Happy Thanksgiving!!!

101 Things I am Thankful for this Thanksgiving

1.       Jesus Christ-without Him I would be doomed to misery. I owe everything to Him.

2.       Nichole-she is my best friend.

3.       Abigail-she fills me with so much joy every time I look at her

4.       Music-Moonlight Sonata, anything by Ben Folds or the Beattles, Riverwalk Jazz on Saturday evenings, singing the Spanish primary songs in the mornings, playing “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head” on our piano, Nichole’s piano camp, “Autumn Time”, “Adagio Bird flies slow”

5.       Sports-Basketball on Thursday nights, a good game of racquetball or Tennis, an intense BYU basketball or football game, sports center highlights.

6.       Our dog, Mo-Anytime she acts like a normal dog, how she gets so excited to see me when I come home, “the great Modini,” when we thought she was lost but was just hanging out with another dog and was scared of the back yard for weeks because our neighbors had a loud party

7.       Food-Hot fudge sundaes, sweet potatoes, Wendys, asparagus, watermelon, barbeques, corn on the cob, pancake and sausage on a stick, soup, fish, really good burritos, tacos, fajitas or enchiladas, a fruit smoothie, orange Julius and popcorn at the Francis house

8.       Our neighbors-George and Sharon watching Abigail while we went to a Hockey game, The Al Hadad family having us over for an amazing dinner and teaching us about Islam, The Binghams and Hills who have now moved away but were such good neighbors, Reina giving me and a Nichole a chance to practice our Spanish, even our partying neighbors giving us a chance to practice our patience and charity

9.       The scriptures-The Holy Bible, The Book of Mormon, The Doctrine and Covenants, The Pearl of Great Price, General Conference talks

10.   Our House-We really like it

11.   Movies- “It’s a Wonderful Life,” “You Can’t Take it with You,”  “Back to the Future,” “Indiana Jones,” “Star Wars,” “Lord of the Rings,” “It Could Happen to You,” “Heavy Weights,” “The Majestic,” “Happy Gilmore,” “Remember the Titans,” “Life is Beautiful,” “Better off Dead,” “Finding Neverland,” “Paul Blart-Mall Cop,” “Mission Impossible,” “Quigley Down Under,” “The Conspirator,” “Hotel Rwanda,” “A Few Good Men,” “Hitch,” “Clear and Present Danger,” “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” “Rear Window,” “Rocky 1-6,” “Cinderella Man,” and pretty much any super hero movie. These are just a few of the movies I have enjoyed watching.

12.   A Good Book-The last novel I read was “The Hunger Games,” Some other books I have enjoyed reading are, “1976,” “The Alliance,” “The Count of Monte Cristo,” “The Chronicles of Narnia,” “The Five People You Meet in Heaven,” and of course, “Harry Potter”

13.   Beautiful Art- We have a painting in our living room that I love. Sometimes I imagine going inside it and just spending the day there.

14.   Drinking Fountains-I think one of the neatest thing about America is the fact that there is free clean water provided for you all over the place just by pushing a button

15.   Our Car-I have gotten used to it and it gets me where I need to go and always provides a conversation piece

16.   Living in the USA!-The freedom and safety we enjoy is unparalleled. I am so grateful for those who have died protecting our freedom.

17.   Our dishwasher-Seriously, it saves us so much time to not have to wash dishes by hand

18.   Running Water- Oh my gosh, really, when I lived and Mexico and there was no running water, that really sucked. It’s so nice to be able to take a hot shower or bath or wash my hands anytime I want.

19.   Modern Medicine-Without it our little Abigail would not have made it. It may be a pain going to all of those doctor’s appointments and giving her medicine every 8 hours, but I would do anything for that little girl and am soooo grateful for all of the doctors that kept her alive.

20.   To be done with school possibly forever-Two more weeks and I will have a master’s degree in Marriage and Family Therapy. Hopefully I will never have to take another class. Booyah!

