The Gift of Gratitude........

As I searched for Christmas gifts for my children I saw a book on things to do for the Savior for Christmas.  One of the many things to do that caught my attention was " Give the gift of Gratitude".  Remember to give thanks daily to God, and our Savior for all your blessings.  If you are not religious you may just thank the universe.   I believe there is a God and Savior and so through out the day I say thank you for those things that are blessings.

If you think about it, it's very simple to give thanks.  And the wonderful thing that I have learned is that as you give thanks you are then given more blessings.  When a trial hits, I look for what is going right and thank God for that.  And though everything may not work out perfectly at least I have made a bad situation not so bad.
I hope for the year of 2014 to continue to learn and grow and focus my life on Gratitude.  I hope to keep my Friday blog posts focused on Gratitude.  I'm working on other topics and the days I would like to blog about them.  But Fridays will remain my Gratitude day.
Here are things I'm thankful for this week:
1. I'm thankful for the employees who support me in my new position at work.
2. I'm thankful for time with my family.  We had a wonderful Christmas day.
3. I'm thankful for books that teach about healthy eating, my new goal for the new year is to eat healthy, no more soda and chips for me.

4. I'm thankful for all the beautiful photo's of flowers that I took this year.  I look forward to getting more photo's in 2014.
5. I'm thankful for technology that allows me to keep in touch with friends and family around the world.
6. I'm thankful for my wonderful children, who made beautiful Christmas presents for me.
7.  I'm thankful for lots of sunshine to sit in on cold winter days.
8. I'm thankful my husband is a mechanic and can fix our old cars.

9.  I'm grateful for all the learning of this year.  I hope for a new year with learning, but perhaps less struggles.
10. I'm grateful for my life and all the blessings that have been mine.
Have a wonderful New year.
G.G.

Our Horse and Carriage Ride Around "Down Town Salt Lake City .....Merry Christmas!!

My Daughter wanted to go "Down Town"  and take a horse and carriage ride to see the lights.  So this past Saturday we did that.  She was so excited!

We dressed real warm, because it was very cold out and I'm very glad we did this as there was a 40 minute wait to get a ride.

I can't believe both my children are taller than me!

Frozen but totally excited!

There were lots of horse and carriages out.  This was my favorite one and ended up being the one that we got a ride on.  The horses name was "Buddy" and he was part Morgan horse which I liked.  He was beautiful!

Finally our turn.  We wrapped up in the blankets and enjoyed the ride.  Don't the kids look so happy!

My son sang a song for us.  My daughter at some point starts laughing because my husband is making funny faces.

The lights were beautiful!
I hope we get to go again next year!

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas.
G.G.

The rescue, He came to rescue us all...... Christmas and the Rescue....

I was so thankful yesterday to be able to attend church.  My new position makes it so I see my family more, but sometimes I have to work Sunday mornings and miss getting to attend church.  So as I walked to church I said thank you multiple times due to the fact that I was so happy to be able to attend and to be with my family.  As I sat and thought about the topic that has been spoken on for the past few months I thought " Jesus Came to Rescue us."   I thought about how from the beginning there was a plan, and the plan was that we would have a Savior to teach us how to live and earn eternal life.

"God So Loved The World That He Gave His Only Begotten Son....."  I thought of how thankful I was that Christ came to this world and gave his whole life that we might live forever with him, Heavenly Father, and our families."

The great rescuer taught us how important we were to him, as he taught us about being rescued and about how we can rescue others.  He taught us to love others as he loved us.  He taught us to search for the lost, as he searches for the lost.  He taught us to be patient and always hopeful that the lost will be found, for he is patient and always hopeful that all the lost will be found.  He taught us to be filled with joy when someone who has been lost is found.  Because then we will know how he feels too.  It was wonderful to think about this yesterday, and then to have my thoughts confirmed by the talks given.  I hope that each day I can help others learn to be kind, and loving.  We need more people to build up others in this world.  Each day I strive to help others.  I hope during the Christmas Season you can see how much love the Savior has for you.
G.G.
Related Site:
LDS 2013 Christmas Message
The Gifts of Christmas

Our Bowlby Family Christmas Letter Blog post.....

This year went by so fast.  First I want to apologize to any family member or friend who did not receive a birthday card in the mail this year.  With moving across the country and then moving again once we got a house I have lost all my birthday information and have not yet found it.  We are now going to be celebrating our 3rd Christmas in Utah.  The years seem to fly by and I'm not sure how many Christmas cards will get in the mail.  So I decided to do this Christmas letter blog post.  This is the photo I wanted to have made into cards to send out this year, but due to time never got printed.  I can't wait till next Saturday our family is going to go "Down Town" and see the Christmas lights and take a horse and carriage ride.  This is the last gift for my daughters "Christmas through the year book."  I hope to blog on that soon.  So I hope to have some new Christmas photo's soon.  Perhaps we will find someone to take a photo of our family, as I am not allowed to go to Target this year to do family photo's, I just spend way too much money.

I have to say that the Christmas light out here in Utah are beautiful and so I can't wait to go and see them.  But here is what has been going on with our family this past year.

