Thankful: Day 9 - 16

Well, it's been an interesting week, but, still, I have so much to be thankful for!

Celebrating my 24th birthday this past June.

9. I am thankful for my grandparents. I am so blessed to have had both sets of my grandparents live within 10 miles of me pretty much my entire life. As kids, we regularly spent the night with our Grandparents and that was always something to look forward to. We had "Grandma Short" and "Grandma Long" when we were growing up, meaning that Grandma Short was Grandma Kock because she lived only 2 miles from us, and Grandma Jons was Grandma Long because her and Grandpa Jons lived about 9 miles away, which was a 'long' way evidently. We were silly I guess...

Showing off Grandma's ring, which
was my 'something borrowed' at my wedding.

We never went hungry when we went to visit either of our grandparents. Grandma Jons would always have cookies and chips and scotcheroos stashed away in the cupboards (she always tried to hide them from us be we'd always find them - I guess she was probably hiding them from Grandpa just as much as she was hiding them from us kids!) and she'd always make us mac and cheese and pop-tarts with the butter on the back side. Grandma Kock always had homemade bread and buns for us and oatmeal (with lots of milk for me so it was runny!) with toast, as well as ham balls and orange juice and anything else you could think of! To this day, if we get hungry because our mom let the cupboards get empty, we'd just go to Grandma's and get filled right back up again!

Dancing with Grandpa at
Kellsey's wedding

At Grandma Jons', we'd always get into my mom and aunts' old things and play dress up. When we were younger, we'd take their skirts and make them into strapless dresses. We also loved to drag everything out to the corn crib when it was empty and play house. And even though I probably thought it was boring when I was younger, I really cherish the memories of Grandpa Jons sitting in the chair by the window looking out at the birds (which he still does) or sitting next to the counter in the kitchen listening to the radio really loud and answering the phone, "Yellow?!?".
When we were younger, Grandpa Kock would occasionally let us 'make bullets' with him, and he wouldn't even get too mad when we messed something up :) He also would let us shoot at targets when he was outside shooting as well. I also love that every summer, he would go through the hassle of getting the camper up to Lake View for us to go camping and then he'd go back home and let us hang out with Grandma for a week. What a great Grandpa! I love all of the memories that I have of playing games with our family at Grandma and Grandpa's and I still love to get together on any holiday or occasion that we can come up with just for an excuse to have some fun together!
Even though they've each had their own bouts with illnesses, they are all doing well and I thank God every day that I still have them all in my life to share in the new adventures I'm going through in my life. I miss them very much since moving away to college and even farther away to work, but I cherish all of the memories I have of the many many days I've spent at their houses and cherish each memory that I make when I get to see them now.

10. I am so thankful that we live in an apartment! Up until last Thursday, I have never been so thankful that Trent and I live in an apartment. With Trent gone and the massive mess that was in our apartment, I don't even know what I would have done had that happened in a house that we owned. I am so happy that there were people around that could make it to the apartment and start getting things cleaned up within a matter of minutes. And I am also thankful that there are maintenance people who are in charge of all of the work that is being done to our apartment now, so we don't have to worry about the day to day decisions that go into fixing everything and getting it back to normal.

11. I am so thankful that my first CPA test is over with and the results are out of my hands! Even though it makes me nervous to think about getting my score on my test, I am so glad that it is out of my hands for the time being and that pressure of preparing for this test is over (at least for now). I did all that I could and tried my hardest, so all there is to do now is wait to see how I did (and to start studying for the next test!).

12. I am thankful for Trent and I's generous friends and family and coworkers. Through this whole flood mess, I have really seen how wonderful all of the people in our lives are. We had friends offer us a place to stay, offer to let us do laundry at their place and store things in their houses, we had people try to help us find solutions of where to stay, people to take care of Mattie while we were away from home, people to help us move and get things cleaned up, and people to just listen to me talk about what's going on with all of this. I can't even imagine if this had happened to us in a place or a time where we didn't have anyone around to support us and to help us out and I am so grateful that we are fortunate to have so many great people in our lives.

13. I am thankful for all of the stuff that we have. Not until we were forced to shove the majority of everything we own into two small bedrooms, did I really stop to be thankful for all of the little things we have. Even though it was a pain for Trent and the people that were helping him to pack up everything from our apartment and move it, it really makes me stop and be thankful for the space and the lifestyle and all the little 'things' that we have.

14. I am thankful for Christmastime! Even though it's not even Thanksgiving yet, I absolutely love going places that already have their Christmas decorations up just because I love the lights and the colors and just the atmosphere. When I walked into work Monday morning, this is what I saw:

I absolutely love this tree. It is so tall and big and just beautiful. It made me smile when I walked in the door and saw it. It's such a great feeling when you see something that really brings a smile to your face as you pass by. Sometimes it's just the little things in live that bring so much joy.

15. I am thankful for my mom! I know I already said that I am thankful for my parents, but I think that it is extra important that, on my mom's birthday, I be extra thankful for her! There really are no words to express or way to sum up how thankful I am for all of the things she has done for me! I have to admit, I was/am one of those kids who gets out into the 'real' world and it takes a while for me to adjust to being on my own because I've always had my mom there to do things for me. Even after I went away to college and after I moved to Omaha after I graduated and even now that I am married, I can still call up my mom and she will help me with whatever it is that I need help with. I was given the best life that I could have imagined growing up, and I was so incredibly spoiled, and the great life that I had is majorly because of the influence of my amazing mother. I can only hope that throughout the rest of my life, I can repay my mom for all of the wonderful things she has done for me and show her how much I love her and how much she means to me!

16. I am thankful for my dad! Again, I must be extra thankful for my daddy on his birthday! :) I love my dad so much! My dad is such a hard worker and he does everything that he takes on 100%. I look up to him for the passion that he has for the things he does and all of the sacrifices that he makes to be able to do his work and coaching well.
My dad is always there for me when I need him. He is so fun to be around because of his sarcastic and 'smart-alec' attitude (and he wonders where I get it from!). You just never know what my dad is going to say, and he may be a man of few words at times, but you just know when he does have something to say, it's going to be something good!
Some of my favorite memories of my dad would be when we get home late at night after all of our practices and meetings were all done and THEN we'd have supper. Whether he'd make us burgers or frozen pizza, it was always something good (as long as it wasn't those cheep-o 'party time' pizzas or whatever they were). I also cherish the memories of us staying up late to take stats of basketball game tapes that he had. Those are things that I will never forget. I love you, Daddy!