Grandma Ardee and Papa John

Last week my Grandma Ardee and Papa John were able to come to town for a visit. They don't make it up from California very often, but when they do it is wonderful. Even though they live so far away we all know that they love us and would do anything for us. The most exciting thing for me was that they were able to get to see Jonathan in person and not just in pictures. If they hadn't come up for a visit who knows how old he would be when they met him. I love the pictures that I got of Jonathan and them as well as the one Papa John took for me of my grandma, my mom, Jonathan and I. It is really neat to have 4 generations together like that...at least that is what I think! Hopefully someday soon we will be able to make the trek to California to visit family down there.

And since I have been remiss in blogging Thanksgiving here goes. First of all, I forgot to take any pictures--bad me, but I did have the camera with me--good me. :) One of these days I will get that combo right! We started off the day making the journey to Oregon City to pick up Luke for the weekend. From there we stopped at Andrew's sister Crystal's house until it was time to gather with the Stott's in Portland. The family is so large and no one has a house quite that big so we get together at a church building. This year Julie reserved her ward's building and we met there. Unfortunately they weren't ready to eat until we were needing to head out the door in order to make it back to my parent's house for dinner. We are trying to get to the point where we alternate years, but since my grandparents came up this year I wanted to spend the holiday with them. Andrew was kind enough to humor me, maybe next year we can have just one dinner to get to that day?! If not, maybe I will boycott and make our own:) It is just too stressful to try to be two places at once, especially when that involves close to 100 miles of driving in a day. Overall, the holiday was wonderful. We got to spend time with both of our families and got to stuff ourselves on delicious food.

I had big plans to type up a whole blog post of all the millions of things I am thankful for, but since I haven't done it yet it isn't going to happen. Here is a condensed version: I am eternally thankful for my Savior, Jesus Christ, and His atoning sacrifice. I am thankful for my loving parents and for the gift of life they gave me 25 years ago. I am thankful for my dear sweet husband, who lately has taken to making me breakfast in bed on his days off--just because. I am thankful for all my boys. Adrian, Luke, and Jonathan are my reasons for doing what I do each and every day (Andrew too!). I am most grateful this year for the opportunity that I had to give birth to a beautiful healthy little baby with no complications. I am so grateful that I have a loving Father up in Heaven who is watching out for me and my family and that loves us enough to let us experience this life with all of its ups and downs. And finally I am thankful for all my friends that are truly an extension of my family. I love you all!