Creativity

How do I go about deciding what to post about on the last day of November? No real "extra" thought, to be honest ... just one more thing in a list of MANY that I am grateful for. Truth be told, my list will be ever growing and ever changing. I learned that this month as I've taken this blogging journey. I never would have expected to declare undying gratitude for things like my dishwasher or mid-rise stretch denim. I find myself grateful for different things depending on my mood, the seasons, the experiences of our family, etc. There are also things that will ALWAYS be on my list like my testimony, my husband, and family.

Today I am grateful for creativity. I am grateful for the blessings of my own creativity as well as the creativity of others. I am certainly not stating that I am uber-creative, but I love to create things on my computer and with my hands and am grateful that I have an outlet to express myself and learn new skills. I have a growing list of things that I want to try and that I want to learn and I know it will always be an evolving process. I am also grateful for the opportunity that I have had to turn my love for being creative into a job that challenges me and has helped me grow tremendously!!

I am also grateful for the creativity of others. I follow a lot of different crafting and idea blogs and I have a growing folder in Evernote of ideas that inspire me. One day I may just get around to trying some of them out!

So, there you have it ... 30 days of gratitude. I'll be honest - I never posted anywhere that I would be posting every day this month because I know how much work it takes and didn't want to let myself down. It was last year during my month of gratitude that I decided I needed to take a hiatus from blogging!! It actually felt great to get all of these things written down and captured forever. It's been a bumpier month than we expected and the next month should be an adventure as we piece our kitchen back together, head to Disneyland for a week, celebrate the holidays with dance and piano recitals, loads of parties between school, church, and work, and look forward to entertaining family for two weeks. I won't be posting every day ... I need a little extra sleep ... but I will continue to fill in some of the details of our lives and will definitely shout from the rooftops when the kitchen is done!!

Holiday Treats

'Tis the season for some of my favorite treats to make their appearance again - WOOT!! Funny thing is I have favorite treats for just about every holiday ;) Candy Corn only tastes good to me in October {and only Brach's brand, thankyouverymuch}, Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs at Easter taste better than any other Reese's product, and I have oh, so many treats that I love during the Christmas holidays!! I'm grateful for the excitement that I feel when I see them in the stores for the first time each season!

I had my first Peppermint Chocolate Chip Milkshake from Chick-fil-a on Friday and it was the perfect reward for my early (before 7 AM), cold (35 degrees) 6 mile run that morning. Too bad someone had to tell me it had almost 1000 calories, but it was worth every one as it was sheer perfection!! I'm sure I will have several more before they leave the stores in January ;)

My other faves include the beloved chocolate/mint combo that I am so fond of, as well! I'm always a sucker for Mint M&M's and was thrilled when they made the "premium" ones {now known as Thrills} available year round after putting them out a few years ago ... divine!! We almost always have a bowl of the red, white, and green niblets on our counter - too bad we don't have a counter this year!! Probably better for my waistline ;) I also bought my first bag of Dove Peppermint Bark this past weekend because I knew the wrappers would be the perfect filler for one of my tall glass jars that I change decor in from season to season. I paired them with some Dove Dark Chocolates and they look so pretty ... and taste even better!!

Not only do I love the store bought variety of holiday treats, but I love to make lots of goodies during the month of December, too! I don't really bake as much for other holidays, but I *LOVE* to bake and make candy during the Christmas holidays. I know it stems from my childhood and the many wonderful memories of spending time in the kitchen with my mom as we put together plates of goodies to take to neighbors, friends, and widows from our ward at church. I still make a lot of the same recipes today that we made when I was young and I love it when my mom comes to visit so we can make them together {or I can have her make them with my kiddos}!! I'm grateful for the traditions passed on and hope that one day my children will enjoy making the same holiday treats with their own children!

Testimony

* photo of the Mesa Arizona Temple taken by me

I am so glad to finally be getting a "normal" Sunday where I can sit and reflect for a few minutes. I would be extremely ungrateful if I did not take the chance during my month of gratitude posts to write about how grateful I am to have a testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I was lucky to be raised in a family where the gospel was not only taught but where I was able to see it lived by example. My parents were always diligent in their church callings and I am grateful to have been able to learn the importance of serving where you are called from them.

