Heat

My body hurts. Obviously I planned for my hip to hurt, but I didn't plan on the rest of my body (neck, back, etc.) hurting so badly! I was just not made to lay in a bed this long! Today I'm thankful to be happily laying with some heating pads to sooth my aching muscles. Maybe I'll see if I can get a massage when I'm finally off "bed rest." 

Dinner deliveries

I had this week all planned out. Krista was all set to take care of me here at home while I recovered. I did not plan on Krista coming down with the flu! She is the sickest I have ever seen her. I feel so bad for her, but I've had to get a little creative. Today I asked our sweet neighbor if she would pick up dinner for us. She was more than happy to help! I'm thankful for people in my life who are so kind and helpful! 

The sacrament

I'm thankful for the sacrament, for everything it represents and what it means to me, personally. It's easy to overlook the sacrament, especially when you're home on bed rest recovering from hip surgery. But my awesome ward brought the sacrament to me. I'm thankful for the Elders who came over after church to make it possible for me to partake of the sacrament. 

Activity

Today is one of those days when I'm thankful for something because I'm experiencing a lack of it in my life. Today I'm thankful for activity. Our bodies (and my body in particular) were not made to be sedentary. Even though I know I need to rest and I know I need to lay still, my body is literally aching to move! I'm thankful for the small handful of "exercises" I get to perform a few times a day. It makes the seemingly endless hours of laying in bed a little more bearable. 

Being home

There's something about being miserable at home that's just better than being miserable at a hospital! I'm thankful to be home today. I'm thankful for my own clothes, my own bed, my own home smells, my own bathroom, my own food, etc. And I'm still thankful for all the help I've been given - Krista continues to be a rockstar. Aaron, Rodney, and Jessica stopped by. And a number of people texted to see how I'm doing. I'm hurting and not feeling super, but I'm still very thankful! 

TOSH

Today I'm thankful that I live so close to good medical facilities like TOSH (TheOrthopedic  Specialty Hospital). I was blessed with 2 irregular hips. The good folks at TOSH fixed my right hip last December, and today they fixed my left. I'm thankful for my surgeon, my nurses, and my aides. I'm thankful for warm blankets and ice machines and sprite and netflix and hulu. I'm thankful to have this first day behind me and I'm anxious to head on down the road to recovery. And I'm ridiculously thankful for Krista, who spent a lot of her day helping me! 

Breakfast

Aaron and Jamie invited me over to their house for Christmas breakfast. They pretty much insisted on it. I went over a little later in the morning (sleeping in on Christmas is great!) after the presents and craziness was over. I don't love to be there for that part. It kind of makes me feel like an outsider. But I'm so, so, so thankful that I could join them after all that for breakfast. The food was delicious and I was thankful to spend some time with family today! The rest of the day was spent cleaning, cooking, and doing laundry. I'm having surgery tomorrow. Merry Christmas to me! 

An invitation

Christmas is supposed to spent with your family. But in my family we did things a little different this year. We spent our family time a few days before and spent Christmas Eve traveling home. I'm 100% okay with the way things worked out. I had a fabulous time with my family and it didn't even matter to me that it wasn't on the actual holiday. But that left me with no plan on Christmas Eve. I was content to stay home and watch a Christmas movie, but I got a better offer. I'm thankful for the invitation I got to join a friend for dinner and games. We even got to help Santa and create a little Christmas magic. It was definitely better than sitting at home, alone with a Christmas movie! 

Chaos

I'm a super organized person. I actually really struggle with it. But today I'm thankful for the chaos we experienced. My family was together (minus Jamie, who is home sick) and tonight we were all under one roof. We watch old videos, we laughed, we ate yummy food, the kids played, the kids yelled, and messes were made. It was SO loud! Chaos. But I've been waiting for years for that chaos. I hope to have much more of that chaos in the future! 

Home videos

We cleaned out the house my family grew up in. We got rid of a ton of stuffand we put a lot of stuff in storage. But we didn't get rid of or store all the old photos and home videos. We brought them all down to St. George so that everyone who comes down will be able to see. We saw some previews of some of the videos tonight. I'm thankful for the technology (however dated it may be now) that allows us to record video. Some of the tapes we have Ariel treasures. 

