I'm so grateful for...

Just the other night Jake and I were watching Sportscenter (the standard at our house) and the news story came on about Andrew Bogut and his contract he just signed for something crazy like $80 million dollars! $80 million dollars - hello?! Just signing that knowing that you are "set for life". So I started asking Jake what is the first thing he would do once he signed the contract and left the building? As I was knitting a blanket I was telling him that I would buy new cars (a white Range Rover), pay off mine and Jake's families homes, buy them cars, take them on trips, buy a new house "not a huge one but like 9000 sq feet" (hello that is HUGE), buy a vacation home in Newport, a loft in NYC, hire a nanny for a few hours a day, put some in savings, and of course SHOP, SHOP, SHOP!! Jake just looked at me and said "pay your tithing." After I listed a few more items he said in a nice way"stop talking about that, be grateful for what we have." How grateful I am for Jake and his ways of thinking. After he said that I have been thinking about it all week. I know that there is like a .0001% chance that either Jake or I would sign any contracts for $80 million dollars. It is fun to dream, but I really need to be grateful for what I have in my life right now. I am so lucky to have a home, family, a car, a job, food in the fridge, and the gospel in my life. I find myself complaining about what I "don't have" and dreaming of all the things I want in the future. I decided that each day I am going to write down 2 items that I am grateful for. So today Sunday July 13 I am grateful for: Extended Family: I love getting together on Sunday's with family to enjoy dinner and hang out with everyone. I am so lucky to have them so close. Walker has the best time crawling around trying to keep up with all the kiddos that can walk. My House: I love living in Sugarhouse. Most of the time I am complaining about how small it is or the fact that I don't have a pantry - but I really need to realize that as times in the world get harder for everyone I am so lucky to even have a house. I am sure everyone has heard this great quote from Sister Hinckley, but it is one I think of often when I get in these "ruts" of "I wish I had this, or why can't I have that"- "I don't want to drive up to the pearly gates in a shiny sports car, wearing beautifully, tailored clothes, my hair expertly coiffed, and with long, perfectly manicured fingernails. I want to drive up in a station wagon that has mud on the wheels from taking kids to scout camp. I want to be there with grass stains on my shoes from mowing Sister Schenk's lawn. I want to be there with a smudge of peanut butter on my shirt from making sandwiches for a sick neighbor's children. I want to be there with a little dirt under my fingernails from helping to weed someone's garden. I want to be there with children's sticky kisses on my cheeks and the tears of a friend on my shoulder. I want the Lord to know I was really here and that I really lived." Sister Marjorie Pay Hinckley I am trying to remind myself everyday how lucky I am and I don't need $80 million dollars to make my life great!