Sharing Gratitude Link-up

Laurel at Alphabet Salad posts a link-up for us every Sunday, where we  can share the little beauties of our lives.  It seems that the list can include anything at all and however many inspirations we like, but it encourages us to be "in the moment," to focus on what we are thankful for right this minute.  I like that.  Life is made up of millions of small moments and it's so easy to let them go by unnoticed.  So, here's some Sunday afternoon fanfare for the little things!

To run over and join in the gratitude, click here! 

I'm grateful for...

*   the Broncos victory over the Patriots today!  My football loving sons (all six of them), husband,

and father-in-law are so happy.  And that makes all of us girls happy.  Mind you, we girls all like football, too -- and are Broncos fans, naturally! But our interest pales next to the boys'.  After this big win, all our men will be sailing through these next two weeks with happy little smiles on their faces.  Boys.  See how they are?  It's a little beyond our complete sympathy, but comes into focus when I explain it to our daughters this way:  the joy of the Broncs winning the AFC championship is like a day where we go shopping, find everything we're looking for, it fits, looks good, and is on sale.  And, to celebrate our good shopping day, we win a prize that doubles our money to go shopping again the week after next.  It's a good thing.

*   Pintrest.  Where we can look for Super Bowl Game Day recipes.

Seriously considering these peanut butter swirl, football-shaped
brownies we saw pinned.  (Can be found here at allrecipes.com.)

The wooden bell
at Mission Buenventura
where we stopped.

*  a little alone time with my honey this weekend. This is how and why: Oldest daughter, Michelle, changed addresses right the after New Year, moving from Denver to California, where she's currently living with her brother, Paul, and his family until she gets on her feet.  On her way from Colorado to Cali, she had a stopover here with us for a couple of weeks over Christmas.  Amazingly (not) she left a basket load of clothes and other  paraphernalia here at the house -- most notably forgetting her violin!  (I still can't get over that; leaving her violin is like leaving her left elbow behind...)  But it's all good, her forgetfulness gave Dan and me an excuse to make the drive down to San Clemente Friday to deliver the violin (et al), have dinner with the California family (Michelle, Dan's parents, Paul,

Us.  Squinting.

Nicole, and grandson, Gavin) down near the beach at San Clemente -- then Hotel.com it Friday night, and enjoy a little visit to the ocean before heading home Saturday.  It was a quick trip, but lots of fun -- very relaxed, no pressure, no stress.  Adopted Grandmother, June, and (13 y.o.) Cathy held down the fort at home, and didn't seem to even notice we were gone. I think everyone's batteries are a little recharged for the change of pace.  Nice to be close enough to California these days that we can do this kind of thing -- reconnecting with grandchildren, children, parents and each other!

Near Santa Barbara, where we stopped to walk on the beach Saturday morning.

William and Gabe near the pansies,
 in the first corner of the flower garden
we've been able to plant.  Note William's
goofy face.  There was a sweetly-smiling-
William version of this photo, but I figured
that one would be an obviously faked pose to
anyone who knows our youngest child.

*  sunshine and short sleeves weather!  We've been hearing about the cold weather throughout the U.S., and thinking about you all in your long winter coats and fuzzy scarves, gathering wood for cozy fires, and snuggling in with warm blankets on frosty evenings...  And, ya know, we thought that when we moved from Colorado to Nevada we'd miss all that. But in reality...  (speaking for myself here) I don't miss the cold one little bit.  I do kind of miss wearing my collection of  beloved sweaters and boots are totally overkill here when everyone's going around in flip flops...  But, we planted pansies last week and are getting ready to start our tomatoes and basil in peat pots indoors.  Imagine! We expect to put them out well before Easter! (You have to realize how momentous this is for those of us who have been lucky to have a last frost date in the middle of May for gardening!)

Don't get me wrong, though. I do miss living in beautiful Colorado, but I think we're all really enjoying the sunny warm weather here in Las Vegas.  We knew the
weather would be different here, but I didn't think we'd appreciate it at all.  I know I was ready to have a grudge against nasty old Nevada and its desert climate.  And, truly, in theory, I like having four distinct seasons -- where it's appropriately hot in summer and properly cold in winter.  But, in reality....  In the here and now?  Well, gosh, we've got pansies, flip flops, short sleeves, and volleyball in the park -- in the middle of January!  We're looooving it!

Theresa with the cell phone
she got for her birthday,
Dec. 30th.  Grateful to have
this way of communicating
with her while she's away at
school!

* texting.  Though there are a lot of things worrisome about the media age in which we live, texting is the best thing since sliced bread.  Granted, it can be overdone -- and is a scourge to some, but I love the convenience of texting.  Without worrying about disturbing them when they're busy, I can communicate with family and friends so easily!  They get back with me when they have a chance and I get to keep in almost constant touch with my five brothers and sisters in Denver, our son's family, daughter and in-laws in California, our daughter, Theresa, on Colorado's western slope, our son, Dominic, in Idaho -- and even (hopefully!) will be able to easily contact our son, Kevin, who'll be in New Zealand this spring.  For almost no money at all!  I remember when I was a kid what a big deal it was to call our grandparents every so often.  They only lived in a neighboring state, but it was expensive to talk to them, and no time was wasted passing the phone around to us kids.  It was such a carefully scheduled event to talk to relatives far away that if you heard from them unexpectedly in the middle of the week, you knew it had to be some kind of tragedy to brace yourself for.  Nowadays, I may get a text in the middle of the night from one of the kids hundreds of miles away asking me for a recipe, or how to spell a word,.  I love it.  How did we ever live without it?

*  for this thought-provoking weekly meme to help me count my blessings!