Thousand Gifts Challenge - Continued

22.  Reading Time.  I love it when all of our kids are in the mood to snuggle up on the couch and read a good kid book or two.  Our current favorites are from the library are "Ants in Her Pants" and "Curious George Goes to Jail."  We've read them both so many times that we have parts of them memorized.

23.  Fresh fruit.  Strawberries, blueberries, pineapple, watermelon, raspberries, etc.  Mmmm all around!  My kids and I made up our own thing... fruit swords (skewered fruit).  A new favorite snack at our house.  

24.  Painted Fingers and Toes... make me feel pretty.  What color do you think is adorning my fingers and toes?  Why red, of course!  It's just one of my favorite colors.  I should really take the time to paint my fingers and toes more often.  Oh, and I can't leave Katie out of this one!   

25.  Big Backyard.  For our neighborhood, we have one of the bigger backyards.  I should really plan more get togethers in our backyard.

26.  A plethora of parks.  There are several parks scattered throughout our valley.  Ones with lots of shade, no shade, cool ones with water, parks with awesome views, etc.  I think it'd be fun to make a checklist of all the parks in the valley and make it a point to visit, or at least drive by each park.  Hmmm... I wonder how many parks are in the valley?  Guess there's only one way to find out... research.

27.  Sunshine makes me happy

28.  Mountains are so pretty in every season.

29.  Bear Lake - our favorite family getaway for the day.  Can't beat a day at the beach followed by raspberry shakes.

30.  The way that I view the world through the photos I take on my camera.

31.  Tony Grove - reminds me of the lake at Camp Tuscarora in upstate NY where I attended Girls Camp.

32.  Instagram - my current favorite app on my iPhone

33.  Sidewalk Chalk - easy entertainment for the kids.

Summer Thankfulness

11.  Fireworks... the true way to celebrate!

12.  Watermelon... is a very photogenic fruit and it's very yummy.

13.  Parades... community pride at it's best.  Cold bottles of water were given out at our parade!

14.  American Flags... red, white, and blue.  U.S.A. = best country ever!

15.  Corn on the Cob... my favorite summer veggie.

16.  Glow Sticks... still love 'em!

17.  Sparklers... Tonight's the first night our kids will have tried sparklers.

18.  Pedicures... bright red baby!  Someday I'll have to try glitter toes!

19.  Family Togetherness is the best.

20.  Otter Pops... we're on our 3rd box of 'em already!

21.  Big bright flowers... because bright flowers are the best.

Counting Gifts

I came across this blog post that is making me want to go straight to the library 
to pick up the book, One Thousand Gifts by Anna Voskamp.

Cath, the lady who wrote this inspiring blog post, shared her favorite quote from the book: 

"The world I live in is loud and blurring and toilets plug and I get speeding tickets... and I forget everything and these six kids lean hard into me all day to teach and raise and lead and I fail hard and there are real souls that are at stake and how long do I really have to figure out how to live full of grace, full of joy - before these six beautiful children fly the coop and my mothering days fold up quiet? How do you open the eyes to see how to take the daily domestic, workday vortex and invert it into the dome of an everyday cathedral?" (121).

I haven't written any Thankful Thursday posts in a long time.  I think it is about time that I periodically blog about what I'm thankful for.  It's good for me to stop and think about what things in my life make living more beautiful, joyful, convenient, pleasurable.  This will be an ongoing list.  I think it'll be fun to see if I can get to 1000 things that I'm thankful for/ things that I consider a gift in my life. So from now on, if you see random consecutive numbered items at the bottom of my blog posts in small font, you'll know that I'm just adding to my list of one thousand gifts.

1.  Living in the U.S.A.  Land that I love.  
2.  Being a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  The teachings of this church has given me understanding of the importance and purpose of my life.
3. Sam.  My husband.  My best friend.
4.  Brian.  My little meteorologist.  This kid wakes up each morning and goes straight for the iPhone to give us the updated weather report.  He looks up the weather several times a day.  His favorite channel on TV is none other than The Weather Channel.
5.  Tyler.  Mr. Fearless Athlete.  We've got to sign this kid up for tumbling class, t-ball, something.  This kid's got natural talent.  Time for him to show off. 
6.  Katie.  The cutest 2 year old girl I know.  This week, we discovered that Katie's hair looks adorable in braided piggy tails.  And that brown hair of hers is EXACTLY the same color has my hair!  Talk about a mini me!
7.  My parents.  For blessing me with so many brothers and sisters.  And for teaching me to always work hard, try my best, share, and be nice to everyone.
8.  My siblings.  I love each and every one of them for different reasons.  (I'm #3 of 8 kids.)  We get silly when we're all together, which doesn't happen often because we're scattered around the country. 
9.  My grandparents.  I wish I lived closer to my NY grandparents.  They have created such a marvelous legacy there at their home on the dairy farm.  It's fun to live a couple miles from my Grandma Hallstrom.  We get along great and I love talking to her about life, art, and photography.
10.  My in-laws.  I totally lucked out with my in-laws.  I married into a fantastic family who has taught me so much.