February 2017

So happy to report that things are all back to normal at the Lund house.   We are back in full swing, back on our routine.

The first thing that I need to report on is my primary class.  I had three very difficult weeks in a row.  And I was so upset about it.  The third week I managed to make it to the car before I burst into tears.  I cried at the dinner table for an hour and then I called the Primary President.  I told her that I didn't want to be wimpy, but I could not handle them another week.  She agreed that they were by far the most difficult class in the whole primary and that I was in no way wimpy and then she apologized to me.  And promised that she would fix it.  She told me that she knew it would be a challenging class, but she hoped that because they were a year older, they would be better.  She knew that it was too much for one female teacher.  The last week in February,  I moved to my new class .... the darling, reverent, well behaved, smart, respectful and enjoyable 6 year olds.  What a night and day difference.  You can't tell from this picture but for 10 minutes you could have heard a pin drop while they colored.  They say the cutest things.  Complete Joy.

P.S. That is KK in the silver dress and she is the only girl.  It doesn't bother her though as long as Lincoln is in her class.  

We started off our month with the Not-So-Super-Bowl.   We had a party even though,  we really didn't watch the game or care two hoots about it for that matter.  I don't even recall watching the commercials.   The food at our party was so delicious.  I do remember that part.

I remember that I wore this freakin' awesome shirt

I remember that I sat by this good looking kid

I remember my sister's whole family showed up wearing Vikings apparel.

Peyton decided that she wanted to buy a Good Mythical Morning Hat.  She asked me to see if they had it on Amazon.  They did, but it had to come to the US on a slow boat from China.  She gave me $7.50, which was half of her allowance money that she had been saving.  I told her that the delivery date was Valentines Day, which meant that she would have to wait for 3 weeks.  She wanted to.  So we ordered it.  3 weeks is a very long time for a 7 year old.  She tracked her hat every night.  She watched it's "pro-gress".   She was so happy when it finally arrived.  This was such a great lesson in delayed gratification and patience. Not to mention,  learning the value of saving your money for something that means something to you, verses blowing it on candy at Maverick.    I was really proud of her.  She takes good care of it too.

The Lund Twins....  for now

Valentines Day literally snuck up on us.   I am not a huge fan of the day...  I have several unpleasant memories around it.  So, I don't believe in celebrating it so much.  I specifically ask Raleigh not to buy me anything.  This is because he treats me like it's February 14th every single day.  There hasn't been a day in 11 years that he hasn't told me and shown me that he loves me.   I don't need him to go the extra mile on Valentine's Day.  I don't want him to spend his money on a silly gift, when what I really want him to do is just come home and sit by me.  Which he did.  Sometimes he WILL buy me a super funny card about sex.  But that is all I truly need.

However.....

Parker somehow, some way, ordered flowers all the way from South Africa and they arrived at 4:30.  And Morgan (who had planned to celebrate "National Single Awareness Day"  in her room with a half gallon of ice cream) instead cried a lot of happy tears and literally floated around the house for the next two days.   That Parker....  what a guy.  Her card says  "Happy Valentines Day, Mokee"

Raleigh is training for another Spartan Race.  He has been steadily increasing his running distance in the gym, but he needed to work on it in the rugged outdoor elements.   He found a very rugged, steep hill and asked me if I would run it with him.  Well, that is simply not possible for me....  SEVEN babies later.  Anyone who has had multiple children will understand.   (Like, one time, I tried to jump on the tramp and it didn't go well at all).  Unfortunately for me, I can't even blink without tragic results.  So, I opted to walk briskly behind him.  I was breathing heavily and my lungs were burning from the cold air when I caught up to him.

 And the scenery was lovely from that high up.

Can we pause for a moment to appreciate the giganticness of my messy bun....

When you have long, extraordinarily thick hair, you get this.

And I do....  4 days a week

Our family got HIT with bronchitis.  Kaleigh started it and gave it to Allie, who passed it to Morgan (who got the worst case), she passed it to Raleigh, he passed it to Ryker,  Ryker passed it back to KK and she passed it back to him.  We are so exhausted.  Medicine was given every 4 hours for three solid weeks.   We all slept horribly and there was so much coughing that we nearly went insane.  We hope we got it all out of our systems for the whole year.  

 Russ won a contest at work and he and Kori and their kids took a vacation to Costa Rica.  First of all, let me try to convey the enormity of that.  Kori only has the use of half of her body essentially.  She is getting so much stronger and more independent every day, but to take a trip to a foreign country is SO BRAVE.  While they were gone, we took advantage of a little opportunity do some service and we cleaned their house.  And we had a good time doing it too.  Even though we couldn't talk/hear each other every time Kami turned on the vacuum,  and there was NO heat and so we were freezing.....  and the water was off.....  It was still a really fun.

 Quincey comes over every two weeks and cuts everybody's hair.  It is the coolest thing.  This night was Ryker's turn.  He was thrilled about it.

 I think this picture is so adorable.  

A few additional events that happened this month: The Zullos came to town and went to church with us and hung out for a few hours for Sunday Dinner.  Our kids are always so excited when "The Zullo Cousins" come to play.  We didn't take a picture of that.

We had several Friday Night Restaurants that are not pictured but were so fun.  Our new favorite is Bishops.  Peyton says we have to go there EVERY Friday Night and we don't disagree because we can feed the entire family the most delicious breakfasts foods for dinner for under $30.  Plus, they don't care how you look when you go there.  Last weekend we all went in our pajamas.  No one in the whole place thought a thing of it.

We are excited that we are starting to have warmer weather.  Raleigh bought a hammock.  I am so excited to use that all summer.  I am also excited to get some sun on my legs.  I have NEVER been this white in all my life.