i LOVE this

Take a Gratitude Challenge
By John Hilton III and Anthony Sweat

Let’s not just talk about counting our blessings—let’s do it! Write a list of 100 things you are thankful for. If that sounds like it is too many, try this:

1. Write 10 physical abilities you are grateful for.
2. Write 10 material possessions you are grateful for.
3. Write 10 living people you are grateful for.
4. Write 10 deceased people you are grateful for.
5. Write 10 things about nature you are grateful for.
6. Write 10 things about today you are grateful for.
7. Write 10 places on earth you are grateful for.
8. Write 10 modern inventions you are grateful for.
9. Write 10 foods you are grateful for.
10. Write 10 things about the gospel you are grateful for.

When we make a list like this, we discover that a list of 100 doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of all the things God has given us.

I know, I know

Here is a picture of Abby...she is about 30 lbs now, but she still looks this cute :)

Yes I know, it's been a long time..lol

Jon and I are still in Mesquite, Nevada. We were called to be in the nursury when we first moved here. I am not a fan of the nursury at all. Well about a month ago, they needed a substitute in primary so they had Jon and I do it. I love primary. I have been in it since I was 18 years old. Well that same sunday we were sitting during singing time and I had Jon go and get paper and crayons. He came back with a smirk on his face and he wrote me a note. It said that he was just called to be in the Young Men presidency. I was like NO WAY. Not fair that I will be in nursury alone. So I called the primary presidency over (we are buddies). I was like, "Kristin, did you know that Jon was just called to be in the YM presidency? did you know about this?"

she said NO. So I said, "I hear you are having a hard time finding a sunbeam teacher, I will totally do it." About 2 weeks later I was called to be the sunbeam teacher! I love it!

Jon is 2nd counselor so he is over the deacons and scouting stuff.

I hurt my back again, but this time it is a nerve in my mid-spine that is being compressed and that nerve comes around to the chest. My back doesn't hurt but everytime I breathe, laugh, caugh, sneeze, talk, move...i feel like I am getting stabbed in the chest. It's horrible. It is especially horrible because I was on a training program to run a 10k the first week in January. We don't know how long recovery will be with my back...so now I am not sure if I will be able to make my goals. It's hard to not get depressed but I have had plenty of time to think how I will prevent this from happening again. So I am good for now. Just going with the flow. Jon is very helpful and loving. He treats me with tenderness. I am grateful for him.

Updates

Well we moved in June to Mesquite, Nevada. It is smack in between Vegas and St. George. Since Jon works here and I work from home we will save gas money and time by living here. Jon used to get off at 3pm Nevada time then be home in St. George at 5pm Utah time. That time change sucked. So now we are in the same time zone and don't know what to do with all the extra time together. hahahaha.

It is nice and hot here. There isn't a lot to do here since the town is smaller than St. George. Oh well. we'll see how long we stay :)

We got an addition to our family in April. A little puppy, she is a chipiti (half chiwawa half pitbull). she is now 6 months old. She is so much fun and very cute. She is only about 20 pounds. I will put pics of her on this blog later. Her name is Abby. She is a very smart dog and trains very well. I don't see us ever getting a puppy again cuz it totally sucked, but we are glad we have her.

Since our last blog in January we haven't done anything really exciting. The only thing that comes to mind is I went with April and her girls to Vegas for the day to hang out at a REAL mall. It was soooooooooooo much fun! I haven't been to a huge 2 story mall with a real food court and real stores for about 2 years. We walked around all day. It was great! Me and April got henna done on our wrists, it looked like a bracelet. We would totally get henna again.

The next thing I remember is over Labor Day weekend, from Friday to Mon, the girls stayed with us. We went to the Nevada State park, Valley of Fire. It was so beautiful. Eventually I will put pictures up so you can see. It as hot, but we would definitely go again when it is cooler. It is close to Lake Mead and Hoover Dam, so it would be a good camping spot.
The girls and Jon loved the "wildlife"..mainly the ground squirrels. They were everywhere! to me it looked like a rodent infestation, so nasty. but the little things would go up to their hands and eat food. They also saw a Kangaroo Rat while we were eating our lunch. They were so excited and I was like, it is a nasty rat, really. They are so weird. We took a 1/2 mile hike to this place called Mouse Tank. It is this hole that fills up with water when it rains and this guy back in the 1800s hid out there from the law for a while, since he had access to water. It was really cool and we saw a ton of petroglyphs on the way but the water in the hole was a nasty cesspool of stagnated e-coli infested water. And there were bees everywhere.
We also went to White Dome, they have filmed plenty of movies there, and half way on the trail one of the movie sets is still there. They filmed Star Trek there and The Stand by Stephen King. It was awesome.

Well that is all I remember for now. I will post pictures eventually.

Jan 2011

Another year that I am sure will go by just as fast as last year.
Jon and I are doing good.
We are excited to have Chris down here to hang with us for a few weeks. I went up to Salt Lake this past weekend for training at work. So I brought Chris back with me :) It was fun being in the office again chillin with my co-workers but it's nice to be home. I love St George.
I stayed with the in-laws and it was so much fun. I miss chatting and hangin out. It'll be fun to visit them again when we bring Chris back home.
Jon and I have some wonderful goals this year and look forward to a new year of so many possibilities.