21.   My parents-They are so generous and I am really looking forward to seeing them this Christmas

22.   The fact that my little brother, Kevin, is about to go serve a mission

23.   Bike Riding- I have recently started doing this and it has been really cool. I’m grateful to have a bike.

24.   Our piano-I play it every day, it is the perfect distraction

25.   Joseph Smith-I can’t even imagine all that he went through in order to bring about the restoration of the gospel. He is the Man!

26.   Friends-Wow, I didn’t think of this until number 26. We have so many good friends. We are so blessed.

27.   Mountains

28.   Oceans

29.   Trees

30.   The refrigerator

31.   Clothes

32.   Animals

33.   The fact that I really like my chosen profession

34.   Abigail’s smiles

35.   Dancing with Abigail

36.   When Nichole acts goofy

37.   Forgiveness

38.   A good story

39.   Campfires

40.   Oppurtunities to serve

41.   Family Home Evening

42.   NPR-Wow, seriously I am really grateful for national public radio, I listen to it a lot

43.   Barack Obama

44.   Soap

45.   Heat- when it's cold

46.   AC-Seriously, living in Texas would be miserable without it

47.   Airplanes

48.   French Fries

49.   Pizza

50.   Beautiful Lakes

51.   The fact that I was able to see my first daughter be born and my sister Amy get sealed in the Temple the same week

52.   Chapstick

53.   Snow-for sledding, skiing, snowball fights, snow angels, igloos, and the wonderful beauty of it

54.   Rain-Going through a drought this last summer, I am grateful for any rain we can get

55.   Board Games-Seriously, we play a lot of games and quite often. It is fun.

56.   Other games like bocce ball, croquet, ladder ball, etc.

57.   Good eye sight-Not having to wear contacts or glasses anymore has been so freakin’ awesome

58.   My brother Todd has a girlfriend. Nice work Todd!

59.   I have relatively good health. Despite a little asthma and allergies, I am in really good shape.

60.   Pictures-without them so many wonderful moments would be lost

61.   The Temple-It is a Holy place, I am so grateful that I was able to go there and receive the highest ordinances of exaltation. I am grateful any time I can go there to do work for the dead.

62.   Cupcakes-Nichole is awesome and fun and has been making crazy good cupcakes lately.

63.   Being able to call and talk to Nichole any time I want (except when she doesn’t answer)

64.   Kind acts

65.   Inside jokes-as long as I’m on the inside

66.   Laughter

67.   Changing seasons

68.   Waterslides

69.   Movies based on true stories

70. When Nichole gets excited like kid at Christmastime over little silly stuff like changing the air freshner, or getting to pop popcorn when we watch a movie, or going through an mechanical carwash and seeing it get washed from the inside.

71.   The spirit of Elijah

72.   Electricity

73.   Thunderstorms

74.   Insurance

75.   The plan of salvation

76.   That we don’t live like 600 years anymore. 72-101 sounds great to me.

77.   Little children

78.   Disposable Diapers!

79.   Trash pickup

80.   The Priesthood and blessings-both the opportunity to give and receive

81.   Root beer

82.   Nichole’s compassion and positive attitude

83.   The amazing opportunities I’ve had in my life-ie. Spending a summer in Mexico, serving a two year mission, going on lots of cool vacations

84.   BYU

85.   That I can speak Spanish

86.   Missionaries and the opportunity to go teach with them

87.   Peace

88.   Good hearing and the ability to back up a car very well

89.   Great TV programs like “Ducktales,” “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” “Jag,” “Psych,” “The Cosby Show,” “Arthur,” and “Sesame Street”

90.   Having dinner and playing games with friends

91.   Firefighters

92.   Pandora

93.   Roller Skating

94.   Church Activities-Christmas party, Halloween party, Pioneer Picnic, Turkey Bowl, Fourth of July Breakfast, Father and Sons Campout, etc.

95.   The term etc.

96.   Angels

97.   Martin Luther King, Jr.

98.   George Washington

99.   My Ancestors

100.  Sun block

101.  Sun glasses