Today I am thankful for.......

HEAT.
It is cold outside today. As I drove through Midvale past our old condo, I thought back to when I lived there. It was a poor area. Dan said that at PEC, the bishop half-joked that they needed to set up two lines. One for welfare, and one for ex-communications.
One winter evening, I went visiting teaching to a middle-aged lady in our ward. Dan was at school, so I took Rachel with me. I did not have a VT partner that would come with me.
When I got to the woman's house, I was surprised. They did not have heat. They were poor and could not afford to have the gas on. They were trying to keep their house warm with just their fireplace. She mentioned that if I knew anyone with free firewood, they could use some. We wore our coats during the whole visit, and the fireplace did have a fire going. Rachel and I came home smelling like a campfire.
So, today I am thankful for heat. I am thankful that I don't have to smell like a campfire to stay warm. How blessed we are!!

Three

Alex turned 3 a few weeks ago. We spent his birthday at Aspen Grove for a family weekend getaway.

This picture turned out really fuzzy. But I liked how happy he looked. He blew out his candles before the birthday song, so we had to light them twice. He looks like such a big boy on my lap now!

Alex is at a really cute age. He gets excited easily. Yesterday, when we were driving past a contruction site, he exclaimed, "Wow, a crane!" Funny, the rest of us don't get that excited about a crane or a tractor. Before his birthday, he was pointing out all of the tractors doing road contruction, and mentioning that he wanted them for his birthday.

I asked him where he would put such a big tractor. He said, "In the dirt." He didn't get a real tractor. But he did get a remote-control tractor.

Lately, he likes Dan to read him a book called, "The Big Fat Cow that goes Ka-Pow".

Alex takes the time to stop and blow the dandelions.

Thankfully, Alex has mellowed out a lot during the last year. He no longer gets into things and dumps them on purpose. He has quit flushing everything he could find down the toilet. He actually watches tv and plays with toys now. I can almost sigh a sigh of relief that he has calmed down.

I am so thankful for Alex and the joy that he is to us.