September 16, 2008

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!

6 comments:

Lori said...

aren't babies cute and cuddly in their jammies. even gabi seems more cuddly when she wears those footies:)

Johnson Family said...

Great thoughts Alicia! It's always good to take some time to think about and write down the things we are grateful for. I'd like to do that too when I have a moment to myself.
I love the pictures of Sadie. She is beautiful!

Sarah said...

I love the random Canadian comment. It really threw me off! But I couldn't agree more ... Stay in Canada you Canadians! I can say that because I have Canadian relatives. (hehe)

Lori said...

Stay in Canada, you Canadians. I can say that because I have children (they LOVED McKenzie 'till she could walk and make noise, and then I got nothing but dirty looks EVERY where I went for about three years. Horrible, ugly, dirty looks!!)

Kurt n Des said...

Way to be so grateful. i thought for sure I'd see my name listed a couple of times in there...
We've watched Sadie and Ben's video over and over. It's so funny.
How did you get her to do that?

Unknown said...

I love your new layout!!!