In addition

I'm grateful for my amazing FATHER! I can't believe I didn't write about him. My dad has accomplished so much in his life and he's pretty amazing in general. Some of my favorite memories growing up are of talking with my dad. I love to work with him on his houses, and pretty much love to be with him any time. He's a pretty amazing pianist as well ;-) I love you papa!

ABC's of Gratitude: F

F: Forgiveness. I'm grateful that I don't have to go through my life carrying with me all the stupid things I've done because I can be forgiven. I'm grateful for my ability to forgive, as well as the ability of others to forgive. That's a pretty amazing blessing.

Family...but that's already been mentioned.

Friends. I have so many friends! I'm so grateful for them and for their love, and all the laughs and fun times.

Fuzzy slippers. I'm wearing mine right now. My feet are always cold...I would be lost without my slippers!!!!

Snowboarding Fools!!!

On Missy's 20th birthday this year (January 5th) we decided we wanted to go snowboarding. Jake had never been, but as you can see, he was awfully excited about it!!!

Missy had been a couple times before, as had I, so we could just focus on helping Jake get it down. It didn't, however, require all that much focus, because Jake was an all star!!! He did so great! You would've thought he'd been a couple times before at least and by the end of the day he was learning to turn on his toes...and least I thought it was impressive.

Impressive as he was...this was still a relatively standard position to find him in. He's a little more gutsy than the rest of us....which is why the ground became his arch rival :-)
I'm pretty proud of this picture. I caught Missy as she was boarding past me. I rock...I know.
Check them out...cruising down the hill!!! OW! OW!!!

Lunch time...Jake brought carrots....yummy!!

Needless to say, we had a good time with the camera and the lift. It was awesome. I love snowboarding!!!!!

Bringin' it in with Bowling!!

Every year my family goes bowling on New Year's Day. This year was no different. I LOVE this tradition! Here are some crazy pictures of the Law's bringing in 2010!!!!

Dad's getting old...the squint would be the sign of that!!

Mom told Jake that if he farted on the pins, they'd blow over...it was not a success. Jake...I apologize for any public humiliation this might cause....I love you....and you know it was funny!The married and soon to be marrieds!OW! OW!

Ha ha ha! No words for this shot!

Ryan was working...which meant he often was able to clear the stuck bowling balls for us...I love my brother!

Christmas in January

So...I've been a little behind on this whole blogging thing. Seriously, I knew it would happen. I'm either consistent at writing in my journal or consistent at blogging, and I'd really not like to combine to two and divulge my journal feelings to the world...so all you readers (Ha! I know I'm humoring myself) can just get large amounts of blogging all at once! Just like Christmas in January!

Speaking of Christmas...I celebrated that just less than a month ago and never blogged about it. I rock. At least it hasn't been a full month, things could be much, much worse my friends. Christmas, if I had to describe Christmas of 2009 using one word I would choose to say that Christmas 2009 ROCKED!!!! Something about being in love makes everything better I think.

Christmas morning was awesome. The fam truly enjoys catching up on sleep the morning of Christmas, and I'm more of a morning person, so around 8:30, after already being up for almost 2 hours, I decided that I'm make breakfast for those sleepy people. Bacon, eggs, french toast, orange juice and some juicy oranges...is your mouth watering yet? Mine sure is. It was truly a breakfast of champions. We did the gift thing, which is always fun. Chelsea and Dave were able to join us, its always so nice to have the whole family together! My mom took one of the pictures I took in Haiti and made it bigger and put it in this beautiful black frame. Every time I look at it I get so homesick for Haiti...which recently has stirred up memories of amazingly wonderful people. I love that picture. My dad wrote each of us kids a letter, he's an amazing man. It was a fun Christmas!

I went to Jake's around noon to do a little celebrating with his family. We played some games and ate yummy food...no complaints there! We also sang "Happy Birthday" to his dad...born on Christmas Day!!!! Yay for birthdays of amazing people! Jesus and Brian...both celebrate on the same day. Pretty sweet if you ask me.

Jake and I did our little gift exchange at my house. I'd been working on this blanket for ages and it'd cost a large amount of quality time that could've been spent with Jake, but I think it was worth it. Even if he doesn't like it....I sure do. He was just like a little boy opening the big box....future Christmases will be a good time I think!!!

My wicked sweet domestic skills paid off....hopefully he'll stay warm in Logan!! That fleece is wonderful!

He was also pretty creative...I'm so proud. He designed the shirt all by himself and talked about it for months! I was pretty nervous as to what would actually be on it...but I'm pretty satisfied...Its all true!!!

Here's the close up...

We spent the rest of the day at my aunt Diane's house...always a good time! Merry Christmas to you all!!!!! (belated...but its the thought that counts) :-)

ABC's of Gratitude: E

E: Eternal Families. I love that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints teaches of the truthfulness of eternal families, and I'm even more grateful that I know of the truthfulness of eternal families. Recently I've been refreshing my memory as far as the memorization of the Proclamation to the World goes and have yet been amazed at the importance of the family. In it, the Proclamation teaches that "sacred ordinances and covenants available in holy temples make it possible for individuals to return to the presence of God and for families to be united eternally." I'm so grateful for that!!!!

My family totally rocks. We have our ups and downs, and I wouldn't say that we're happy with each other all the time, but the bond between us all is strong and I love to be with them. I'm so happy I get to be with them forever if I live my life in such a way that I show I want to be with them forever. I'm SOOOO excited to have my own eternal family, and to become one head of that family with Jake. He's amazing and he puts up with so much from me. I love him for that!

ABC's of Gratitude: D

D: Dakota. That's my cute puppy. Some would wonder why I'm grateful for him, but those who know me really well know that the dog is family. He's a rather large dog, and because of that can cause a rather large amount of trouble. It's fantastic. He's slowly grown out of the 'chew things up' phase, (or so we thought, sorry Ange!!) and now he's just into everything. I love walking with Dakota. I love that he has unconditional love for everyone, no matter how often he gets punished or put out of the room or no Christmas presents. He's so great!