10 Things that make me REALLY happy

Today's blog challenge is to come up with a list of 10 things that make me really happy.   Pretty easy, right?  Wrong.  And not because I am having a hard time coming up with 10 things.  The problem is narrowing down what makes me happy to a list of 10 things.  I am VERY happy right now.  I am feeling really blessed.  But, for the sake of this post, I will come up with a list of just 10 things that make me happy.  Of course, there are many other things that make me smile as well.   Here are just some of the things that make me happy right now...in no particular order.

1.  Family.  I am so thankful that God decided to intersect Drew's life and my life at the exact time that he did.  We were both ready to find each other.  Although Luke came as a complete surprise and just a short time into our marriage, our little miracle was a welcomed blessing.   He forever changed our life...in a good way.  And then we felt overwhelmingly blessed to find out we were expecting a little girl just two years later.  We also have such an amazing network of family across the country:  our moms and dads, sisters and brothers, nieces and nephews, aunts and uncles, and cousins.  Family makes me happy.   We are thankful that Mimi and Papa came to visit us last weekend, my parents came a couple of weeks ago and my brother, Jeremy, and sis-in-law and nephew are coming this weekend.

Luke and Papa

  

Mimi and Abbey checking out some butterflies in the butterfly feeder at the botanical gardens

2.  Playing Outside.  Enough said.

Snowboarding in Tahoe.  I'm looking forward to combining #1 and #2 (family and playing outside) in March 2014 when we go on a family snowboarding/ski trip!

Drew at Enchanted Rock

3.  Really good food.  I think really good food makes our little girl happy as well.

Abbey...totally enjoying her meal at El Monumento

4.  Competition and sports!  Make anything a competition..keep score and I am there!

5.  My kids' personalities.  Abbey is super silly and loves to give kisses.  Luke is funny and extremely loving.  Both make me happy in different ways.

6.  Alone time with my hubby.  It doesn't happen very often, but it always makes me extremely happy.  I love him so much.  He is my best friend.

7.  Alone time with God.  I am always so happy and at peace after spending some time (even if just a few minutes) completely alone in prayer, worship or Bible reading. 

8.  Knowing that I get to spend eternity in Heaven and believing that most of my family members will be right there with me for all eternity.   This makes me extremely happy.  Click here if you want to read about my spiritual belief. 

9.  Quiet.  It doesn't happen very often and quite honestly it is pretty much polar opposite of our household most of the time (when the kids are awake).  But when things are completely quiet....kids are asleep....television is off...there is something so peaceful about it.   It makes me happy.

10.  Traveling.   I love exploring.  Perhaps that is why I love taking trips.   The trip could be simply to the other side of the city, to another state or to another country.   Either way I am happy.

exploring Switzerland with Drew on our honeymoon.