So much to be thankful for...

Dave, Leeandra, Becca, Alaina, Andy, Brian, Ryan, Cabo at the Heather Farm Dog Park in Walnut Creek.

The Aranda's, Nicholson's, and Dittman's joined us for Thanksgiving dinner.

It's time I got back on here and expressed some gratitude. Having just had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday with family and friends, and realizing this holiday is over and another one is just beginning, I am reflecting on my many blessings.

• Health: although I just got over an ear infection and a sinus infection, and I have rheumatoid arthritis, Sherman's Disease, and Neuralgia Parasthetica, I am relatively healthy! I am so grateful for my hands that can type and my legs that can take me to the gym to work off all that turkey.
• Church: although I have a long way to go in my scripture study, I am thankful for the sacrifices that have been made so I can worship freely as I choose.
• Hair: although it always looks less than perfect, I am thankful to have thick hair.
• Children: although they often make me crazy, they are my life and I am so grateful to be their mom. They grow so fast and I already know I will have so many regrets. I have "Cats in the Cradle" going through my head all the time. I try to stop what I am doing whenever possible to savor these moments while my kids are young.
• Husband: although he is most often out of town, I am thankful for his ambition and drive to succeed. I am grateful for the sacrifices he makes for our family. I am lucky to have him.
• Friends: although I haven't been very good at keeping in touch lately, I am so thankful for wonderful friends who are such amazing examples and have endless talents. I have so much to learn!

Okay, back to Thanksgiving...my brother and his wonderful new wife of four months came from Oregon to be with us. They brought their cat, who didn't really love our dog, but pretty much stayed out of sight after her initial hissing fit.

The kids couldn't believe their dad let a cat in the house. She was really very sweet, just not to Cabo, so we left Lucy in the house and took him to the dog park. It was such a beautiful day and I still can't get over the weather here in California. It is the end of November and I am still picking tomatoes, lemons, and gardenias!

Our good friends Chris and Albert Aranda and Deven and Nancy Nicholson and their children all came for Thanksgiving dinner. We had a fun time visiting and eating. This was our best turkey ever. I even got compliments today (the 3rd day of leftovers !)

I love to be home for the holidays and am thankful for my many blessings!

The Bike

A few weeks ago Andy (my 13 year old) was on an overnight bike trip with a group of Young Men from our church. He somehow managed to get a stick stuck in his spokes which caused him to flip headlong over the handlebars and crash his bike. He managed to get back to the camp, but his bike was unusable. So, when I picked him up the next day he gave me handful of broken bike shifter parts. After getting an estimate of nearly $100 (the whole bike was only $250) my brilliant husband suggested taking it to the place we bought it, where we had purchased the extended warranty. No questions asked, they took the bike and said it would be ready in 3 days. After 2 trips to the store and 3 weeks of frustrating phone calls and waiting, it still wasn't fixed properly so I asked for a new bike. And got it! It never hurts to ask.

Naked People

Okay, I finally decided to try to write something to start this blog that has had a URL for about 6 lonely months and the first thing I type shows up in Hindi language! Not a good start. I have enjoyed reading so many blogs and really don't have much to say myself, but I thought I'd try it for a while.

I just wanted to know if anyone else is annoyed with the naked people in the gym locker room. You know, the ones that walk around completely naked, then proceed to have full conversations with people, clothed and naked alike, and then they dry their hair and do their make up...all butt naked! Why do people do this? Maybe I have become a prude in my old age, but really, the rest of us don't want to see so much of you.

Oh, I just disabled my Hindi transliteration. That got rid of the language problem. Now I have no excuses!