I am grateful for the opportunity that I had to serve a mission to Des Moines, Iowa. I know it was there that I was able to strengthen my testimony of scripture study as I studied every day and learned to more fully apply the teachings of the scriptures to my own life. I also saw how the atonement of Jesus Christ was able to change the lives of those I shared the gospel with.

I have learned the importance of tithing many times over as I have seen the blessings of paying a full tithe. Our lives have, without question, been blessed many times over as we have paid our tithing and fast offerings.

What a blessing it is to know that my family can be together forever through the blessings of temple covenants. We are lucky to have a temple fairly close to us so we can attend regularly. I know our family is blessed as Steve and I make the sacrifice to serve in the temple.

I know that we have a living prophet who gives us guidance as he speaks for the Lord. I have a great love for President Monson and know that when he speaks that we need to listen and act upon his words along with the words of the other apostles and church leaders. How grateful I am for the technology and resources that make their talks and devotionals so accessible to us and to the world.

I know that I have a Heavenly Father who loves me. Regardless of my shortcomings, I know that I can go to Him and he will be there to answer my prayers, offer me peace, forgive me of my mistakes, and teach me through the Spirit.

I know that I have a Savior, Jesus Christ, who was sent to make it possible for me to return to live with my Heavenly Father. His sacrifice and Atonement have made it possible for me to repent when I fall short and put myself back on the path to eternal life. I know that He lives and and am grateful for that knowledge.

I am grateful for this testimony and the opportunity that I have to share it ... even if just in my heart. I hope that my children will never question my faith or my testimony. I also hope that I can be an example of Christ through my actions to those who I know and those I come in contact with.

Dishwasher

I am trying my very hardest not to complain too much about our kitchen situation. And, for the most part, I've kept a very positive attitude through the past two weeks. Today, however, I really longed for the opportunity to load my sink full of dishes into a dishwasher rather than standing over a well below countertop height, very deep, one bowl temporary sink with no countertop.

I never realized just how grateful I was to have a dishwasher until a few weeks ago. It's something I've had most of my grown life. Now, don't get me wrong ... I wash dishes by hand, too. In fact, there are many of my dishes that have never seen the inside of a dishwasher. But keeping up with the amount of dishes that a family of 6 go through is a pain - especially without a counter to place the large amount of dishes on.

We actually picked up our new dishwasher today and I would have LOVED to have hooked it up to start running my first load of dishes! Instead, it will sit in my garage and wait until we can actually get some work done in our kitchen so that it can be installed. Until then, I will reflect on just how grateful I am for the new dishwasher that I do have and the remembrance that my life {and kitchen} could be so much worse. Boy, do I feel like a whiner for complaining ....

Christmas Decor

After waking up early and meeting my dear friend Beth for a 6 mile run {in 35 degree temps}, I came home to get focused on pulling the house together and getting the Christmas decorations up. Steve brought all of the totes in a few days ago but I just haven't had a chance to get it done.

There is just something about Christmas decor that makes me happy. I will be the first to admit that I have no talent in the home decorating department, so Christmas is the one time of the year that I feel like my house looks like there was some thought that went into it. I love picking things up on clearance at the end of the season and then packing them away to be surprised by them when I get out the decorations the next year ... so fun!!

We have a nutcracker collection that has been growing for years now and we make a family outing to pick a new one (or two) every year. We also have a tradition of buying a new ornament for each family member every year as well as buying a new ornament at Disneyland every trip we take ... looking forward to buying a new one next week! We hope that one year we'll have an entire tree full of Disney ornaments :D

I am grateful for the fun memories that decorating for the holidays brings to our family. I love that the girls wait with anticipation as we open each tote and they "remind" me where the different items go. They love to help unpack the boxes, decorate the tree {which the kids did all by themselves this year}, and place decorations in all the right spots. I am grateful for the overall feeling that I have when I see the tree lit up, the large ornaments hanging above my island, and our ever growing row of nutcrackers while the Christmas music plays in the background. I love it!

