It was the worst Superbowl ever, as I mentioned and we hardly watched the game. Even though at times, it was kind of entertaining to watch Tom screw it up and there was ONE funny commercial and Adam Levine took off his shirt. So, I will admit that every once in a while, I briefly glanced up at the TV.
We did eat some really good food and talked. And that is always fun with this group of people.
Some people slept and took up a whole couch so the rest of us had to sit on the floor
We celebrated Kori's 45th birthday.
Every birthday is a miracle and a blessing.
Russ and I studied scriptures during half time because half time was as bad as the game
except for the part when Adam took off his shirt.
except for the part when Adam took off his shirt.
Raleigh's boss sent him to Florida the week of Valentines Day. Unfortunately, that left the girls to be in charge of Valentine's boxes. Valentines Day is a horrid tradition. Valentines boxes to put Valentines in is even worse. I have been making them for 19 years. I am NOT a fan. Raleigh, who is new to this and doesn't hate it as much as I do yet, has done them that past few years and all I have had to do is take pictures of the completed job.
NOT THIS YEAR THOUGH!!
He was flying over the mid-west at box making time and left Morgan and I the task of creating them.
We made a disaster of the kitchen and we got frustrated several times because we were sharing a pair of scissors and a glue stick and the kids kept wanting to help and we had to keep saying "no, your job is to watch." We actually ended up having a pretty good time. And they turned out alright.
Valentines Day was awesome... it poured rain the entire day and it was cold and dark. I was alone in the office the whole day and I worked and listened to pod casts. At the end of the day, my wonderful friend, Leona brought me a homemade cheesecake. She does things like this all the time. She is the most thoughtful person. It's so nice to have good, sincere friends. She is so not like most women. She is genuine and kind to me. I am so blessed to know her.
Parker brought over all kinds of gifts for Morgan and they left to go on a hot date.
Papa and Nana brought candy and cupcakes and cards and kisses.
A boy in KK's class professed his love to her.
He apparently has a BIG crush on her.
She didn't even know.
How cute is this? He showed her that
he really knows her and has paid attention to what she likes.
I think this helped her to feel happy again.
She LOVES unicorns.
And he gave her a really cute one to add to her collection.
Side Story:
Side Story:
One night I couldn't sleep, so I got up and walked around the house and checked on everyone.
I found KK laying on her bed with her hands behind her head looking up at the ceiling.
I said "Hon, it's 2:30 in the morning why are you awake?"
I said "Hon, it's 2:30 in the morning why are you awake?"
And she goes "I am just laying here thinking about unicorns."
Soooooo..... Cute
The next day was country report day.
Kaleigh chose South Africa naturally.
When your dad and your sister's boyfriend lived there
and have TONS of gadgets to share it makes it easier.
She was nervous, but she did a great job.
Papa and Nana and Morgan and I were there to watch her.
Dad was still in Florida. So, I had to make up the answers to the questions.
Parker brought her this skirt and tribal necklace and "dangling earrings"
which she thought were the greatest things she had ever seen.
We also had a snow day.
It was Monday, President's Day and we all had the day off.
It was the most fun day sitting by the fire.
Raleigh made a cake, we cleaned the house, he worked from home.
We talked to our missionaries.
We talked to our missionaries.
We put "St George Kid" booties on the littles
And they built a snowman in their pajamas and named him George.
UPGRADE THAT.... upgrade the flooring, the tile, the countertops, the doors, the door casings, the lighting, the height of the house, the length of the house, the width of the house.... upgrade this.... upgrade that. We have endless money apparently... You want nicer level 2 carpet, Lover? Let's upgrade, he said... No thought to our budget. No thought to the wife who was breathing into a paper bag over in the corner. JUST UPGRADE DAMMIT. Upgrade it all.
And I was having a literal come apart internally. And it was manifesting itself in a very painful migraine. I am pretty sure every muscle in my face was tense for the entire three hours. Because even my teeth hurt. Somewhere near the 2 1/2 hour mark, I started shutting down/zoning out. And all I wanted to do was run out and go home and let him deal with the backlash of being $40,000 over budget. She kept saying "do you want to know what your total is so far so you can see if you are in line?" And I kept saying NO, I AM NOT READY TO HEAR IT. I was just sitting there like a zombie while HE was frolicking through the various rooms upgrading like a giddy school girl. I didn't even hear what he was choosing, nor did I really care at that point. I just wanted it to be over.
And finally she announced that it was time to reveal the total and that the time had come for us to have to PAY her. I thought I was going to pass out. And I almost barfed.
And I'll be darned....
We were, through some miraculous aligning of the stars, on budget. I DO NOT know how. I think it had less to do with reality and more to do with the fact that Raleigh J. Lund lives some sort of charmed life. Things like this ONLY happen to him (and me by default).
