30 Days of Thankfulness : Days 22-30

I'm excited to be participating in the last week of Angela from Harrells on Hood's link up about 30 days of Thankfulness. I can't believe It's we're already three weeks into November!

I have a lot to be thankful for right now, so I decided to create my thankful list off of things that happened that day. I hate that most people's thankful lists read like rankings of who they love the most: day one is like I'm thankful for my husband followed by my children and by the end of the month people are scratching the bottom of the barrel for things on their importance lists that they're thankful for; so I thought it would be fun to find things in the events of each day to be thankful for, instead of ranking what I'm thankful for.

November 22nd:
I love those relaxing evenings where you have a nice dinner together, watch an interesting documentary and just relax together. Since I started working full time it seems like we've had less and less of these nights, but as we're moving closer and closer to being apart for 4 months I'm cherishing all of these evenings.

November 23rd:
We love having people in town. It's nice to finally live in a place that people come to visit, and there's really no better feeling than having people come into town and reach out to see you. Nothing makes me feel more loved than people coming to town and wanting to hang out with me. I'm so sad that I didn't take a single picture of our fun evening with Rachel, but here's an old Cambodia picture.
                                 
November 24th:
NAPS. Really, do I need to say anything else? Who isn't grateful for naps after a late Saturday night and 9:00 am church on Sunday?

Don't tell Hal I posted this hilarious picture of how he sleeps with a pillow on his head.

November 25th:
I am so thankful for those moments of extreme motivation. When we first came out here I wasn't working and I was so unmotivated to do anything. Slowly I've been getting my motivation back and it feels so good to get some progress made on things I've been putting off for so long.

November 26th:
I hate hate hate to say this, but really, I'm grateful for the gym. Not any gym, my free gym at work, because not only is it free for me, almost every machine has it's own personal TV, which I have discovered is the only way I can workout long term. Hal's motivation to go to the gym daily, plus a free gym has finally led to me working out regularly and my body feels so much happier.

This is what happens when you forget socks in your gym bag November 27th:

November 27th:

How can I phrase this? I'm so thankful for all that Cambodia taught me. It taught me so much patience. It taught me our 5 1/2 hour bus ride to New York is nothing after our 8 hours minimum bus rides to Phnom Penh on terrible roads. It has taught me how to not be so rigid with changing plans.

                                

November 28th:

I am so thankful for the opportunity to be with family and people that I love on holidays. I'm a big holiday person and love spending those days with people that I love and enjoy. This Thanksgiving we not only got to see my niece in the Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade, but we got to spend Thanksgiving dinner and evening with my niece, brother in law, and a favorite Peace Corps friend.

November 29th:

I'm definitely someone who loves family traditions. To me, it helps me feel closer to my family now that we're all spread apart. Growing up my mom always took us Black Friday shopping and as I've gotten older, and especially since she's no longer around to do it with us, I know my siblings and I still cherish Black Friday. I'm sure that sounds crazy to some, but we have a good time on Black Friday and usually go out to breakfast after we're done. Since Hal and I weren't with any family this day after Thanksgiving we went Black Friday shopping together. While shopping near Times Square was pretty nuts, we saved a lot of money and got half of our list done in one day.

via

November 30th:

I love reading. That's pretty much all I did at my last job, so while I love actually having work to do, I miss the endless time to read. There's nothing like a good book that draws you in, until you feel like you're a part of the book.
                                               

I'm so glad that I got to participate in this challenge and think back on each and every day and find things that I am so thankful for. Hopefully I can keep this up like Autumn does and do a monthly post.

See my previous thankful lists.

See Angela's thankful posts.

30 Days of Thankfulness: days 15 - 21

I'm excited to be participating in the third week of Angela from Harrells on Hood's link up about 30 days of Thankfulness. I can't believe It's we're already three weeks into November!

I love that we actually take the time to remember what we're thankful for at least once a year, but I hate the facebook ones where you're inundated with people's posts every single day, so I love that Angela is hosting a weekly one instead.