Family

Happy Thanksgiving!! Today is a day that brings family and friends together to share in good food, good fun, and good times. The big holidays like this are the times when the reality that all of our family is far away and {in the case of my own family} spread out really hits home. We are lucky to have such wonderful families and love the visits that we get with them during the year, but do miss being able to share holidays like this together. We hope they ALWAYS know how much we love them and how incredibly grateful we are for the love and support they have always shared with us!!!

We are, however, incredibly lucky to have our own "local" family. With as many years as we have lived away from our families we have spent many holidays on our own, but we have never *felt* alone because we've been able to make many wonderful memories with friends as we have hosted some and been invited to others. The past few years we have celebrated MANY holidays with the Wilson family ... my dear friend Beth, as she's been referred to several times on my blog. They really are our family here and we love them all immensely - we have kids that "match up" age wise and they play for hours while the grown ups cook, talk, play games, and such. We also had the Hatch family with us this year which was super fun ... they are so cute and we have really enjoyed getting to know them better!

Here are just a few pics from the day. With my kitchen in complete demo mode, we ate at Beth's and it was so nice because the kids were entertained with the swing set and basketball hoop (and the Hatches) outside while Beth and I finished up the food inside ... yes, the kids were playing outside - without jackets. Have I mentioned I love living in Arizona? The weather can't be beat!! The guys were busy watching football and checking fantasy football scores and we worked on a puzzle throughout the day. The Black Friday ads were flipped through, but since I am not a Black Friday shopper I wasn't really looking for anything specific. In the end, we ate WAY too much {good thing I started off the day with a run}, and enjoyed every minute! I am so grateful for our families near and far who are always looking out for us and making sure we are well taken care of ... especially during the holidays ;)

P.S. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the rolls I made (I always volunteer to make rolls because I love them and love making them) were one of my finest batches ... I love when that happens!!!

Online Shopping

It seems funny that this is the first "repeat" from the few gratitude posts I posted last year, but today I am extremely grateful for the freedom that online shopping offers me!! With everything going on in our kitchen right now and the extremely tight time frame we are working in, I love that I can go online, price compare easily, have free shipping options, great Thanksgiving sales, and read reviews of potential contenders for our purchases. Just tonight we have narrowed down and found the best prices for a new sink, faucet, disposal, and dishwasher! Hopefully those will arrive next week before we leave for Disneyland so that the work can be done and they can be installed while we are gone.

I also like to shop for clothes online. In fact, as I've been trying to piece together outfits for upcoming family pictures I've had SEVERAL packages arrive on my doorstep ;) I order enough to get free shipping, keep 1 or 2 items, and then take the rest back {all of my orders have local stores}!! I'm pretty sure the people at Old Navy are tired of me walking in with my arms full of return items! I do not like to try things on at the store. Period. I also find that a lot of places have "online only" items and typically have my size in stock more often and for a lower price! Since all of the *good* malls are at least a 45 minute drive I find that online shopping is way more convenient for this "anti-try on in the store" girl ;)

Oh, and I recently got a smokin' deal on a Garmin Forerunner 205 GPS watch to use in my running thanks to Amazon's Deal of the Day and a tip from my girl Kasey - WOOT - Happy Birthday to me!

Online shopping saves me time, money, and the headache of wandering the stores with kids in tow ... how could I not be grateful for that? And no, I am not a Black Friday shopper - Cyber Monday is WAY more my style :D

Kitchen Update: We got our estimate back yesterday and had another contractor come out today to give us another estimate. We should hopefully hear back from our insurance claims rep on Friday or Monday to see if the estimate has been approved so we can move forward. We have a contract written up and ready to fax to our contractor of choice so as soon as we know that money is coming from our insurance we can get moving on getting things back to normal!! We are going to get a few granite estimates early next week and hopefully make that decision before leaving town so they can fabricate our countertops while we are gone so they are ready to install as soon as we arrive home!! We need to get our sink here so that they can measure everything correctly so we're crossing our fingers it arrives early in the week. It's nice that in the midst of the chaos I'm finally able to feel a *bit* excited for things to be shiny and new ... and slightly upgraded ;)

Mid-rise Stretch Denim

*I'm hoping to add this pair {or one similar} to my wardrobe soon! I DO have a birthday coming up ....

