attitude of gratitude

The past two years now the week of Thanksgiving has become a hard week for me because since I've been in Cedar I've had to worry about which holidays I'm going to get off each year, so once again I chose to work Thanksgiving to be able to go home for Christmas (which is a bigger holiday in my family anyways), but it still gets hard on the last day of classes to watch everyone leave and head home knowing I'm not going anywhere. This year though I've been trying really hard to stay positive and not get too down about having to stay over the break, so I came up with a list of things I'm grateful for to help remind me what this week is really about. I'll share it with you all : )
I'm grateful for...

1. My Family!! Hands down these people mean the most to me. They have always been there for me no matter what. They've seen me at my worst on multiple times and still love me.

2) My Parents: Now I know it's seems like cheating to list them separately right after family but my mom and dad are so awesome! They give me so much support, always encouraging me to do my best as well as making me feel like I can do all that I want to do. Their always there to listen to me complain and gripe about how hard I think my life is, then remind me to suck it up and give advice on how to make things better. They are such great examples to me on how to live life and I'm so grateful for them and all that they have done for me and continue to do for me.

3)The gospel: Holy cow this is a big one! I've never been as grateful to have the church in my life as I have been the past year, I'm so grateful to have had and to continue to have such a source of peace, comfort, direction, and most importantly forgiveness. I'm grateful as well for everything that makes up the church such as: modern revelation, scriptures, missionaries, atonement, and all the other great and amazing things that make up this true church.

4)Great Friends: now not to single anyone out because I have soooo many great friends but specifically the past couple weeks I've been thinking about Jenny, Jessie, and Jeni. Those three have seen me through some pretty rough and tough times in my life but were always there for me reminding me to live life and help me laugh. I'm so grateful for all the many memories I have with each of them.

5)My job: even though this is the one thing that can stress me out beyond belief I am so grateful for it. I love the people I work with so much but even more I love the residents I work for. Goodness they mean so much to me, I've adopted them all as my own grandparents. I'm grateful for how they always make my day and make me smile, and remind me to stay healthy and always live life to the fullest. And my awesome co-workers as well!

6) School: Also a big stressor but I'm grateful for the opportunity I have to go to college. This is already my 3rd year of school and I love the chance to be here and to learn more and more in order to meet my goal and dream of becoming a nurse one day.

7) The Sunshine! No matter how bad my day may be, whenever the sun is shining I can't help but smile more which always makes my day go a little better by improving my mood.

8) Laughter! Definitely one of my favorite things, if not my absolute favorite thing to do. I love it! There's nothing like laughing so hard it hurts, but still continuing to laugh because you just can't stop.

9) The Cornwells family: This family is sooo amazing and I'm grateful for their friendship and love they always give. I'm grateful for their kids, especially the two boys, because even though they make me so baby boy hungry sometimes, they give my parents a chance to be "grandparents" and for me to see just how awesome of grandparents their going to be one day. As well as see how my brothers are seriously going to be the cutest uncles ever! I just love this family so much!


10)Roommates: I could never ever live alone and would die without my roommates. Yes we sometimes have our days that just happen when living with a lot of estrogen but their awesome for helping keep my life interesting, and keeping life fun.

11)Pictures/photographs: Okay yeah it's a little weird thing to be thankful for but oh man where would I be without the ability to be able to capture moments & memories. I love being able to look back on the crazy good times I've had and I'm grateful that I'm able to do it.