These girls

I've known these girls since elementary school. I'm thankful we could find a time to get together!

Final budget numbers

I organized a half marathon this past summer. It was a lot of work and we ran into a few obstacles that set us back quite a bit. The race itself ended up being a huge success. I had so much help from so many other departments in Sandy. I really do work with great people!! But, I've been dreading the day that the final budget numbers came in. I knew the race didn't make any money. We anticipated that would be the case the first year. When I ran numbers on the things I knew, I calculated that the race lists tens of thousands of dollars! I hoped that the positive feedback and the great representation of the city would make up the loss. We got the final (almost...close enough) numbers put together today. We lost less than $2,000! I'm so excited and so thankful! I talked to the organizers of a very similar race, which is now ultra successful and they lost over $50,000 on their first race. I'm so thankful our loss wasn't that bad. I'm thankful for all the help and support we had. I can't wait to see how the race grows next year! 

A Christmas Carol

Our friend Jessica gave us an early Christmas present. She bought us tickets to see The Christmas Carol at Hale Center Theatre. I'm thankful for Jessica and her thoughtfulness. I'm thankful to have spent the evening with friends. And I'm thankful for the show. As cheesy as it is, there were some things in the show that I really needed to hear. 

A visit from Krista

Today was a rough day. I spent almost 2 hours in my car in the parking lot at work crying. I managed to offended almost everyone in my family and I was not a happy camper. I knew I needed to calm down and go back into work. But I also knew there was no way I could go in without everyone asking me what was wrong. I waited until there was a group of people walking into the building and I slipped in behind them. I got into my office and found Krista there. She just happened to stop by, even though it was really out of her way. I'm thankful for her and her timing. She sat in my office and chatted with me. She distracted me. I'm thankful she was there. None of my coworkers know who she is so they all thought I was in a meeting and left us alone. Krista's visit was definitely a tender mercy and I'm so thankful for it! 

East to west travel

I am thankful I've been on east coast time for the last 7 days. Traveling from east to west is always easier for me, so I'm thankful to have that situation coming home. It makes going to bed easier and it will make getting up tomorrow morning a little easier. I'm also thankful to be home and I'm thankful for the ability I have to get some alone time. Traveling with 4 other people is tough, even when you really enjoy those other people! 

Cell service

One of my favorite things about going on a cruise is being disconnected from everything. I'm thankful for astronomical international rates, which make it easy to turn my phone off and leave it in the safe for 7 days! I'm thankful for the opportunity to really be with the people I am with - no one distracted by texting or emails, no one talking endlessly about what's happening on Facebook or Instagram. But, when the cruise is over, I'm thankful to have cell service back. Being able to easily communicate with almost anyone with the touch of a button is pretty amazing! 

Cruise staff

I have been on a few cruises. This cruise was my 5th. On every cruise, I've grown a little bit attached to the staff - the doing room staff in particular. This cruise was no exception. I'm thankful for Marmita and Ermundo and Daryl who took care of us at dinner. I'm thankful for Alexandra, who took my food orders and made gluten free possible. I'm especially thankful she complained to the chef about the bread. For the first couple days the gluten free bread was good. Then they switch and the "new" bread literally smelled and tasted like a dirty gym sock. It was awful! But Alexandra got them to switch back to the original, tolerable bread. And I'm thankful for Paulo who always made sure our room was clean and delivered fun towel animals every night. They all did a great job. I know it's a sacrifice for them and they work long, hard hours and don't get compensated adequately enough. I'm thankful to have the opportunity to get to know them and hopefully help them out a little bit! 

Ankles

Today I'm thankful for ankles. Because today I don't have ankles, I have cankles. My feet and legs are swollen. It always happens when I travel. I planned to bring some compression socks to wear at night, but I forgot. I'm thankful we didn't have anything planned except laying on the beach in Grand Turk today! If I had to pick anywhere to have swollen feet and legs, the Caribbean is not a bad choice! 

Rainforests

Today I got to experience a rainforest for the first time. I'm thankful Rodney and Brian were adventurous today in Puerto Rico. We got off the ship looking for an adventure and we found one. We spent the day touring a rainforest and seeing the sites of San Juan via van (an unmarked black van...I was a little nervous, but we survived). I'm thankful I got to see the things I got to see today. 

