"Thankful list"

Here is a short list of things that I'm thankful for after visiting New Mexico last week:

1. Sturdy car. We drove over a dead deer in Price, UT. Blood and guts everywhere.
2. Portable DVD player. A necessary item for any trip when kids are involved.
3. Teec-Nos-Pos. ??? After 21 years, we still don't know what that means. It is fun to say over and over again. Possible guesses: name for a town, building etc. in Navajo.
4. New route to drive in NM. Ended up in Cuba....New Mexico.
5. Mapquest map/directions and then a police officer to clarify the wrong directions on the map.
6. Craig, Janessa and their girls in Albuquerque. It is nice to have eternal families and friends who feed us after driving 9 hours. Numb Bum! Yum-yum din-din.
7. Rod's mom and dad. No words. I'm so eternally thankful for them for so many reasons.
8. Alex and Elle. Hotel breakfast in bed every morning. Young Legs!!
9. Hotel beds. Alex jumped from bed to bed the whole weekend. No worries if the bed broke.
10. Elastic waist bands. We ate and ate until everything was gone. Not a scrap was left.
11. TV/Football. Watched BYU beat Utah 17-10. GO COUGARS!
12. Camera. Took sone awesome pictures of mom's old things and Old Mesilla.
13. Lexia Lynne and Rick. Yet another testament what a wonderful marriage should be like.
14. Dana. A punching bag for Alex. Sorry Dana, hope those bruises will heal with time. Starts BYU next fall. Yea! Another Gibson in town.
15. Basement. Only Jeff could sleep in grandma's basement. Brave soul!
16. Burger Time. No other breakfast burrito compares.
17. Hannah. What an inspirational and impressive young woman. She amazes me every time I talk to her. Future MIT student.
18. Kelly. Incredible artist, incredible DDR dancer. Beautiful.
19. Amberly. Can't get enough of her spirit. Beautiful, tall young woman who lights up the room.
20. Benjamin. Back from his mission. Great guy, a lovely girlfriend, Lori.
21. Melinda. She has a beautiful house, and a beautiful new bathroom. Amazing person. Love her. Made our wedding cake 21 years ago.
22. Don. Retired from National Guard. Lost a Christmas tree.
23. Megan. Toured the Heritage museum with her. So talented. People love her. Guitar Hero CHAMP! You are an amazing "guitar" player.
24. Rhett and Jacob. Saw them only for a few seconds. Funny guys. Papa John's rocks!
25. Guitar Hero. Probably have to get it now for Christmas.
26. Mashed potatoes. Mom made some potato pancakes for us for Sunday brunch. YUMMY!
27. Jarom. We were glad to be able to attend the blessing of this precious child.
28. Heidi. Bottle some of that energy, will ya? She comes from the same amazing family as the numbers 17-24. Love, love Heidi! Can I say she is my favorite? No? Ok, I won't say it then.
29. Sam. So right for Heidi. Wonderful dad for Hyrum, Gideon and Jarom. Love him! Can I say he is my favorite? Yes!
30. Sandy, Dominique and their most beautiful children Savannah, Morgan, Dominique Jr. and Joshua. Just a beautiful, happy family. First meeting, ever.
31. Cell phone. Got a phone call from Liz that she had gotten engaged to Brad. Wedding in May.
32. Liz. Wonderful sister in-law. She has a wedding to prepare now. YEAAAA! No sweat.
33. Tamara. Away from the family but coming home for Christmas. It was good to hear from her.
34. Whitney. Kept us in the loop with Melanie's delivery. Congrats for baby Rayder.
35. Diet Coke. Medicine for a sleepy driver.
36. Lights...brights in the car. Almost hit a deer on the way home. Brights saved us.
37. Own bed at 2am. Happiness, love.
38. Rod. Awesome driver. See # 35. Small bladder. Worked extremely hard on mom and dad's projects. Great husband, father and son. Love of my eternal life. No words to describe, just love.