Don't ask me how. I do not have a logical answer. And even as I type this, I still don't get it. It was like I was in a dream. A nonsense dream, where you can't explain what is happening and you know it simply cannot be real, but it's wonderful and you don't want to wake up. How were we SO out of budget with our decisions and yet so in budget? I. DO. NOT. KNOW
What I do know is..... I RAN and I mean jumped up and RAN and kind of tripped as I was running over to my purse and grabbed my wallet and a pen. I have NEVER written out a check so fast in my life. I had to get that thing written and get this transaction documented and buttoned up before she realized that she had made a serious math miscalculation. I signed that purchase agreement and passed the paper to Raleigh and said "sign this lover.... hurry! Now is not the time to be checking for errors." And we took our document and our payment receipt that were SIGNED by all parties and high tailed it out of there.
Flabbergasted.
Now that I know the end of the story, I can say that the design center was pretty dang fun. And it was pretty joyful to watch The Love of My Life in action. He is classy and likes nice things. And one thing is for sure, when he wants something, he gets it. And the universe has no choice but to fall in line and give it to him. I am lucky to be attached to him.
Me stressing
Me still stressing
Him not stressing at all.
Him not stressing at all.
Then we had another snow day
and made another snowman that only lived for a few short hours.
And the silly people in our town over reacted and cancelled school
For 1 1/2 inches of snow.
My lesson this month in Relief Society was a really tough one.
One that I was not excited to teach.
The conference talk it was built around was WOUNDED
and I don't like those kind of talks that are based on the idea that life is hard and we are here to be tested and so get prepared to go through hard times because they are going to come.
I just don't like to think about that stuff.
So I struggled to prepare for the lesson as it was, but my goal was to keep it light and upbeat and positive. I was praying for guidance. And suddenly, I had the feeling to ask Kori to come and speak to the ladies. Her family was out of town, so mom had to pick her up and bring her to my ward.... adding extra pressure to both of us. She just had to speak, there is no one in my lifetime that I have ever known who is more physically wounded than her and yet I have never known anyone with a better attitude and I just knew that everyone would benefit. I just didn't know HOW effective she would be. She was amazing and inspiring and the spirit was so strong and all were edified. I received so many texts afterward telling me how much everyone loved her. I am so happy she agreed to come and speak. Mom said afterward that she had been a nervous wreck all week... first because she was nervous for me, the teacher and she didn't know if I would do a good job or not... and second, she was nervous for Kori and would she say things correctly and get her inspirational message across. I think she was happy with the outcome. It truly was a very good meeting.
That Sunday was my most favorite day of the month.
And I was on a spiritual high
And then.......
It happened.
The day of doom occurred.
I had literally been regretting this day for 8 solid months.
It's like one of those life situations (and maybe I am the only one in the whole entire world who experiences this phenomenon) where I was unable to look past March 2nd. I could not feel happy or excited about anything that would occur past March 2nd because I had to first get through the painful 8 days that he would be sailing away from me. The days between February 23rd to March 2nd seemed like they dragged on for 100 years.
I am such a baby.
But, they did.
The Friday night, before he left, I laid in bed and sobbed quietly and uncontrollably for hours. So much so that my poor eyes were swollen shut the next morning. I didn't want him to know that I was blubbering because he already felt as bad as he humanly could. But I did that weird breathing thing that babies do after they have been crying for a really long time and can't catch their breath, like 10 times. I could hardly speak when he said good-bye to me the next morning. I think I whimpered and said something in an inaudible mumbling language. I thought my heart was going to burst out of my chest. I know I am ridiculous, but I LOVE HIM. And I HATE it when he is gone. And 8 days is a really long time.
I tried desperately to keep myself busy and preoccupied. We did stupid little things during the week. We tried to eat healthy and go to the gym often. We played games and watched movies and laughed a lot. And the cruisers were able to face time us a few nights. So that helped.
And people kept rudely reminding me that I did this to myself.
Of which I was painfully aware.
I think what really helped me was...
They didn't have that good of a time.
Or maybe he was just pretending that he was miserable to make me feel better.
But, I could tell every time I talked to him that he was on the verge of misery.
And that is saying a lot for the person who lives in Rose Colored World where ALL of the glasses are at least half full.
He did say, when he got home that he would NEVER AGAIN go on a trip without me. And I agreed with him. No more will we ever put work or co-worker's thoughts or wishes before each other. It's not worth it. Also, I will be using every vacation hour that has been given to me by taking 2 vacations this year, before it's over with my lover to make up for this debacle. What a terrible lesson we both learned the hard way.
Also another sad occurrence was the smoke alarm in the girls bedroom (with 15 foot ceilings) started chirping on Tuesday night and no ladder is tall enough for this girl to get up there to replace a battery. Nor, would I ever even attempt such a horrific chore. So for 4 nights the girls slept in my bed and kicked the hell out of me and we did our best to coexist with it. We shut their bedroom door and we shut my bedroom door and each night as the lights were turned off... we would say...
"Alexa, play Thunderstorms"
And she would. And we would drift off to sleep to the rhythm of gentle falling rain with an occasional soothing roll of thunder and ever so slightly in the very background, if you listened intently you could hear a faint "CHIRP" every 30 seconds.
It was so annoying, Morgan lost her mind and went up to Provo for the rest of the week.
Moral of the Story: We could not wait for dad to get home.
Here are some photos of their trip
He LOVED kids camp and spent most of his time there.
Handing out of the souvenirs
to the losers who had to stay home
Reunited and it feels so good
I could not be happier
PURE LOVE
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