Thanksgiving Pictures

Hi friends! I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I had such a wonderful time with my dear family. I definitely ate too much!! I just wanted to tell my friends and family that I'm thankful for them this year, and always. I thought I'd share some pictures.

Thanksgiving Favorites

I'm going to share my 7 favorite things about Thanksgiving. Hopefully you'll comment and tell me yours.

1) Saying what we're thankful for before we eat.
2) My Grandma Dolly's homemade stuffing recipe that my mom makes.
3) The Macy's Thanksgiving day parade.
4) There is usually a dog show on after this that we love to watch.
5) Turkey and cranberry sandwiches the next day.
6) Putting up the Christmas decorations the next day.
7) Having the whole family together even if it's just one day.

"An Attitude of Gratitude."

There was a great message in church this morning that I thought I'd share. My pastor was talking about giving thanks. When we choose to have "an attitude of gratitude" our lives can become so blessed. He encouraged us to keep a gratitude journal and jot down the things we are grateful for everyday. It doesn't have to be big, in fact the little things might just be the most significant.

When we acknowledge what we are grateful for, many things happen in our lives. We are more likely to help those in need, we have fewer health problems like colds or the flu, we have less sadness and depression, we attract like-minded people, and more blessings come into our life.

My Favorite Things About Winter

I'll be the first one to admit, that winter is my least favorite of all the four seasons. It can sometimes just be so cold and dreary and driving in the snow is no fun. But, I was thinking today that there are many things I do enjoy about this season and I thought I'd share.

Sitting by the roaring fire.
Flannel sheets.
Chai tea and apple cider.
Skiing on a sunny day.
Snowshoeing.
The holidays.
Christmas decorations.
Polarfleece.
Sweaters.

3 for 5

Members of my church community (www.k2thechurch.com) have joined in a global movement to provide clean drinking water to people all over the world. The idea is simple: invite 3 friends to give $5 each to unite a community of 20 million people to help provide clean water to millions of people in the developing world.

Did you know that more than 1.1 billion people lack access to safe water and 2.6 billion people lack even basic sanitary facilities. It is something that we in America never think about. We just turn on the faucet, and there it is ready for us. Diseases caused by unsafe drinking water and inadequate sanitation remain humanity’s most serious public health threat, causing 80% of the sicknesses in developing countries and annually killing between 2 and 5 million people, mainly young children. Lack of water and sanitation also causes other problems, such as lack of education, nutrition, environmental health, and gender equality.

So, what do you say? Are you with me? To sign up, visit www.3for5.org to place your email in a mailing list. 3 for 5 will contact you in 2009. Search "3 for 5" at www.youtube.com to watch an inspiring video.

Go Utes!!

I'm taking a break from writing a paper to cheer on the Utah Utes!! The big game starts today at 4:00. I am having dinner and watching the game with my friend Marianne, who just happens to be a big BYU Cougars fan. This should be interesting!!

Really?

I just read an article on WebMd about a new fad diet called the "Cookie Diet." http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/the-cookie-diet. I'm always looking for diet and health tips and I was intrigued as to how an individual can eat 5-6 cookies a day and lose weight. Apparently the cookies are filled with healthy ingredients and you're supposed to eat 5-6 of them a day in place of meals. Dinner consisits of a whopping 300 calories. The authors of the diet recommend that you eat about 800 calories a day and you'll expect to lose 2-3 pounds a week. Um...last time I checked that's called anorexia, my friends. A healthy goal when dieting is between 1200-1700 calories per day. Any nutritionist will tell you that it is really bad for your health to cut out entire food groups. This diet recommends that you don't consume any dairy or fruit. It is entirely lacking in whole grains and vegetables too.

I'm not a nutritionist, although somedays I think that'd be a really fun field to go into. I say if it sounds like a fad than it probably is. Moderation is key.