Happy Thanksgiving!

"Gratitude is the very essence of worship." - President Gordon B. Hinckley

Happy Thanksgiving! This morning as I was transitioning between sleep and wakefulness, I realized in my hazy state of mind that I was making a list of things I am thankful for. I don't know if I was praying or just thinking. But I was ticking off things in my head that make me so grateful. I think Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I could easily pass up the traditional Thanksgiving spread (I still think eating turkey and giving thanks is sort of an oxymoron), but Thanksgiving is a personal, spiritual time for me. A time to pause and realize how blessed my life is. So ya wanna hear my "laundry list" of things I am most gratful for? I knew you did - here they are in no real particular order:

* MY LIFE - I am so grateful that I have the opportunity to have life and to enjoy good health.
* THE GOSPEL - Nothing would be possible without our kind Heavenly Father and His gracious plan. The gospel "makes good people" and makes it possible for our families to be together forever.
* MY FAMILY - Quentin is the ultimate husband and daddy, and our girls give us more happiness than we could ever know. My mom is my best girlfriend, and we're blessed to have supportive, loving family on all sides.
* OUR HOME - We've been here for almost 4 years and I'm still in awe. This is our dream! I love our home, our ward, our neighborhood, our school, our community. I know this is where we're supposed to be.
* QUENTIN'S JOB - He likes what he does, and he's a hard worker. I'm thankful he works hard so I can stay home with our girls.
* PRESCHOOL - I'm living my dream of doing preschool. I love my preschool kids (especially Kasidee!), and I'm thankful for Quentin's support.
* FOOD - I'm grateful we have yummy, good food to eat and that we have choices.
* WARMNESS - I'm thankful for a warm home, a hot shower, and a soft, warm bed.
* CONVENIENCES AND OPPORTUNITIES - We live in a time with lots of modern conveniences, great halls of learning, and lots of opportunities for enjoyment, service and growth.

Those are some of the big ones, and there are millions of others. How blessed we all are. Happy Thanksgiving!
(P.S. Makenna brought home a little book about the First Thanksgiving that she made at school. One of the lines cracked me up: "Girls cooked and boys played games." Hmmm....not much has changed after nearly 400 years!)