Hello to all those who still check this every once in awhile!  It's Thanksgiving in America this week!  I feel like it's redundant to say Happy Thanksgiving because giving thanks always produces happiness.  Always.  If you are in a bad mood, and you ask: "What am I grateful for?"  It's an instant Prozac.  I firmly believe in having a grateful heart.  Life is a test.  There's no way around it.  There will be hard times and sorrows even when we are making all the right choices.  This isn't because God forgets us or picks on us; it's because he wants us to be strong and to grow and to progress.  Living with gratitude helps us see things as they really are, that life is good, and that God is kind--overwhelmingly kind.  If I were to pick one thing that I am grateful for this season, it would be that: A magnificently kind and generous God. "God our Father has offered us everything he has and asks only that we give him all we have to give. That is an exchange so imbalanced in our favor that no effort would be too much and no hours too long in service to him, to the Savior, and to our Father's children."  

Think about it.  :)

not cynical

I think it's interesting that around this Thxgiving (ha) time, I have a lot of female friends that gush on facebook/blogs how they are so thankful for their boyfriend/fiance/husband/wedding/marriage and things of the like. Conversely, I have seen no males reciprocate these sentiments.

Curious...

Bendiciones

What would Thanksgiving be without a Thanksgiving blog post?

Here we go:
God, Jesus Christ, and His gospel: it is why I am who I am.
Family: Loving parents that pray for me everyday, an older sister that has always looked out for me, a brother that shares the middle sibling plague and who is faithfully serving a mission, another brother who is charismatic and thinks he is so gangsta. You guys are the best famn damily ever! Thanks for the memories!
Friends: Old ones who have always been there, new ones with whom to learn and grow. Lauren, Brittany, Ashley, Katie, Mary, Matt, Adam, and Cory: Thank you for your friendship. You have all had some of the greatest impacts on my life.
The friends not listed: I feel like I meet so many interesting and inspiring people all the time. Thanks to you as well.
Science: it's just awesome.
Art: it makes life beautiful.
Dance: It makes me laugh and cry and scream and cheer, but it makes me keep me fighting and working hard.
Movies: They prevent me from completely dying from boredom.
Music: always faithful
America: I still believe in the principles for which you stand.

In reality, I'm thankful for everything. The good, the bad, the ugly. The ability to live and experience is really what matters. And I'm thankful for everything that touches my life and ultimately makes me a deeper human being.

Generic Thanksgiving Post

Okay, I hate being cliche, but I'll make an exception this one time. *Disclaimer: this is not the only day I feel grateful for things.

Things I am grateful for:

The Big Stuff:
--a loving Heavenly Father
--a merciful Savior
--the atonement of Jesus Christ
--a family that understands my weirdness
--true friends

Patriotic Stuff:
--a country where I can say what I want, worship how I please, vote for my leaders, etc.
--men and women who are willing to fight for my freedoms
--a president who hasn't followed through on a lot of the socialist things he said he would do
--public education
--affirmative action...when it's on my side :)

Stuff taken for granted:
--the custom of this country to brush teeth and shower often
--insulated walls
--a grocery store within a mile
--always having something to eat
--always having somewhere to sleep
--a university that is significantly cheaper in price but not in education

Completely random stuff:
--that I don't have leprosy
--that I have a friend who owns Rock Band
--the versatility of soy
--that my leg hair does not grow as fast as a man's
--that I don't have to shave my face
--that my thrombocytes function properly--as do the p53 proteins in my cells
--that my overies and uterus correctly respond to the hormones sent out from my pituitary gland, and provide enough negative feedback to keep the system in check.
--my sympathetic nervous system! (and parasympathetic for that matter...)
--people who donate their bodies to science
--OB/GYNs that boldly go where not a lot of other people want to go
--that Dr. Porter magically knows the days when to make Monday quizzes a group quiz
--the rr in espanol
--the color teal
--that women stopped wearing corsets
--that my toes aren't webbed
--the development of ballroom dance
--yulia zagorychenko in all her perfection
--car fresheners
--the view of Mt. Rainier at the top of 410 that I rarely see anymore
--that my mom never tried to live vicariously through me
--that potatoes are so cheap

I could go on...

But in all, I'm grateful for my life. It's not perfect, but it's all I've got, and I'm going to make the best of it.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Thx

Only Ashley Smith understands that title. haha. I miss those days of Tingey Hall. I really do.

So...it's Thanksgiving. I'm home. Everything fits right. Everything feels right. My bed is how I remembered it. My house smells the same. The dishes are just where I expect them to be. I still remember every one. Even at my apartment I'm always wishing I had that exact dish that I used at home. It was the right size, right material. I love being home. I love remembering the simplest things that I took for granted.

But I'm having a Wordsworth-ian moment where I realize as much as I reminisce over these things of my past. I can never go back to that time. I will never be able to live here everyday. Lauren will never be at her same house for me to go to. I will never use my dresser again or my desk. I will never go to "regular" high school (not that I really want to go back).

I want to be optimistic about the future though. I have really great friends in Provo. I've been so lucky to meet people that I just click with. Yes, school is stressful and dance is frustrating, but I laugh a lot. I talk a lot. I experience a lot. I live a lot.

It seems though that every relationship or experience you have to eventually put in the dresser drawer of "the past." I can't wait until I meet that person or those people that I get to take into the future with me. And I don't have to worry about the eventually. Eventually this will end or eventually we will go our separate ways.

That is why I'm so grateful for my family more than anything else. They are my past and future. We evolve together.

Happy Thanksgiving