Thankfulness 2016

Once again it's been way too long.  As you can tell by the title I'm feeling very thankful lately so I thought I'd touch on a few of the reasons why.  There are too many reasons to touch on everything so I'll just hit a few of the highlights.
1.  My husband and home life
2.  Family
3.  Work
4.  Friends

Starting in January Todd started his new job with Alaska Airlines.  This meant 3 months of him being away from home in Seattle.  It was stressful for him even though he handled it so well.  Lots of new information, being away from home, etc.  I truly missed his presence at home.  So glad to have him home now and starting a normal schedule with his new job.  I'm so proud of him.  He's such a hard worker and man of integrity.  I'm happy for him that he is getting to do his dream job.  I wish for him a long and rewarding career.

I took this picture with a little bit of resistance, but like the first day of school I needed a picture of him in his uniform on the way to a flight.

Todd heading out for a flight to Deadhorse

I also have to give a big shout out to my baby sister.  For those of you that don't know she's my only one.  She's 8 years younger so for a big part of our life we were both like only children.  We grew up at different times in our family life.  We weren't very close due to being so far apart and having different interests, and probably due to me being a teenager when she was young, in a difficult marriage and just in a different place.  I just have to say it's been really nice getting to know her as an adult.  She's an awesome person and amazingly talented.  We still have different interest as she's a big city girl and I still prefer the country life, but we've found more common ground in recent years and it's great.  She's super talented and I couldn't be more proud of the person she is.  She's also my official race support crew!  Love her!

Me and Amy at Lakewood church in Houston where she lives and goes to church

At work I've been on night shift on the weekends for over a year now.  Recently I had to work another shift.  I can't say that it was horrible.  I have some amazing colleagues for sure!  However, I did miss my regular shift.  I finally feel like I am getting to know some of the other people in the hospital that work when I do.  I feel like I belong somewhere.  It's nice to be with my work family.



It's nice to see a very old friend find happiness.  On April 9, 2016 my oldest friend from childhood Aimee got married.  She's an amazing person and a most awesome friend.  My only wish is that she lived closer.  To show what a close friend she is my sister is actually named after her.  One awesome Amy named after the other.  The other guy in the picture is Mark.  He was also a childhood friend and it was so nice to see him after 20+ years.  Great to be back in touch.

Mark, Aimee, and Me