I have a lot to be thankful for right now, so I decided to create my thankful list off of things that happened that day. I hate that most people's thankful lists read like rankings of who they love the most: day one is like I'm thankful for my husband followed by my children and by the end of the month people are scratching the bottom of the barrel for things on their importance skill that they're thankful for; so I thought it would be fun to find things in the events of each day to be thankful for, instead of ranking what I'm thankful for.

November 15th:
I love having amazing conversations with new people, or old friends and so for November 15th I'm grateful for having fun co-workers. Hal's co-worker had all of the interns over for dinner, and we had such a blast. It just so happens him and his wife know pretty much everyone at my job! I had a wonderful deep cultural conversation with Hal's Israeli co-worker, and we had such a blast reading Hypertheticals all night long.
                                              
November 16th:
I love how much we can learn from the past. There are so many amazing museums here in DC and we're just starting to take advantage of them. Hal and I went to the Holocaust Museum in DC which is utterly heartbreaking and amazing at the same time. Afterwords we went to see The Book Thief, which is also about WWII and one of the only books I've ever cried at. Such an amazing movie, such an amazing museum. We can learn so much from what humans have done in the past.

She was a gorgeous model who was killed for being outspoken against fascism.

November 17th:
I am utterly grateful for church. While some Sundays the last thing I want to go is spend 2 hours with screaming, crying, pooping kids, most Sundays I feel utterly uplifted from going to church. And even 2-3 year old's need/love to learn about Jesus.
                              
November 18th:
This is going to sound terrible, but I gotta be real. I'm thankful for TV. Sometimes a dumb reality show is the only way I can turn my brain off at the end of a stressful day. Watching TV is the only way I can work out for long periods. It occupies enough of my brain that I forget working out is terrible. I am thankful for how talented some people are in TV. Nothing makes me laugh like a little Mindy Project.
                           

November 19th:
This one also may confuse you, but I love love love having snapchat. I have gotten all of my sisters on it. I snapchat with my sisters kids all day long some days. It is the best thing ever when I'm living 2,000 miles away from them. I am kicking myself for not taking more screenshots of snapchats from my nephews and nieces. I guess it's the modern day way of staying in touch with cool kids?

November 20th:
I love people that are hilarious. And I love messing with people. This week I reconnected with one of my favorite people on Earth, and she sent me a text, and I couldn't turn down the opportunity to mess with her. I'm thankful for the opportunities to mess with people, in a good way.

November 21st:
I can't even tell you how excited I am about this one. I am eternally grateful for the opportunity to go home for Christmas and New Years. I've never been home for the holidays knowing that I'll be leaving and having no idea if I'll ever live in Utah again. So I am savoring the idea of going home for two solid weeks. We should be home in about a month or so, and I am just counting down the days.

See past week's thankful lists.

Go check out Angela's blog for more 30 Days of Thankfulness.

30 Days of Thankfulness: Days 8-14

I'm excited to be participating in the second week of Angela from Harrells on Hood's link up about 30 days of Thankfulness.

I love that we actually take the time to remember what we're thankful for at least once a year, but I hate the facebook ones where you're inundated with people's posts every single day, so I love that Angela is hosting a weekly one instead.

I have a lot to be thankful for right now, so I decided to create my thankful list off of things that happened that day. I hate that most people's thankful lists read like rankings of who they love the most: day one is like I'm thankful for my husband followed by my children and by the end of the month people are scratching the bottom of the barrel for things on their importance skill that they're thankful for; so I thought it would be fun to find things in the events of each day to be thankful for, instead of ranking what I'm thankful for.

November 8th:
I am so thankful for my husband. The 8th is his birthday it's it wonderful that it falls in November so I can remember to be doubly thankful for him. He always pushes me to do more and try new things and stretch my abilities which I love love love. It's not easy getting out of your comfort zone, but it's rewarding.

When we were practically babies, on our honeymoon.

November 9th:
I love this one, I am thankful for surprises. I am a huge surprise person, so I love planning surprises for other people as well as being the recipient of surprises. Hal's little brother and I surprised Hal with a wonderful, but expensive trip to Fogo De Chao for his birthday. We had him all sorts of confused about where we were going and who was going to be there, it was the perfect surprise for his birthday.

