Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is always a nice day. Not only do we all have the day off, we get to pig out on good home cookin' and spend the day with family. For some people, that's not such a good thing. Luckily, Dave's family all gets along and makes for a fun afternoon. It's a good day to think about all of the things that I have to be thankful for. I do think about it on other days, but this just gives me a specific day to focus on. I could go on all night listing the things I'm thankful for. I really have been blessed in my life. There are times that I forget and have to be reminded, but overall, I love my life. Three things that I think about every November are my Grandma Dot, my husband and Davis.

I grew up LOVING my Grandma Dot. She was my dad's mom and probably the classiest lady I have every known. She loved her family and enjoyed spending time with all of us. I remember sleeping over at her house, going shopping with her, helping her clean the patio furniture, and the stash of ice cream she always had in her freezer. Her freezer was on the bottom, so I could peer in easily. I had never seen a refrigerator with the freezer on the bottom and I thought it was the neatest thing! She always had an etiquette lesson and really wanted us to grow up to be well mannered adults. She died my senior year in high school. Although she died in October, her funeral was in November. That month was one of the busiest for me because the drill team showcase was at the end of the month. I was told that if I left for the funeral, I would not be able to perform. I made the choice to stay home and not go to California for her funeral. I have felt bad about that choice for decades. I hope she understands how hard it was for me to decide and how much I really wanted to be there. I also was a 17 year old girl and dance was my life. I just couldn't walk away from everything I had worked so hard for. I shouldn't have had to make that choice. But I think of her every year and my heart is with her.

November 27th is the day Dave and I were married in the Bountiful Temple. I had waited for so long for him to finally come along and I'm so grateful we found each other. But more about that later...

This is also the month that Davis had his big surgery and we thought we were out of the woods with him. (Little did we know!) We had gone through 5 months of hospitals, tests, medicines, monitors, oxygen and doctors and thought we would be home free. I had had bad dreams and bad feelings about Davis being taken from us almost since he was born. Going in to the surgery, I had a huge fear that he wouldn't make it through and that we would have to bury our beautiful baby boy. Even though he was the 6th boy and we had no girls, I didn't want to lose him. He was such a good baby, even with all of the hard stuff that went along with him. When he came out of the OR and seemed to be doing okay, I was so relieved. The bad feelings have never totally gone away, but they aren't nearly what they used to be. He is such a blessing in our family and for me. He tells me so many times each day that he loves he and is my little "boyfriend". Every November I think about all he went through and how lucky we are to have him with us.

I also love being a part of the Monson family. They are a great example to me of what family should be like. It is an honor to help prepare the dinner for, and sit down to eat with our Prophet. He is just magnetic and you just can't help but feel happy when you are around him. He was in especially good spirits this year and seems to have adjusted into his calling. My prayers are always with him and the load that he bears. I know that he is the Prophet of God. When he was talking with Tiara and McCall, we talked about how he was Jesus' friend when he replied, "I sure hope so!" Well, so do I, because if not, we all have our work cut out for us.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all and may the Lord bless you and your families!