Olivers

Today was a good day. It was a half day for students which meant an hour lunch for staff. I had been planning to have lunch with my friend Scott at Panera. Warm soup on a cold day. Yum!! We drove to lunch like the good 'ole days when we used to work together. We ran an errand for the Oliver home project and back to work. I enjoy lunches outside of school with Scott. We share a lot of the same opinions and love for Western sports and the community. We never run out of topics to discuss. Scott started out a mentor which evolved into a solid friendship. His wife Julie and I have been friends forever too. We've taken some fun runs together the last few months too. Good times.

Tonight the Olivers were very helpful with setting up for our Mom to Mom Sale tomorrow. They came early and set up tables and taped of the floors. They were awesome. Their daughter Ally included. :)

Then they invited us over for dinner too. Pizza from Klavons. Yum!! We hung out there in our sweats and hooded sweatshirts. :) We priced some items for the sale and even make some signs. I appreciate their help for this event too! Julie has been awesome in helping me get organized.

Tonight and many other days in my life, I am thankful for the Olivers! I'm glad we have such great friendships with them.

Custodians

Today was final exam day. The school was full of kids who basically hung out. Place was out of control. By 345pm when I went to set up the gym, the place was a disaster area. Cups, food, wrappers, books, clothes EVERYWHERE. I was more than annoyed. As I cleaned up the tables, I had to ask Yo and Di to come clean up the area that was clearly NOT on their night time job list. However, they helped me out. They swept the floors and cleaned the tables for our games tonight. I was so thankful for their help.

Today I'm thankful for Yo and Di!

Family

Today I was excited to get out of work and go to my sisters house tonight.

Tara met us there too with Paige. We brought some pizza for dinner too. We enjoyed some laughing and playing in the basement toy room.
It was a fun time with my sisters and their kids. I realized that I'm thankful I'm not coaching this winter because I am free to enjoy time working out and with my family tonight!

I'm thankful for my awesome sisters and their kids!

Helpful Parents

Tonight we had a parent meeting for our softball club Mom to Mom Sale.

I had a fair amount of parents show up to discuss the sale. They were wonderful and helpful. I'm thankful for the parents who came to help and support us our trip. I'm thankful for Josh too. His help has been great.

Im looking forward to good sale Saturday.

Tara's Birthday

Today I was my sister Tara's birthday. Luckily, I was able to have dinner with Tara. Josh, Craig, Paige, and my dad all joined us for dinner at Olive Garden tonight. It was a good evening. Our waitress was nice too.

I'm thankful we got to have dinner and celebrate my wonderful sister Tara's birthday!

Live for Today

I'm thankful Josh and I went to church this morning. I needed to hear this message! "Do not worry about your life. Do not worry about tomorrow."

I'm sure many of us can relate to this message. We have a past. We worry about it. We have a future. We worry about it. We worry what our next day will hold. We worry that everything turns out as planned. I do this too.

We all know that person who is always saying, "I can't wait until 'Christmas or New Years or spring or until this day is over, blah, blah, blah'." They never live for today. Never! I find myself doing this occasionally too. In fact, lately too often. I have a task list or things I want to get done each day to get to tomorrow. I really need to work on this.

I need to live for today. I need to make sure today counts. Today, I forgot my wallet at home which I realized as I was in line to pay at Kohl's. Ugh! This set me behind. I had to run all the way home and then back to Kohl's and to my other errands. One was to my Grandma's. as I arrived, I noticed she was in a good mood. Maybe even happy to see me. Bored. This saddened me. She offered me soup and warm tea. I really wasn't hungry and had lots to do, but I was reminded of the message in church today and I took off my shoes and coat and stayed. Aunt Mary came over too. I was glad I stayed. We talked and laughed. I enjoyed my visit with my Grandma and Aunt today! :) I lived for today.

I'm thankful for today's message in church today!

Paige

It's been a long time since we've watched our niece Paige. Between the holiday schedules and the flu bug our whole family endured, she really hasn't needed a sitter. I think the last time was more than a month ago that we'd been graced with her presence.

She's grown now. So taking her places is easier. Today we went to watch Westerns 5th grade girls play some basketball at Grass Lake. Then we ate lunch at Panera with Jenna and Kathy. We shopped at TJ Max and visited grandma Patty at work. The whole day, she was great. It was extremely fun to interact with her. She's learning more words and how to communicate more and more each day. Don't get me wrong, her "do it myself" personality was shining all day. But in a sweet 17 month old way.

We played "what does a _______ (fill in the blank with an animal) say?" game in the car ride. If I paused too long, she's say 'gan (again)'. She totally flipped and went crazy when she saw the Panera sugar cookie after she was done eating. She refused to nap in the pack and play so together we fell asleep on the guest bed. She wanted us to play music and dance with her. She climbed on uncle Josh's lap for him to play the Mickey Mouse video 'hot dog' over and over again. She played with our toys. She really liked hitting the ball off the tee.

As she played, I thought about how it's been 17 months of watching her one day most every other weekend while her parents worked. It used to be over night when she was an infant. Crazy how they grow so fast! She repeats anything to say too. That's dangerous. :). It's so awesome to be a part of my niece's life. She's so sweet!

I'm thankful today that we got to play with Paige all day.