Day 30

This month of gratefulness has been a lot of fun, but alas the end of the month has arrived. Now we can celebrate Christmas!

Stephanie: Today I am very, very grateful for my wonderful husband. I have been so blessed to have him in my life. He has an amazing work ethic, drive to graduate school, and love for me. Sometimes I wonder how I got so lucky to have him in my life. He's everything to me and I try to make life easier for him to the best of my abilities. Our first anniversary is on Monday (when did that happen?!). Time sure flies when you're having fun! Marrying Nathan has been the best decision I've ever made. So here's to surviving our first year of marriage and to many, many more anniversaries to come!

Nathan: Today I'm thankful for my old dog Patches. She helped me so much growing up. That's the beautiful thing about good pets, they literally love you more that they love themselves. While growing up we were inseparable, I could seriously never get her to stay home. She followed me everywhere because she always wanted to be with me. She taught me so much about responsibility and how to take care of another life. She also taught me how to love, she helped me through the hardest years of my life and I love her now and forever for it. She might have loved me more than I loved her but I sure tried my best to match her. I'll never forget her, no matter how many other dogs I'll own, she holds a special place in my heart.

Day 28 and 29

Day 28:

Stephanie: Today I am grateful for my little cat Clover. She drives me crazy sometimes, but I still love her. She loves to run around the house raise hell and then come over to me and sleep on my shoulder. She's now almost four months old and I can't believe how much she's grown in the past couple months!

Baby Clover!

She was so cute as a tiny, tiny kitten

Four weeks old

Four Months old

Nathan: Today I'm thankful for the Constitution of the United States of America. It is the greatest, most inspired document that's ever been written. It's the people's job to protect it by electing appropriate officials, I feel like we have failed in the last decade, but I have faith that we will come back and rise to the challenge again.

Day 29:

Stephanie: I am so grateful for my Addi dog! She's such a fun and sweet spirit and makes our lives so much better. I can't believe how lucky we got when we found her outside of Smith and Edwards for 20 bucks. She's the reason that Nathan and I decided to finally get married (I guess you could say we had child together before we got married). I love her so much and I'm grateful everyday for her!

Baby Addi!

She was so adorable as a puppy!

This is how she sleeps most of time

She loves her dad!

This is my most favorite picture ever

Nathan: Tonight I'm thankful for the end of the semester. It's so close but yet so much to do till then.

Day 27

Stephanie: Today I am grateful that I live somewhere that has all four seasons. I absolutely love the changing seasons, even winter. There's something to be said about a mountain side that will bloom with spring growth, be green and lush in summer, colorful in fall, and look majestic and romantic with winter snow.

Summer

Fall

Winter

Spring

Nathan: I'm thankful for modern transportation. It allows us to be more productive by spending less time traveling. Plus walking everywhere would get old.

Day 20 through 26

Okay, okay, okay we are complete slackers and we know it. Life got incredibly, nut-so busy last week. So here's a week of thankfulness!


Day 20

Stephanie:This one will sound silly, but I am so grateful for indoor plumbing. There are parts of this world that people don't have it, I am SO glad I have it!

Nathan: I'm thankful for a warm bed and a wife to fill it.

Day 21

Stephanie: I am so thankful for family traditions. I love my family's traditions and I can't wait to start my own! I already have some ideas!

Nathan: I'm thankful for cheese and the amazing food that it is.

Day 22

Stephanie:I love Thanksgiving! I'm so glad that we get to celebrate it every year!

Nathan: I'm thankful for Thanksgiving and the chance to spend time with all our families.

Day 23

Stephanie: I am grateful for warm showers. My house does not have very warm water, so I really appreciate it when I get to shower somewhere that has scalding hot water.

Nathan: I'm thankful for my constant drive to better myself and that I'm not lazy.

Day 24

Stephanie: I'm grateful for birthdays, everybody's birthday! I plan months ahead for Nathan's Birthday, I love to spoil him because it's his one day to be selfish (Nathan isn't good at being selfish). My birthday is a month away and I'm already planning my party :)

Nathan: I'm thankful for FFA and all the learning experiences I've had.

