A Time to be Thankful

This time of year is always when people share in abundance everything they are thankful for. I used to be one of those people. I feel like the only time I took time to appreciate what I was grateful for was on the "required" holidays. The only time I said thanks to my parents and give them special notice was on Mothers day and Fathers day, quickly forgetting the other 364 days of the year that they help me. The only time I would acknowledge things I was grateful for was Thanskgiving, and not the other 364 days of the year.

Okay that may be a bit of an exaggeration however I know that I was not thankful enough every day of the year, and maybe I'm still not but I do know that I have come a long way. In two days from now, the day after Thanksgiving will be the 10 month mark of the passing of my father-in-law. Although I did not get the privilege to know him all of my life as my Husband and his brothers did, I was blessed to get to know him for quite a long time. There is not a day that goes by that I don't think of him in some way or that there is something that reminds me of him and the short time we did have together.

One of the main things that has changed about me since this unexpected event is my thankfulness. In every aspect this has changed. So often now I do take notice of tiny little things and stop to pause to really truly be thankful for them. I often get very excited over little small insignificant things that before I wouldn't have even noticed. I wouldn't have stopped to take a second look. I wouldn't have held my baby girl that much longer before putting her down, and the list goes on and on. I owe this to Dave because before I would not have stopped to realize how incredibly grateful I am for all of the amazing things in my life. 

I reflect on this time last year when we took a family trip to Florida. Although not everyone was able to join us we did have a really great time at a family wedding. Memories that I will hold dear to my heart, and yet again be thankful for. This time last year Dave was dancing with Rylee as she was just giggling away. We had an explosive diaper that took 6 people to clean up, and lots of laughs with cousins. We had our last Thanksgiving dinner with Dave, and ate pumpkin fluff. These things may not mean anything to you, but for me, it is one more small thing I am grateful for. Again, find joy in the little things, for you never know what tomorrow may hold. 

His chains are gone, he's been set free. Although we hurt here, we can be SO thankful that he hurts no more.

                

The beginning of a lifetime...

Yesterday was the wedding that we came to Florida to attend. Sean's couzin Kari was getting married so we made a family trip of it.

As I previously mentioned the weekend started off with a kick off kick ball game on Thursday night. Friday night was the rehearsal dinner. It was at a golf and country club. Rylee hadn't pooped since Sunday and we had been feeding her prunes to try to get things moving for her and no sooner had we pulled into the venue and we heard the poop. When we parked and pulled her out of her car seat --OH BOY! It was up her back, all over the car seat, it was a full blow out (and of course she was already in her outfit). So we stripped her down, cleaned her up, changed her clothes, and washed her outfit in the sink. 

When we got into the room is was SO pretty. Kari's colours were dark purple and silver sparkle, and it looks great! I wish I had gotten a picture of the centre pieces because they were SO pretty but we were caught up in talking with people. For dinner there was a salad bar, pulled pork, chicken, flank steak, mac n' cheese, green beans, and brown beans. What I had was really good:

I went back up for seconds of the salad bar because it was so good. I had a brownie made by the groom's grandmother, and it was very good. There were speeches and then the bride sang a song she had written for the groom it was pretty funny and very much the brides personality.

Saturday morning when we got up Melanie and I (my sister-in-law) went to get our nails done and then we went with our mother-in-law Kathie to all get our hair done.

The wedding was really nice and the bridal party looked great. After the wedding we went to the reception. When we got in the room is was all purple and silver sparkle and looked really nice and well done. We were all very hungry and were high anticipating the food. They had 5 food stations. Salad bar, sliders, french fry station, taco bar, and mac n cheese bar. I started at the taco bar, tried a bit of the mac n cheese, then salad, then a slider, then the fries. They had FUNNEL CAKE FRIES. Oh wow -- they were SO good. It was like a mini stick of an elephant ear. It was a great way to have a little bit of it without having a huge amount. The cupcakes were filled with frosting and they were very good as well. I didn't go way over board but between the two events my extra points are gone (it was all SO well worth it, because it was all very yummy).

                     

I had no idea how much Rylee liked music but during the dance part of the evening she was having SO much fun! She was laughing and laughing as we were all taking turns dancing with her! As Will and Kari began their life together they ran out of the hotel down a sparkler line -- super fun. Over all we had a great time. The theme was pulled together so well from the invitations to the rehearsal dinner, to the wedding, to the reception -- even the washroom was decorated with purple stuff!

                                 

                               

Today I got up and had a shower and we are going to have a lazy day before having our thanksgiving dinner. Sean leaves tomorrow to come home so we are spending as much family time as we can with him.

I'll leave you with a picture Melanie took: