Living the Kiwi Life: Five on Friday--11/29/13

I'm sure I'm not the only one who will be doing a Thanksgiving-themed post this week, but being so far away from friends and family, I could think of nothing more that I wanted to write about than how thankful I am for all of the blessings in my life. Starting off by being thankful to link up with Darci, April,Christina, & Natasha again this week!

{ONE: MY HUSBAND} My husband is one amazing human being and I'm sure if you know him, you would agree with me. He always makes me laugh and loves to act goofy and he accepts me for all my crazy and weirdness...which is no small feat some days! He is so driven and motivated and so much fun to spend each and every day with. I can't wait to see what 2014 has in store for us!

{TWO: MY FAMILY} Again, for those of you who know my parents and my sister, there isn't much that needs to be said except that they are simply the best. I feel so incredibly blessed that I got stuck with these characters and can't believe I'm going on 28 years of living and loving with them. My parents are my best friends and have never once disappointed me in any capacity. They are so selfless and giving and thoughtful and if you remember my Facebook post from a few months ago, you'll know that I desperately hope to grow up to be just like them. In addition, having a crazy, goofy sister who is also beautiful and smart and talented...well, that's just icing on the cake! It's ok...you can be jealous ;)

{THREE: MY INHERITED FAMILY} I've always wanted to be part of a big, loud, loving family and when I married Drew I got exactly that! Of course, as irony would have it, the one long-distance sibling & spouse moved to Raleigh the week before we moved to New Zealand! Even though there are many, many miles between us and the rest of the family at the moment, we have enjoyed numerous Skype dates over the past 16 months. It has been so incredible to get to claim this amazing family as my own for the past 4 years (man, time really does fly by) and I can't wait to be back in the States so we can spend lots more time together!

The Peters clan in all our glory

{FOUR: FRIENDS, NEAR & FAR} Even though our friends seem to be spread out all over the world, I can very confidently say that we have some of the best friends known to mankind. Drew & I have collected friendships throughout the years and have had so much fun watching those friendships grow & develop. We greatly appreciate all of the wonderful people who wished us well, sent us on our way last year, & have missed us over the past year. In addition, we made some amazing, lifelong friends during our time and New Zealand. My one wish is that everyone we love dearly would move to North Carolina sometime within the next year so we can all hang out all the time!

{FIVE: ALL THE THINGS THAT MAKE ME HAPPY} I know that seems like a very broad thing to be thankful for, but there are so many things that make me happy on a daily basis that they deserve to be on my list today. To start with, is this picture of my dog...a Chihuahua...who should never weigh more than about 8 pounds and is currently twice that much...and who happens to resemble the turkey that my family had for Thanksgiving yesterday...