Camelbak Water Bottles

I am thankful for my Camelbak Water Bottles.  Yes, I have multiple.  They are handy and they help me to drink enough water during the day!

Reality

I had a scary, scary, scary dream last night. I was in danger. And when the situation got out of control, I made myself wake up. I woke up in my room, safe and sound (although my heart was pounding and it took me a while to calm down and get back to sleep). I am thankful for the life that is my reality. And I'm thankful for the power my mind had to wake itself up!!

Nicknames

Specifically, I'm thankful for MY nicknames. Jetta fits me so well. It's been a great name! A few of my other favorite nicknames: Jetta Louise, Jetta May, Jetta V., sweet cheeks, pumpkin, pumkinetta, and "my Jetta." There's something about a nickname that just makes me feel so loved!!

Dinner Groups

We had a ward dinner group at my house tonight.  It was a lot of fun!  I love hosting the dinner groups.  I feel like it's an opportunity we don't normally get to get to know some of the people in our ward. 

Heather, Heidi, and Janae

Heather is my visiting teaching partner and together we get to visit Heidi and Janae. I LOVE visiting teaching with these sisters. They are all so kind and fun! They listen to blab (which is interesting because I'm not usually a big talker with people I don't know really, really well...but I always talk A LOT with these girls). I just love it. Every month I want my thankful for to be visiting teaching!!

Air conditioning

It's been hot. I hate being hot. I would never have made it as a pioneer. I live air conditioning too much! The weather can be hot. I'm usually happier when it's warm, but only if I can escape the heat into the air conditioning!

Speaking in church

I don't like speaking in church, but I suppose I should be grateful.  I spoke in church today.  I always learn a lot when I have the opportunity to speak in church.  And I'm thankful I spoke today because that means I won't have to do it again for a while!!

Dance

I have never taken a dance class. I have no training. I occasionally dance in the car and every once in a while I like to make a fool of myself at a Zumba class. However, I do love to watch dance. Today, I'm thankful that I got see Holly dance in her Irish Dance competition and I got to see Melodee dance in her ballet recital. I loved watching them and I loved spending some time with my family!

Firefighters

They have a tough job. Right now I'm thankful for the firefighters who are battling the large, out of control fire in Saratoga Springs. Seeing all the smoke in our valley makes me sick. But I'm thankful for those men and women who are busting their behinds to keep people and their homes safe.

Text messages

I miss my mom. She's sick and doesn't have a voice and coughs if she tries to talk. I tried to call her tonight and it didn't last long. While I miss my mom and I really just want to chat and joke and laugh with her, I'm so thankful we have text messages in the meantime. At least with texts we can still communicate without making my mom worse! I hope she feels better soon!!

My safety

I almost died tonight. I had to work an extra long day - 13 hours to be exact. I was driving home at 9:30pm. I was in the fast lane minding my own business when the van to my left, in the carpool lane (with double solid lines!!), decided to merge into my lame. Luckily I saw them coming. Unlucky there was someone else in the lane to the right of me. I laid on my horn and watched my life flash before my eyes!! The three of us literally shared two lanes until the van realized what they did and got back over (again over the double solid lines)!! Now I have an extreme dose of adrenaline pumping through my system! Hopefully it wears off soon so I can sleep! I'm thankful I didn't end up in the hospital...or dead!!!

Missionary opportunities

I was born and raised LDS in a community where most people are LDS. I've never had much opportunity to share the gospel with people who are not of my faith. But when I do have an opportunity, I'm thankful for it. I had one of those missionary opportunities today. I talked to someone who wasn't LDS, but they were curious and had a few questions. I'm thankful they were questions that I had the answer to!!

New GF finds

Sometimes being gluten free is rough. It's not convenient. It's not fun. But it does make me very thankful for new gluten free finds. I had heard about 2 new products that I've been anxious to find - a chewy/nutty/chocolatey granola (type) bar, and apple cinnamon chex! I'm excited to try them both. And I'm thankful that companies continue to make gluten free products.

Fathers Day Ties

We (my roommates and I) bought ties for the members of the bishopric in our singles ward. We delivered them all Saturday night and told them it was a Fathers Day ties for them to wear this Sunday. They all did. And they all matched. It was hilarious. I'm thankful that they were such good sports about it!

Timpanogos Cave

We hiked up and toured Timpanogos Cave today.  It was a lot of fun!  The hike up was pretty tough, but it was only 1.5 miles so it wasn't that bad.  Our tour guide through the cave was crazy!  But, the whole experience was a good one.  I'm thankful to live so close to fun things to explore! 

Recorded memories

The past couple days have been really tough for me. Wednesday was the three anniversary of the day my dad passed away. I completely unprepared for hard that day would be for me. I ended up leaving work early because I had a wave of tears I couldn't fight!!

On days like these, when I have a little bit of a hard time, I have a few things I like to look at. A couple years ago a made a scrap book with pictures of my dad and a bunch of memories that friends and family wrote down for us. I love that book!! I also have a journal that I have used to record memories I have of my dad. And I have a few letters that he wrote to me (for girls camps and pioneer treks). It's incredible how much comfort these things bring me. It's like having a teeny tiny bit of my dad here. I guess that's why they make such a big deal about keeping records.

Hiking

I haven't been hiking in YEARS!! My mom and were a little fanatical when I was in high school. We used to backpack all over the place! I'm actually not really sure why we stopped. But we did. I haven't done much hiking since. But tonight I went on a hike (which turned out to be 7 miles...no big deal) with Krista and our friend Joan (pronounce Joe-on). It was really fun! I loved being out in nature. I loved the views of the valley and the sound of the birds. I loved it. It reminded of all the good times I've had hiking and it made me a little sad that I haven't been in so long! But, the wonderful is - I can change that! We hiked tonight, we have another hike planned for Saturday, and if we're up to it, we might even go for a hike on Sunday before church! I thankful that I live in a place with so many opportunities for great hiking!