I'm putting it out there ... stretch denim is the only way to go for this girl!! Whoever the rocket scientist was that invented it should have won a Nobel Prize, in my opinion. I have one pair of jeans that has little to no stretch in them and they are my LAST resort - you know - the ones you only wear when everything else is dirty! There is something about my jeans actually fitting my body and *giving* just enough to make sitting down comfortable.

Now, almost equally important to the stretch factor is the rise. With low rise {and super low rise *shudder*} jeans being so hugely popular these days it can be difficult to find a pair of jeans that cover the way I prefer to be covered. Too much info, perhaps, but I'm a "tell it like it is" kinda girl. Stacy & Clinton would be proud of me. This *nearing 40*, mother of 4 body of mine, regardless of my fitness level, should not be wearing low rise jeans.

I know I'm not the only one that feels this way ... even if I'm the only one who will admit my undying gratitude for the comfort of Mid-rise Stretch Denim!!

Christmas Music

There is nothing that will get me in the mood for the holidays faster than my beloved Christmas Music {well, holiday candy gets me in the mood, too, but that is another story for another day!!}!!! I just love this time of year and the sounds of the season! I actually left all of my Christmas CDs in the car all year and even admit to slipping one in every now and then over the past 11 months ;) I broke out one of my all-time favorites on Sunday as we drove to church and was reminded just how grateful I am for the songs that help us remember the reason we celebrate this time of year. While not all Christmas music is spiritually based, I love that almost all of the songs have uplifting messages and reminders of all of the good things that the holidays bring - family, snow (unless you live in AZ, thank heaven), service, kindness, love, food, celebrations, Christ.

I love the Three Kings album by Eclipse ... the harmonies are amazing! You can actually listen to all of the tracks HERE. I got it a few years ago and it is the first one I listen to now. I have several others that I love and look forward to buying a new one CD every year. Feel free to offer your suggestions!

On another exciting note, the tree goes up tomorrow ... 2 days early! A bit less exciting, I also decided that we won't be sending out Christmas cards this year - try not to be too disappointed. With the mess in our kitchen and the expense involved there, an upcoming week long vacation, procrastinating getting a photo session set up, and plenty of other programs and parties in the mix, I just felt like it was one.more.thing. I actually feel relieved to have made the decision so early so I can just enjoy the rest of the holidays without feeling the guilt of not having my cards ready! We're planning to have photos taken after the new year and will likely send something out in the spring ... won't it be a fun surprise when it arrives?

My Husband

I'm pretty sure there are no words to explain just how truly grateful I am for my husband. I picked a winner, for sure. He has always known what he wanted to do professionally and worked hard through all those years of school to make it happen for himself and for our family. He is always willing to help others. He is a fabulous father. He washes dishes. He supports me and my dreams. He doesn't complain when the house isn't as clean as it should be. He *should* golf more often but doesn't because he chooses to spend that time with us. He eats at Paradise Bakery with me ... even when he'd rather eat at Chipotle. He never complains when I do something that MORE than deserves complaint. He trusts me with the finances and doesn't question how I do things. He has big home improvement ambitions {and has even finished some of them!}. He ran a 10K with me when he didn't really want to. He has supported (and continues to support) me in every church calling I've had. He remembers everything that I say that I want ... even in passing ... and often surprises me at Christmas or my birthday with something I mentioned months ago. He honors his priesthood and blesses our home with it. He supports all of my "extra curricular" activities. He plays Legos with {and without} Cougar for hours. He never complains about all of the meetings on his calendar. He is patient with me - even when I'm not patient with myself. He doesn't let the little things get to him. He makes me laugh. He makes me a better person.

I'm sure I could go on and on about all that he does for me and my family. We are so blessed to have him to lead our family by his example. It doesn't hurt that he's incredibly handsome, either ... man, do I love him!!!

Active Kids

After a day like today, I suppose this is a mixed blessing ... I love that my kids have found activities that they love to participate in, but I have definitely found that the older they get, the more time I spend in my car running them back and forth! Just to give a sample, this morning we had a tee ball game at 9:30, soccer game at 10:20, and dance dress rehearsal at 10:30 (which was full hair and makeup that had to be done before I left for tee ball since my dear friend, Beth, was taking them for me since Steve was also working). Nothing like trying to be in 3 places at once, huh?

