Football

I am thankful for football.  I am thankful for the season that it comes in because it is my favorite season.  I am thankful that it is something that I share with my whole family.  I love sitting down and watching games with my husband and kids whether we are in the same room or just on our phones commenting about it to each other.  I have seen so many games in my life since my father and brothers loved it and now my whole family loves it that I know more than I thought about the actual game and the players.  When I am in the presence of men who are talking about football I understand them and can contribute to the conversation reasonably intelligently and it feels good.  Football is a symbol of fall, family and fun to me and I love it.  Especially the Cougars and the Raiders;)

The Holy Ghost

The next thing I thought of that I am very thankful for is the influence and guidance of the Holy Ghost.  He has been my closest friend for my whole life.  He never leaves me.  He doesn't speak in a "still, small voice" to me.  He yells at me when I need it and he makes sure I hear him at all important junctures in my life.  He has never steered me wrong.  There have been countless times where he has put words in my mouth or thoughts in my head at the very moment that I need them.  He has testified to me since I was little that what I believe to be true really is true.  The peace and serenity that he brings to my life is immeasurable.

Random things to be thankful for

I taught a lesson a couple of weeks ago to my young women in church about gratitude and asked them to write down some things they were thankful for that were not the first things that came to their head.  Pretty much everyone is thankful for their family and other obvious things.  I wanted them to think outside the box and realize that the things they have to be thankful for are infinite.  So, I thought I would take my own challenge and highlight a few things that I am thankful for throughout this month that aren't the basic, Primary answers.

The first thing that came to mind as I was walking today was that I am thankful for this little town that I get to live in that I had never even heard of before I moved here.  While attending BYU my husband and I used to visit my sister who was married to a Marine at the time and living in Oceanside.  We really loved the area and when it came time to graduate we were lucky enough to get a job in the same area.  My sister found some brand new apartments in my little town which was close to her so we moved here.  We loved it so much that we bought a home here and have been here ever since.

We are from northern California but almost all of my cousins live in the Los Angeles area or down here in San Diego County.  I have been envious of my cousins for my whole life.  They were sooo COOL!  Whenever we would come and visit them I thought they were the luckiest people in the world to live down here.  I wanted to be from Southern California so bad.

I am not a big city girl so Los Angeles would not be the place for me.  Even San Diego is too big and busy for me.  My little town is perfect.  When we moved here it was much smaller and had lots of fields and big, open spaces.  Since it grew up gradually I haven't really minded it getting bigger and bigger.  All of my friends have the same "cow town" mentality that we've had for years so it still feels rural and country-ish even though it's really not anymore.  I randomly think about the fact that 3 of our 7 children were born here and all of them were raised here and it makes me so happy that they can say they are from the area that I always wanted to be from.  So in this month where we are focusing on being thankful, I'm very thankful for San Marcos, CA.

Skylights?

When we did our remodel a few years back we put skylights in our kitchen to give us more light.  I LOVE them.  Just a few months ago I got the bright idea to use them as photo galleries.  We opened up our house quite a bit so their aren't many walls to display pictures.  My family just keeps growing and I have more people to display so I made good use of my extra wall space on the ceiling.  I love how it looks.  So much cozier.

Tayson Everett

Another little miracle that happened this year is that Jensen and Tracy had their first baby.  I keep thinking that I am going to run out of love to give so many people but it never happens.  I always find more when another person enters our family either by marriage or birth.  This little guy is adorable and I love him with all of my heart.  He and his mom and dad are coming to live with us in February for a year or so while his daddy finishes chiropractic school.  I can't wait!

He is super ticklish and giggles whenever I put my nose in his neck or cheek.  Have you ever seen anything so pure or sweet in your life?  So much natural joy.  Welcome to the family, Mr. T.  You are very loved.

Time Change

I don't really get the whole time change thing and why some states do it and others don't but I know that I love having dinner in the dark.  Fall is my favorite time of year and when the time changes and I am eating my dinner in a cozy dark house I am in Heaven.  It was a lot more fun when the kids were home because our table was a lot fuller but I still enjoy having night be night and not daytime until 9:00.  I love having time to curl up by a fire and watch T.V. or read.  I don't really feel like doing that when it's still light outside and by the time it gets dark there is not much time left to enjoy the indoors before I go to bed.  As a completely random thought - my Raiders won again today!  We are 4-3 now and I couldn't be happier!  We're coming back! Time change and a winning record?  Doesn't get any better than that:)

The Brute Squad

Anybody who knows my boys knows that they are the sweetest, kindest boys in the world and would never hurt a fly, except for when that fly's name is mentioned in the same sentence as their sister.  I have gotten the greatest kick out of watching Savannah enter the world of dating and boys and watching her brothers' reactions to this new phase.  We have a running family text going all the time and if I accidentally mention a boy's name in connection with Savannah then the phones light up!  The comments make me laugh out loud. They start making battle plans involving weapons and mayhem.  They mercilessly ridicule this poor soul that they have never laid eyes on.   I pity the boy who actually wants my daughter's hand in marriage.  He better be made of pretty stern stuff.  In their eyes he has to be able to beat them in something sports related or at least keep up with them, be the perfect gentleman and priesthood holder, get all their humor and, above all, worship their sister.  Fortunately, this is what Savannah is looking for also.  Good luck, gentlemen:)