Appreciating the Little Things in Life

This past year has brought a lot of new changes and I discovered there were a lot of things I was taking for granted, such as:

Sleeping through the night ~ being easily mobile ~ getting and staying clean all day ~ dates with Ben ~ reading a good book ~ eating any food I wanted! ~ sleeping past 5 AM ~ only having 3 loads of laundry a week ~ adult conversation ~ having Kimmy close by ~ getting, more so, staying pregnant ~ going to the beach during the Summer ~ eating out ~ A memory; "Momnesia" has really thrown me for a loop ~ wearing glasses (Sadie pulls them off my face) ~ good health ~ the patience and sacrifices of my parents ~ a stable ward ~ stress-free plane rides ~ having Ben's undivided attention during non-football season ~

To learn from this experience, I am trying to look for all the good things around me now and I'm trying to NOT take them for granted. This is what I've come up with so far:

Sadie still being so cute and little ~ not having to say bye to Ben at the end of the day, like we had to do when we were in college ~ getting up early enough to watch the sunrise ~ Sadie being immobile ~ Sadie's fun personality that keeps us laughing ALL the time ~ knowing Kimmy still comes home for Christmas and summers ~ a husband that helps with night feedings, chores, cooking, lesson preparation, and whatever else is stressing me out on a given day ~ having all of our sibilngs active in church ~ not having to drive kids to school yet ~ great friends ~ Ben's good job ~ having a mom that is a good cook ~ a nice, cute home that fits us and is safe enough to go walking in ~ how happy Sadie gets in the morning when she sees me (I'm sure it won't be like that when she's a teenager) ~ a really nice, supportive mother-in-law who is easy to talk to ~ BYU's good football season (I've definately learned NOT to take that for granted) ~ Sadie letting other people hold her ~ not working ~ having a sister-in-law who is a photographer ~ Sadie's two nice, long naps every day ~ not having a dog (hint, hint Mom) ~ our current good health ~ the family that lives close by ~ a college education ~ having my dad as a seminary teacher and him always giving me lesson ideas ~ having time in the morning to exercise ~ the Canadians being up in Canada and not making the roads extra crowded ~ being protected from every hurricane ~ feeling happy and safe when I wake up in the morning

Well, I'm sure I could keep going, but that's a pretty good list. I'm going to try really hard to be grateful this week for all of the wonderful things I have in my life. This was actually a pretty fun activity, too!