Thankful: Day 30

30. I am thankful for things that make me smile. I know that's a very broad thing to say, but yesterday I spent over an hour going through some very humerous pictures on Pinterest that really made me laugh out loud. I thought I'd share a few of them with you and hopefully they bring a smile to your face as well as we bring November to a close.

I hope you all take a moment to be thankful for the little things each and every day of the year. Enjoy!

You can follow me on Pinterest here!

Totally something I would do...

I'd be their friend cuz I think that's funny!

What nuts?

Ohhh Home so soon?

This kid is going to need therapy!

Agreed!

Looks like a message I'd send to my mom!

Love you, Meghan Chapin!

Hope this isn't true :) 

I can relate :)

CH CH CH CHIA!!!

Thankful: Day 29

29. I am thankful for my marriage. I know I was already thankful for my husband, but since today is our 6 month wedding anniversary (crazy!), I am thankful for our marriage today. I am so blessed to have found such a loving and wonderful man to spend the rest of my life with. It is so great to have someone to share my every day with and to also share the new and changing things that are happening. I am so lucky to have married a man who will put up with me and my not-so-perfectness and who has so much to offer. He is so hard working and confident and committed to what he's doing. He cooks and has supper made a lot of times when I get home from work, he cleans (even the bathrooms), he takes the trash out, vacuums and dusts, makes the bed, and he lets Mattie out in the middle of the night, all while loving me and being the best husband I could ever ask for. He is just amazing. I appreciate every little thing he does for me and I love him so much!
When I think of all that has happened in just this first 6 months of our marriage and all that we have already experienced and gone through together, it makes me very excited for all of the wonderful things that I know are coming in the next few months and years and even the little surprises that are going to pop up and catch us off guard. I know it's not going to be easy all of the time, but when I'm married to my best friend, it sure is worth it!

Thankful: Day 24 (Thanksgiving) - 28

24. I am thankful for Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is such a great day. It has always been a day where I am surrounded by lots of loving family members. This year I had the joy of meeting some of Trent's family that I had never met before, and that was very special to me. It was great to be there to see his family get to sit and talk with family members that they hadn't seen in a while. You could really tell that it was a very special day to all of them, especially the older generations who loved bringing back the old tradition of getting together on Thanksgiving Day again.

What a wonderful day to stop and be thankful for all the loving family we have!

25. I am thankful for Mattie. One thing that I am very happy that I gained through marriage is the cutest beagle ever. Mattie is the most snuggly, adorable dog ever and I am so glad that she is in my life. Even though her whining is a tad obnoxious at times, it warms my heart when she whines because she can hear me coming home from work and then comes and greets me when I get to the door. And I love it when she crawls into the spare bed in our apartment while I'm studying and keeps me company. Mattie has so much love to give and loves to be loved back. I am so lucky to get to be a 'mother' to such a sweet dog! 

26. I am thankful for dual climate control and socks! More often than not, I am cold. And most of the time, I am more cold than anyone else that I am with, and most of the time that other person is Trent. That is why I am so happy that our new car has dual climate control, so I can have mine set as high as it will go (90 degrees) and he can have his down at a cool 70 degrees. I joke that we're going to cause some sort of weather disaster or hurricane or something because of the drastic temperature changes that we create in the car.

I also love socks - especially my warm fuzzy ones that I wear to bed (which are very attractive! Just ask Trent). I find it almost impossible to sleep when my feet are cold, so those babies warm my feet up right away and allow me to stop thinking about how cold my feet are and go to sleep!

27. I am thankful for having a fun, game playing family. Some of the best memories that I have with  my family are of us all playing games. I love that everyone has such a fun time together doing the same thing and we all just laugh and have tons of fun. I love that we had so much fun this weekend playing Dominos, Trivial Pursuit, Taboo and BananaGrams. I am thankful when even more of our family can get together and play Nuts or other card games and I love that we'll try pretty much any game that sounds fun at least once!

28. I am thankful for Jocelyn Kock. (and I'm not just saying that because she told me to!) I am very lucky to have a cousin that is so close to me in age and to have been able to go through middle school and high school with her. I was lucky to be able to dance with her and play sports with her and really just experience a lot of great things together. Pretty much all of my memories from high school have Jocelyn in them in some way. We were either having a blast at family get togethers or playing sports together or just hanging out together and making a fun time out of anything. Even though we don't see each other that often anymore, we still get to see each other as much as possible and, every time we do, it is a great time. I am looking forward going through all of the exciting events that are to come in our lives as we get older. I am lucky to not only have a great cousin but to have an amazing friend!

Thankful: Day 17 - 23 and I PASSED!!!

