Thankful on a Thursday: celebrations

I love celebrations. Holidays, special occassions, or just because. It's fun to do something special for someone else or have someone celebrate you. July is certainly a month of celebrations for us. There was of course Independence Day which was Malakai's 1st fireworks show and camping trip. Then yesterday was our 3rd Wedding Anniversary, and coming up is Malakai's FIRST BIRTHDAY!

We also have many other birthdays and weddings of friends and families to celebrate this month. It's such a busy time for us. It's also time to celebrate summer as in Eugene, Oregon we have precious few days when the sun shines all day. My favorite is when the heat of the afternoon lingers into late evening, and like this week, into the early morning.

Sometimes there's a low just before or just after a celebration. The stress of preparing for the big event, or the lull of nothing exciting going on just after. In the midst of celebrations, the busyness, and the weight that keeps heaping onto my shoulders every time I think about how much is still undone for the coming weeks I'm trying to have a positive outlook. I have to be careful that in my pursuit of this that I don't bottle up the stress and let it explode all over my household. I love thankful on a Thursday for this reason. It's a way for me to vent about the bad, while seeing all the good that surrounds me every day.

This week I'm thankful for:

191. Celebrations- obviously. I just love how they bring friends + family together. I love doing something special for others on their day.

192. The look of confusion, surprise, and then excitement on Ben's face when my mom + sister showed up at our house last night and I explained to him that we were going to dinner for our anniversary {we originally planned to go over the weekend}.

193. Dinner by the river with my love at McMenamins North Bank.

194. the opportunities I've had to work with amazing retailers to do sponsored reviews + giveaways. It has been so fun!

195. my mom + sister for babysitting Malakai and enjoying it even though he wouldn't go to sleep for them.

196. beautiful, sunny, HOT days and taking Malakai to the park to cool off.

197. Anniversary flowers

198. that I saved clothes that were too small for me despite Oprah's advice. Now they're my only clothes that fit and I didn't have to buy a whole new super wardrobe, thankyouverymuch!

199. my husband's edit of our wedding. He did such a great job and it was so fun to watch it before bed last night.

200. Planning for Malakai's Birthday Party. Here's a peek at the invite!

What are YOU thankful for this week?