Month of Gratitude - Day 16

Today I am grateful for a clean house… FINALLY. I'm even more grateful for a husband that was willing to spend his Saturday helping me overcome my lack of motivation and get the house looking nice so I can enjoy my Sunday relaxing and start the week happy and energized.

Month of Gratitude - Day 15

Today I am grateful for the weekend and time to be with family! When Tyler is home on Fridays it's family movie night. I love just hanging out with my favorite people and relaxing. After a busy week of work, kid's activities and school stuff, spending quality time with my husband and kiddos helps me forget all the things that are stressing me out. It's especially fun to share some of my favorites from childhood with my kids.

Month of Gratitude - Day 14

Today I am grateful for good music that uplifts and energizes me. I love many different types of music and listen to different things depending on my mood, but lately I love to listen to these two songs in the morning. The first is very comforting to me, the second makes me feel happy and excited about life (and reminds me of my sweet little boy that loves to sing it and dance around the house).

Month of Gratitude - Day 13

Today I am grateful for beautiful fall days. Fall turns so quickly into winter, so we have to enjoy every single beautiful, crisp, blue skied day we can get.

Month of Gratitude - Day 12

Today (well a few days ago, since I'm catching up) I am grateful for routine and the ability to develop good habits. At first forcing myself out of bed by 6:15 to go to the gym was torture each and every day. Now my body knows that it is time and I just get up and go. Having a daily routine keeps me focused and helps me get through the day. The first 2 hours of every week day is pretty much the same and some days it's the most productive part of my day.

Month of Gratitude - Day 11

Today I am grateful for Veterans throughout the history of this great nation. From the revolutionary war up to today, we have depended on brave men and women that were willing to sign a blank check of up to the sacrifice of their own life. I have been blessed to have several veterans near to me in my life. My wonderful grandmother that passed away just a couple weeks ago was an army veteran of World War II. My father served in the Airforce for many years as on officer. My brother served in the navy and my brother in law currently serves in the Army. I of course cannot forget my wonderful United States Marine that served two tours of duty to Iraq where he helped train the local police and military forces as well as bring aid to a war torn nation. Tyler is one of my heroes. In the time that he spent in the Marine Corps I was also blessed to get to know many other Marines and I admire there service and sacrifice so much!

Sometimes being a Marine looks like this

and sometimes it looks like this

and sometimes like this.

Month of Gratitude - Day 10

Today I am grateful for the opportunity of serving as the Young Women's secretary. I am sad that my time in that calling is over, but the things I gained and learned will be with me forever. I am especially grateful for the friendships I made with the amazing women that I served with.

I have made lasting bonds with so many people while I served in the Young Women, and in my time of greatest need they were all there for me.

Month of Gratitude - Day 9

Today I am grateful for down time. I was feeling super LAZY today, and I'm pretty sure I didn't manage to get in the shower until around 11… and then I took a nap. The amazing thing about down time is it's rejuvenating abilities. After my lazy morning/afternoon I did more cleaning than I have in months (sadly that isn't saying much) and made a yummy dinner that was on the table BEFORE 6pm. These may not seem like amazing things, but these days I'm happy with all the little every-day accomplishments. 

As a side note, I'm grateful for a husband and wonderful kiddos that didn't mind me getting a little downtime!

Month of Gratitude - Day 8

Today I am grateful for date nights. It's tough to make them happen with Tyler working nights (and frequently weekends) and trying to find a babysitter. No matter what we do, we are just glad to be together. I should have taken a picture, maybe even one with our waitress that just happened to be one of my students from my first year of teaching, but… I didn't. Love spending time with my best friend and love of my life.

Month of Gratitude - Day 7

Today I am grateful for my and my husband's educations. It's been a lot of hard work and so much time, but it is so worth it. I love that by gaining education we have opportunities to work in the fields we love and serve other people. We both chose careers in public service and it brings us a lot of joy to touch the lives of other people, even though at times it can cause us frustration.

