Above: Me and my niece Devyn waiting in line for Tower of Terror.

Dakota: mom, my head hurts

I have been a little bummed lately and very stressed so I decided that it is time to stop being negative and start thinking about everything good in my life and everything that I have been blessed with, so I made a little list. “Real life is not always going to be perfect or go our way, but the recurring acknowledgment of what is working in our lives can help us not only survive but surmount our difficulties.”Sarah Ban Breathnach What I am thankful for… o My family and the relationship I have with each of them even though sometimes we think we can’t stand each other. o My job! Sometimes I wish I could just stay home in bed but so many people are losing their jobs and I am just so thankful everyday that I still have mine! o My co-workers and my awesome boss! I couldn’t ask for better people to work for! o All of my nieces and nephews! I am so lucky to get to see them as often as I do. I love them so much! I can’t wait to have kids of my own. o For my health! I can walk, run, see, and hear! Every morning when my alarm goes off at 4:40am and I complain about getting up to work out, I am going to stop and instead be grateful that I have a body that CAN work out! o For my church calling! I am in Young Womens and it is sometimes challenging but I have grown so much from it and should feel privileged to be in there! o For my truck and freedom to get wherever I need to be. I am going to stop complaining about fuel prices and just be grateful that I have transportation!! o For freedom in general. o For the cute little house I live in. o For my sister-in-laws!! I love those girls so much!! I don’t have any sisters and it would always make me sad when I would see my mom with her twin and her other sister and saw how close they had become as adults and I thought I would never have that but now I finally have my sisters and I love them so much!! They are my best friends! o For a dad who worked so hard and sacrificed so that my mom could stay home and be there everyday when we came home from school. (I don’t know how any one can afford one income anymore!) o For all my friends and the support and advice I get from them!! o For the once-a-month movie night with the girls. o Bunkos every third Tuesday o For Kessa and her willingness to work out anytime! o For my mom! Moms are amazing and they make you who you are… whether you learn from their example or learn from their mistakes, we should all be thankful for our moms!

Wednesday we stayed at my Grandma's house in Santa Clara and had a little family New Years Eve party. The next day we woke up and went to Pine Valley to go sledding. We went there last year and we took the Rangers with us and we found a meadow that had snow and ice on it so we tied a rope to the Ranger and would get pulled behind the Ranger. It was really fun and we wanted to do that again this year so we went to the same place but there was way too much snow!! Kyle's truck got stuck right when we got there so we unloaded the Ranger but even that kept getting stuck (thank goodness for some snowmobile-ers that helped us tow the Ranger). So... to make a long story short, we pretty much spent the whole day getting un-stuck and helping other people who were stuck. It was still fun though! We Nevada folks get so excited just to see snow :). I wish Jason and Trish could have come... we missed you!!

Kyle's truck, stuck in the snow...

My dad's truck has a wench so he was able to pull Kyle (and every other truck) out.

Kyle and Dad trying to decide what to do while Dusty shovels haha.