2011, a year worthy of Gratitude

So I'm juggling writing out thank-you notes and blogging about my Hawaii trip (stay tuned), but I know everyone blogs and talks about their year on New Year's Eve, so I wanted to do the same.
2011 was probably the best year of my life. For some obvious reasons, I have the best friends and family around, and now I have the best husband ever! I could write for forever about all the mushy gushy feelings I have for Brandon, butttttt I'll spare everyone. I am just so grateful for everything that has happened this year, and have really tried to count my blessings this year. Just looking around my apartment has reminded me of how blessed I am. Out of all of our possessions in our apartment, we only owned probably 5% before we got married. That is why I'm trying so hard to keep up on the thank you notes (I have about 15 to send out when the post office decides to kindly open up and let me buy stamps); I really feel so blessed by all of our gifts that we received.
I am also so grateful for Brandon's job. I complain about it ALL THE TIME, but we would have had to take out major loans without him sacrificing his weekends to work for us. It's one of those jobs that in 15 years we will look at and think "Hmm, remember that one time...? Yeah thank goodness we don't have to deal with THAT anymore."
My trip to Hawaii made me so grateful for all that my parents do for me (and now Brandon). I remember telling my parents that they were SO CHEAP when Alyse and I were in high school, because I wanted a cell phone and a laptop and a new car like all of my friends. The thought of that now makes me cringe. As a newly married and slightly poor person, I know now why my parents saved so much and did not give us everything that we may have wanted as temperamental teenagers. I know my mom's laughing while reading this.......
Brandon and I have our futures mapped out (until graduation), and I am so grateful for our school that we go to. People complain about BYU-Idaho all the time, and it's a quirky little place. But for the price of tuition that we get, it is so great. I complain about the winter all the time, but I am so grateful for this school and I'm sure I will miss it when we leave. Not enough to come back though. I will definitely miss my friends that I've made, and hope to keep many of them throughout my life.
Pretty much, I just wanted to say that I am so grateful for my life that I have right now... it is such a blessed life, and I wouldn't want it any other way.