counting my blessings

Spending a lot of time working quietly allows me to think a lot. Lately I've been thinking about all of the things I'm grateful for. My friend Olivia would be proud that I've been making so much lemonade out of the few lemons I have been given. {smiley face} Here are just a few of the blessings that I've counted while here in Lyman:

1. HOW GRATEFUL I AM FOR LETTERS!
My friend Kristen B. and I are pen pals. We were talking one day and realized how fun and exciting it is to get a hand-written letter - not a newsletter from school, or a credit card application, or a bill, but a hand-written letter that is simply to say hi, let one another know what's up, and say how much we love each other. {smiley face} So we write letters to each other and usually just hand deliver them, but since I've been in Wyoming, we send them through the U.S. Mail. It was so nice getting a letter from her. I love my pen pal!

2. WYOMING WEATHER
Now, if you went on trek with my Stake last summer, you'd think I was crazy when I say that I am so grateful for the weather we've been having here in the W.Y. But it's been SO nice! Not hot at all when we're out working on the yard or the trailer park. It's been cool and mostly overcast. It poured rain today, but that's okay... less time outside weed wacking. {smiley face} I think that Wyoming knew a couple of Utah girls were coming up and decided to be nice about the wind. {smiley face}

3. THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME
Cousin and I are fixing up a trailer so Grandma can rent it out. How happy I am to live in a home with a foundation, and sturdy walls, and strong stairs, and normal ceiling heights.

4. THE SMELL OF PAINT
Like I said, we've been working on a trailer, and in compliance with the stereotype of "trailer trash," the house reeked of cats. Cat food all over the place, cat hair stuck to everything, cat stench woven into the carpet. It was STANKAY!!! So, when it came time to paint, I almost dropped to my knees, stuck my head in the bucket, and inhaled. I just hope that I didn't smell too much as to damage brain cells...
"Tommy, did you eat a lot of paint chips when you were a kid?"
"Hahahaha... why?"

5. THE FAM
I know I say I'm grateful for my family a lot. But being here with extended family just reassures me of the importance of families. I love my aunts and uncles and grandmas and cousins and being here with them is a great thing.