Filled With Joy

I walk every morning with friends. This year I found a $100 on the ground and put it on the mailbox that it was nearest. (Wish I had seen their faces.) Yesterday I found a dollar. Today, I found all this change along the way. It is enough money for a SodaVine. I almost feel like I am being paid to walk. Not really. I love the time in the morning when the air is cool and my friends are fun. This is about my sixteenth year of walking with friends. The friends have changed but the friendships don't. Good friends, even when you are all nearing 50 (except Cristy) are a joy!

It is nearing harvest season. I find it to be beautiful and sad all at the same time. The green and gold of the fields is one of the things I love about living here. It brings me peace. But, the gold means it is almost time to harvest, and harvest leads to autumn, and autumn leads to winter. There is a sad thought. But, today, looking over this field (we don't know what it is) toward the Tetons helped me feel that joy I have come to love from rural Idaho.

Home again. Home again. Jiggedy jig. Our house is kind of old and needs a lot of updating. However, it is a good place filled with mostly happy people. It is a place of love and laughter. I'm grateful to be back home. There is always work to be done here. Today was additions to the bouquet - adding more color. It turned out great. McKenna loves it. I found joy at home today.

What a treasure it has been to spend the last four days with these girls. We survived, actually did great, on our own, and have become better friends. After landing in Salt Lake, we picked up Katy and Kennedi who had taken a shuttle bus down yesterday. It was great having all the girls together. We even were able to meet up with Collin at an exit as he was headed to Price for a week. Family is everything. Not everything is perfect in our family, far from it. But, there is joy knowing we want to be together. That makes my heart happy.

We look so happy because we are in one of our favorite places in the world - Chicago! Today we drove from Detorit, visited a surgical museum, natural history museum, returned the rental car, checked into the hotel, took our first Uber ride back into the city, walked around downtown parks, took lots of pictures, laughed, ate donuts, and ended the night with an Uber ride back out to the hotel near the airport. We are tired! Joy comes when we build memories together.

Sharing one of the places I love in the world with Adri brought me so much joy today. Years ago, Trent had a conference in Detroit so I went to The Henry Ford in Dearborn, MI by myself. I thought it was amazing. Today, Adri and I went and I loved it even more - especially The Rouge Factory tour. I highly recommend it. The picture is of the green roof that has helped clean out the air near the factory. Making a greener world always brings joy!

Detroit. I think it is beautiful. I was exhausted after driving late last night and then early this morning. We found a nice park where I could take a little power nap; we could watch a kickball tournament; and get introduced to black squirrels. There was so much joy under the shade of that tree.

McKenna, Adri, and I are headed to Detroit and Chicago. This is the first time I have done anything is the "city" type world without Trent. We will be driving from Chicago to Detroit and then back to Chicago. McKenna is going to a wedding and Adri is excited to see her people and places. Today I was grateful to know that I would be able to find my airport parking spot because I took a picture. Getting right to your car, without walking the aisles, is a reason to be filled with joy.

Raspberry season has officially begun. I almost had to use two hands. I probably could have used two if I hadn't eaten so many. I love raspberry season. It makes me happy and the raspberries bring me joy because I haven't killed them yet. Poor Trent is going to have to pick them while I am out of town. They will really come on by Thursday.

Today I played chaperone for the girls and a couple friends as they biked through the Warm River area. Biking downhill is the best. While I waited for them to reach the bottom, I sat in my camp chair, in the river (propped on four perfectly placed rocks), with my feet dangling into the cool water. I read my book and enjoyed the 93 degree weather. It was heaven. I'm sure I looked strange, but I was very content.

Thirty years!!! That seems like a long time but it isn't. It has gone by so fast. I'm so in love with this man who chose to let me go along with him on his life journey. I was telling that to the squirrel that was talking to me above my hammock today. It seemed like we were literally having a conversation. He chattered and chattered while looking at me and then stopped. I chatted back to him. He chattered back to me. It went on for a few seconds and then he got bored with the conversation and moved on. Joy in nature!

Tomorrow is our 30th anniversary. Thirty years of joy with that wonderful man. He has helped me grow in many ways - especially confidence. Because of Trent, I have the courage to do most anything I think I want. He encourages me to do it all. He is my best friend, my rock, my north star, my confidante, my boost, my encyclopedia of all knowledge, and the greatest blessing of my life. We spent the evening together eating Subway sandwiches at a picnic spot overlooking one of my favorite rivers. It was perfect!

