Today is Thanksgiving, so I figured I should just take a moment for some gratitude. I am so grateful for my life. People always talk about how terrible the world is, and I just don't see it that way. I love life and just tend to look at the world through my rose colored glasses.

I am grateful to have been born to a family as great as mine was. My parents loved us and took care of us and taught us how to work hard. Nobody could ever say that my father was not a hard worker. My mom was so fun! She could make friends with anyone. I remember being embarrassed sometimes, but now I am just like her.

This may sound funny, but I am glad that I had to seek out the religion of my choice. It caused me to be aware of the spirit and the lack thereof. I am grateful to be a convert to the gospel. I challenge my entire family to seek a conversion of their own.

I am thankful to have found a man as good as my man is. Dave is a genius. He puts up with a lot from me. There are some things that I never learn, or never choose to learn. He loves me anyway. I have learned over the years that we need to focus on each others good qualities and overlook others.

I am thankful that I have four fine sons. They are all awesome. Each has qualities, abilities, and strengths that are unique to him. We have had struggles with each one, but we love the times we can be together.

I love the women that my boys have chosen. They are amazing! I love to see the love and caring that each of them show for each other and the children that have blessed their lives. I am grateful for the fun times that we all share together and for the new skills that I have been able to learn as well as share.

And our precious grandchildren. What can be said about them? I am so blessed to be able to interact with them so closely. I love to love them. I think by the time we are grandparents, we realize that the most important thing we need to do, is just to love those precious children.

I am grateful for my dear friends. I have so many sisters in my life. We will always be there for each other. I have younger sisters, older sisters, and even sisters that are my same age. We work together, we play together, we cry together, we laugh together. We lift each other's burdens, and learn from one another. I am thankful for each sister that has touched my life.

Mostly, I am thankful for a testimony that still burns within me every day of the year. The gospel is the best thing that has ever happened in my life. I often wonder where I would be today if I had not found the church. I know it was my destiny, and I am grateful for my Savior and all that he did for me. I am sorry that my actions caused him pain, but grateful that he chose to willingly take that on for me. The Gospel is true!

May you all have a wonderful holiday season. And remember that The Lord loves you!

So, I have to say that it is fun to take some time and write. I wonder who thought of blogs? I have never gotten into writing in journals, but this is pretty fun. Now I need to learn to add photos. I am sure my daughters will come to my aid, if I just print this. So - watch for some photos.

So, Janelle tagged me. Wow, I'm sure she did it just to teach me more about blogging. Actually last night I spent over an hour filling in my profile, and today it is gone. So let's see if this works.

I am. . . a wife, a mother and a grandmother, and a friend.
I think . . . about life and how lucky we are to live here and now.
I know . . . that the gospel of Jesus Christ is the way that we can return to our Heavenly Father.
I want . . . people to be happy and fulfilled.
I wish . . . that I could put band-aids on everyone's boo boos.
I had . . . a kidney transplant 6 1/2 years ago.
I hate . . . the idea of being separated from those I love.
I miss . . . my years of water-skiing every weekend.
I fear. . . cancer. I feel . . . lucky to be alive every day.
I hear . . . babies cry and remember motherhood.
I smell . . . new tires and think of my Dad.
I crave . . . oriental chicken roll-ups from Applebee's.
I search . . . for ways to show people what they mean to me.
I wonder . . . what the world will be like when my grandchildren are my age.
I regret . . . not working harder in college (but not really, I had a great experience!) I love . . . my family and friends more than I will ever be able to express!
I care . . . about people's feelings. I always . . . try to laugh every day. I am not . . . good at saving money.
I believe . . . everything people tell me.
I could . . . sell ice to the Eskimos.
I dance . . . even though I have two left feet.
I sing . . . all the time, I even make up my own songs.
I don't always . . . read my scriptures like I should.
I write . . . stories about the Cinnamon Bears for my grandchildren.
I win . . . very seldom at Pinochle.
I lose . . . well!
I never . . . go to bed before 12:00 (except power naps).
I never listen to . . . Opera music.
I can usually be found . . . at Disneyland or thinking about it.
I am scared of . . . motorcycles.
I am happy about . . . most everything.
I tag . . . anyone who wants to really look inside themselves.

Now that I have said that you get all kinds on the phone, I will tell you why I had to preceed this story with the last one.

On Saturday night, Dan and Janelle decided to have a "staycation" at our house with the girls. They were planning on going to church at their own ward, so they did not bring Sunday clothes. After breakfast, they decided to go to church with me. I kept Bailee, so she could have a bath. I asked Janelle to be sure and leave a pair of panties for Bailee so I could put her in them after the bath. I remembered Janelle saying," here are the panties," but for the life of me I couldn't find them so I could get her dressed.

I picked up the phone and called Janelle's #, Dan answered and said hello. I said, "What did Janelle do with the panties?" The next thing I heard was a man saying, "I think you must have the wrong number!" So there you have it -- I am one of those people that I talked about in the first blog.
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Well, hi everyone. This may take me alot more time that I am willing to give it, but I will give it the "OL' COLLEGE TRY".

I have a couple of funny phone stories to share with everyone. I work for "Worldmark" in the marketing department. We get all kinds on the phone. I had an interesting call this last week. The person's first name was Waltrout, yes no typo here. Waltrout. I looked at the name and, after consulting my co-worker, decided to ask for Walt just to be safe. A lady answered the phone and I asked politely if Walt was at home. In a very think German accent she replied, "Ve haf no Valt here!" Then I asked, "Is there a Waltrout there?" My co-worker started to snicker. This time she replied, "Jes, ve haf a Valtrout", then she suddenly said to someone else, "Either put your pants on or put that blanket around yourself!"

By this point I was bordering on laughter myself. My cop-worker was laughing, and everything seemed to go downhill from there. Now she was back to me. I asked if I could please speak to Waltrout, and she said,"Ya, I am she." By this time my co-worker had to get up and run from the room in fits of laughter. I was sputtering from my nose and trying my hardest not to burst out laughing. I don't know how I pitched her about coming in to the presentation, but I did. Needless to say she did not desire to attend. It took us all several minutes before we could get back on the phone.