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

Hansen Family Reunion 2026, Wednesday and Thursday

We had another Hansen Family Reunion at Bear Lake! In total, there were 93 of us there with 11 missing--our biggest yet! We enjoyed seeing everyone and catching up a little bit. Here are some pictures. My goal was to get a picture of everyone, so if you don't see a picture of yourself, keep scrolling. Also, more individuals coming on the post for Friday. Sorry for the weird angles on some of them. Michelle made dinner the first night, chicken and vegetables with Michelle's specialty--lots of sides and plenty of leftovers. After dinner and clean-up, we had a FHE lesson outside on the lawn with Melanie in charge of the lesson after a few raucous songs. The newest addition to the family, #103. On Thursday morning, Kent and Melanie chaired breakfast with eggs and sausage and plenty for everyone. The cook with his breakfast sandwich: After breakfast, some of the group went rock-climbing, courtesy of Everett, David, and Susanna while more people went on a hike--the Limber Pine Hike....

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. ...

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. ...

Search This Blog