I am grateful for their activities for several reasons. First, it helps them develop talents and skills. Next, it teaches them the importance of practicing {and persistence} to improve rather than just having things come easy. I find their activities help them develop self confidence. I appreciate that they are learning to be a part of a team and to serve others. I can't begin to say how grateful I am for all of their coaches and teachers who work so hard to make their experiences such good ones.

This year Brinley is representing the 6th grade on the student council, is playing piano, french horn in the school band, keyboard in the jazz band, and dancing, all while keeping up with the honors program in the middle school.

Ashton is busy with student council, choir, representing the 4th grade in the district math challenge {with weekly meetings to prepare}, playing piano, and playing soccer twice a week with games on Saturdays. Her soccer skills have improved dramatically this season - her second season of play - and she even scored her first goal today!!!

Kendyl is also playing piano and dancing and Cougar has been busy playing tee ball this fall!

While most days I spend at least 2 hours in the afternoon driving the same 2 mile radius, I am grateful for the experiences my kids are having as they participate in their many activities ... thank heaven for my Google Calendar to keep me organized so I know when to pick up and drop off!!

Kitchen Sink

I had no idea when I started blogging about the things I am grateful for that my kitchen sink would be included in my list. It is something that, until a few days ago, I used consistently without any thought or appreciation for. Boy, has that changed!!! I never realized just how many "quick trips" we make to the kitchen sink every day! Wiping off faces, cleaning countertops, dropping crumbs in the basin, rinsing fingers, stacking dishes, getting rid of uneaten food, filling water cups, supplying our ice machine ... apparently it serves a lot more purposes than I imagined. While the kitchen destruction has been annoying and the fans have been loud, I think the hardest part has been to be without our beloved sink.

Today they installed a temporary sink for us {and removed the 3 fans and 2 humidifiers that have been running non-stop since Tuesday - YAY!!}. The kids are completely intrigued by it. It is flimsy and made of plastic and makes a hollow sound when you run water in it, but there is a sink in my kitchen and I COULD NOT be more happy about that!! Now if I can just get used to not having a countertop next to my sink for drying dishes that I am washing by hand ....

Blogs

Ironic to blog about being grateful for blogs? Probably, but I am. As you can see from my screenshot, I am WAY behind on my blog reading ... I've been a bit "out of the loop" this week with the whole kitchen thing - go figure.

I love blogs. I love to read blogs written by friends and family so I can keep up with what everyone is doing. I love reading blogs for project ideas, creative inspiration, and design ideas. I love all of the things that I have learned from blogs - fashion tips, make up and hair tutorials, up and coming technology info, product reviews, etc. I have over 100 blogs in my Google Reader and continue to add them regularly. I don't comment on many of them ... I used to be good about that and I need to be better about it again because I know how much I love when people comment on mine. I can only hope that someone finds something beneficial from my "hit and miss" blogging every once in a while ... even it it's just an update on my family!!

Kitchen Update:
We still have fans blowing but they should be gone tomorrow - YAY!! We had a contractor come out today to take measurements, photos, and assess damage so that he can put together an estimate for the insurance company. He said we should have his estimate by Monday and then we wait for the insurance company to approve it so we can move forward. Thanksgiving will put a glitch in things but hopefully we can get things moving before we head to California. The bright spot of his visit was that he actually noticed damage to our countertops and included complete replacement of our countertops in the estimate!!! They will only reimburse for laminate since that is what we have now, but we can use that money to go toward an upgrade to something else ... which we will likely do! The silver lining to our cloud is getting a little brighter!! Now if we could just get a temporary sink in our kitchen ....

Google

I will openly admit to being kinda obsessed with Google. Now, I'm sure I don't utilize even HALF of the potential of their products, but I am way beyond "I just Googled ..." in reference to their search engine.

