Thanksgiving

Besides the cold weather, this could be one of my favorite times of the year. I just love the period leading up to Thanksgiving, then through the whole month of December to New years. It's a great, festive time. I wanted to blog about things I'm thankful for.

Alene - I'm so thankful for my wife. I'm thankful for the love and support she gives me and her daily strive to have a good marriage and to be as close to each other as possible. She gives me so much to live for and to look forward to in life. I've learned so much from her about not being satisfied with average and to strive to be a better person and to do better things with your life. I'm thankful that I know she loves me so much and only wants the best for our relationship. It's been a struggle and may continue to be a struggle to find harmony in our marriage, but I hope she knows that I sincerely love her and will continue to strive to be a better person both for her and for myself. I love her so much.

Caiden - I'm so thankful for a son who is smart (almost for his own good, and sometimes a "smart-aleck"), who is full of adventure and learning. It's so amazing to see him grow and learn. It's difficult at times, raising a child because you always wonder if you're doing the right thing. You want SO MUCH for your children in so many ways. You don't want to see them make the mistakes you did. You want to see them happy, and you want them to learn to work hard and to be a good person and be grateful for all they have. I've learned so much patience with him and I've learned a lot about myself and my role as a father, and a leader of our family and my responsibility.

My Parents - The love and support they give is amazing. I cannot fathom being able to love so many children and make each of them feel special. They have always made me want to be a good person, to please them, and I've let them down many times, but they've always shown me love when those times were the lowest. I hope I can do half the job they did.

My Brothers/Sisters - I'm so thankful for the love and support they give me. Time has been flying and we're all growing up. I feel so guilty most of the time, when we visit and I really don't get a chance to talk to each and every one of them. I want them to know that I truly care about each of them and I worry about them and hope they're happy and getting the most out of life. I really am fortunate to be able to consider my brothers and sisters also my friends.

Friends - I'm not a person with a lot of close friends. I have "associates", who are people I may work with, or coach FB with, but true friends for me are rare and when I have a friend, they're a friend for life. I've made many good friends prior to my move to Utah. My closest friends for life are Roman and Tim. They've always been there for me for support in many ways. I enjoy their company when we get to talk or get together. I wish we didn't live so far away. I have many other friends who are great support and I know care deeply about me as I do to them. In order not to offend, I won't list everyone, but I hope if you're reading this, you know you are my friend and I appreciate it.

A good job - I'm thankful for the job I have and the company I work for. I am so blessed to have the flexibility I've had. While I've paid my dues here and put in a lot of hard work to earn the flexibility, I am still so fortunate. I honestly don't know of a better job for me at this point in my life and would be crazy to leave what I have here.

A home - Despite it being small and wanting to sell it, I'm thankful to have a home that has a heater, air conditioning (OK, it's a swamp cooler, but it gets the job done), walls, a roof (a brand new roof!), a bed, blankets, clothing, etc.

USA - Despite how it's almost un-popular to be patriotic about your country, I still am very happy to live in America and I do feel like it's the best country/system available to mankind. This doesn't mean I belittle other countries, nor does it mean I think my country is perfect (very far from it), but I am proud to live in this great country, and most notably, I think Utah is a great state to live in with so many wonderful outdoor opportunities.

I hope everyone is able to take a few minutes on the day of Thanksgiving. I don't think you need to think of the pilgrims sitting down eating that multi-colored corn with the Natives, but just think of what you're grateful for and try to continue remembering what that is and strive to hold onto that which is dear to you.

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Go Cougars!