Tea for Two

I am grateful for family traditions. I am grateful for the ones I grew up with. From birthday breakfast doughnuts to Christmas with grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins to waking up way too early to say family prayers before Amy and Chris left for their 6:30 am Seminary class. (Okay, that last one was not my favorite one. I've never been much of a morning person, but looking back I'm grateful that my dad would get me up every morning even though I didn't feel that way in the moment. Sorry Dad!) Big and small, our family traditions are some of my strongest memories. Because of them, I looked forward to creating them with my own family.  We are slowly refining our family traditions, especially our holiday traditions, into something that works for our family. We originally had very different plans for our Thanksgiving dinner and they weren't going to be particularly traditional except for the fact that we were going to be together as a family and we were proba...

I'm grateful that Jonathan and I were able to host Geo George for Lyla's class project. It was somewhat awkward taking pictures with a paper turtle, but it was fun! I think he had a great time with us too!  

I'm grateful to be with my family for Thanksgiving! I realized last night that the perfect Thanksgiving menu would be the same one Snoopy comes up with in Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving. It was perfect! I hope y'all had a lovely Thanksgiving too!

Well, I spoke too soon because I'm sick again. So once again, I am grateful for Gatorade and that we have the Harry Potter audiobooks. (I'm already in the middle of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.) I am grateful for the hammocks at our new apartment. After a long day of moving and unpacking, Jonathan and I would make our way down to relax on a hammock. It is amazing how comfortable they are. We had many wonderful conversations as we enjoyed the cool evening breeze. While I am grateful for the cool fall weather, I look forward to enjoying warm summer nights again. I am grateful for new beginnings. In the middle of our move, Jonathan got a call from an old coworker that asked if he would be interested in a job with Apple. The job he described was Jonathan's dream job. Naturally, Jonathan jumped at the opportunity. He is happily learning and coding his days away. I am grateful for our wedding presents. We've been married for almost a decade no...

To start out, I am grateful I am once again healthy. I had a weird cold that was stuck in my throat.  While I was sick, I was very grateful for Gatorade and that it didn't hurt my throat when I drank it. I am grateful that I was sick because I regularly take for granted having a healthy body that does basically what I ask it to do. It truly is a blessing to be free from illness and I need to be a bit more aware of that. To wrap up what I was grateful for while sick, I am very grateful to have Jonathan as my caretaker. He was sweet and made sure that I had what I needed. I feel rather spoiled when I'm sick. I am grateful for this silly raptor sign in the computer lab I use at school. It makes me smile each time I see it. Thankfully, I'm never there when the raptors are. I am grateful for tender mercies. Most people would call them coincidences, but they are real and provided for us by a loving Savior. Anyway, last month I took a woman from church to ...

I am grateful for our Tuesday nights. For the past few months, we gather with a group of friends from church and learn about Personal Finances. When we started, we didn't know anyone else in our group and over time we've become friends. You can check out the manual by clicking  here . This course is designed to guide you to understand not only about Personal Finances, but to come closer to God as well. When I think about most things involving money, I don't usually think about praying over it even though the scriptures tell us to pray for everything. It has helped us gain a better understanding of where we are and what we need to do to have the future we want. I'm grateful that we've taken advantage of this opportunity and for the friends that we've made because of it.

I am grateful for the men and women who serve to defend our freedoms. It's weird because today is going to look like a normal Monday morning with work and school. In spite of that, we can carry an extra prayer in our hearts for our defenders near and far.

I am grateful that family love knows no distance. While this is currently the farthest I lived from my family, I have never felt closer to them. This summer was a pretty crazy one for us. We were on an emotional rollercoaster. When we were at our lowest point, there was nothing we could do on our own that could bring us out of it. We tried so hard and a dark cloud just hung over us. My family had already been apprised of what was going on and were praying for us. They kicked it up a notch and held a fast for us. That morning was the first time in three weeks that I woke up and was not weighed down by what was going on. Amy Rosella shared this quote in our group text after shared how much better we were both doing. Source Sure, fasting and praying hasn't changed what's going on, but it did bring peace that we are on the right track. It is such a blessing that I can still rely on my family even though we are no where near each other.

