Saturday, November 28, 2009

Counting Blessings

Count your many blessings.... Name them one by one.... Count your many blessings see what God hath done! Most of all, I am thankful that there is a GOD. I am thankful that He LovES me and that He hEaRS and answers my pRayERs. I am thankful he provided a SAVIOR for me. I am thankful I have His WORD available to me in the Bible and the Book of Mormon. I am thankful that He has provided a ProPhET for this day and age to help us and teach us. My wonderful husband Andy, who is so great at so many things. I am thankful you use your talents to bless our family. Thank you for loving me. Our amazing children! Wynchester Dakota, what a focused young woman you are. You are so good at keeping your sights set on what you really want. I am so very thankful you were able to be HOME for Thanksgiving. Quaelii Rue, you are so sincere and compassionate. I am thankful you are still in high school and enjoying your experiences. Jaeci LaWren, I am so grateful you are so straight forward and fun loving. You bring a lot of energy into our home. Tallin Andrew, your eyes speak so loudly. I am very thankful you are the Best Big Brother! Porter Thomas, you have about as much determination as I have ever seen in a person. I am thankful you love to help me and dad so much. Paden Carl, I am so thankful for your genuine love and excitement for life. You are a true joy! I am thankful my Maternal Grandparents are still with us. Nana, and Bigdad , you are the best! My life wouldn't be anything like it is had I not been around you so much in my youth. Thanks! My dear mother, Pat Wood! You are an inspiration to me. I am honored to be your daughter. And I can hardly wait to see your dreams come true! My dad, Thomas Henry Richards and my Grandma Syl (Johnson), I am grateful I had the time with them that I did and that they are looking down on me and my family. My schweet sisters! Jacquie, I am thankful you are so good at expressing gratitude -- I love the notes you send me and your thoughtfulness. (I would do well to follow your example.) I am so grateful for you and your family! Tanya, I am so thankful you got married and had daughters before me so I could learn from your amazingly organized experiences :0)... ie: dating, graduation, weddings, and all those other things! You are a great mom! I love you and your family. It sure is growing fast! :0) Shawna Lynn, I am so thankful for your laughter and happiness and friendliness. You are so fun to be around. Pam, Janet, ReNae, LeeAnn, Annette, Dorothy, Amanda and Susan, I couldn't have picked better sisters-in-law if I had picked each of you myself!!! My awesome brothers in law -- Eric, Greg, Kenny, Dorel, Roy, Clarence, Kayle, Rex, Larry, and Ross! You make the best brothers! My Whetten in-laws. Carl & Viva, you strive to do what is right and help us to do the same. Thank you! You are so amazing with all the things you are involved in. Keep it up! All my Aunties & Uncles and my crazy cousins and nieces and nephews -- what would life be like without you!! I am so thankful for each of you. My GREAT friends!!! You all know who you are. Each of you is so special to me. I am so thankful I have a warm home, food to eat and skills to cook, clothes to wear, technology to use to tell you all how much you mean to me. I am thankful my children have good friends at school and teachers that truly care. I am thankful I know how to sew, how to read, how to listen, how to make friends, how to clean, how to can, how to paint, how to scrapbook, how to type, how to care, how to serve, how to play, how to work, how to smile, how to laugh. You know, I am learning that when I take a minute to count my blessings, I really have too many blessings to name, but it is still good to sit and try. It makes me HuMBle to know that God loves me so much and has really given me a lot to be GRATEFUL for! And the best part is, He did the same for YOU!

Monday, November 9, 2009

Life is Good!

Andy and I are in Portland, Oregon. He has a conference for work here and I tagged along. FUN! We left Thursday and went up to Aberdeen, Washington and stayed with our new family, Jack & Marti Hollingsworth! They didn't know they were adopting us when we went... But as long as I feed Jack cinnamon rolls, they might keep me around! Tee!Hee! This is us at the Lake Quinault Lodge in the Quinault Rain Forest. It is so beautiful! We also went and saw the "World's Larges Spruce Tree" at 58'11" in circumference! And this amazing waterfall, which was just on the side of the road. Andy and I climbed up these rocks for a kodak moment and when we came down, our back sides were soaking wet! You could have wrung us out! It was so amazing though! I am so glad we were there. Marti and Jack really treated us like family! We were totally spoiled!
Andy got to go out on the Marisha, a dredge boat Jack & his partners built for farming the oysters. They pulled in lots of oysters that day! While they did that, Marti and I went to the beach and watched the waves. The day before, the waves were about 25-30 feet and crashed over the jetti (not sure if that is how you spell it) and washed about a foot of water down the street. Crazy! It was an awesome sight! Leave it to me, however, to provide a "ha!ha!" experience for all the locals... I was standing on the beach, fairly far back and the waves came in and one got up on the beach a little closer than I liked, so I moved back about 20-30 feet. I was taking video and waiting for the "perfect" pictures when I noticed water coming up the beach again. I could tell it was going to get close, so I began walking backwards, while continuing to video, then I was running backwards, finally I turned and ran and still got water half way up my knee! Silly Arizona girl! I just hope nobody was videoing me! Embarrassing!!
And, now we are in Portland, Andy is in class and I have been relaxing today. Tonight we are going to the World Forestry Center? I think that is what it is called. Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to go to the Portland Temple! I am so excited!
And since I haven't blogged in so long, I hope to spend some time catching up!