Day 25

Stephanie: I"m thankful for cuddling. It's my favorite. I love it when Nathan comes home from work and wants to cuddle, but falls asleep within five minutes of cuddles. I also love to cuddle Addi. Cuddling is Addi's favorite too.

Nathan: I'm thankful for amazing in-laws and the love that they've shown me.

Day 26

Stephanie: I am grateful for my glasses. I literally cannot see without them (my eyesight is 20/500). I'm truly impaired without them, I can't drive, clean my house, go to class, or even watch tv without them.

Nathan: I'm thankful for happiness because life would be sad without it :)

Day 18 and 19

Day 18:

Stephanie: I am grateful for all the wonderful teachers I have had in my life. I know that I would never have passed any of math classes in high school if it wasn't for the patience of Mrs. Bingham. I wouldn't be anywhere in my life if it wasn't Mr. Summers, my ag teacher. He helped to fuel my passion for agriculture and motivate me to become an ag teacher. In college I have had so many wonderful professors. Thank you Dr. Warnick and Dr. Lawver for being such great examples and leaders!

Nathan: Tonight I am thankful for my sister Natasha (AKA Tasha). She is such an amazing sister and has been there for me my whole life. When we were younger she would have loved to kill me but now I like to think that she would love to kill anyone for me. She's an amazing mother and a loving sister. I hope to someday be as good a parent as she is.

Day 19:

Stephanie: I am so thankful for the FFA. This program has given me everything in my life. I wouldn't have most of the friends I do, my self-confidence, my future career, or my husband if it wasn't for the FFA. I love the FFA with all my heart and I hope to be a good adviser one day. Learning to do, doing to learn. Earning to live, living to serve. - FFA Motto

Senior Year of FFA

State Degree

National FFA Convention 2011

I got to marry an FFA Nerd just like me!

Nathan: Tonight I'm thankful for Monday Night Football. This program has provided me with hours of entertainment. Some of the most memorable events of the last decade and of my life has come from MNF.

Day 16 and Day 17

Day 16

Stephanie: I am very grateful for my grandparents. I have some pretty amazing grandparents. Each of them have helped me so much throughout my life and so very supportive. My mom couldn't have raised Aaron and I alone without her wonderful parents to help her. So thank you Grandma Diana, Grandpa and Grandma Wendy, and Shad and Linda for always being there for me!

Nathan: Tonight I'm thankful for my cousins. My cousins have helped raise me and have been the best examples a young man could ask for. The greatest men I know are within my own family and I count that as a blessing.


Day 17

Stephanie: Today I am grateful for my brother Aaron! Today is his 20th birthday, when did we get so old! Aaron and I were always two peas in a pod........ then we became teenagers ;) It's a good thing we don't stay teenagers forever! Aaron is a good brother and can't image life without my sibling!

Nathan: Go Panther's! I'm so thankful for being able to go and watch my home town win the Nevada 1A state championship football game! I love my home town and I'm so proud of being from Alamo. They are now the 5 time state champions with 5 undefeated years. Our coaches are amazing and the kids have good examples. There's only one way that we can be that good for that long......a good foundation. Good families, good kids, and good coaches.

Day 15

Stephanie: I am grateful for the good health Nathan and I have. We are so lucky that we don't have any major medical problems. I'm so happy with the wonderful body I've been given. I have so many abilities, I can do whatever I'd like to. Except the splits... I'll have to work on that.


Nathan : I'm thankful for the love of my wife. She treats me so well and I have a loving home in which to enter. She's the best thing that has ever happened to me.

Day 13 and 14

Well it was bound to happen. I knew we'd forget to post at least one day...

Day 13:

Stephanie: I am grateful for gardening. I know this seems like a silly one, but I absolutely love to garden. I love being outside and tending to my plants. There's nothing better than knowing that I grew my own food (well only a little of it). One day I'll have a big, huge garden. I'll also have a super awesome tiller!

Nathan: I'm thankful for my education. I love that I have the ability to look at problems and understand the concept behind them and how to solve them.

