Belated thanks

eh isn't being sick the greatest thing?! *Sarcasm intended*

It looks like I'm overdue for a Thanksgiving post so I guess we'll pound one out right now!

Despite the fact that half of my family is sick with the stomach flu, I am still in awe at how many incredible things I have in my life to be thankful for! Upon reflection I've realized that my very favorite things in life are the people that surround me, so here is a non-inclusive list of a few of my favorites.

My family!
I love my family so much! It's on a regular basis that you can find me on all fours and crying because I am laughing so hard because of my family. There is never a dull moment when it comes to Reid family time. I am so thankful that I have such a good relationship with both my parents, as well as with all my siblings. I know so many people who have family feuds with members of their family, but I am so blessed to live in a family where love is spoken and where small arguments remain small. My sister and I are asked all the time if we ever get in fights. The answer is that our fights are seldom and far apart. I can honestly say that the members of my family are my very best friends. I'm thankful for a sister that shares sibling telepathy with me and who is capable of making painful situations bearable, and enjoyable situations even greater. I'm thankful for a little brother who will go to every extent to make me laugh and who finds joy in hanging out with his big sister. I'm thankful for a little sister who is my very best friend and who tells me her secrets and follows me around at the gym. I'm so glad I get to keep them for eternity!

I am also so thankful for my awesome extended families. I have defiantly been blessed with the best when it comes to grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. I am blessed to see some of them on a weekly basis, and others the reunions are more rare, but I love them all the same. I'm thankful for crazy uncles that provided the most painful tickle attacks as a kid, and who never cease to make me laugh. I'm thankful for the little cousins that greet me with running hugs, and for the older ones that always make me laugh. I'm thankful for grandparents that read all my posts, and who provide never ending love. Again, I'm so glad I get to keep them for eternity.

Seminary Council!
It is almost on a daily basis that I have to refrain from talking about how much I love them because I don't want other people to feel jealous. I am going to put that worry aside for a second because I need to express just how much I enjoy this wonderful group of people. I cannot express it in words how much I enjoy being on seminary council with these people. The members of this council have some of the strongest testimonies I have ever heard. I always look forward to our lunch meetings and they never last long enough. I wonder everyday how I was blessed to be able to work with such incredible people. Each of them have touched my life in ways they will never know. They have taught me so much and they have truly changed my life for the better. I don't have any idea how I am going to say goodbye to them at the end of the year... but we won't talk about that because it will make me cry. Let's just say this song represents my feelings about seminary council and that I cry every time I hear it because it reminds me that I have to say goodbye to them at the end of the year. I love you guys!



EFY!
This includes new friends and counselors alike. I first realized I had a testimony at my first EFY as a fourteen year old. My counselor, Kjarinda, challenged us to pray for ourselves to know if the Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints was true, and oh-boy! The prayer I said that night altered the entire course of the rest of my life more than any other single experience ever has. My testimony has grown so much since then, but I will forever be grateful for Kjarinda's righteous example in my life. EFY has also brought me many many other "blessings". I have been blessed with, in my opinion, the very best counselors and friends. I am thankful that I have been able to attend five different sessions since I was fourteen and that one of those was a trip to Palmyra, New York where I was able to visit the sights and places where the Church was first restored.

My gym!
I started tumbling when I was seven, but I have been with my gym since I was a timid eleven year old. In the early years we tumbled in a match-box sized room with only a few mats and a very small trampoline. I was blessed to be on my gym's very first competition team that consisted of only fourteen competitors. We have grown so much since then. Tumbling on the team has allowed me to travel to places I would never have been, and to meet and become friends with some of the most incredible and influential names in the sport as well as in my life. I remained on the competition team up until August of this year when I traded my spot on the team, for a spot as a competition coach. I am so thankful for my boss/coach, Jill, who has become my second mother in the sense that she watched me grow up. I am thankful she hired me to start assistant teaching classes when I was thirteen, and for providing me with the very best job for the last five years. I have been able to teach hundreds of children in that time and I have been touched so much by each child that has ever called me "teacher". I'm thankful for all the teammates I have had since I was eleven. I love you all so stinkin much. I also need to give a huge thanks to all my coaches that have touched my life. Thank you thank you thank you Steph for going beyond your job as my coach and for becoming one of my very best friends and mentors. I always know I can trust you to help me with anything. You always give the best advice when it comes to tumbling or life. And thank you to Nicole, Riane, Jake, Ashley, and Lance for everything you have ever done for me. And thank you to Justen and Sandy for being my "coaches from another team". I don't have any idea what my life would be like if I had never walked into that little gym when I was eleven, but I do know it has blessed my life for the better.

I have SO MANY other people in my life that I want to thank including the Daniels, school friends, teachers, church friends, and blog friends, and the random kid down the street that eats nothing but saltines and mayo. (that's a Psych reference, in case you were wondering) but unfortunately, this whole "stomach flu" thing is making me tired. I want you all to know how much I love and appreciate your presence in my life. I wouldn't be who I am today if it weren't for the people I have associated with for the last eighteenth years. Thank you for everything.


feel my sunlight


p.s. Well, now that I've finally caught up on Thanksgiving... BRING IT ON CHRISTMAS!