Our daughter Gabrielle earned her Green belt in Karate this fall, and participated in the West Wind Karate Challenge. She got two first place awards.  She was so happy to move up to the high belt class and is now having to work harder to learn and grow in Karate.  She loves this sport.  She has also gone to every open Temple in the State of Utah this year with her young women's group.  Her last Temple to attend will be the Salt Lake Temple in December.  She is doing great in school, with straight "A's".  She loves to read and works hard to do her best.  She is such a sweet girl, and I love it when she leaves little notes to me around the house.  I look forward to watching her grow and move forward in all her activities in the coming year.

Our Son Jacob is the artist/cartoonist of the family.  He has his own YouTube account.  He tries to put new animations on it monthly.  He is always found with paper and pencil and some new idea being sketched out.  His mind seems to be filled with things to draw.  He even made a cartoon of me. Which is my new facebook profile picture. Jacob also likes to talk with different ethnic accents, I'm hoping he will try out for a school play next year.  Jacob is in all honors classes this year and is doing very well.  He does find some challenge with school work which makes me happy but not him as he would rather be drawing or skyping with friends.  He still plays the violin and I can't wait to go to the Christmas Concert. Jacob is also a member of our Ward Choir so as you can tell anything in the art field is something he loves to do.

Our cat Amber is loving her new home in Utah.  She keeps me company when everyone is at school and work.  She has one pound left to lose on her cat diet, which drives us all a little crazy as she constantly begs to be fed, but she is no longer considered "fat" by the vet.

Jim is busy with work.  He is always fixing something, and not only does he fix things at work, but even out here he fixes peoples cars.  He has had quiet a few job offers this year.  Which makes me feel safe, as if one job ends I know there are other places that would hire him.  He is the High Priest Group leader at church.  It keeps him busy.  In fact the joke for our family is that everyone has a leadership position except for me.  I'm the big slacker of the family when it comes to church.  I'm actually just happy that I get to attend most weeks.   The past month has been nice for our family as I have seen them more than I have in the past three years.  Jim has also made lots of "old car" friends out here and keeps busy with them and their projects.

I have done a lot of different things this year.  I have kept up with family history research, and I am enjoying learning more about my family's history.  I have started to get all my sources into the church website so people who look at my family tree will know I'm not just making it up.  I have been able to attend the Temple weekly which has been wonderful.  I worked for a few weeks at a garden center.  Which was fun.  I took tons of flower photo's and learned more about flowers this year. I was starting to look for a new job, when the position that I really wanted at my work came open, so I applied for it and now I work full time and really love what I'm doing.  I have a lot to learn, but I really feel challenged and feel that I can help make a difference where I work. I've been slowly getting my new house organized, and thinking of the directions I want to take my blog in the coming year.  I have lots of ideas, just need more time.  I look forward to a new year of learning and growing.  I hope that all of you have a wonderful Christmas season.  I hope to share more of our Christmas season with you in the coming weeks.
From,
Kimberly, James, Jacob and Gabrielle.

Be Grateful Everyday

I saw this on Facebook today and remembered that I wanted to blog every Friday about what I was grateful for and the past few weeks have been so busy that I have dropped the ball so to speak.  I believe what this says and wanted to take a moment to send out some gratitude to God and the universe.
Here are somethings I'm thankful for this week.
1. I'm thankful for safe travel on snowy roads.  Yes winter is here and I sometimes have to drive late at night on very bad roads, so that I get home safe is something to be thankful for.
2. I'm thankful for the employee who scraped all the snow off  my car the other night.  He actually scraped off all the employee cars in our lot and it was wonderful to get out of work at 1 a.m. and only have to jump in my car and warm it up and not have to scrape all the snow and ice off.  Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.

3. I'm Thankful for my beautiful family. The Christmas season has been a bit hard this year, as I've been missing my little kids.  My teens are wonderful, but I've been missing the baby years, and have been reflecting on how wonderful they were for my family, I'm thankful for all the wonderful years our family has had together.  I look forward to many more wonderful years.
4. I'm thankful for my husband who decided that we will have a great Christmas this year and has worked hard to bring things into the house that he thinks bring a great Christmas spirit, such as a huge live Christmas tree.  I was so tired I slept through the whole thing last night.

5. I'm thankful for Christmas concerts, and that I have the time off to go to see my children play in them.  I love to listen to Christmas music, although certain songs bring tears to my eyes this year.  Like "I'll be home for Christmas"  I'd love to spend Christmas in Vermont someday again.
6. I'm thankful for comfort food, tonight we will have beef stew in bread bowls.  I can't wait.

7. I'm grateful for Christmas lights.  I can't wait to go out to see the lights in the city.  It is so much fun to drive around at night and see peoples houses lit up.
8. I am thankful for quiet mornings with my family.
9. I am thankful for a furry little cat who snuggles up with me to nap.
10.  I am thankful for weekly visits to the Temple.
Remember to bring gratitude into your life every day.  You will see a huge change in your life if you do.
G.G.