Puzzles

This one was kind of hard!  It was 1000 pieces.  (I don't do the really, really hard ones with extra pieces, or pieces that all fit together no matter what and you have to find the right spot for them some other way).

I am thankful for puzzles.  I can become a little obsessed with them once I've started them, but I have really appreciated having puzzles to do in the last little while.  Both of the ones I have worked on lately belong to Jake and he worked on them with me.  I like that puzzles give me something I can do with Jake, and I like that they give me something to do when I don't want to do any of my projects.  Puzzles could be an unfortunate stalling technique, but they have sometimes been a much appreciated stress reliever!

This one is only 500 pieces and some of the pieces are really weirdly shaped, which actually may have made it easier to do.  It was a fun one.  It's hard to see, but the T-Rex is holding a knife and fork.  Apparently he's a civilized T-Rex?

The point is, that puzzles have been a blessing, and I have the next one ready to go!

Happy 33rd Anniversary to Derek and Me!

 Our anniversary is in May like Derek's birthday and, like Derek's birthday, it has already passed by.  It was on the 11th.  We celebrated on Friday afternoon and enjoyed eating lunch in the car, going to the conservation garden in West Jordan.  We then went a few other random places and out to eat.  I love my dates with Derek!

We found a trail to hike on somewhere.  It was my favorite part of our adventure.

Derek and I are standing on the bridge below when I took this picture.  It's just a little hard to tell and the bridge was over a dry river bed.

Did you know that it's kind of hard to find cacti to buy that are like these that will grow outside in our part of Utah?  There are plenty we can grow indoors but it's a little more rare to find these.

This is a little over 28 years ago with our first two girls.  
Time really goes by quickly.

Mother's Day 2021

 

Flowers from Derek.
These were some truly beautiful roses!

Derek got me some flowers for outside in my pot too, and my children always treat me very well.  I am thankful to be a Mom!  

This Mother's Day I was particularly thankful for both Derek's Mom and Mine who provided much needed listening ears to help me when I needed it.  Life throws unexpected curveballs at us sometimes and I am thankful that both Moms were available to talk to!  

I know people who have not been able to have children who still do a lot of mothering and who have made a difference in my own life and the lives of my children.  I hope they had a happy Mother's Day too.

Derek Was Born in May

 And we celebrated!  Derek is awesome.  

I decided to let you see my ridiculous artwork.  I am not really much of an artist, but I had fun drawing on Derek's present!  Derek called this a dinosaur with birth defects -- but hey he's a happy dinosaur!

It's possible that Dan thought this was an exploding log.  In case that's what you think, I'll just tell you that it is quite obviously a volcano :-)

If this isn't obviously a plant and a little piece of sun to you, then it's okay if you make up your own explanation of what I drew.  Just one more side after this.

I was asked if the stick people represented Derek and me.  Not really, I just felt like drawing stick people who were wearing hats!

I guess you can tell how old Derek is turning!  He is now old enough to live in a 55 and older neighborhood!

Derek's birthday is on Cinco de Mayo (May 5) and it's been a while since then.  We obviously did something, but I'm afraid I'm a little vague on what we did!  I think we had his birthday dinner on Sunday, and I took these pictures on his actual birthday.  I got fun plates and then we didn't really eat what I had planned and everyone just had whatever they wanted.  He didn't even get dessert.  The candles are stuck in frosting.  Maybe I'll make his more traditional birthday dessert when it's a hot day.  Homemade peach ice cream is best eaten on a warm day -- in my opinion -- but we'll eat it any day really.

I am super thankful for Derek who has a great sense of humor and who works really hard and taking care of his family in all of the ways he can.  We all love him!

Reacting With Gratitude Not Guilt

Saturday morning I slept in, and even when I woke up late I did not want to get up and face the day.  There are so many projects to do, and they all sounded hard, and staying in bed sounded easy and comfortable.  Maybe I could hide from my projects and challenges by hiding under the covers?

Derek eventually came in to check on me.  He had gotten up earlier when Teddy was crying outside.  I could see that he had already been working on one of our projects.  He went back out and back to work and I dragged myself out of bed and got moving.  My day wasn't entirely useless.  I did accomplish a few things.  It is just that Derek ended up doing a LOT more of the things we had talked about doing the day before.

Did I react with gratitude?  Sadly -- though I was grateful -- the reigning feeling was guilt.  I "should" have been up helping.  I "should" have painted shelves with Derek, or helped get the desk ready to paint, or paint the mirror frames.  Derek works so hard all week, and I was sure I had just let him down.  I was sorry.

On Sunday it dawned on me that Derek, who is always impressively good at helping, and getting things done, did not do what he did to produce guilt.  He would have appreciated my gratitude so much more!  He made progress on projects that have been stalled for months!  He did things that I really did not want to do.

I am thankful to have been reminded again that it is better to react with gratitude and not with guilt!