Even more than how it has influenced our careers, I am grateful for the way that learning and gaining formal education has blessed our family. I love to teach my kids about the world around them, and I think in general, it has helped me be a good mother. Tyler blesses us with his skills and knowledge daily.

I love the idea of being a lifelong learner. At this point in my life I get to help contribute to our family's financial needs so that Tyler can continue learning, and I continue learning through personal study and experiences. I look forward to pursuing higher education at some point in my life and continuing to learn in formal and informal classrooms throughout my life!


Disclaimer: Any grammar errors above are not a reflection of the world class education I received. They are simply an indication that I should be in bed instead of publishing a blog post.

Month of Gratitude - Day 6

Today I am grateful for my home. It is isn't huge, fancy, well decorated or even, at the moment, very clean, but it is a safe warm place to be with my family. We are in the middle of a little renovation and some days it drives me crazy, but I'm grateful that we even have the opportunity to do renovations! We have lived in some interesting places in our 8 years of marriage and I am so happy to be settled into a home of our own, at least for a while.

That was then...

This is now...

Month of Gratitude - Day 5

Today I am grateful to be able to walk this special guy to school most mornings.

Even with the cold weather upon us, Jack loves to walk. Today he wanted to wear full snow gear on account of the 3cm of snow on the grass only. He is bright and spunky. He is always thinking of others. He is selfless, kind and never afraid to show how tenderhearted he is. I absolutely love him and am thankful I get to be his mom!

Month of Gratitude - Day 4

Today I am grateful for my Grandma Yoak (Mom's mom). She passed away 3 days after her 91st birthday and today was her funeral. It was bittersweet reminiscing about all our memories of her. She is an absolutely incredible woman. I'm overwhelmed by the thought of trying to share all the reasons why she was so inspiring.

I

She worked hard her whole life. She got more education than was expected for women in her time. She worked in a variety of fields and even served in the army during WWII where she met my Grandpa. She raised her children faithfully in the gospel and was completely committed to their growth and education. She raised a granddaughter while in her 70's and did so with 100% commitment. She served others willingly until the day that she died. She never complained about her trials, and she had plenty. Her life was filled with challenges, but she always just did what was needed, no matter how hard.

She loved her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren and found ways to give service to them until her very last days. Each great-grandchild has a beautiful handcrafted baby blanket, including my sweet angel that was only wrapped in hers for a few hours.

This barely scratches the surface on why she is such an amazing example to me.

Betty Yoak

Month of Gratitude - Day 3

Tonight I am grateful for a safe, comfortable vehicle and an uneventful drive to and from my sister's home. I don't love driving by myself, especially not at night. Glad to be home safe and warm.

Month of Gratitude - Day 2

Today I am thankful for time to get away for some retail therapy. Nothing brings my stress level down like a little kid free shopping for my favorite things--workout clothes. Shopping with a good friend makes it even better! My spoils: (weird to post a picture of-- maybe)

Month of Gratitude - Day 1

I recently watched this video and felt inspired to be a more grateful person. This month I plan to share about something or someone that I am thankful for each day. The hard thing will be only choosing 30! There is no order to this. I'm just going from the heart for what I'm feeling in the moment. Today, I am grateful for my relationship with this little guy:

He is the best at making me smile when I'm having a hard day. He fills our home with music, and he learns new songs every day to sing to us. 

Lately he has this adorable habit of walking up to me and randomly saying, "Mama, you're the best," or "Mama, I sure do love you." I'm pretty sure he got the phraseology from me at some point, but he always says it with such sincerity that I know he really feels that way about me. 

He is my little night owl that loves to sleep in. He wakes up with a smile and a cheerful "good morning mama" almost every day.

He talks about his baby sister with love, and remembers her daily.

He uses a ridiculously grown up vocabulary that makes him irresistible.

He loves hugs, kisses and snuggles, but is perfectly rough and tumble.

I am so lucky to be his mom!