I hope to start a blogging tradition for myself where I share about random things that made me smile that month, on the last day of the month or beginning of the new month, regarding the previous month. So that’s what I’m doing today except I’m adding in something from last spring that totally deserves mention.

The first is that we gave my son an electric guitar for his 23rd birthday. He taught himself to play an acoustic guitar and asked for an electric one. I’m grateful that my brother-in-law who is a professional guitarist suggested we look at a pawn shop for one. I sent my husband to scout one out. He ended up finding this one above. Way less expensive than getting one brand new! So this afore-mentioned son, my 14-year-old son, and I had a hilarious jam session that day when we celebrated. I was on piano, older son on guitar, and younger son on drums. I hope to have many more times like this. I blogged about that more here, at the end of the post. It’s so wonderful to have children at home who like to make music with me as a trio. Some of my older children play the piano but they left home right as they were getting good so I haven’t had this opportunity until now that this older son is back.

My neighbor’s deck makes me smile! I just love this and want my own!

Then another neighbor let me and my girlfriend Shauna come pick from her blackberry patch. She was super nice and gave us the first pickings of the season. What made it extra special was that her home is where my favorite BYU professor of all time used to live, for decades. He is probably the one who planted these very blackberry plants. So cool! For some reason, I just still can’t get over how amazing it is that such luscious things as berries and peaches grow and are free. I may be keto but I’m not of Dr. Boz’s opinion that all fruit is evil and should be avoided the rest of my life. I do enjoy it ever so often. These blackberries are so amazing. Perfect balance of tartness and sweetness. It just feels like I’m in a paradise when I can get food from nature for free.

Of course, Shauna had a connection with my neighbor. See my neighbor above being so surprised. Shauna has some kind of connection with everyone, like one of my brothers and one of my husband’s brothers met her before I even did. Turns out that she knows my neighbor’s brother-in-law and sister-in-law! Of course!

Cousins! My nephew is going on a mission to share with people about Jesus. We got to hear him speak in church last Sunday and then go to his home afterwards for a gathering. I just love seeing cousins enjoying wholesome recreation together.

New replacement Instant Pot outside part. So last spring one of my homeschooling friends said she was giving away the outside part of an Instant Pot. She didn’t have the inner pot. It was a match made in heaven for me, because I had a perfect inner pot, but the outside part was damaged. My son tripped on a rock, when he walked off the sidewalk at the church where we had a homeschool party, carrying the Instant Pot on the right. It was dark and he dropped the old Instant Pot, causing it to bend. I just hate it when dumb random things like this happen that damage things I use everyday. I didn’t want to have to buy a new one, and I hated that to make the thing level I had to prop it up with an upside down measuring cup. Problem solved! God came to my rescue, inspiring my friend to offer it to her homeschooling friends. Hooray!

Grand Canyon hike for my 14-year-old son with his church group of other young men. This is him with his backpack on. I’m so thrilled that he did the 30 miles in 3 days. Some day I want to do that! (Not anytime soon LOL!)

For the Strength of Youth Conference at BYU-Provo. Here’s the same son shown above walking to check in. He got to to go to the Grand Canyon last week and now FSY this week. When I was young I always wanted to go to a youth conference at BYU but never did. It just wasn’t on my parents’ radar and I never felt like I could ask because it was so expensive. They were called Especially for Youth (EFY), but now are called FSY. He got to go last year and so did his sister. I’m so happy he got to go again this year. At first it was going to be at Snow College. I’m super happy that a spot opened up for one of he Provo ones so I could transfer his enrollment. Now I don’t have to drive to Ephraim twice in one week. Whew!

Fun new thrifting treasures! A little puzzle book for me and games for my grandchildren for my upcoming summer vacation to the East Coast. I’m so excited for this trip! I finally get to see my sister and her family who live in Maine. Plus a sister-in-law who lives in New York City. I’ve always wanted the Jane Austen for Dummies book. I checked it out from the library once and never finished it. Now I own it forever and it was only $2! The tiny Jane Austen book is a lined journal with cute illustrations, completely blank, for only 75 cents! The Paw Patrol stuff is for my little grandson so I can use them with him on our trip. He loves Paw Patrol. Then I found more goodies for the trip below. A little Magna Doodle tablet, Swish Jr. card game, Spot It card game, a Disney memory match card game, and a puzzle book for the 14 year old and me. These will keep us all entertained while taking the plane, subway, and bus on our trip.

The Rodeo! The last time I went to a rode was 1980. This was only my second one. My about to turn 20 year old asked for this for his birthday, for us to go as a family. He said it was the best birthday present ever. We did it early because some of us will be gone to Maine when his actual birthday happens. It was so fun to get in touch with my inner cowgirl. I am so impressed by the athleticism of the these rodeo players. My favorite event was these young ladies riding the horses standing up, going through hoops of fire. So phenomenal!

There’s more stuff. See the books below that I finished reading. Plus other things like my 35 year high school reunion where I found out one of my classmates lives just two blocks from me, LEMI Pyramid Project training, and Sunday dinner with my brother who lives far away and was visiting. Blessings abound!