17. I am thankful for my Aunt Doreen and Uncle Nick. My Aunt Doreen is the best aunt in the world! She has always been there for me my entire life and has always been special to me. She is awesome at spoiling her nieces and nephews and I know I can always look to her to help me out whenever I need anything. She will always go out of her way to do anything for me, even when it wasn't convenient for her. She would always let me hang out at her house after school when I needed somewhere to go, she lead youth group at my church all through my junior high and high school days, she always made us little treat bags for every little holiday and gave us the best birthday and Christmas presets. She is so talented and has made the invitations, programs and thank you cards for Trent and I's wedding as well as the invites and thank yous for my graduation party for high school and college and invites for my 5 year class reunion and many other countless things. She is amazing and I am so happy that I get to have her as my aunt!
And then a few years ago, she brought my Uncle Nick into the picture. I'm not sure he knew what he was getting into with all of these nieces and nephews he was inheriting ;) but I'm so glad that he is in our family. He has the same great heart that Doreen has and is always willing to do things for us when we need help. I know he loves us all very much (and we love him). And I think the reason why he is so great because I know how much he loves my aunt and he is so great to her.
I love you two!

18. I am thankful for music. I love music for all of the emotions that it is capable of bringing out in people. Music just adds another dimension to everything and turns it into something that it wouldn't be without it. Just think of watching a movie without music. The 'lovey' moments wouldn't be so sweet, the scary moments wouldn't be so scary, and the intense moments wouldn't be so exciting. Music also carries so many memories. Just the other day, I pulled up some Backstreet Boys videos on YouTube and oh the memories of my middle school days and listening to BSB songs on repeat. :-) Music just brings out so many emotions in me, and I love it. It can make me smile, it can make me think, it can make me cry, and it can make me just want to dance. Music is an amazing gift and something that I very much appreciate.

19. I am thankful for lazy Saturdays. One good thing about living in a hotel right now is that I don't have to feel guilty about not cleaning or finding something to do with myself. So on Saturday, this past weekend, I slept in very VERY late (like into the afternoon late) and I loved it! I would wake up and then just role over and get comfortable again and then go back to sleep. There's not much to do when you live in a hotel with one tv that your husband is playing a game on. So I just rested up, played a few games on my tablet, read a little bit, caught up on some celebrity news and it was an amazing day! It was so great to do nothing after not having a Saturday like that for a long time.

20. I am thankful for lazy Sundays. Welp, there was more of the same on Sunday. Even though I didn't sleep into the afternoon, I still had a lazy day and it was nice. I got free reign of the tv for a while and watched a few hours of HGTV which was very fun! It was just another great day!

21. I am thankful for continental breakfast. Another great thing about living is a hotel is the continental breakfast! Instead of just having cereal for breakfast every morning, I have tons more options like donuts and scrambled eggs and potatoes and biscuits and gravy and English muffins and fruit and yogurt... It's been pretty nice. The best mornings are when they have sausage patties and I make an English muffin and put a patty on it and it's like I went to McDonalds to get a Sausage McMuffin! And lucky for us, we get about another week of this continental breakfast before we move back into our apartment next Friday.

22. I am thankful that I PASSED MY FIRST CPA TEST!!! Woot! :-) I was totally off on the day that I thought that I would find out what my score was on my first test. I thought that I wouldn't find out until the third wave of scores from this testing window which wouldn't be until December 7th, but I was wrong! I didn't even realize it until about an hour after the AICPA (American Institute of Certified Public Accountants) released the scores to NASBA (National Association of State Boards of Accountancy), which happened to be right when I was leaving work on Monday. I saw a tweet about the score release and it had the dates of what testing days that it included and it said through November 15. My test was on the 12th! So I kind of started freaking out and had to double check if that was right. I was at happy hour with people from work when this was all going on, and I'm sure they all thought I was super rude because I was on my phone searching the web and texting Trent the whole time. (They knew why though, so hopefully it wasn't too bad.) I was too scared to look while I was sitting there with them because, if I didn't pass, I didn't know how I would react, and if I decided to cry or something I didn't want it to be in front of them! So I checked to see if my score was up for the first time when I got home, and my score wasn't there yet... I checked several times throughout the night, and still nothing. I checked when I woke up in the morning and before I left for work... Nada!! (This was after I had a dream that I had gotten a 31 on the test... and you need a 75 to pass! Talk about a scary dream!)

When I got to work, some of my coworkers were standing around and they all looked at me and wanted to know how I did. I told them that I still didn't have my score and some of them took that as code for "I didn't pass" and so they dropped the subject. And then, about 10 minutes later I checked for my score again and I was so shocked to actually see it there. There was a 78 on my screen... I had to slow down my brain for a second and do the math in my head. "There's a 78. Is 78 more than 75? Yes, 78 is a higher number than 75. OMG I passed!!" I kind of yelled out to everyone that I had passed. I couldn't really help it. Yay!!! :) I did have to pull it up again a while later to be sure that it really was real, and I left it up on a tab in my internet browser all day just so I could glance at it every once in a while!
What a relief! I am so happy that I don't have to think about that anymore and that I won't have to ever do that again (pending me passing the rest of the tests). Only 3 more to go!

23. I am thankful for short work weeks. I love the holidays because we get to see lots of family and hang out and eat lots of great food. I also love them when they cut my work week short. There's nothing like going to work on Monday and knowing that it's pretty much Wednesday already! Yay for the holiday season! I can't wait to get out of work and start what is going to be an great weekend of family, food, shopping, and fun!

I wish you all a very happy Turkey Day. I hope you all are able to spend time with those that you love and take a few moments to think about all that you have to be thankful for. (And also get some good shopping in too!)

Happy Thanksgiving!

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!