I am grateful for my simple morning routine. I start my day out spending time in the scriptures. I spend about 10 minutes in the Book of Mormon, then I journal, and I finish up with the Come, Follow Me curriculum for individuals and families. Sometimes I really dive in and take my time, but other mornings I don't have as much time so I quickly go through each. I feel like it is helping me as I prioritize my mornings.

I'm grateful that I can catch up on the days that I've already missed. I'm grateful for productive Saturdays. This past Saturday, Jonathan was on a roll with getting things done around our new apartment. He assembled shelves and then used them to organize his tools in our little storage closet on our patio. This is the first time we've ever had anything like this and it has been a blessing. We no longer have a trunk filled with tools and now we can easily find whatever tool we need. I am grateful for the Lord's tender mercies that brought us to Texas. I've been thinking a lot about how we made it to Texas as we moved out of our first place. There were so many blessings and one of the biggest ones was finding our apartment. It was hard to leave, but it was time to move forward. I am grateful for all of the memories we will have of our time there. I'm grateful for gorgeous Texas sunsets. I love how they linger for what seems like hours an...

I am grateful for all of our wonderful ancestors and their perseverance to overcome their challenges. I always get choked up during this song. We haven't been to big about celebrating Halloween, though I did pull out some fake spiders and our haunted house. After watching  Coco  many, many times, I thought it would be cool do our own version of Dia de Los Muertos, or day of the dead. I got out pictures of our ancestors and Jonathan helped me make paper marigolds. I really like that there is a holiday that focuses on our ancestors and how it helps keep us connected with them. I have found strength as I have learned about my ancestors and how they kept moving forward even though life was incredibly difficult. I think this is going to be a new tradition for us.

I am grateful to have an apartment that feels like a home. This September we moved and this was the first time we moved without really needing to move. It took awhile for it to feel real, but we kept moving forward because we ultimately did feel like it was right for us. It didn't take long for it to feel like a home. We still had boxes and piles of stuff, but it feels like a home. I can't find a better way to describe it. I loved our last place and still miss it at times, but it never quite felt like home. This past weekend, we spent time assembling more of our furniture and hanging things on the walls and it feels like we've always been here. It is such a wonderful feeling to have.

I don't know about you, but it feels like November came out of nowhere. As I was sitting in church this afternoon, I realized I hadn't started my annual daily gratitude posts. I am going to correct that right now. I enjoy taking the time to write out something I am grateful each day and seeing the wonderful blessings I have in my life. If you are like me and haven't started, you can join in any time! First, I am grateful for our wonderful friends. Last Sunday, we visited with some of our old friends for a night of pumpkin carving and games. I cannot remember the last time I carved a pumpkin, but it's safe to say that it has been many, many years. I decided to go all out and do a dia de los muertos skull. Most everyone finished their pumpkins quickly, but I kept hard at work finishing mine. A few hours later, it was done! I love how both of our pumpkins turned out and that we were able to spend the evening with our dear friends. Second, I am grateful we ...

It feels like I just posted about our April adventures and it's already now June. May went by in a blur, but here are a few memories. Jonathan and I have matching hats for our favorite Formula 1 team and we frequently wear them together. So, we decided to step up our game and wore matching outfits with our matching hats. Yeah, we are that couple and we love it! We took care of our friend Liza's cat a couple of times during May and he actually liked Jonathan more than me! Frequently, Jonathan would be hissed at but now he is the favorite. (I can't say I'm too surprised. Jonathan usually is everyone's favorite.) A few days later, Jonathan and I went out to dinner at the restaurant just down the street from us. It had been fairly humid all day and as we were eating the wind picked up outside. Unfortunately, we didn't finish dinner in time and we had to walk through the pouring rain to our parking garage for shelter. We joked that we should ha...