Thankful For...

I am thankful for many things.  Some things that come to mind recently are:

-my husband's good job, even though it was his turn to work Thanksgiving and the next day.  He loves it and it supports our family.
-Having all of my kids home at once!  I love it when they are together.  I love seeing them interact and laugh together.  I love that all 6 love each other.
-Having the four oldest decide to run a 5K on Thanksgiving morning.  They all crossed the finish line within one second of each other.  I thought it was really cute to have that much solidarity.

-being able to nap while my turkey roasted.

-having helpers to put on a delicious dinner we all ate together.

-having Alan make it home in time to join us for dinner and his phone magically staying silent throughout. (It wasn't that he wasn't getting paged, it just didn't go off until we were done!)

-having 4 older kids who were the very capable cleanup crew after dinner--without being asked.

-playing Scattergories after the littles were in bed.

-having the 4 big kids go to the temple together on Black Friday morning.

-being able to practice a musical number for sacrament meeting with a friend who has a gorgeous voice.

-being able to sneak away for a shopping trip with Eliza and Mariah while the babies napped.

-having delicious leftovers and watching a movie all 8 of us enjoyed! (Mr. Peabody and Sherman)

-being able to have our family pictures taken early Saturday morning before the big girls hit I-70.

-seeing SME take state in football!  We (of course) dominate in country club sports, but this is the first football state championship EVER.  It was really well supported by all sorts of extra nice people who thought our tiny ones climbing all around and checking out their stuff was adorable.

-the people in Kansas.  They are so nice!  We found a grandpa under the stadium who made Evie and Griffin's day by letting them (and helping them!) play with chains and stray nuts and washers and broken zip ties. 

 -more evidence that people in Kansas are nice.  The office manager/PR lady at the orthodontist office this week saw Griff's shirt and decided we needed costume mustaches to go with it.

-a husband who takes me on dates regularly and loves me tenderly, even when the first things off my tongue are NOT gratitude.

-the sacrament and feeling the spirit through music.  I got to accompany Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing (I have 4 versions on my phone because I love that song so much) and sub as the Primary chorister today, which is pretty much the best short term gig ever.