Skip to main content

54 Reasons to be Grateful

 I woke up on my birthday this week and decided I wanted it to be a day of gratitude for all the gifts God has given me. Here is my list of 54 things I'm grateful for, in no particular order.

1.  My reliable and comfortable car.

2. The garage I can park it in.


3.  Music on the radio, especially violin concertos.



4.  Camille


5.  Access to healthcare


6. Clean water to drink


7.   My sister who made a garland for Susanna's wedding with a tiny bit of help from me.


8.  The temple


9. Flowers


10. The beautiful earth


11.  This guy


12. The mountains


13. Hiking


14.  Trips with Scott



15. Someone to hike with


16. Watching paragliders



17. Fall colors


18.  Paved roads (as opposed to dirt roads)


19. Chips and salsa


20.  Singing Happy Birthday


21. Carrot cake


22.  Fitness center classes


23.  My very comfortable house


24. My chickens


25. Fresh peaches on my cereal


26.  Grandchildren









27. All Da Boyz



28. Mindy


29. Susanna


30. Daughters-in-law (and a future son-in-law whom I don't have a picture of yet)



31. My parents


32. Tomatoes from my garden


33.  Sledding in winter


34.  Family reunions

35. Visiting childhood friends


36.  Faithful ancestors



37.  Playgrounds



38.  More childhood friends


39.  Cell phones



40. Gospel Library, especially the scriptures


41. Jesus Christ


42. Sunsets

43.  Nativity sets


44.  Family dinners and games



45.  Bike rides



46.  Camping

47.  Vibrant colors



48.  Playing the organ and violin


49. Visiting the splash pad


50.  Talking to my sister


51. Grandparents


52. All my siblings and their spouses (see family reunion picture)


53.  BYU


54. Family history--the main reason I keep this blog











Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Visiting Susquehanna: The Priesthood Restoration Site

On our way home from Palmyra, we decided to go a couple of hours out of our way to visit the recently opened Priesthood Restoration Site along the Susquehanna River.  This is where we believe that Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery received the keys of the Aaronic Priesthood from John the Baptist which gave them the authority to baptize.  This site also has the restored Isaac and Elizabeth Hale home where Joseph and Emma lived for a year as well as the home where Joseph and Emma lived on their own. We spent a couple of hours there and I wouldn't have minded a few more minutes but we had a long way to go that night.  It's a beautiful setting, very much in rural Pennsylvania.  However, on the day we were there, cars at a racetrack nearby were detracting from the peace and quiet.  I'm guessing that's not as big of a problem on weekdays. The Hale Family was quite well-off for their day so their home was probably nicely decorated with wallpaper and carpet. ...

Book Review: Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper

This is a juvenile fiction book about a young girl named Melody with severe cerebral palsy.  Her body doesn't allow her to feed herself, speak, or do much at all.  She's very intelligent with a photographic memory but she can't really communicate.  Finally, in 5th grade, she gets a "Medi-Talker" which is a computer that speaks what she types in.  Finally she has a voice. This book explores what it is like to be severely physically disabled but not mentally disabled. It seems like one of the most frustrating of all scenarios.  She is completely aware of all the cruelty (subtle and otherwise) that her classmates inflict on her because they don't really want to include her in their activities.  One of the saddest moments in the book comes when she realizes that every one of her special ed classmates is kind, where the "normal" ones are not.  Who really has the worse disability? The book was a quick read and fairly enjoyable.  Wha...

Nauvoo Pageant!

I have been a negligent blogger this last month.  My reason is that we have been super busy.  At the end of July, we went to the Nauvoo Pageant.  We were able to participate once again in the Gold Cast like we did in 2007 and 2014.  We picked up our daughter at the end of her cross country camp in Price, Utah on our way out of town.  Then we drove to our friends' house in Golden, Colorado near Denver to stay the night.  It was fun to reconnect if only briefly.  The next night we were in Lawrence, Kansas, visiting my brother and sister-in-law and their family.  That was also fun but short.  We left the next morning, attending nearby church before taking off.  We arrived in Nauvoo around 4pm with just enough time to have dinner at our cabin before going to our orientation at the pageant building. The next day we went to the pageant building to get our costumes and to learn how to do our hair in the 1840 styles. ...