Count Your Blessings.

Things in my world and life have been BEYOND crazy as of late. Let me start at the beginning and explain my blessings.

It's summer! Being summer (and after an entire school year of teaching) I have been finding every excuse to do everything crazy and way fun. I feel as though I missed out on so much the past year and I wanted to make up for it, and then some. I have realized that my catching up on everything I have missed is a great blessing in my life. I will quote one of the greatest hymns written:

"Count your blessings, name them one by one, Count your blessings, see what God hath done! Count your blessings, name them one by one, Count your many blessings, see what God hath done."

Blessing one: The ability to go to a DIAMONDBACKS GAME

This season I have gone to more Diamondback games than I have ever been to combined. With that being said, I have been to 4 games this season! This was my first game of the season with my awesome and fantastic friends. We had great seats (which required me to duck from some home run balls) and were down in the action. It was AWESOME.

Blessing two: Not being judged for acting like kids and drawing SPEED BUMPS
[mentioned in a previous post]

This is single handedly one of the greatest activities to do with a group of friends. It is cheap (virtually free if you have the chalk on hand), and incredibly entertaining. There is nothing better than drawing a speed bump at night, popping popcorn, hiding on the roof, and then watching cars slam on their breaks when they see a 'speed bump' where there previously had never been a speed bump. Don't believe me? Try it.
Second best part of a speed bump? Waking up the morning and realizing it's a rainbow...

Blessing three: Having the time and resources to VOLUNTEER

Every summer Mesa has an Arizona Celebration of Freedom for the 4th of July. It is a two day event that consists of shutting down Main Street and setting up an entire "carnival" like atmosphere where all activities are free! Yay! My family had the wonderful opportunity to volunteer this year and we got free t-shirts! How fun. It was a fantastic experience and made for an incredibly enjoyable evening with our community. 

Blessing four: Having the opportunity SERVE another family

This is Breeja Larson. She has been my friend for about 7 years. She swims at Texas A&M and she made the USA Olympic swim team. She swims the 100m Breaststroke. She is an incredibly beautiful and wonderful young woman. Her family consists of two parents and 7 daughters. She is the second oldest. The Olympics this year are being held in London and it is safe to say that flying to London is not cheap. I decided that I wanted to help her parents get to London so I designed a t-shirt and started selling it, and all the proceeds go to her parents. It has been tedious, it has been hard, and it has been the greatest opportunity I have been given. As a result of this blessing I have been given another blessing...

Blessing five: Having supportive and helpful FRIENDS

These are my friends. My beautiful and amazing sister, Courtney. Breeja's witty and gorgeous sister, Mikel. David, my supportive friend and my rock. It is a great blessing to have these friends in my life and their support in my actions and ideas. This would not have been possible without these three.

Blessing six: Recognizing the GIFTS from our Heavenly Father

This week has been full of beautiful views and wonderful storms. (I'm not sure if a Haboob is considered beautiful and a gift but I think they are completely fascinating.) I have been given a blessing of being sensitive to the creations of God, and it has been a tremendous help in my testimony of God.

"Believe in God; believe that he is, and the he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend." Mosiah 4:9