Better Late Than Never

Okay, I'm finally doing my Thanksgiving post! I was planning to do one Thanksgiving day but I got in an anti-Thanksgiving mood, which strangely enough seems to happen every year, and then I got sick after a busy weekend. First I'll update about the holiday weekend and then fill ya in on what I am grateful for this year.

My sister, niece, and brother-in-law were supposed to be coming for the weekend, but because of inclement weather and some sickness over in Rexburg, they were unable to make the journey. I promised my mom we would still have a good time alone, which we managed to do, although we still would've loved their company. We ended up having dinner over at my nephew's mom's family's house (follow that? :)). Afterward, my mom and I went to see Unstoppable, which receives a thumbs up review. I snuck home early that night because I decided to head to Best Buy early in the morning to get my mom a Nook (the Barnes and Noble e-reader) that she'd been talking about wanting. So, I went home and slept for 3 hours, woke up at 1:30 and headed to Best Buy in lots and lots of layers at 2am. I ended up sitting in line for about 2 hours, but was able to get a ticket for the Nook, so I ran over to Target. I found a few good Black Friday items there, stood in a long line to buy them, then went to Kohl's. After a couple of purchases there, I went back to Best Buy to get my Nook. The Best Buy line was by far the longest and took me about 45 minutes. After that, I promptly drove home and slept for another 3 hours, after which I woke up, talked to Chris, then went back out with my mom for more shopping. :P The one good thing I can report is that I was able to get all of my Christmas shopping done in one day!! Well, all except for Chris but since I have a few extra weeks to get his gifts (we are having a late Christmas here when he visits) I am trying to wait to buy him things. Anyway, that night my mom and I took my nephew Zack and his cousin Skyler to the Festival of Trees, which was very pretty. Saturday we went to Harry Potter and then made out own little mini-Thanksgiving feast for ourselves at home, so we would get our favorites and have leftovers for turkey sandwiches! Sunday I started feeling a little sick, but I went to my mom's and brought my laptop...we spent the afternoon playing trivial pursuit with Chris. :)

By Sunday night I was starting to feel worse and it kept going downhill. I ended up taking almost the entire week off work (except for 4 hours on Friday, which nearly killed me.) I went to the doctor on Monday and she said I most likely had swine flu, which I am totally inclined to believe because of my symptoms and because I seriously hurt so bad I felt like dying. My wonderful mother took care of me from Monday night until Wednesday night, which helped A LOT! My symptoms have finally all faded to more of a bad cold level now so I am just having a weekend in bed, hoping to regain some energy before going back to work on Monday.

Now onto the list!:

1) I am grateful for Ryan! Yes, I did just want to start out with a shock there. :) But here's the thing, I was complaining to my mom the other day about how horrible he is and she told me that I shouldn't concentrate too much on the bad stuff of the divorce but instead be grateful because if it wasn't for that and for him being a giant twat (my word, not hers), I might have never met Chris. So, I am thankful to Ryan for the lessons that my mistakes with him taught me and for the fact that it led me to such a better life.

2) I am grateful for Chris! Of course he is really number one, but like I said, I wanted to start the list with a shock. Chris has changed me from a bitter post-divorce singleton who was determined to never depend on a man again, to someone who is completely sappy and can't possibly imagine life without having him by my side. Again on the sappy note, he makes me feel complete. We are perfect for each other in so many ways and I can't express how unbelievably lucky I am to have found him. I really don't know how I'm going to write wedding vows when that day comes because anytime I try to write things about him, it seems like the right words haven't been written yet....like no matter what I say, nothing will quite capture how completely and utterly I love him, because it feels like more than love. We are getting his visa paperwork in and I am so happy that the wheels to our future are finally turning. I know us being together is difficult for one side of our family or the other, as one of us will have to move for the other at different points, but I hope they can understand why. I wouldn't give up my family for anyone but him, because he is my family now. And I would follow him wherever he wanted to go...even back to Utah. :) (But I know he loves me enough that he'd never take me back there.)

3) I am grateful for my family. They're amazing. They are always there for me when I need them and I'm happy they are each in my life. Again, I know this Chris thing has been hard but their support means the world to me! Even if I live in another country, nothing would break the bonds I have with them.

4) I am grateful for Chris' family. They're amazing. Seriously. How many parents do you know that would support their child so much that they'd buy him an expensive plane ticket to another country for his birthday so he can visit his fiance? I'm still so grateful they did that and can't wait to see him. They keep amazing me with their acts of kindness and generosity. I would love them simply because of how good they've been to Chris, but I love them for who they are because they're great people. I worried that going to England and crashing a family vacation might be a bit awkward, but I'm glad I did it now because it gave me the opportunity to really get to know them, and love them.

5) I am grateful for my health!! After this last week, I have learned I need to take much better care of myself. Of course I was always "grateful for my health" but you never really know how much you should be until you feel like you're on death's doorstep. I have of course been saying I want to lose weight for awhile now, but honestly, after this week I just want to get healthier and losing weight should be an awesome side effect. I'm going to start eating better, cut out fast food, and try to start exercising as often as possible. Now I just need to get new batteries for my Wii balance board... :)

I could keep going but I know this is already super long. Plus Chris is probably going to be the only person to read it. :)