November 10th:
I am so thankful for family. Can you ever be thankful enough for family? Hal and I both have the most wonderful families, and we are so lucky to fit right into each other's family like we were always meant to be apart of the family. I cherish that so much. Hal's little brother came down for his birthday as a semi-surprise to celebrate with us.

This is why family is awesome.

November 11th:
I love food. You offer me free food, and I will be there. Don't check my purse because I might have stolen some food for later if it's really good. I am thankful for good food that can be good to our bodies, and stores like Sprouts and Trader Joe's that make it easy and cheap to eat good food without all of the chemicals and crap that is in most of America's food today. Side note: Sprouts, please come to DC, I miss your sales!

Even their unhealthy food is better than normal grocery store food.

November 12th:

I am so thankful for the kindness of people in this world. I have met some of the most fantastically kind strangers, and been able to work and make friends with wonderfully kind people. My boss was so kind and gave me two tickets to a play he couldn't attend. Hal and I appreciated it so much and loved the play.

November 13th:

Traveling is my favorite. Hal and I have been able to travel and live in some of the most beautiful locations all across the world, and while traveling always comes with it's own set of challenges, the experiences and memories make it more than worth it. My work sent me to New York for the day, and while work travel and personal travel are totally different and work travel is exhausting, it was so fun to go up for the day.

I got to see the Rockefeller Plaza tree, even if it is covered in scaffolding.

November 14th:

DC has been amazing to Hal and I. I am so thankful for the opportunity we have to live in this city. We debated about what cities we wanted to live in a lot before coming out here. We were seriously considering San Francisco and New York. After being in New York for the day yesterday, and even though it's such a cool city, I am so glad that we have ended up in DC.

See last week's thankful list.

Go check out Angela's blog for more 30 days of Thankfulness.

30 Days of Thankfulness: Days 1 - 7

I'm excited to be participating in Angela from Harrells on Hood's link up about 30 days of Thankfulness.

I love that we actually take the time to remember what we're thankful for at least once a year, but I hate the facebook ones where you're inundated with people's posts every single day, so I love that Angela is hosting a weekly one instead.

I have a lot to be thankful for right now, so I decided to create my thankful list off of things that happened that day. I hate that most people's thankful lists read like rankings of who they love the most: day one is like I'm thankful for my husband followed by my children and by the end of the month people are scratching the bottom of the barrel for things on their importance skill that they're thankful for; so I thought it would be fun to find things in the events of each day to be thankful for, instead of ranking what I'm thankful for.

November 1st:
I am thankful for seeing good friends that I haven't seen in a long time. One of our favorite people in the world came into town and stayed with us, and it was so good to see her after a year apart, and in America no less.

November 2nd:
I am thankful for getting together with friends who are some of the only people who know what each other have been through, and who I can talk about anything with.

November 3rd:
I am so grateful for the beauty of God's creations on this Earth and being able to take them in and appreciate them.

November 4th:
I am unbelievably thankful for my new job. It is constantly challenging me and teaching me so much, but at the same time I am treated so well and it is so flexible that I find myself wondering how I am so lucky to be working here.

My signed offer letter

November 5th:
I am grateful for my general health. I've been struggling the past little while with a sinus infection and what appears to be tonsillitis. Nothing makes you more grateful for your health than when you are sick. Paired with this, having health insurance again after 6 months of not, is amazing.

I never again want to be as sick a when I had Dengue Fever 

November 6th:
I am so thankful for the connections that I have made with wonderful people all over the world, and the opportunities I have to stay in contact with them. Below is my LCF (Language and Cultural Facilitator) from Peace Corps in Cambodia. She taught me how to speak Khmer and how to live like a Cambodian, and I showed her around DC for her first time in America.

November 7th:
I love love love animals. Almost any animal. Growing up I had turtles, hermit crabs, cats, dog, and fish. While we did have to put down our kitty this year, I had 13 wonderful years with her, and we get to start a new adventure with another kitty. I am so thankful for the animals who I have loved and loved me back.

Go check out Angela's blog for more 30 days of Thankfulness.