Giving Thanks

I can't believe Thanksgiving is tomorrow! Where have the last 11 months gone? I was sitting here thinking about it, and with my sweet boy napping, and before the holiday hoopla begins I wanted to do a little reflecting. 

To say it has been a whirlwind year for our family would be the understatement of ... well, the year! But with it all has come more blessings than I could have ever imagined. We came off 2011 a little beaten up. I'm not one to over share (particularly on cyberspace) but suffice it to say that it was a good year, and a hard one. One I hoped not to repeat. 

But 2012 came in with open arms to welcome us. The first blessing was Jeff's new job. It did inspire us to move north, but it also allowed us to do so. And gave him the change of scenery he was looking for at the time.

The second blessing would be to find out our second was on his way!! We were thrilled to find out and while reality has hit that he will arrive in the next 9 weeks (wow!) and we are a little scared, we are so happy and so excited to meet him.

This summer we found our new home. It happened so fast that I feel like I have whiplash. But everything just fell into place and it has been a good move for us so far. We moved from a great ward, and I was pretty certain this ward was failing miserably to live up to them when we first got here. But you know what? After we got past the "weird" Sunday schedule we were having and settled in a bit they have been wonderful - welcoming and ready to make us one of them as fast as possible. 

As we round out the year and head through fall and into winter it has been wonderful to reflect. The biggest and most present blessings in our lives have been here the whole year. The first being each other. I'm grateful each day to be making this crazy journey with Jeff, who is my best friend. To wake up loving the same person is a blessing each and every day. He is my rock. And Landon - who we could not be more grateful for. He challenges us to be better people and to learn how to be parents each and every day. And with that he brings more sweetness, tenderness, laughter and love than we could have ever, ever imagined. We can't wait to see him as a big brother and to meet our new little man.

We are blessed with families who love us dearly and have come through for us more this year than we have needed them to in ages. They essentially moved us because we couldn't do it ourselves and have shown up time and time again to help do projects, etc. without ever asking for anything in return. And friends who have become more like family - who have been there through thick and thin (and moving!) and still love us despite our flaws. 

We are blessed with the gospel. The knowledge of eternal families. Our steady jobs. And our health. It has been a great 2012 so far and the next few weeks are shaping up to be filled with holiday magic. 

We hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!