St Thomas

Today I'm thankful for St. Thomas - one of the US Virgin Islands. It was beautiful! We were a little bit worried about the weather. It was rainy when we started out this morning. But it cleared up to be an absolutely gorgeous day. I'm thankful for the sun, for the crystal blue water, the flour-like consistency of the sand, and the souvenir t-shirt I got. The beach really is my happy place and I'm thankful to be spending so much time there this week! 

A day at sea

Today is a travel day - all day at sea. I'm thankful it was warm enough to lay out in the sun for a few hours, even if it was windy. I'm thankful for the French fries I found out today were gluten free. (There always available, which is good...and really bad!) I'm thankful for the fun we had with our little group. Usually days at sea aren't super fun, but I really enjoyed this one. 

The Bahamas

Today I'm thankful for the time I got to spend in the Bahamas. We laid out on the beach, played in the ocean, and nearly died in some sketchy taxi vans. We were sad we didn't have more time to spend there, but we definitely made the most of the time we did have. 

Harts

When you're on a cruise, sometimes you have to be a little bit creative in order to find "something to do." Today I'm thankful for the face cards Brian bought and the game of harts we played. My dad loved playing harts! I remember playing many times growing up. I'm thankful for the opportunity to play again today. I think the last time I played was with my dad! 

Miami

Today I'm thankful for the opportunity I have to get out of town! I'm going on a cruise and today was the first leg of the journey - to get to Miami. I'm thankful for safe and uneventful travels. 

Freedom

There is nothing quite like walking out of work on a Friday, knowing everything is squared away and you don't have to even think about work for 10 days! Plus - add to that the fact that school is over for the semester. I'm feeling pretty free. Unfortunately I didn't get to simply bask in the freedom - I spent a good chunk of the evening packing. But I'm even thankful for that! I'm thankful for the feeling if being ready. I'm ready to ditch these bitter cold temperatures and soak in some sun!! 

Timing

I found out today that my rockstar audiologist is leaving me! She's leaving her practice to devote more of her time to teaching. I'm devastated. I cried multiple times today. Anne literally fought for me for almost two years. She wrote countless letters to insurance companies. And she put everything together for the application to the organization that donated my BAHA. I have never had a healthcare provider that cared as much as Anne cares. I can't even imagine how many hours she spent on me alone! And I imagine she helped many others just as much. Even though I'm crushed, I'm even more thankful for the timing of my BAHA. I'm thankful I could make it through the hard part with Anne's incredible support. The rest is just maintenance. And Anne is confident in her replacement so I will try to be also. 

The last big assignment

Tonight I gave my final presentation of the semester. I'm thankful the work is done! I still have one more class, but I just have to go (and turn a paper that's already done). 

A 45 minute commute

I had a board meeting today. I'm thankful for that meeting - it was short and enjoyable. I made it short on purpose. I had somewhere I really wanted to be tonight after the meeting. I joined a fitness and nutrition class that meets twice a week and I really wanted to make it to that meeting! But, today it snowed. All day. The traffic was awful! When I left the board meeting, I had just over an hour to make it to centerville in time for the work out portion of the class. And, I made it. I'm so thankful I didn't have to spend 2 or 3 hours on the road, like I heard some others did! I'm thankful I made it safe and timely!! 

One down

Next week is the last week of school for this semester. But, next week I will be on a cruise so I get to finish up all my class work this week! I'm so thankful that I am done with my Monday night class! Now I just have to do a presentation for my Wednesday night class and finish a book and write a report for my Thursday night class. And then I have to find some time to pack! Can someone please slow this week down a little bit? 

Socks

I'm pretty picky about my socks. I'm one of those weird people that sleeps with socks on. (I didn't know I was in the minority on that until recently...I don't know how everyone keeps their toes from freezing off with no socks!) Unfortunately, I totally forgot to pack socks when I packed for thanksgiving in St. George. I'm thankful for my moms heating pad that I put at the foot of my bed to keep my toes warm! And I'm thankful to have socks on tonight!