Day 14:

Stephanie: I am so thankful that I have had the chance to have horses most of my life. I love my horses so much, I can't imagine not having horses. When I was little, before we had horses, every birthday I would wish for the same thing: to have a  horse and have somewhere to keep him. When I was nine I finally got my wish. I got the bratty pony named Bluesky. I loved that pony (even when I wanted to kill him) and I still love him now. I've heard it said that "Horses are proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." I couldn't agree more.

Praline

Bluesky

Apache

Digger

Scooter

Penny

Rusty

 Nathan: I'm thankful for Cache Valley and how beautiful it is here. The winters are cold, but it's amazing. Life couldn't have blessed me more than to develop this valley and the people in it.

Day 12

Stephanie: I am so grateful for music! I love music! I love music in every way, shape, and form. Music is so amazing, it can define a moment. It can make you cry, make you laugh, and make you so completely happy. My favorite is classic rock, but I'm not opposed to other genres. I'll "shake it" for Luke Bryan while I clean the house or I'll rock out in the car, I'm that weirdo you see air drumming at stop lights. I also love classical music to study to, I'm too easily distracted by songs with lyrics to study to, but I'm also too easily distracted by silence. I've learned to really love classical music, especially music with a piano in it. My one deepest, darkest wish is to learn to play the piano. I never learned, I can't even read music, but one day (even if I'm 90) I'll learn.

Nathan: Tonight I'm thankful for my friends. I've been blessed with some truly amazing people that have helped me all throughout my life. I've had many compadres that have helped me create trouble and also stay out of it. Many of my greatest stories start out like, "This one time my buddy and me..." I'm so thankful for my friends, there's no price that can be put on a friendship. Thank you to all my friends.

Day 11

Stephanie: Today I am thankful for the technology Nathan and I have. Are our cell phones or computer necessities? No, but they make our lives a lot easier. I don't know how we would get our work done for college if we didn't have them.

Nathan: Today I'm thankful for my sister Shari. She's helped me through the hardest times of my life and hasn't ever given up on me, even though that would have been easier. She's always been my second mother and I'm thankful for her. I love you Sis!

Day 10

Stephanie: I am so grateful that I got to grow up in the country. I'm also grateful that I can go home to the country whenever I want. There's no freedom like being out in the sticks where I can see all the stars, breathe fresh air, and there's no sirens and no traffic. Life seems to move at a slower pace out here; it's wonderful to be able to come to Clifton and unwind from our crazy college lives.

Nathan: Tonight I am grateful for my healthy family. We've been blessed with strong bodies and the ability to work and be active. I've never had a disability and I know how lucky that is. I definately don't take it for granted.

Day 9

Stephanie: I am very grateful for agriculture. It has given me so much more than clothes, food, and shelter. It has given me an education, a future career, self-reliability, a sense of self-worth, and even my husband. I don't know where I'd be today if I didn't have agriculture in my life!

Nathan: I am grateful for a reliable food source. For example,  we don't have to worry about if there will be meat at the market when we go to shop.

Day 8

Stephanie: I am grateful for our reliable transportation. I know a lot of married couples who don't have the luxury of having two vehicles, I'm so glad that we do. I'm also thankful that Nathan knows how to fix and maintain them.

Nathan: I'm grateful for all of the leadership experiences that I've been blessed with. I love going and talking to students and teaching them to believe in themselves. Being a state officer was an amazing time in my life, and it prepared me for the things that I am doing today with Utah State University.

Day 7

Stephanie: I am so thankful for the education I have been able to receive at Utah State University. I have the most amazing major professors, peers, and advisers. It's hard for me to believe that I will be graduating in the spring, these past four years have gone by so fast! Of course, the only way for me to graduate is to survive student teaching. I'm sure I'll do fine with student teaching, I've had some pretty amazing professors train me. Go Aggies!!!