Distractions

Today was a hard day!  I wasn't expecting it.  Today was the 3 year anniversary of the day my dad passed away.  The first year was hard (first anniversaries are usually pretty tough), but last year I was fine.  I expected to be fine today too, but I wasn't.  I fought the tears all day until about 3:00.  I sent a quick email to my boss and told him I was done fighting it and was going home.  I got in my car and cried.  I had planned to go to the gym after work, but I wasn't sure I wanted to go with red eyes and fragile emotions.  I debated with myself for a bit and finally decided to go to the gym.  The trainers wouldn't mind my red eyes and I was pretty sure a distraction would be the best option for my fragile emotions.  I'm thankful I decided to go.  I know if I would have gone home, I would have spent a good while crying.  The distraction was definitely more beneficial.  I'm thankful that John (my trainer) was kind and concerned that I was okay. 

170

That was my bowling score...170...on a date...after I told my date I wasn't very good at bowling!  Hahaha!!  (In my defense, I really am NOT very good at bowling.  The last time I went bowling my final score was 77.  I must have had lucky shoes or something.)

Baseball

I got to go watch my nephew Josh play in His league championship game tonight. I loved it. I loved being outside on a beautiful evening, I loved sitting with my family, and I loved watching Josh's team win the game!!

Walking

Krista and I walked to church...twice (she had a meeting a little later). We walked up to visit our old bishop, and we walked home. I'm thankful that I can walk. I'm thankful that I live close enough to the church to walk. And I'm thankful for the beautiful day that made all that walking quite enjoyable!

My bike

I rode my bike a lot a few years ago. I wanted to run the St. George Marathon, but I didn't win the lottery. So I decided to do a triathlon instead. During my training, I grew to really love riding my bike. I'm supposed to be training for the marathon this year, but my hip has really been hurting. So I've turned to my bike to keep up my strength while I give my hip a break. I loved being on my bike today! It was hard, but I'm thankful I can still do something when I can't run. I'm thankful for my bike - even if it is a 10 year old mountain bike with road tires. Maybe someday I'll get into cycling and get a real bike!

Homemade Ice Cream

We had a ward party tonight.  It was actually a lot of fun.  We had a barbeque, games, friends, and lots of summer treats - including homemade vanilla ice cream with fresh raspberries!  It was perfect because I had been craving ice cream all day!  And that ice cream was delicious! I'm thankful for the people in our ward who put the activity together.  It was definitely a hit!

Hershey

While I am thankful for chocolate, that's not why I'm thankful for Hershey today.  Every year, Hershey sponsors a series of track and field meets.  It starts at a local level and then the winners get to move on to district, state, region, and then the finals.  The kids that make it to the finals get to fly to Hershey, PA, compete in the huge track meet and do a bunch of other fun stuff - and Hershey pays for it all!  Last year I got to go to the finals as a chaperone.  It was a lot of work and it was really, really hot, but it was fun.  Today I got to help with our local meet.  It's just a fun event.  There are so many kids that show up - all different ages and abilities.  It's fun to see them all get excited to run their events.  It's fun to see them all cross the finish line.  It's just one of those times that I'm grateful for my job.  I'm thankful that there are companies like Hershey that take an interest in the community.  I'm thankful that they sponsor this event for the kids who participate! 

Soy sauce

Krista and I made dinner together (really, I made it, but she had the idea and bought all the stuff, and she did make a super delicious salad - it was a joint effort). I got to the part where you're supposed to add soy sauce and we didn't have any! But Krista ran to the store real quick to get some, and I'm thankful that she did!

Emily

Happy Birthday to my friend and roommate Emily!!  This world could use about a million more people like Em.  She is the most service-oriented person I know!  She would do just about anything for anyone!  No one makes me laugh like Em can.  She might be a little "S.N." sometimes, but I still love her!  Emily is an excellent cook and she does such a great job at adapting things so I don't have to miss out.  She even picked a gluten-free-friendly restaurants for her birthday dinner.  I'm thankful Em was born and I'm thankful that she is such a part of my life now. 

This is one of my favorite pictures.  I love our faces, I love the ice cream, and I love that it was taken in Hawaii!!

Muscles

Or rather, I WILL be thankful when my muscles come back. I took a couple weeks off from the gym. I went back tonight and man was it hard!! It didn't help any that it was a billion degrees in the gym. I'm a little worried about the run I have planned tomorrow morning. It will be kind of hard to run if I'm too stiff to walk!!

Safe travels

I made it home from St. George.  I'm thankful I was able to drive there and back again without any troubles.  I'm thankful the weather was clear, even if it was HOT!!  I'm thankful for the opportunity I have to be able to go visit my mom!  I miss her like crazy!  But I'm grateful that she is where she is so she can feel better.  I'll just have to visit her again soon so I don't miss her too much!

Wesley

Today is my brother Wesley's birthday. He would have been 32 today. I don't remember a whole about him - I was only 5 when he passed away. But I'm thankful that he is a part of our family forever. I'm thankful for the knowledge I have that I will get to see him again. I wonder if they celebrate birthdays in heaven...

Broken phone lines

I got to drive down to St. George to visit my mom.  I had planned to leave work a little early. I got leave even earlier than I had planned because our phone line at work went down.  They were trying to fix something somewhere in the city and had to take the lines down to do it.  That meant that my phone and computer were not working.  So, I left even earlier than I planned!  I'm thankful I could miss all the traffic and make it down in good time!