2013 Monthly Recaps

January 2013

Paul laughed when he saw my January collage. He said, "Almost all the pictures are from our trip down south." I replied, "That's all I'd like to remember about January." Oh I crack myself up! I'm just glad that January is behind us.

Clockwise from top left: Our only family picture from our trip taken at the St. George temple. Icicles. I saw so many bloomin' icicles this year it was ridiculous. I even got stabbed by one. True story.

The kids before going on the roller coaster at the New York, New York hotel in Las Vegas. Andrew went sledding with some friends and tried out snowboarding. Sort-of. The red rocks of Ivins, Utah. Paul and I at the Bellagio Conservatory. 

February 2013 

February was a very hard month. We had a pretty nasty illness hit Andrew and I. He got it first and then shared it with me. Wasn't that thoughtful? It took us each out for a week. (But not the same week so we had two full weeks of funk.) We had high fevers, massive headaches and zero energy. That was how February started. 

We had a pretty good Valentine's Day so all was well for about a minute.

I won't get into too many details but after I recovered from my cold/flu/bug thing I was "cursed" with my lovely womanly issues so I got to kiss another week of my life down the toilet. 

Paul left on the 21st very suddenly for an emergency work trip. We didn't know how long he would be gone. That sucked. It was very hard on us because we didn't have time to mentally prepare and it just didn't feel like it was a good thing. It turns out it was a very hard trip for him emotionally. It was draining for all parties involved. He was gone for nine days. I know that to military families etc nine days is nothing but it was still very hard. 

Clockwise from top right: Paul and I on Valentine's Day. I got a Godiva chocolate tower. With my wicked PMS that little honey only lasted about 36 hours. Andrew had to do a report on an inventor. He chose Henry Ford. His presentation was the day Paul left for his trip. When I got to the school to see him he was hiding behind his tri-fold crying. It broke. my. heart. I may or may not have started crying myself. He said, "this is going to be the worst day ever if dad calls and says he will be gone a year." Oh my word. I didn't realize that when we said we didn't know when daddy would get back that he would assume it be a whole year. I told him at the most it would be two weeks. I think that helped but he still had a very hard emotional day. Emma at one of her basketball games. She was so done at this point. She was playing rec ball, church ball and track had started. It was too much with all of her hard classes. Our sweet little family on Valentine's Day. A quilt that had been in the works for some time. I finished it late last year and got it quilted as a Christmas gift. I finally got the binding sewn on in February and I LOVE IT! It's so busy but it's pink and green and girly, oh my! This is how we survived Paul's trip. FaceTime. What a wonderful invention. It was so good to see Paul while he was away. One night, after his worst (hardest, most disappointing) day there, he went to bed early and I didn't get to see him all day. I knew what a difficult time he was having. My heart ached for him. I wanted to see that he was okay physically because I knew he wasn't okay emotionally. But I couldn't. I fell asleep crying. I felt so helpless. I wished I could have been there to hug him or something. We were so happy when he returned in early March. Spending a good part of the month without my Paul is no fun at all.