I really blame my more in-depth love affair with Google products on my friend Brenda (linked to her technology blog ... add it to your reader) - that girl is a Google genius and has opened a world of possibilities to me as she's sung the praises of Google. When I knew I was upgrading my phone back in August it was clear that I would kiss my BlackBerry goodbye and switch to an Android phone {iPhone not being an option with Verizon ... yet}. Before I bought my HTC Incredible (a perfect name for it, btw), I decided to streamline things and go Google. I started a Google Calendar, got a new personal Gmail address and added my contacts, added lots of blogs to my Google Reader, etc. The day I finally got my hands on a new phone they set it up and ALL of my information was immediately accessible. All of it. Every e-mail saved in folders, my entire calendar all color coded, my entire reader list, my chat list. I could forward all of my e-mail from my MSN personal e-mail account that I'd had for over 10 years and have it filtered into its' own folder. I could update my calendar online and have it reflected on my phone. I could add a contact in my phone and have it entered in my contacts online. Even better? It all syncs with my iCal and Address Book on my Mac computers ... *squeal*

Now, for fear of this sounding like a post about my love for my phone {which is another post for another day *wink*} I'm sticking with Google on this one. I love that Google allows me to communicate with family and friends in so many ways (e-mail, chat, video, blog). I love that it keeps me organized. I love that I can access my info from any computer or my phone. I love that Google Maps gets me where I want to go. I love that I can see my backyard from Google Earth. I am grateful for the bit of simplicity that Google has brought to my sometimes crazy life!!

Photoshop

A list of gratitudes wouldn't be complete without including Photoshop. Really? A software program? YUP!! It's become an almost daily staple around here over the past 3 years. What started as an interest to learn more about editing photos and getting my many years worth of digital pictures organized has become a creative outlet I never expected.

My desire to improve my photos ended up growing into a passion for digital scrapbooking which lead to doing creative team work for a few designers and websites, becoming a creative team and design team leader, and then into the world of hybrid digital design. I am grateful every day for the things I have learned about Photoshop and the opportunities that have come into my life because of it!

UPDATE: Here is a picture of our kitchen today - YIKES!! We have no wall, lower cabinets, sink, or dishwasher right now in that portion of our kitchen. They also had to remove a large chunk of drywall in the laundry room. We will be without a sink until they can get us a temporary one ... hopefully by the end of the week. We have fans blowing in both rooms and will until Friday. We have filed a claim with our insurance company and are now waiting for an adjuster to come and assess the damage and give us an estimate for repair. The holiday next week may slow us down a bit, but we're hoping to have it put back together before our company rolls in to town for Christmas ;) The good news is that things should look just like they did before this mess ... unless we decide to upgrade our countertops while it's already torn apart - nothing like a good excuse, right? We actually feel incredibly blessed because things could have been so much worse. We feel confident that those who have been referred to us are looking out for us and doing all they can to make this experience as quick and painless as possible - we could not be more grateful for that!!

Opposition

Today has been a less than perfect day. In fact, I've had a hard time trying to be grateful today ... makes me feel so, well, ungrateful. Not a good feeling.

After a great workout at bootcamp I sat down with my bowl of oatmeal and discovered what looked like dirt on the outside of my kitchen cabinet - figured one of the kids had spilled something and failed to wipe it up {as usual}. Upon closer examination I found a 6 inch high band of very apparent water damage. Ugh. After emptying out all of the lower cabinets we discovered extensive water damage throughout all of the lower cabinets along one wall. The damage even went into the laundry room and turned the drywall into mush. Double ugh.

I immediately felt overwhelmed with the mere idea of where to start with what was apparently a large problem. We had never seen any water under our sink or in our cabinets so had no idea where this mess could be coming from. I called a friend who works with home warranties (which we didn't renew - yup, we're good like that!). He recommended a general contractor who is in our stake to come and check things out so we would know what our plan should be for repair. He generously offered to come by tonight to take a look.

I spent the day feeling sidelined; derailed. I went through so many damage/repair scenarios in my head imagining how much it was going to cost, whether we would have to file a claim with our homeowners insurance, and how long my kitchen would be torn apart. Rather than recognize the many things that ARE fabulous in our life I was consumed by this huge road block that had been placed in my way. I ate too much cookie dough and pizza. I felt awful.

