Thankful Thursday: February 11, 2010

This week has been fabulous.

We received a fresh coat of snow (there is always snow on the ground here, it doesn't get warm enough to melt it all, but it gets brown & yucky, the 'fresh coat' makes it pretty again!) and enjoyed watching the chunky flakes fall from the sky.

And I'm so thankful that we aren't stuck in our homes with 20 inches outside!

I had dinner ready when Trevor got home from dinner last night (a rarity, I tell you what), and he loved it! Salsa Chicken Soup from A Year of Slow Cooking, which I found had been posted by my sis-in-law Jen on her friends' collaboration cooking site, Telestial Kitchen.

And I'm so thankful that I can find pretty much any recipe with the clickity click on a keyboard!

Yesterday, Mr. H's brother left his home in Kentucky to begin his 2 year venture as a missionary for the LDS Church. He will be serving in Arcadia, California--speaking Spanish! He will be spending the next 2 months in the MTC (missionary training center) to learn Spanish, how to teach, and expanding his understanding of the gospel. He is so prepared and ready in so many ways--he will be an amazing missionary! All of these MTC thoughts have given me the opportunity to think on my experience there 8 years ago (what?)--it was fantastic!

And I'm so thankful for the time I had in the MTC & serving a mission for the Church in Portugal. It changed my life!

I decorated my first post-first-trimester (because I made one during the 1st trimester & it was miserable! All of the strong sugary smells almost killed me!) cake this week, for my friend Charity. Her birthday was last Wednesday & I totally spaced out on it! So I decided I could whip up a cake for her. Mr. H made the cakes & I did the decorating (and then while I was delivering the confectionary surprise, he cleaned the kitchen!), it was a fun evening in the kitchen

I'm so thankful for friends to make cakes for, and for an awesome Mr. who does so much to make things easier for me!

I finished my visiting teaching for this month (a volunteer visiting program through our church where we each visit other ladies from church with a special message & see how they're doing, etc.), my awesome visiting companion (Lacey) made artisan breads for our visits & I got to bring one home too! YUM. We usually don't get it done until the last week of the month, so this was monumental! :)

I'm so thankful for my car that did not slide off the road as we were driving along to our appointments. And for the delicious bread. And for fun visits.

I received the biggest gift surprise of my married life this week--a combination VALENTINE & BIRTHDAY gift (birthday isn't for a couple more weeks...)--Mr. H remembered me once saying "someday I'd love to have..." and he splurged & purchased them! A string of perfectly delicate PEARLS. They are gorgeous! He did so good. He hasn't bought jewelry for me since the Original Jewelry Purchase of '04 (ah hem. The Ring), so it was a huge surprise!

I'm thankful for fun surprises, reasons to celebrate love (yay, Valentines!), and a very very thoughtful Mr!

You see? I told you this week was Thankfully fantastic.

How has yours been so far?

P.S. As if I didn't add enough links to this post...ha! Check out my cousin Molly's story featured by her local news station. Talk about reasons to be thankful!