In keeping with tradition, here is my list of 100 things that I am grateful for. Some are big, some are small and they are in no particular order. I didn't read the lists from prior years, but now that this is done, it will be fun to go back and see how my perspective and life has changed. Here are the links to the previous year's lists: 2011, 2012.
- Mrs. Rachel - heaven sent, seriously
- The village that is helping to raise our son
- Our little family and our big family
- My 801 girls
- Watermelon sorbet with fresh fruit on a hot summer night
- NPR, especially Story Corp.
- Our armed service members who sacrifice so much for the freedoms that I admittedly take for granted more than I should
- College football
- The privilege of being a mom
- Visits with friends from near and far
- Sound advice and good laughs from other moms
- Our BSU Broncos, still love you guys!
- Watching a game from the skybox, so exciting for us!
- Hot dogs - Grady loves them and I have found a new love for them as well
- Chapstick
- The first morning frost
- Hot air balloons and the magic they bring to all
- The Piano Guys
- Amazing coworkers who are my friends and my daily support
- The Whitfields moving to Boise and that Grady having local cousins
- Bubble bath
- The Blacklist - you should watch if you can tolerate it
- The tradition of birthday streamers and mocking signs in our house
- Being able to build our dream backyard
- Swim days
- Spring flower bulbs
- Peonies - I was jealous of all the pictures I saw this year so planted my first one. Fingers crossed it actually grows.
- Seeing how much Grady's grandparents adore him and how much he adores them
- The fun we had at the Sawtooth Relay (and the fact that I survived the race)
- Our health
- The happy folks at the Starbucks drive through, I always drive away feeling grateful for them and remembering to be kind and joyful
- Coffee
- The joy of rediscovering children's literature like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Charlotte's Web, and James and the Giant Peach
- Grady's new affinity for YouTube (Baby Einsteins and Elmo's world) and the time it can buy me :)
- Morning chats with my sis
- Watching my baby grow every single day
- Little Gym and our wonderful teacher Mrs. Nicole
- The Tokyo Salad from Lucky Fins - highly recommend it
- Hot cider on a cold day
- Our crazy Bella dog
- Aviccii -Wake Me Up When its All Over
- Bacon
- Pumpkin patches
- Bath time splashes - they are big and boisterous in our house I don't mind that my floor is sopping wet every night
- My Christopher - the best father and husband we could ask for
- Two Erickson visits this year!
- Zoo Boise
- Watching our crazy Bella dog become an expert swimmer this summer
- Watching Grady fall in love with Priest Lake like we have
- Tolerant, gracious, kind, good listening friends
- Christmas lights
- Seeing FUN in concert
- Seeing Zac Brown Band in concert and going to the Eat and Greet - so cool!
- Date nights! Halleluijia
- Hand-me-downs
- Little boys in hats
- Grady's red baby cheeks, I could kiss them all day long
- Costco wired ribbon
- King Crab with hot melted butter
- Fresh unmarked snow
- Our Kuerig
- Hearing Grady say a new word for the first time
- Mint Oreos dipped in milk
- My ailing camera, you have been so good to me little camera
- The pure joy of watching Grady smash cake into his face
- Chicago Connection pepperoni and pineapple pizza
- The special scoreboard message to Grady at his first Giants Game - what a treat!
- Going back to the SCU campus for the wedding of a dear friend
- Our trampoline, perfect for our jumping boy!
- Lunch dates
- Hot breakfast, I cannot name a cold breakfast that I really like
- NBC Nightly News
- My new mommy magnet board
- The Greenbelt
- Public parks
- Boise's gorgeous autumn season
- Perfect strangers who try to entertain a fussy toddler on planes, in stores, etc. Thank God for you you precious souls. I wont' comment on the other type of folks.
- Free
- Dan Patrick morning radio show
- The River 94.9, streaming live
- Mountain air
- The sound of Quaking Aspens
- Sharing a drink in the hot tub with my huz
- Walking down from our house to get breakfast, my idea of a perfect morning
- Picasa online photo-backup, without it we would have lost everything this year
- The beautiful North Carolina beaches
- Mindlessly thumbing through paper catalogs
- Good Bye in Her Eyes
- My new work bag and the capacity it has to hold more stuff
- Randomly finding suckers and the random kid toys in my pockets
- Free babysitting from my mom
- Sushi
- 60 Minutes
- Waterproof mascara
- Chocolate covered strawberries
- Colored athletic socks
- The way my Uggs feel when I slip into them for the first time each year
- Snowberry scent from Scentsy
- Soaking off a tough day in my bathtub
- Cuddling with my baby boy in his rocking chair, the one and only time I get to cuddle with him
We had a pretty darn good Thanksgiving too. I started the morning by taking a picture of our little turkey reminiscing about how Thanksgiving morning two years ago we were happily surprised to find out that Grady was on his way. I love that Thanksgiving will always remind me of that exciting time in our lives and I am so happy that this little man is ours. We thank God every day for blessing us with the little boy who we know was supposed to be our son.
We continued the morning with a fun game of flag football and some exploring adventures for Grady in the coolest backyard in town.
Then we stuffed our faces and Grady discovered just how much he loves Jello jigglers.
We headed to McCall where we continued to stuff our faces, enjoy good family time and bring in the Christmas season with the official tree lighting in downtown McCall.
We are thankful.