happiness is a grateful heart

At church one of my responsibilities is teaching a class of 16 and 17-year old girls. A couple of weeks ago our lesson was on "Gratitude and Appreciation." As part of that topic, I asked the girls if they agreed with the following statement:

"Happiness is a grateful heart."

From my own experience, I have found this concept to be true. Most of the "bad days" in my life can be attributed to my own ingratitude and cynicism, while the truly happy days have been days that I simply find joy and contentment in the things that matter most.

Here are pictures from some happy days spent with family over our Thanksgiving break this past weekend:

Illinois skies had some snow on Thanksgiving day
Ramona was hailed as a princess at Paca's house . . .
. . . where she was served an abundant portion of turkey,
and pie.
Friday morning we went for a walk in the woods behind Paca's house,

where Forest used to go exploring as a kid.
Thank you for all you do, Paca and Teresa!

Friday night we visited Grandma's house in Decatur, where Ramona drove a little Mickey Mouse car around the living room enough times to wear out its batteries twice.
Grandma treated us to dinner at Fuji Restaurant,
where we had our own personal chef grill orders on the teppanyaki in front of us. He flipped and rattled his spatulas around between cooking food, and of course set things on fire as part of the performance.
Poor Ramona was so frightened by the flames that she insisted on being held the rest of dinnertime (although she applauded the fires that were set a safe distance away, at other tables).

Thank you for your love and support, Grandma!

Saturday we drove over to Ojii and Baachan's house in Bloomington-Normal. Ramona helped cool down a fresh batch of sushi rice,
which was promptly pressed into a Mickey Mouse mold,
and eaten by our little sushi monster.
Sunday we dressed up for church,
and afterward went outside to enjoy perhaps one of the last walk-worthy days of the year.

Ramona giggled and grinned when Ojii put her up on his shoulders,
and she giggled and grinned some more as Baachan played inai-inai-ba (peek-a-boo) behind Daddy's shoulders.
Come to think of it, she's always finding reasons to giggle and grin.
Osewa ni narimashita, Ojii and Baachan!

"Our realization of what is most important in life goes hand in hand with gratitude for our blessings." ~Thomas S. Monson