And yet here I am realizing how grateful I am for challenges like this. They have a tendency to make me stronger, allow me to learn new things, and prove I have more to be grateful for than I recognize at times. The contractor came tonight and, while it won't be an overnight fix, we have a game plan and will take it one day at a time. We HAVE homeowners insurance and are grateful for that. I'm sure I'll learn more patience through this process. I don't have to worry about cleaning my kitchen floor for a few weeks. This may be just the excuse I need to finally paint my laundry room orange.

I find that the bad days make the good days that much better and while I know that life can't be made up of all good days {darn it}, I can try to find the silver lining in whatever gray cloud may come my way. I'm grateful for the opportunity to learn from the opposition that I am blessed with.

P.S. We'll know more tomorrow about the total extent of the damage and what the repair process will be. For now we know our dishwasher has been leaking - for how long we don't know. It will need to be replaced and won't be covered by insurance. They will remove the cabinets and countertops along our outer wall tomorrow and assess any damage to the wall {which we are expecting based on the wall in the laundry room}. Then we wait for an insurance adjuster and start taking baby steps to put things back together. I'm really hoping we can get it finished up before we head to Disneyland in a few weeks!! What a relief that we don't have company for Thanksgiving this year - we normally wouldn't be glad for that but this year it is a blessing ... see? Silver lining ;)

Kleenex

I'm sitting here in a Benadryl induced "coma" ... my nose has been running like a faucet most of the day. Literally dripping on my kitchen floor {and other places} - YUCK!!! The watery eyes and the sneezing are no fun, either. Being in such a state reminds me of how grateful I am for Kleenex ... more specifically Puffs Plus with Lotion. I know this is extremely trivial, especially on a Sunday when I was hoping to keep the focus of my gratitude posts on things of a more spiritual nature.

I suppose this has been on my mind today because we are actually OUT of my beloved Puffs Plus with Lotion and I am having to use old school Kleenex. It feels like sandpaper on my nose and face and I am looking like Rudolph with the redness that is taking over. What a blessing to live in a time where we have things like tissues with lotion in them, baby wipes, antibacterial wipes - all kinds of things that make life easier and more comfortable!!

I'm sure I'll look back at this post in a few days and realize how incoherent it is, but for now I'm counting the hours until I can get to Target for some Puffs Plus with Lotion and will be even MORE grateful for them tomorrow!!!

The Beach

* All pics are from our Fall Break day at the beach in San Diego - October 2010

I am grateful that we live close enough to get to the beach. It's funny, really ... my parents have lived in California for years now and we didn't start taking the kids to the beach until last year, but it has quickly become a favorite day trip on our vacations to Cali.

About 2 1/2 years ago I got to reunite with some former roommates in the most charming beach town in Florida {Seaside ... you really must go}. This trip reignited my love for the beach. I'm sure the company, the weather, the food, and the shopping (and lack of children) heightened the experience, but I found that the feel of the sand in my toes and the sound of the crashing waves were the perfect way to relax and rejuvenate.

Fast forward to June 2008 when Steve and I escaped to Hawaii for 10 days ... again without kids. It was our first "real" vacation away from the kids and it was AMAZING! We fell asleep with the windows open every night and were completely relaxed as we fell asleep to the sound of the waves and the breeze blowing through our room. The only worries we had were where we were going to eat, what time our next excursion was scheduled, and which beach we were going to that day.

Now we've taken our kids to the beach 3 times and I must say that it has been such a great thing for us! No phones, no work, no computers, just sand, waves, sun {except on our last trip to San Diego ... it was gray the entire day and it was still amazing}, shovels & pails, shells to collect, beach chairs, lunch in a cooler, and no agenda. My kids absolutely love it!! They run the beach, climb on rocks and hills, splash and play in the water, build sandcastles, bury each other, sit on the blanket to watch the waves, make up games, and soak up every minute!

I think the thing I am most grateful for about the beach is the ability that it has given us to disconnect from the world and connect as a family with the most simple of things. I can literally feel any tension or stress that may be in my life vanish as I walk along the beach collecting shells with the girls, sit on a blanket and listen to the surf, or chase Cougar into the waves. We look forward to MANY more beach trips and we can't wait to discover more of the beautiful beaches that we are lucky enough to live close to (and hopefully some that we don't live so close to)!