today

today i am grateful.

for so many things.

i am grateful for branson and for his patience. i am grateful for his loving arms. i am grateful for his talents and for his individual personality. i am greatful to spend eternity with him.

i am grateful for my brothers - i'm not kidding when i say they are the best. austin, who is valiantly serving the Lord in toronto. taylor who makes me laugh and amazes me with his ability to do everything and still have time to make me laugh. bryson who thinks very similarly to me and makes me feel intelligent, in part because i think he is in return. tanner who reminds me of my love for reading and makes me smile because he's so cool. braden who teaches me to be more like a child with his innocence and inspires me with his creativity. they are my boys, my body guards and more importantly, my best friends. honorary mention shall be given to stuart, who has basically become my older brother in the past two years. he helps me remember that life is great and filled with adventures. my boys - i'm so glad to call them all my own.

i am grateful for my girls - brindy and pie face. it is no exaggeration to say they are two of the most beautiful girls that grace this earth with their presence. brindy is just laden with talents. she inherited our mother's angelic voice and sings everywhere she goes. she has an infectious giggle that reminds me of my own when i was her ageand her sweetness exceeds spoonfuls of sugar. pie face is my mini-me. she has so much sass bottled up in her, she doesn't even know what to do with it. but she is adorable and charismatic, and her toothy smile makes me laugh. my sisters are the cutest gals around. i'm thankful for them.

i am grateful for my brothers-in-law. though i don't know them as well yet as i know my own brothers, i am privileged to be their sister-in-law. i'm grateful for dane for his outside-of-the-box way of thinking and for his smile. someday, i will be at lunch with his future wife, our kids running around as little kids do, and she will say "i love when dane smiles. it just melts me." i am grateful for chad, and his willingness and excitement to serve the lord's people in santiago, chile. and for his giggle. not laugh. giggle. it brings me great joy. i am grateful for blake. he is awesome. i really like being around him. he makes me smile, and already we've shared a few inside jokes. like the eye patch at our wedding open house. blake makes me feel like an entertainer and that encourages me to continue entertaining. i am also grateful for brad. he just makes me laugh with his off-hand comments and stories that he tells, and then shows me the soft side of brad - when he is lounging on the couch with baby jack lying on his chest, and wesley snugged up next to him. i'm grateful he is such a good dad to my nephews.

i am grateful for kendyll. early on i knew the two of us were going to get along very well. one of the first times we spent time together, we had a conversation where we found out we were similar is many ways. she told me she was glad branson picked me and not some snotty girl she wouldn't like. i am so grateful for the friendship and the sense of sisterhood we have already developed. i could not have hand picked a better sister-in-law. in a very short period of time, she has become one of my best friends, has encouraged me to be a better person, and has made me even more excited to be a mother. i know it was part of a great plan that we became sisters. she is such a great example to me and i am so thankful and privileged to call her my sister.

i am grateful for wesley and jack. they are the cutest nephews anyone has ever had. wesley makes me happy. every time we see him, he shouts "SHAN! SHAN!" he makes me feel loved. and baby jack is such a sweet baby. i am so grateful i have the opportunity to watch the two of them grow and progress in this life. i'm so grateful to be an aunt.

i am grateful for my new mom and dad, shannon and harold. i could not have married into a better family. i am grateful for my in-laws and for the way they have taught and raised their children. i am so grateful for shannon and for her sense of humor and her vast array of talents. i have so many things to learn from her. she is beautiful and charming and has made me feel welcome from day one. i am so grateful for harold and for his quiet example of stalwart faith. he reminds me a lot of my daddy. i am grateful for his service and for his love. i truly am blessed to now be a part of the larson family.

i am grateful for my mom and daddy. i cannot fully express my gratitude. to my mom - who gave me life. who taught me truth and righteousness. who led me to the knowledge that i could do anything i set my mind to. who taught me to not give up, to not quit even when things get hard. who taught me to be gracious and helped me see the importance of reverence. who inspires me. who sets an example for me that i can only dream of living up to one day. my mom taught me. my mom played with me. but most of all, she loved me. for that i am forever grateful. i am grateful for my daddy. i am grateful that he still thinks of me as his little girl. he taught me how to make things with my own hands. he showed me how things work and helped me learn why they work. through his brilliant example, i have learned one of the greatest lessons we can learn on earth: the value of hard work. my daddy is the hardest worker i know. i am grateful for his valiant service, not only to his family, but to complete strangers, friends and most important, the Lord. he is the poster child for magnifying your calling. he has shared his insights with me, enhancing my mind. he has shown me how to love, and how to be loved. i am infinitely grateful for my parents. i am grateful for the family they have given me and for the lessons i have learned from them.

i am grateful for memories.

particularly for memories with the afore mentioned people.

i am grateful for the memory of saying to austin "you want me to send you back to where i found you? unemployed in greenland?" at the age of 4. i am grateful for the time taylor did his "athsma boy" impression. i am grateful for the halloween when mom dressed a one year old bryson up as a monkey - complete with a tail and red hat with gold trim. i am grateful for watching tanner sink 3-pointer after 3-pointer at wardball games. i am grateful for the side hug / "hey sis" braden gives me everyime he sees me. i am grateful for brindy's arrival on january 24th, 2000 - i had given up hope on ever having a sister of my own, but she came! and all i wanted to do was hold her day and night. i am grateful for the nights when pie face was scared and came to sleep in my bed instead of mom and dad's.

i am grateful for the laughs i shared with blake at our open house when i wore a temporary eye patch. i am grateful for chad's giggle that filled my home when he came for dinner and played my "rad" organ. i am grateful for the night that dane stayed at our house, when early saturday morning i found him and branson playing nintendo like they were little kids again. i am grateful for the memory i have of being at brad and kendyll's home, watching wesley's reaction to brad coming home from work. i am grateful for the time that kendyll laughed so hard she cried from branson telling me the story of brad meeting granny for the first time. i am grateful for the time right after we were married when harold hugged me for the first time as his daughter-in-law and told me how beautiful i looked. i am gratful for the car ride with shannon when she told me she would feel honored to have me call her mom.

i am grateful for the tears in my mom's eyes when i walked out of the dressing room for the first time with my wedding dress on. i am grateful for the memory i have of sitting on the stand on my daddy's lap while he was the bishop.

i am grateful for the cold winter night when, with a half lost voice sounding much like a mouse, i told branson i loved him.

i am grateful for the perfectly beautiful june morning when branson met me at the salt lake temple to take me by the hand and begin our eternal journey together.

i am grateful.