This week I had the pleasure of doing something I am not sure if I have done since I was a very young child, if even then. I worked on a puzzle with my mom and my brother! It was so much fun too. We all had a great time working on it together.

I selected this image specifically because of the type of dogs represented. Each of these cuties looks very similar to a dog one or more of my family members had over the years or one that belonged to a good family friend.

Starting with the Australian Shepard on the top — we had a similar looking dog when I was a very young child named Sherri. She was a mix, and didnt look exactly like this dog but remove the white in the face and they look pretty similar.

On the second row starting at the far left is my favorite breed of all — a Boston Bull Terrier. My most favorite pets we had were two spoiled rotten and adorable Bostons named Mandee Sue and Misty Moo. They were mother and daughter though we got the daughter before getting the mom when she was about 5 years old and had had more than her fair share of puppies. Both of these girls were the sweetest dogs ever and with so much personality they were always fun to be around. I still miss them so much — over 15 years later. ??

Next to the Boston is one of the sweetest and most gentle breeds I have ever known — a Golden Retreiver. My brother has had two of these gorgeous and oh so gentle companions. He and his wife got Kaya early on in their relationship and they loved her to pieces. Now, many years later they have another beautiful goldie named Luna after Luna Lovegood in the Harry Potter series. Her fur was more white than gold when she was a puppy and she is as cute as she can be.

The sweet dog that is front and center in the picture reminds me so much of a poodle / pomeranian I had growing up. Her name was Sissy and she was soo sweet. This dog looks a LOT like her.

Next is a big Bassett Hound. We never had a Bassett, its not one of my favorite breeds, but we took care of one for a short period of time for some friends of ours. We nicknamed him “One Way” because he would only walk in one forward direction and you would literally have to pick him up and turn him around to go in a new direction. It was the funniest thing. We don’t know if he had a hard time seeing or was just born at the shallow end of the gene pool, but regardless we still have fond memories of dog sitting One Way.

Last but certainly not least is the Jack Russell Terrier at the end. This one is quite cute and did remind us of a Jack Russell my brother had for a short while. He was a very hyper and destructive dog. He gnawed on my brother’s stairs in his brand new house one too many times and he ended up giving him away to another family who stayed at home more and could keep the nutty mutt from being too destructive.

So as you can see, each of these dogs brought up great memories for the three of us as we assembled and we had a blast re-counting stories of each of them as we worked.

My mom loved the puzzle so much she immediately said she thought it would look great in her apartment. ?? Unfortunately, it was a bit too big once assembled to fit in her suitcase. So we compromised and I took the poster that came with the puzzle over to Hobby Lobby, had it dry mounted to foam board and framed. It was about a third the size of the puzzle and fit perfectly in her suitcase. All that’s left now is for my brother to hang it up for her and send me a pic.