Nathan: Tonight I am so thankful for our pets. They really are a source of happiness in our lives. Most people don't understand us and our love for our cat and dog, and that's okay. We take it upon ourselves to take the best care of them that we can provide, and to make them feel comfortable. I feel that when you take in a pet you make a promise to that animal to provide for it and protect it, and I don't take that lightly. Addi literally thinks she is a little human. She sleeps with us, she eats with us, she gets sad and pouts in the mornings when I'm about to leave. But she forgives me instantly; every time I come home, she acts like it's Christmas. That's the beauty of pets, they love unconditionally and forgive immediately, I know I could learn a little from them.

Day 6

Stephanie: Today I am very grateful for the country I live in. As a woman, I can't believe how lucky am I to be able vote and have a say in what I want my country to be. I'm glad that I can get any job I want, not one the government told me I have to have. I love that I can marry whoever I want, whenever I want. I love that I can own anything I want, say anything I want, practice any religion I want, and go to school anywhere I want for whatever degree I choose. I've had enough of people's complaints about how tonight's events went. I don't agree with most of what Mr. President does or wants to do, but he is the president of my country. I will do my best to stay positive for the next four years; there's enough negativity in the United States right now. I get to call this beautiful place home, I am so wonderfully blessed.

Nathan: Tonight I am that person Steph is describing above; I am terribly upset about tonight, but this is a Giving Thanks post and I shall honor my wife's wishes. The one thing that I can honestly be thankful for is my Father. Leland Richard Whipple is the greatest man that I have ever known and I owe him so much for the things he has taught me. He taught me how to work hard and how to be a man. He was an example of how a man should treat the woman he loves, and that nothing worth having in life comes easy. I'm not the type that sits and waits for things to come to me, or fall in my lap. I can definitely credit that to the way I was raised. I love you Dad very much.

Day 5

Stephanie: I am grateful for the good, steady job that my husband has. Without it we would be in a lot of trouble! I also love that my man is willing to work so hard and long for us. Nathan has a fantastic work ethic,  I admire him for it.

Nathan: I am grateful for my loving mother. I sure haven't made the last 22 years easy on her. She has loved me through thick and thin. Thanks for getting up early to make me French Toast in the mornings before school and driving across the state to watch me play sports, you are a great! I love you to Mom!

Day 4

First of all, happy birthday to my sister-in-law Tonya! I hope your day was superb!

Stephanie: Today I'm grateful for flowers. I know this seems silly, but flowers truly make me happy. They're so beautiful; they make the world bright and happy. Someday I hope to have large flower gardens where I can sit outside and read a good book.

Nathan: I thankful for my sister Tonya and for her being an amazing example. She was an amazing sister and an annoying younger brother couldn't have asked for more! ;)

Day 3

Stephanie: I am grateful to have such a great house. We have a wonderfully cheap and homey place to call ours. The best part about our house is that we can have Addi and Clover. I wouldn't change that for anything.

Nathan: I'm thankful for today's technology that allows us the quality of living that we can have now.

Day 2

Stephanie: I am so thankful for my mom and all that she has done for me. My mom is one the most selfless people I know. She has sacrificed beyond anything that I can imagine to make sure that Aaron and I had food, shelter, and a loving home.
The biggest thing she ever gave up for Aaron and I was finding a husband. She didn't want random men in and out of her children's lives. Now that I am married and know how absolutely wonderful it is, I cannot believe she was willing to give that up and do it on her own. She hasn't been on a date in nearly 15 years; I hope that changes and she finds someone. I love you, Mom!

Dancing on my mom's 18th birthday

 Nathan: I am grateful for my job. Because of it, I am able to pay the bills and provide for my wife.

November a Month of Gratitude

Wow, it is already November!

Nathan and I both love Thanksgiving and feel that this is a very exciting time of year! Every day for the entire month of November we are going to post something we are grateful for. There are so many things we have been blessed with, how could we not come up with 30 things?!

Day 1

Stephanie: Today I am thankful for my little family. I can't believe how lucky I am to have such an amazing and loving husband, a good dog, and a (somewhat) behaved cat. It truly is amazing to know that whenever I come home, it's to a warm and loving home.

Nathan: I'm grateful for my loving wife who supports me and doesn't make fun of my crazy ideas. I love how she puts up with me even when I get to feeling crazy.

(Nathan really did write this)

Happy November!