Giving Thanks

I love Thanksgiving, it is truly an American Holiday.  I am so grateful for so many people and things in my life.  I am so thankful to be able to live in this country and to be free from tyranny and oppression.  I am thankful to a Heavenly Father who inspired righteous men to establish the law and government of this country.  As unrest and discontent swirls around this nation I have faith that if we follow the laws that have been established and realize that the US constitution was inspired by God and founded on Christian principles, we will continue to exist and to be unique in its position in the world.  If we lose our faith and fail to worship and recognize God we will lose the blessings and freedoms that we now enjoy.
I am thankful for my family, both my family of origin and for my nuclear family.  As my children have grown into adults and made choices in their lives I only hope they remember how loved they are and how blessed they are.  They will face many challenges that I have not, but if they stay true to themselves and the principles they have been taught, they will recognize their blessings and have hope.
I am grateful for my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, I know he atoned for my sins, he bears me up when I feel lost and lonely, He is my Light and my hope.  I pray that I will always have a grateful heart and that I will daily seek to become more like Him.
I want to give thanks daily through prayer for God's tender mercies and for my many blessings.  Thanksgiving helps me to remember.

Family Pictures

It has been three years since we had our family pictures taken, and we decided that it was time to  have another family photo.  Thank goodness our daughter, Brittani, is friends with a photographer and we really liked her work.   Brittani did all the organizing, scheduling a photographer and assigning attire.  I think if she hadn't made the effort, a new family photo may never have happened.

On the scheduled day and time, the photographer met us at Wheeler farm.  It had been snowing all morning and we wondered if we would have to postpone, but it cleared up and was actually very pretty. She took tons of shots all candid,  which we were not used to, and we wondered if they would be good.  We have previewed some and they really seem to catch the spirit of our family.

  I have posted some of the photos and now we have a gifts to give the parents for Christmas.  I hope that next time we do photos (maybe in 2 years instead of 3) our family will be bigger, maybe a daughter-in-law or two, possibly a couple more grandchildren.  That sounds fine with me.  Too bad it isn't up to me!

Park City

Several years ago we purchased a time share at the Park City Marriott Mountainside resort.  It probably was kind of an impulse purchase spurred on by the promise of free points and free beach towels.  At the time we owned  a share at the Kauai Marriott and loved the property, and the idea of traveling the world with Marriott.  We spent the points to go to London, which was awesome. 

Over the years we have watched as the owner fees have doubled going from about $475.00 a year to now being well over $1000.00, ouch.  We have hung onto the property with the thought that we can trade it for time at other resorts (once we traded it for a week in West Palm Beach, Fl.) but usually we come to Park City.  It is close to home but usually sits empty most of the week,  it is a quick getaway, and it means the family can come up and use if for part of the week.
 
Tomorrow is an end of term day, and teachers are paid to attend 4 hours of school and work on grades etc. .  I worked late and finished my grade so I would be able to come here instead,  and have kind of a mini retreat.  I brought school work and reading that I never seem to get to because of all the distractions at home.  Brittani and the girls will join me later tonight, Scott will put in a days work tomorrow and then come up tomorrow night til Sunday, but for right now I can just kick back, relax and enjoy the beauty of Park City and the quiet of having time to myself, something I rarely have.

Blogging Once Again

 I thought I would give blogging a shot and after taking a class this last summer, and learning a few tricks.  So far I have written about four or five blog posts but upon reading them decided to delete them and start over.  I don't want my blog to be a gripe session or to say things that I would regret later or would possibly hurt or embarrass myself, other people especially family members.  Also I don't want my blog to be a brag fest, no one wants to read about somebody's perfect life and then to wonder if theirs is normal..  I have read a few blogs and the ones I like to read are reflections of peoples lives that I can connect to in some way. So that is what I will try to do.

I got an iPhone for my birthday and its probably more phone than I need or will ever need.  Thankfully my son Tyler is patient and is teaching me what it can do with this phone and how to make it a useful tool.  Today he taught me to download updates,  we took pictures of some things that I want to sell on ebay. We got my ebay seller account set up and hopefully we are up and running.   Tyler  has the heart of a teacher where it comes to technology.   Kids (this kid is actually 24 years old) know how to use technology and are not afraid or timid in using it.  With me it is not second nature, I'm great with keyboarding skills, but they don't necessarily carry over to texting or computer tech stuff.  

So I set up a facebook account, I have websites for my students to use,  I email and try to keep up with all the new technology, but I long for the times when I could just pick up the phone and call someone, and they would actually answer because they weren't looking at caller ID and screening all of their calls.  Or better yet go over to their house or have them come here for a nice visit.