Oh So Thankful

Today I took a nice long bike ride after I taught some lessons. I just needed to get out, and my escape lately has been bike rides. So, I put some veggies into the crockpot to turn into a delicious soup (I just ate it, and it was good) and took off. As I was riding up the street from my house over to the mouth of the canyon I kept just catching whiffs of grapes....grapes, in the backyard, falling off the vines grapes.....grapes that are ready to be cooked down and turned into quarts and quarts of grape juice grapes. I could picture my mom with her apron on just canning away. I only hope that someday I have a small percentage of her domesticity. I keep thinking that maybe it is because I don't have a yard but lets be honest, I do have a kitchen and I could go out and buy grapes or peaches or apples or whatever it is that I want to put away. I can do jam, but that is where my domestic side stops. Oh ya, and I did make a delicious batch of chocolate chip cookies. . . . not to mention that great soup that I just finished. Maybe I am a natural after all.

Back to the purpose of my post. As I was finishing my ride and was coming back down the canyon I was filled with gratitude for my senses. I am so grateful I can smell the grapes that are waiting to be harvested in other people's yards, and the smell of that crisp Utah fall air. I will never take for granted that I can hear sprinklers, and little kids laughing on their scooters out on their walk for Family Home Evening as they bolt away from their parents. My eyesight so that I could come to a screeching halt before the person whose eyesight is obviously not as keen as mine almost hit me. . . well that but more that I could see the sun making its descent behind the mountains and bridal veil falls and just the beginnings of the leaves changing color. My sense of touch so that I could feel my dads arms wrapped around me when he came over to visit last night and said goodbye and gave me a hug. My sense of taste that I can enjoy not only the company of others but share good food and laughter at the same time.

Honestly, I am so thankful and I just hummed this little primary song to myself along my descent back down 400 North to my little home. So, sing yourself this little song and think of all the things that you are grateful for that Heavenly Father has given you!

Whenever I hear the song of the bird or look at the blue, blue sky, whenever I feel the rain on my face or the wind as it rushes by, whenever I touch the velvet rose or walk by a lilac tree, I'm glad that I live in this beautiful world Heavenly Father created for me.

He gave me my eyes that I might see the color of butterfly wings. He gave me my ears that I might hear the magical sound of things. He gave me life, my mind, my heart: I thank Him reverently for all His creations, of which I'm apart. Yes, I know Heavenly Father loves me.