Thanksgiving

Well I failed at taking pictures... I had such a good time just chillin and relaxin with family that I wasnt focused on taking pictures. I did snap that video above of trinity telling me crazy princess stories. The second video is the girls Human Bowling. Izzy wasn't eating her dinner, so Nick wouldn't throw her... she decided to break dance instead :).  Nick and Tristan's kids are growing up so fast. Thanksgiving was great... It was just my family and grandpa and grandma Thornton. It was a great dinner.... Mashed potatoes were almost forgotten but we made them in a hurry. Both brad and I have decided that when we do our own thanksgiving dinner we are having a fancy buffet of tacos.... Who likes turkey that much anyways!? We helped my parents move a lot of boxes out of storage into their new house. My mom did a great job designing basically everything including the cabinents to drawing up their floor plan and my dad did great work buiding the house (they say it's their last - we'll see if they stick to their word!) We had a great visit!

GBTV awesome interview

I'm on a blogging kick lately I guess :D

If you aren't familiar with Stephanie Nielson, I recommend you read her story: http://nieniedialogues.blogspot.com/.

Anways, she just posted a link to a video where Glenn Beck interviewed her. Beware... it's a tear jerker.

OSU

Living in Stillwater will always be a time in our lives that we will cherish and remember forever. We would still be living there if it weren't for family. This year was the 10 year anniversary for the 10 who died in a plane crash when the men's basketball team was flying home from Colorado. Unfortunately, Thursday night another plane crash occurred and killed the women's basketball head coach, Kurt Budke and assistant coach, Miranda Serna.

The OSU community has a sense of pride that is amazing. When our family would come to visit, one of the first things they would say was that everyone wears orange and the city is orange. I'm sure the streets are full of even more orange in respect to the tragic deaths that took place on Thursday. I never personally met Coach Budke, but whenever I did pass him in Gallagher-Iba Arena he would say hello even though he didn't know who I was. Brad has great memories of him and his assistant. Brad said that Coach Budke would always call him by name and check up on him and see how everything was going. Brad was able to help Coach Serna with possible recruits from CSI. He talks very highly of them and they will truly be missed. As mentioned in the video, they were more than basketball coaches, they were mentors and great people. I just pray that the great people of OSU can make it through this hard time once again, especially the family members of the coaches. I'm also thinking of the psychiatrist, Dr. Gentry, that I worked for at OSU's Wellness Center. I'm sure he is going to be even more booked than usual and I would not want to be in his shoes. As a member of the LDS church, I have my personal beliefs on death and so I am very grateful to have a sense of calmness and surety that we all have the opportunity to be with our families forever.

$60 = Something Greater

I just had an amazing experience tonight. Andra, my mother in-law, had given me $60 at work for managing over the weekend while they were out of town.... Super nice of her and going to my cash stash. Anyways.... I put it in my back pocket and when I got home late tonight I went to take it out to put in my stash and it wasn't there. You know that gut-deep feeling you get when you loose something.... That's what I instantly felt. I was so excited to add more money to my future house decor and/or Christmas stash. We have been super frugal lately trying to save any penny for a house so I just wanted to break down and cry. I texted my sister in-law to check around for me in the morning. Then I couldn't stop thinking about it and retracked my steps in the house twice. As I went upstairs knowing that I wouldn't sleep I had a heart wrentching feeling to go back to Frostop. I thouht it was just me being impatient and wanting to find it now... But then I said a prayer and the feeling was still there, strong as ever. I woke up sleeping Brad and asked him what I should do and he was tired so didn't say much but he gave me the security code if I was going back. I decided to go back just in case the money was in the parking lot and because I wanted to test this feeling that I had and this $60 was well worth it to me. I got in the car and forgot my wallet so I prayed that the cops wouldn't drive by as I was there since frostop would be closed and I was in my p.j.'s with no I.d. so it would totally look suspicious . I get there and look around on the blacktop and nothing.... I go inside hoping I get the security system right so I don't set it off. I look around and nothing.... Then as I'm super sad, and go back to the car and the money was right in front of me on the blacktop plain in sight. I broke down and cried in the car ride home. I thanked Heavenly Father the whole way home. Lately, because of President Monson's examples of following the Holy Spirit, I have been challenging myself to follow the Spirit no matter what. Well tonight I was given an awesome opourtuniy and I was so grateful to have enough courage and faith to follow the prompting. I'm sure that $60 would have been long gone in the morning by the wind or picked up by some drunk from the one and only bar next door. The monetary value of this $60 will be very temporary, but the lesson learned from these Andrew Jacksons will be forever lasting. It was an amazing experience and I promised myself I would write it down. So here I am writing this in bed. Bullet has his paws pressing against my back and brad is sleep talking :D. Life doesn't get much better than this. Never thought I would be grateful for losing $60....