Give Thanks

November. The month to give thanks.

I bought a Thanksgiving hand towel for my kitchen a few weeks ago. It's decorated with print leaves, a turkey, and a cute little saying. The other day when I was talking to my mom, I was trying to remember what the saying was. "Happy Thanksgiving" and "Gobble Gobble" both popped in my head and both would have fit well on the cloth. But when I looked at it an even better saying was printed on it: "Give Thanks."

I've seen lots of people on facebook sharing something that they're thankful for each day. While it may be good for them, I generally try to avoid doing "challenges" like that on facebook. But I do still like to think about all my blessings and what I am thankful for. So I decided to do something a little bit different. For family home evening last night, Tyler and I took three minutes to write down things that we are thankful for (and believe me, three minutes was not enough). After the three minutes were up, we shared what we had written and why. Then we put our lists together and hung it up on the fridge where we can look at it on a regular basis and think of more things we are thankful for. This week we are making a special effort to count our blessings.

When upon life's billows you are tempest tossed,

When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,

Count your many blessings, name them one by one,

And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

Count your blessings, name them one by one;

Count your blessings, see what God hath done;

Count your blessings, name them one by one,

And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

Count Your Blessings
LDS Hymn #241

However you do it - posting on facebook, creating a family list, writing in your journal each night - it's always good to count your blessings and to give thanks for what you have. But what if we had a thankful heart all year round, not just at Thanksgiving? What difference would that make in our individual lives? How would we be changed? I think what we did for family home evening last night would be good to do a couple times each year. Our blessings are always increasing and giving thanks just once is not enough. We're going to try and make this a regular family home evening, although I'm not sure how often we'll do it. Remember to count your blessings, and give thanks.

On a side note, some of the things on Tyler's list made me laugh (a happy laugh, not a mean laugh). I absolutely love that man. And I will always be thankful that I have him.

Long Days of School

This is Tyler's last semester of school, and I am oh! so grateful for that. Right now he's working full time and taking 16 credits for school. It makes for very long days, for both of us. He doesn't usually get home until after dinner time. That leaves me at home with just the dog for company. And, just like the dog, I get terribly excited when he comes home. If I had a tail, it would be wagging like crazy.

Tyler's schedule isn't likable at all, but it is doable. Every day I'm amazed at what he can accomplish. He's a full time employee, a full time student, and a full time husband. Somehow, with his busy schedule, he's still able to give me some of my Ty time. I'm so thankful I'm married to such a hard working man. He's just incredible. And I don't think he ever really reads this blog, so I can say what I want about him. ;)

Right now the days are long. But the months will be short, and before we know it, Ty will be graduated.

Crazy Summer

I can't believe it's already August! The past couple of months have been so crazy and have just flown by. Tyler and I have had a lot to do the past few months. In the month of July alone, we've been from the southeastern corner of Utah for the 4th of July up to the northern part of Montana, only a few miles from the border, for a family reunion. Things have been crazy alright, but it's also been terribly fun.

Sadly enough, I forgot my camera when we went up to Montana for Tyler's family reunion. We got to make pottery with Uncle Andy, who is a master potter. He also gave us a lesson while he was making pottery about the Master Potter in the scriptures. It was incredible. He told about when we've been beat up, either my our own doing or someone else's, we need to let ourselves be put in the Potter's hands. For the Master Potter does not throw out any of the clay or pots, but molds them into what they need to be. Some take more time to be fixed. Some need to be trimmed and watered. But in the end, the Master Potter can make every pot beautiful, no matter how it looked before.

Andy made it look like throwing pots is no big deal, and that fixing a messed up pot is super easy. But don't be fooled! It takes a lot of work. And if you mess up the pot, unless Andy fixes it, you probably have to start over with a new piece of clay. But we loved it! In fact, we loved it so much that Tyler and I are going to start taking pottery classes. There's something satisfactory about drinking out of something that you made with your own hands.

We got to do so much up in Montana, and I really am sad that I didn't have my camera with me. But we're home now, and school starts on Friday for Tyler. We're back to reality after a wonderful summer. Autumn is here, but I can't wait for the adventures ahead that I get to have with Ty.

We're Married!!

Well, it happened. Tyler and I are now married. It's so weird to think that I am now an Ellingson. Signing my name and introducing myself actually takes a little bit of thought now. But I'm sure it won't take long for me to get use to it.

It was so much fun to have so much of our family come to spend time with us. Some of them I haven't seen in years. I was so excited to see them all again. We were so lucky to have so much help with everything involved with the wedding. And both receptions turned out beautifully. I wanted to post pictures, but I don't have any yet. I will post some when I get them.

I also wanted to post pictures of our new condo so everyone could see it. Yes, we have our own condo, and we both absolutely love it. It's a bit of a mess still since we just moved in and we're trying to get organized. And we don't have any kitchen chairs yet, so we have to sit in the living room to eat. And we just have a mattress on the floor in our bedroom. But we love it here.

We went to our new ward for the first time today. All through sacrament meeting we were wondering if we were really in the right ward. When it ended, we stood up and looked around. Just behind us we saw someone who was originally from Blanding. She use to hang out with my older brother in high school. She got all excited and asked if we were in the ward. I told her that's what we were trying to figure out and we told her where we live. Turns out, it was the right ward after all. Small world. It's nice to already know someone in the ward.

Anyway, we're still getting settled in, but there will be pictures to come. Welcome to our blog where you can be in the loop of what's going on with Ty and I.

Under Construction

This blog is currently undergoing some changes that I was not able to finish before going to class. For those of you who actually read this (probably not many), don't worry, it will return shortly in a new and better fashion to be updated more frequently. For those of you who don't (pretty much everyone), you don't have to worry because you don't even know this post exists.

Coming Soon!

The Life of Tyler and Jessica