cheers to 25!

[Adam bought me a Snickers ice cream cake! looks weird, tastes delicious!!]

i usually love birthdays! 

i make my family celebrate all month long, i play the whole "but it's my birthday!" card to get out of everything and anything on my actual birth day, i want big parties & cake & presents & sugar.... 

the.works. 

but this year i've been feeling really bummed and weird about it... 

the closer it got to my birthday, the more i started feeling down and in a rut. 

to me, 25 was this big, huge, culminating, milestone age where i felt like in a way it was my deadline to do all things awesome. 

and after that it's just all downhill. 

{obviously that's not the case, i realize this. but this is how i felt my whole life. 25 is IT!} 

but as the days ticked by until i actually made that big leap in age brackets, i felt like i really haven't done anything of worth to truly celebrate the last 25 years of my life. 

basically i've just been feeling really bad for myself. 

[but i mean, what's new right??] 

Adam has been great trying to boost me up and make me feel important, which i greatly appreciate. 

and i know that i have many blessings & things i should feel more grateful for than i am right now. 

so for my big 25th birthday, i thought that it would be good {for me} to write 25 things i'm grateful for to remind myself that life really isn't as bad as i make it seem sometimes. 

so here are my

Twenty-Five Thank-titudes 

for my 25th birthday!

{in no particular order}

1. i am grateful for my amazing husband who loves me & supports me through good times and bad. 

2. i am grateful for a feisty & loving 3-year-old who keeps me on my toes and continually helps me to strive to be better. 

3. i am grateful for our extended families who are there when we need them & love us dearly. 

4. i am grateful for our little apartment [and everything in it] where we can live safely & comfortably, especially in this blasted heat!

5. i am grateful for our educations, that Adam is able to attend a great program to further his career, and that i was able to finish my degree in a emphasis that i love. 

6. i am grateful for our dear friends who are always there for us, even just to vent and eat ice cream. :)

7. i am grateful for our health and bodies and that we haven't had anything terribly serious affect our family. [yet?]

8. i am grateful for the Gospel and the peace & comfort it brings to my life. and i'm grateful for my Savior, Jesus Christ, and the love He gives me and His sacrifice. 

9. i am grateful for our car, even if it's totally a piece sometimes, that it is able to transport us safely and comfortably and hasn't broken down on us completely yet. :)

10. i am grateful for my calling and the opportunity to work with the Young Women in my church

11. i am grateful for technology so i can stay in contact with so many friends and meet amazing new ones. plus i able to do something that i absolutely love, write. 

12. i am grateful for clothes and shoes & able to have fun with it all. it's something i know i take for granted daily, the fact that i'm able to have clothes to choose from. 

13. i am grateful for modern amenities like laundry machines and dishwashers. after living in an apartment without them, it has been a life-changer. and something again i know take for granted too often. 

14. i am grateful for books and reading, one of my all time favorite things to do. 

15. i am grateful for the gift of music and how much it blesses my home. 

16. i am grateful for the temple and the incredible peace and enlightenment i gain when i go there. 

17. i am grateful for the experiences i have had in my life and all the great memories i have made.

18. i am grateful for ice cream, Oreos, and other sugary treats. cause we all know i'm plain addicted to that junk. 

19. i am grateful for the beauty of the earth: fresh flowers, majestic mountains, and rainbow skies. the world we live in is absolutely breathtaking. 

20. i am grateful for the power of sleep!! enough said. 

21. i am grateful for the finances we are able to manage, though meager at times, and the jobs we have had in the past and currently that helps us with all of our basic necessities and take care of our family. 

22. i am grateful for photos to capture all the precious moments i wish to keep forever. 

23. i am grateful for this country we live in and the freedoms we enjoy here. 

24. i am grateful for my life. though hard at times, i am just blessed to be living and enjoying so many great experience with those i love the most. 

25. i am grateful for having an abundance of love in my life.

all you need is love. 

maybe there are things i wish i did differently or things i wish had accomplished by now, 

but that's how it will always be right?

we'll always wish for something better or something more. 

but there is so much more that we i am missing out on when we i choose to only focus on the 

i-wish-i-hads. 

the bigger picture: the happiness that is right here around us now. 

"Learn from the past, set vivid, detailed goals for the future, and live in the only moment of time over which you have any control: now."

-Denis Waitley

so here's to another 25 years!! 
full of love, happiness, and even more gratitude for this wonderful life.