, but we find a way to make it work. We've been able to find jobs when needed. When we needed a place to stay, we've always been able to find a house with minimal difficulty. Things like that, no trails that we couldn't handle. And yes, I'm going to go knock on wood now. We had it easy, and for that I'm grateful. I know our mountains will come (I want to go to med school, need I say more) so for right now I want to appreciate the calm and how blessed we are.