Nostalgic thankfulness

Last night Blake and Dave went to do a walk through of the cows.  It was warm enough and we actually had enough time for them to walk over to the farm.  As I watched these two walk back slowly together I thought of my brothers and dad walking up from feeding the pig, checking cows, and many many other things.

I was very blessed growing up.  I grew up in a small town at the foot of the mountains.  I never wanted for anything and had many privileges.  My family saw a lot of the world, were able to do many things, and enjoyed being together.  My family also learned to work.  Numerous times we would waved to our friends as they dove past our house, headed for the nearby dam for a day of skiing, from our lawn mowers and tractors.  I remember one morning mowing as my friends were still asleep on our trampoline.

I remember Cannon sending home a picture of the hair on the back of his legs 6 months into his mission.  It had finally grown in, after not wearing gum boots for that long.  I loved everything about my childhood. When each of us went away to school, the things we really wanted was to bring our friends back for a cattle drive.  I was blessed to find someone that shared my love of the country life.  We both wanted our kids to have what we did growing up.

Sometimes things don't go how we saw it in our heads when we made the decision to move back.  Some of the work we had envisioned for our kids doesn't happen for various of reasons.  And some times it is tough.  No one enjoys feeding at 5 am in 30 below with Dave, but you take the good with the bad.

Then yesterday, with my boys walking back together, I was uplifted and filled with gratitude.  Some of it is happening, some of it is coming together.  We are teaching our kids how to work, we live in a beautiful spot, Dave has a good job, we have been blessed to have some wonderful vacations, and my kids love being together.  They truly are each others best friends.  So even with the ups and downs, the dream that Dave and I had for our kids, is no longer a dream.  It's reality.  And I am so very thankful for that.