Happy Thanksgiving everyone! If you're celebrating like me today, you're outside, drinking wine, stuffing your face with turkey and taking thousands of pictures. Regardless, I'm hope you're happy, full and celebrating all the wonderful things we have to be thankful for.

Are you ready for this list. I've got a lot and I love listing it because when I'm feeling sad or down, I turn to this blog and this post and I'm instantly reminded of how insanely blessed I am.

What are you thankful for today?

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, hooray! Today I am spending the day with my family, especially my mom, helping her prep for the big day tomorrow. Spending time with my mom is the absolute best. Cooking with her and learning from her is even better. I'm so lucky to have a mom who is practically Martha Stewart.

Every since I can remember my mom has always hosted Thanksgiving. I honestly never remember being any where else for Thanksgiving until Adam and I started sharing holidays. My mother is the perfect host. She reminds me of Monica in Friends when Monica "is always the hostess". Lets be real, my mom is the best host, so why go elsewhere.


I am so excited to spend thanksgiving in Arizona. 3 full days of sunshine, family, great food, delicious wine and everyone I love.


TODAY, I am grateful for Arizona. I am grateful for my huge family. I am grateful for a place to call home. I am grateful for the beautiful blue skies, the green cactus' and the fact that I know my way around everyone. I am thankful for too many pictures, laughing until it hurts and hugs that last forever.

Happy Sunday everyone. I hope your Thanksgiving was incredible and that you ate wayyy too much food, I know I did! I did a horrible job posting what I was thankful for this week. Being out of town makes me a horrible blogger, and I'm sorry for that. But I had 4 blissful days in Omaha visiting Adam's family and it was worth the time away from the blog (and other types of technology). But I'm back!

The last four days in Omaha we're so fun. We drank wine, ate turkey and pie and enjoyed the time together and that is what I'm thankful for. I'm thankful that I have two amazing families, the greatest fiancé, the best friends, a handsome dog, a great job and a wonderful home. I'm thankful for this blog and my readers. I'm thankful for red wine and christmas decorating with Adam. I'm thankful for the Broncos. I'm thankful to God for all of His blessings in my life. There is so much to be thankful for and I love that we get one special day a year to focus on just those things. I hope all of you had a special day with family, friends and lots of food. Now, cue the picture collage.

Hello blogworld, sorry for the lack of blogging! Things are changing over here at Everyday Grace and I've been working on all that fun stuff. But have no fear, I'm back! One exciting change, is my domain name is officially changed. Now when you want to read my daily musings you can go to www.theeverydaygrace.com. We're making moves people and it's exciting! I have an official Facebook page (feel free to head on over and like it!) and a Google+ account! Let's be friends everywhere! Okay, enough blog promotion.

Since Thanksgiving is 4 days away (hooray!), every day this week, I'm going to blog about what I'm thankful for. Since I'm late to the game, I'm going to do it all this week, through Sunday. Let's be real, 7 days isn't enough to come close to all the things I'm thankful for, but I'll come close.

#1: Adam, weekends & the Denver Broncos. 
This week we we're lucky enough to get to go to our first Broncos game! It was freezing cold and snowing occasionally, but it was so fun! We tailgated, drank some beers and watched our team win! I'm thankful for Adam always, but the chance to go to the Broncos game with him was the cherry on top of a great weekend.

Happy (very late) Thanksgiving! I was able to spend an entire week in Arizona with my family and friends and because of that, this blog was neglected. While I was home I went to thanksgiving church with my dad and it was so awesome. The pastor used 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 for his sermon, "Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." It was such a great reminder of what Thanksgiving is all about. I basked in the glow of my family and friends for 7 long days and now its time to get back to school, finals and Nebraska. I hope everyone had a wonderful break with lots of family, friends and food.

It's been a whirlwind of a week to say the least. Last week at this time I was arriving at home in Arizona to a toasty 80 degrees and spent the following four days basking in the sunshine with my beautiful family and friends. Thanksgiving was so wonderful as always as we celebrated with our newly extended family. It's so wonderful to watch our family and Camila's family join together and celebrate. It was such a blessed day. Friday, I got to have lunch with some girlfriends from high school and celebrate the birth of Shalyn's baby girl, London. Saturday, I was on my way home to Omaha to prepare for three tough weeks of finals prep and finals. After a wonderful Monday yesterday, I'm finally ready for this semester to be over. I can't wait till Friday after finals when I can have a glass of champagne and toast to a semester well done. Keep up the good work everyone, it will be worth it when we make it, we're almost half way!

