19. 20. 21. 22. Reasons to give Thanks.

I had the BEST weekend at the beach with my family. We traveled down to Rehoboth Beach on Wednesday and made the long drive home this afternoon. This was our last time traveling down to the beach for Thanksgiving. The beach house will be sold within the upcoming year. It is unbelievable to think that this has been a family tradition for 12 years now. It will be so weird celebrating in Maryland next year. 

Keeping with the theme of thankfulness, the past four days I have been thankful for:

My grandparents. 

They are getting up in age, but they are still huge parts of my life. I enjoy talking with them about their childhoods and hearing stories about the things they have accomplished in life. I also enjoy cracking up with them - they have a great sense of humor! This is my first year of living on my own and I have a bare Christmas tree that's been in my apartment for a couple of weeks now. My grandmother purchased these at the beach this weekend so that I could have my first two ornaments! These will forever be special to me <3 

The beach.

The beach by far is my FAVORITE place to relax. I envision myself getting married at the beach on day. My ideal house decor would be beach themed. I love flip flops, sand, sunshine, ocean breezes, the taste of salt on my tongue. I love the sound of the ocean waves and the feel of the ocean mist on my skin. I love the beach and I am so thankful that I was able to get away for a couple of days and relax in paradise. 

The sunsets.

The sunsets at the beach this weekend were incredible! I am a nature gal and nothing puts me more at ease then a beautiful sunset. It was a blessing to be able to see the sun and sky look like this every day :o) 

My sister.

We may not always see eye to eye [or get along] but I love this gal dearly. She celebrated her 22nd birthday this weekend. My how time flies. I pray that God continues to bless her and gives her insight in regards to what she is supposed to do with her life post graduation. 

My brother.

He is a great kid and he cracks me up. I love that he stays true to himself and always follows his own path. He is wise beyond his years and brings such joy to my life. I am grateful that he has grown to be such a kindhearted and caring young man. Even if his honesty gets him into trouble sometimes.

I have also been thankful for: my cousins. my parents. my aunts and uncles. safe travels to and from the beach. the delicious meals that my aunts cooked. family time. relaxation. money to purchase things. seeing Twilight. getting lesson planning done. catching up on sleep. and being alive and healthy.

I am so not looking forward to going back to work tomorrow ... however, the countdown to Christmas officially begins!