Sometimes I like to just stare into a blue sky and think about nothing but the sound of a breeze (or wind as we seem to have) rustle through the quakies in our backyard. It is very close to the same feeling I get while lying in a beach listening to the waves crash against the beach. I feel so much peace during those times. Peace brings me joy.

When something works out that you didn’t expect to - JOY! This guest sign in for the reception will be fun. It was even less difficult than I expected.

Buddy is feeling well enough to go for a walk. He sniffed everything and played in the water. Seeing him so happy filled me with joy. We love this old rickety dog!

Today we laid sod at my parents. Lots of people, working together, made for light (not really, it is heavy stuff) and fun work. The sod looks wonderful and my parents are happy. Working together brings joy.

During the summer I try to read books from the Library. Our little library is wonderful and newly expanded. I enjoy my walk to and from the Library. I could spend ours in their soft chairs reading the inside covers of books. I love seeing my students checking out books each time I go. I love chatting with the ladies that work there. It truly is a happy place. There is much joy in our little library.

Sunday. I love Sunday because it is so chill. Today I spent two lovely hours just sleeping and swaying in my hammock. It could have been more if not for the sprinkler that started spraying me. It was perfect weather for me (very warm). I also loved my time at the JCC. There were four kids going home and two kids with birthdays. To celebrate these then we let them choose their songs to sing. It is such a small but simple gift to give them. They LOVE it. Singing time is pure joy. I hope I never forget the sound of singing at the JCC.

I missed an entire week. I have been so busy getting ready for the wedding that I totally spaced the blog. I can't even go back to write because I can't remember what I did. But, it was a good week with every day filled with joy. When we start looking for good things in our lives it becomes a habit. At least it has for me. I sometimes forget to take a picture. Here are a few, however. 1. Took down the broken fence between our house and the neighbors. We have GREAT neighbors. If we didn't have dogs then we would keep it down. New one coming soon. Good neighbors are a source of joy. 2. All the wedding announcements are addressed, stamped, and sent. Accomplishing a big job is a source of joy. 3. Finally found a dress for the wedding - probably. You can't really tell because you never know what color it really is from the online pictures. This has caused me a lot of undue stress. It is easier to find joy when you have had a good night's sleep. 4. The weddin...

The garage has always been a source of stress and continual mess. It makes me crazy. We have to store bikes, kayaks, tools, decorations, and all kinds of other things that come in a garage. But, with that storage comes chaos. Today I cleaned it all out, threw away so many things that have been taking up space, and gave away many items that were good but not needed. It isn't perfect, but it is much better than before. I felt so much relief. I find a lot of joy in organization and cleanliness.

Joy in living in the beautiful country and being free to enjoy it. The USA is certainly not perfect and is going through some major turmoil and divisiveness at the moment. But, it is still a good place to be. Also, great joy in sitting in the backyard have a great conversation and doing some wedding planning. That has helped my stress level. Also, I found this giant dandelion fluff ball in the raspberries. It is quite beautiful!

I've worked so hard the last few days, and exercised twice each day - with weight-lifting. My body is tired. I was grateful to get my work done today (more weeding, mowing, cleaning) so I could sit down to read again. I found another quote I want to remember. I find great joy in teaching. I do think that teachers can be heroes in the lives of students and I try to be that for each of them. That is why I like it so much. It certainly isn't for the money and definitely not for the praise from our country's lawmakers. It is because I want to be a positive influence in the lives of "my kids." That is where the joy in teaching comes.

Made it to the library. I'm reading a new book. It is called Heroes Among Us  by John Quinones. I really like him anyway, but this book is the cherry on top. I highly recommend it. It is so positive and uplifting. Each page is full of joy. Throughout there are various quotes from people. Today I really like this one from Arthur Ashe.

July! How can it be July already? Seems like I forgot to appreciate June enough. Today I was grateful to get back into my normal routine which is pretty laid back. I worked in the garden, water the grass well, and cleaned the house. I love all these things. The greatest joy of the day was when I turned on the outside faucet and it didn't leak anymore (only when the water is on - not when it is off). It has been leaking for years, but we have delayed fixing it because we knew it was going to be a major overhaul including ripping out drywall inside the house. While we were gone, our neighbor tightened a little thing on the faucet and TA-DA it was fixed! We love our neighbors!!!