I am so thankful. It's safe to say I had the best thanksgiving ever yesterday. I had the chance to sit in the company of the best people on this earth and just be. I watched as two families joined as one to celebrate each other and the love between the two. We ate the best food, laughed at the best jokes and took the greatest pictures. I have so much to be thankful for, and I love that I get an entire day dedicated to basking in that. I'm positive I have the greatest family on earth. The five of us don't get together very often, so when we do it's always a blast. Getting to spend an entire day with them is my paradise. I got to spend the day with my best friends - they're the greatest and they bring the joy of the world into my life. I got to celebrate my new family. When Tom started dating Camila she brought this new world into ours and we've (Tom) hasn't been the same since. Yesterday I got to watch the first Englert-Urtubey Thanksgiving and boy, was it wonderful. I watched two families from two different worlds join together, and it was as if we've known each other for years. There was a point yesterday afternoon after we had finished stuffing our face where I just looked around. Camila's dad was playing the guitar and singing in spanish, the moms were on both sides admiring and taking pictures, the boys were smoking cigars and everyone was drinking baileys and coffee enjoying the sounds of the day. At that moment my heart was so full I could have cried. I am so blessed, and I don't acknowledge that enough. So this is to all of you [Englert fam, Urturbey Fam, Leisenring Fam & Kuipers Fam], who made yesterday great, I am so blessed to have all of you in my life. I would be lost without you. And, to everyone who couldn't make it yesterday... You were so missed. I am so blessed to know and have you as well. To Kate, Carly and Callie, I am thankful for the relationships we made in college and have continued since then. To my beautiful law school friends, Kristin, Alyssa, Lynds, Britt, Hannah and Sarah - you girls continue to amaze me and challenge me. I am so blessed to go to school every day with such inspiring girls. To Adam, thank you for being such a wonderful boyfriend. I hope one day all of you get to join in at least one Englert Thanksgiving - because it's crazy, and loud, but it's full of love and a sight to be seen.

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life.  It turns what we have into enough, and more.  It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity.  It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.  Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.  ~Melody Beattie

This has been quite a year. To say this year has been without trials and tribulations would be the understantment of the year. To say this year has been easy would be a lie. This has been quite a year, a year that forced me and everyone to grab a hold of their faith and hang on tight. This year has been a year that challenged everyone, that made everyone realize what truly matters. Thanksgiving Day 2009 has been an amazing day. Together, we, all 25 of us, joined together and gave thanks. We celebrated each other. We enjoyed the company of long lost friends, relatives, new friends, boyfriends, girlfriends and family. We realized that even though 2009 has been a hard year, we have everything to be thankful for. Christmas is in the air, and with that mix of cinnamon and pine needles everyone starts to realize what really matters.

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life.  It turns what we have into enough, and more.  It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity.  It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.  Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.  ~Melody Beattie

This is where I acknowledge what really matters. 

I am thankful for my family. I am thankful for my large, crazy, loving family. I am thankful for the holidays that bring us together and wine that brings us closer. I am thankful that a weekend with my family bring more happiness and joy in my heart than anything I've ever known. I am thankful for friends. I am thankful that my friends have always been and will always be there for me. I am thankful for sarcasm and the fact that my brother taught me everything I know. I could not ask for a better brother & sister. I am thankful for Boston, I am thankful for Olivia and the people and lessons I learned there. I am thankful that God forgives us. I am thankful that God protects us. I am thankful that God heals us. I am thankful for Coti & Whitney, and that through trials and tribulations He has kept up together. I am thankful for the opportunity to live at home for a year. I am thankful that forgiveness lives. I am thankful that he forgave me and believes in me. I am thankful for laughter and I'm thankful that it is contagious. I am thankful for Black Friday and the chaos and madness that comes along with it. I am thankful for Christmas songs. I am thankful for the warm goodness that the Christmas season brings. I am thankful for the hope of a new year and the possibilities that come with it. I am blessed and I am thankful and throughout this year that lesson has rang truer than ever. I could not ask for a better family and a better thanksgiving. This year is about realizing whats important and being grateful for those things. I am more grateful than ever. Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Let's never forget to say thanks.

thanksgiving - the day designed to thank those who mean the most to you, but i think it means more than that. i think it means recognizing the things in life that make you who you are and fully acknowledging that.
i am thankful for my amazing family, that despite my shortcomings, never cease to encourage me and cheer me on. i am thankful for my rad brother and his incredible girlfriend, who accept who i am, and never try to change that. i am thankful for the fact that, even after 4 years of college, i am still as close with my best friends (yeah fab 5) as i was in high school. i am thankful that i met Carly and Callie, my two best friends at pepperdine, that never let me fall. i am thankful for kappa, and all the beautiful girls I have met and been inspired by. i am thankful for cold, rainy days in Arizona. i am thankful for the fact that my hometown is paradise valley. i am thankful for all the boys that have come into my life, because they have shown me that no one is better than my dad and my brother. i am thankful for drives down pacific coast highway, because all it takes is one glance at the ocean to realize how blessed i am. i am thankful for Christmas cups at Starbucks and the warm goodness they hold. i am thankful for pepperdine, and despite it’s shortcomings, it has allowed me to reach a potential i never thought possible. i am thankful for my sister, who has allowed me to realize that it’s all about whats in your heart and not necessarily what’s visible from the outside. i am thankful for the fact that my parents still love each other, and have been an example to my siblings and i. i am thankful for my entire extended family, even though we don’t see each other often, they are always there. i am thankful for lazy days in Malibu, and the chance to have a girls night. i am thankful for Christmas, and the hope it brings. i am thankful for my grandmother, Grace, and even though we never met, she has inspired me. i am thankful for the chance i have been given to do something amazing. i am thankful for the multiple opportunities i have been given. i am thankful for those in my life, who, through the years are still there, cheering me on, loving me as much as i love them.
i am blessed, in more ways than my imagination could imagine and no blog will ever express the gratitude i feel for those in my life.