Thanksgiving 2008

Thanksgiving..........one of my favorite times of the year! I love all the great food and getting together with friends and family to remember all that we are grateful for. I thought I would take a minute to mention some of the things that I'm so grateful for in my life.

First and foremost............I thank my Heavenly Father everyday for guiding me to Utah and allowing me to meet Matt. Life just wouldn't be the same without him in it! Matt is truly my best friend! He's such a great guy. He's someone who loves and accepts others for who they are and makes people feel so comfortable to be around him. He truly loves people!

When Matt and I started dating, I was pretty much DONE with dating! But he really was like a breath of fresh air. He is known to bring flowers home just for the heck of it and is probably one of the most caring people I've ever met! He makes me laugh and always tells me how beautiful he thinks I am (sometimes I think he needs his vision checked!)...................and we always have fun together. Like I said, he's truly my best friend! I love you and adore you, Matt!

I have so many other things to be grateful as well. I'm grateful to simply have a beautiful house and 2 cars to drive. I'm grateful that we both have jobs. Sometimes money gets tight, but I have to remind myself that at least we do have an income coming in. I do have food on my table every day, gas in my car, and a warm house to sleep in at night. I'm grateful for the ability to be able to go on so many great vacations and to be able to see so much of this great world out there! I'm grateful for the opportunity to have been able to live overseas in Germany for so many wonderful years! I wouldn't have traded those experiences and memories for anything! I'm grateful for all of the many, many friends and people I've met over the years and still keep in touch with. I think, quite often, about others that I don't keep in touch with very well or have lost touch with completely. I'm extremely grateful for the wonderful friends that Matt and I have today and get to spend so much time with.

I'm also very grateful for families and for the knowledge that I have of eternal families. I have 2 really great families! I wish I could see my parents and Tammy more often, but I'm happy that Pauline and her family live close by and we get to spend time with them. I'm also happy to live so close to Matt's family and to be able to spend so much time with them as well. I couldn't have married into a better family! They are amazing people!

This Thanksgiving Matt's Mom, Carolyn, decided to book her condo up in Park City and the family was able to go up and spend a few days up there, which was very enjoyable. Suzie, one of Matt's older sisters, and her husband and kids also have a condo up there as well. Carolyn and Julie, and Suzie, Darcy, and the kids stayed up there pretty much that whole week. Matt and I went up on Wednesday night, stayed all day Thursday, and came home Friday morning. Unfortunately, we missed Paul (Matt's older brother), Halley and Brenna who came up on Friday morning after we were already gone. Here are some pictures that I took of the family as we were up in Park City on Thanksgiving:

This is a picture of the room Matt and I stayed in.

This is some of the family relaxing after dinner.

Matt was playing cards with our niece, Bethany, and nephew, Josh.

Here is Sarah playing a board game on the floor.

A little while after dinner we played the board game, Life-Pirates of the Carribean. We split up into teams and these were our teams.

This is Julie (the oldest child in Matt's family), me, Matt, and Sarah (Suzie and Darcy's youngest).

This is Darcy, Suzie, and Bethany (their 2nd to oldest).

This is Josh (Suzie and Darcy's oldest), Raquel (their 2nd to youngest), and Carolyn (Matt's Mom).

Later, some of us went over to Suzie & Darcy's condo and went hot tubbing. It was FREAKIN' COLD outside!!