A Few Words of Thanks

Another Thanksgiving has come and gone and I definately feel as though I have an over abundance of things for which to be thankful. After all, BYU beat the Utes in football for the first time in what has seemed forever, the Utah Jazz are off to the best start in franchise history, and the Chicago Cubs hired a new manager and landed a top free agent. What more could there be to be thankful for? Well, I guess I could think of a few things I am even more grateful for than that the sports world seems to be moving in the right direction.

I am always thankful for the limited times each year that I get to see my brother Carl and his family. Seemed like this Thanksgiving trip went even faster than the last couple, but I was thankful for the few moments we were able to share. While they were here we caught a Jazz game, they came and saw my new office, we ate Thanksgiving dinner together and even survived the family pictures together. The only trouble with their visits is that it leaves me sad that we are unable to be a bigger part of one another's lives. Which is at least one reason I try to keep this blog going.

I am EXTREMELY grateful for what a wonderful baby we have in Marcus. He is so mild tempered. Jamie and I are really worried that having had two easy babies the odds are definately not in our favor to have mellow babies in the future. I am thankful that despite some rough moments Tyler is a great big brother. He is a loving boy and seems to get more fun with each passing day. Mostly, I am grateful for Jamie. She has carried a large burden since I chose to go back to school. I am thankful for how well she is recovering from birth number two and for the stability she brings to our family.

Here are a few other things I am thankful for: I am thankful for having a mother-in-law in town who planned a turkey dinner for 1:30pm and thankful for my own mother's turkey dinner planned for 5:00pm. For those of you who have yet to try out the two-turkey-dinners-in-one-day method of celebrating Thanksgiving, I highly recommend it. It was perfect because at each table I could just take my very most favorite dishes. When asked why I didn't have more pistachio salad all I had to say was "I'm leaving room so I'm not too full at my other Thanksgiving dinner"and if I passed on brussel sprouts I could say "well, I did eat a Thanksgiving dinner just 4 hours ago." Seriously, thanks to both of the great cooks for my two terrific turkey dinners.

I am thankful for 96 homemade rolls! Yup, mother-in-law Renae made 96 rolls for me to share at my two thanksgiving dinners. That way I had my very most favorite part of a meal at both dinners. I have also been eating rolls for breakfast lunch and dinner ever since. Ahh...the sweet joy of homemade rolls! Kennedy really liked her roll too.

I am thankful that I have so many wonderfully cute and fun nieces and nephews. I am even more grateful that all ten are not my own. After turkey dinner the older nieces and nephews put on a great little Thanksgiving play around a centerpiece the nieces had designed (who knew you could do so much with a toilet paper roll...and when did they think about all these uses of toilet paper rolls?) It was a ton of fun, but definately a little hard to control the younger ones who wanted to be a part of the fun but didn't know how. All in all it was great, I'm just glad that I only have to keep track of my own on a full-time basis.

I am thankful for the gift of giving. After dinner we exchanged gifts among the cousins since Annaka and Adam won't be here for Christmas. I still don't know what Tamagatchi means but they were a huge hit among the pre-teen girls. (My guess on the meaning of Tamagatchi is "genius marketing of useless technology") For those of you not in the "know," Tamagatchi is the name brand of a little electronic pet that is all the rage. For the younger children, Tyler loves his Word Whammer fridge alphabet and he also is quite fond of the "That's not my Dinosaur" book Marcus received. Clayton and Adam got super fun DVDs to watch, Morgan got a water-doodle and the pretty Guth princess scored a megablock castle and two wooden dress up magna-dolls (don't expect a guy with two sons to know how to describe those dolls any better than that).

I am thankful for bribery! I am quite certain we would have never made it through the Besaw family portrait on Friday without some serious bribery. I know I bribed Tyler with everything I could think of and I am pretty sure some of the other parents had to employ similar tactics. I think Craig's bribe was that if his children didn't behave they would wind up with Bunny Ears in the final portrait. I have no idea if we ever got a picture where all the children were actually looking and smiling, but that just makes me grateful for digital cameras and the magical world of photo editing, should we need it.

I am thankful for so many things that any list is incomplete. I am grateful to live in the country I do that affords so many freedoms, I am grateful for good health, good employment and good friends to go with such a great family. I am grateful for the church and all the blessings that come with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I send my love and gratitude to each of you and thank you for all you do and have done for me.

Kent