Alli has been posting regularly over the past month about what she is thankful for every day. Last year, I took the opportunity to do the same thing, but I listed one thing each day. It was a wonderful exercise and I enjoyed it a lot. This year, I haven’t managed to post everyday like I did, but I am by no means any less thankful.

Just want to share some of what I’m thankful for today:

• I’m thankful first and foremost for my lovely wife Alli who makes my life complete. Plus, she started my fan club.
• I’m thankful for my loving and understanding parents who set a terrific example. 
• I’m thankful to have a brother who is my best friend outside of my wife. 
• I’m thankful for Alli’s family, who have accepted and loved me as a son and brother.
• I’m thankful for Kelly and Ireland, the newest members of our family. Love you guys!
• I’m thankful for my wonderful dog, even if he constantly licks and chews his feet.
• I’m thankful for a great group of friends that I’ve grown up with and acquired along the way.
• I’m thankful to have a home that I love being in and a great job.
• I’m thankful for the cool fall weather and the evening dusting of snow.
• I’m thankful for having teams to root for in the fall - Rock Chalk and Go Chiefs! 
• I’m thankful that Alli and I got to take a dream trip to Paris and Italy this summer.
• I’m thankful to have a great church family that I enjoy worshipping with every Sunday.
• I’m thankful for the thorns in my life that remind me through tears the colors of God’s rainbow are more brilliant.

Happy Thanksgiving.
Love, Shane

It was fun though…and it was the most regular posting that I have done on here in a really long time. As a review, here’s the stuff I was thankful for this month:

Free Stuff, Days Off, Alli, My Company, Chili, Burritos, My Computer, DVR, Fall, TV Shows on DVD, My Music and my iPod, My Dog, Technology, Our House, JJ Abrams, Good Books, My Friends, My Family, “Friends” (the TV Show), The Chiefs, Freedom, My Church, Thanksgiving, Lazy Days, My Camera, Life, My City, and Alli (Take 2).

So the project is over…Alli had the idea to maybe do something for the month of December where I reviewed a new Christmas movie every day…I like the idea, I don’t know if I could watch and post every day. Might be kind of difficult. I haven’t decided if I’ll give it a shot yet or not, but keep your eye on here…there’s a possibility I might move this site soon. Stay tuned.

Her business is starting to pick up and I’m very excited that she is doing exactly what she wants to do with her life. She’s also beautiful and she’s my best friend. I’m so thankful that I get to go through life with her.

I lived in Iowa from the ages of 1 – 4 years old (and also during college, sort of), but outside of that, I have always lived in the KC area. When Alli and I got married, we moved into an apartment in the suburb of Lenexa, then got a house in 2001 in Olathe.

Suburban sprawl runs rampant in Kansas City. Unfortunately, the metro is so geographically large that it is difficult for the city leaders to develop an identity because everyone lives outside of Kansas City proper.

However, that suburban sprawl does not prevent a fierce loyalty to our sports teams, particularly the Chiefs. In addition, there is an intense movement to revive the downtown area right now and I am hopeful that it is successful because I would like to see Kansas City return to its status as one of the premier cities in the country.

One of the things that I have always loved about the city is that it has all the amenities of a large metropolis, but the attitudes of the people are significantly less harsh.

Not only that, but we also have WINTER.

I’m a big “changing seasons” kind of guy. I couldn’t live on a coast where the weather is always the same. It snowed today in Kansas City and it was glorious.

So I’m thankful for where I live.

It sounds corny. It’s a corny thing to be thankful for. But this evening, I’m very thankful for it.

Tonight, we went to see RENT. I’ve been looking forward to this movie since I first saw the trailer, but as it approached the release date, I became more and more skeptical. Would a film be able to capture the incredible lyrics and music of the late Jonathan Larson?

Alli and I first saw the musical in 1998 (or was it ‘97?) in Des Moines at the Civic Center. The musical was touring and we had seen lots of advertisements for it in our small Iowa town where we were attending college. We had a couple of friends who had seen it and highly recommended it, so I got us tickets and we went to “the theater”.

I was so taken by the story and the musical that I went out and bought the soundtrack. Alli got sick of me listening to it over and over again.

It’s weird. I can’t figure out what it is that makes me identify with this story so much. I’ve never been a starving artist like the characters in the movie and I’ve never been diagnosed, nor have I known anyone who was diagnosed with HIV. But this story rings true to me because the characters in it are real and they are dealing with real issues and real life. RENT captures the early ’90s extremely well (as I remember them) even though the musical did not reach the stage until 1996.

What makes this story resonate so much is that the main characters create a family that is non-traditional, but functions as a support group and I think that everyone looks for something like that in their life. I’m fortunate enough to have that familial support in my life. Not only that, but I’m so thankful to have a life as blessed as mine is.

RENT is about finding life and love amidst the chaos of life and love. It’s about struggling to find the one thing that makes everything worthwhile through it all. That thing may be different for others, but for me, it’s love. And I am truly thankful for that.

I haven’t been using it very much in the past couple months, but we’ve gotten a lot of use out of it recently. We have some great Thanksgiving photos, like this one of my brother doing a spinning jumping kick for no reason:

Or this one of two of my cousins, Hunter and Carly:

Or this one of everyone who was at my parents’ house:

But what is especially great about digital cameras is that you can take random strange pictures, like the one below and you can keep them as long as you have room on your computer.

I took my family on a tour of my new building at work today and we brought the camera along to remember some of the best moments. Like this great picture of Alli and Ashley coming down the slide:

I love my camera and I really enjoy taking pictures. I wish I had more time to spend with photography because I think if I wasn’t a graphic designer, I would like to probably do that for a living. I always thought that being an Associated Press photojournalist would be a totally sweet job.

For now, I will just be thankful that I have a nice camera to take day-to-day photos with.

Her family is in town for the holiday weekend, but they were off at the car dealership all day with my sister-in-law picking up her new car (congratulations Ashley!). Since they were there much longer than they expected, Alli and I got to chill out and relax longer than we had planned.

And that was fine by me.

We caught up on The Apprentice episodes (bye bye Adam) that we missed last night, as well as Joey (Thanksgiving episode just not as funny without the rest of the Friends) and My Name is Earl (getting better as the season goes on, but still needs some work). Later, we watched 2 rented movies, Kingdom of Heaven (terrific flick) and Millions (odd British film that wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t great).

Overall…it was a great day of being lazy. That’s what the day after Thanksgiving is all about…laziness.

Okay, that’s a big part of it, but it really isn’t why I’m thankful for this day. I’m thankful today because I get to spend the day with my family, including my dad, who has been overseas for the past 6 weeks on business.

I’m also looking forward to the after-meal time of fellowship, games, and laziness that always seems to accompany this holiday.

But I’m thankful for turkey, too.

When I was young, I forged friendships and relationships in that congregation that are still strong today and my family has been warmly accepted as a member of that church.

Alli and I had the opportunity to plan the Thanksgiving Eve service this evening and we were so thankful for the turnout and support that we received. It was a great experience for us in planning the service, but I really believe that the service was a good experience for all. I’m so thankful that we have a place where we can worship and that, in this country, we are free to worship as we feel best.

Today, I’m thankful not only for the freedom that we are provided in this country, but those who fight for that freedom every day overseas. Turmoil surrounds us and we oftentimes forget that there are people all over the world that are in the center of that turmoil, struggling to make sure that our interests and our freedom is protected.

I’m also thankful that we have been so blessed as to allow Alli the freedom to pursue her dream as an artist. It’s not always easy, but I have to say that it has been a blessing on both of us for her to be able to pursue her dream full time.

I’m thankful that we have that freedom and that she can do that.