My Forever Valentine

Everyone’s sharing their stories so here is ours in a nutshell. On this day in 2009..... My sister had a guy friend in Louisiana who I had never met. He had seen pictures of me on her Facebook and, intrigued, asked if I had a boyfriend. At the time I did not. All of my girl friends were in relationships except for me and they were going out but I wanted to stay home and sulk. Anyway, he asked her for our address and later that night I had a huge bouquet of white lilies delivered to me with a note that said “every girl deserves flowers on Valentine’s Day.” I had no clue who this guy was, only that he was friends with Coley. But I felt like I owed him a phone call to thank him and when I called him we hit it off instantly! The rest is history... We dated long distance for awhile before he moved up to Idaho and was engaged 9 months later and married 6 months after that. We might have moved fast, but it’s because we just knew... and he’s been my Valentine since that night 12 years ago. So happy Valentine’s Day to this man who swears he loved me before he even met me I’m so thankful you took a chance, Shawn!

We also did get the kids little treats and Shawn woke up and made them pink heart shaped pancakes.  They didn't have school because it was Sunday, so the parties were delayed this year. 

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

P.S. Nana Smidt sends us Valentine's Day money every year for goodies, and this year we used it for Hot Chocolate Bombs! I didn't take any pictures, just videos that I can't upload, unfortunately. But basically you put a delicious ball of Chocolate that is full of marshmallows and chocolate powder in a mug, pour steaming hot milk over it, and the ball opens and melts and makes the richest, most delicious cup of hot chocolate ever!  So, thank you Nana and Pops!!!

P.P.S.  Although this is a Valentine's Day post, I'll post pictures of our Snowmagedden that we lived through. It was 2 weeks of PURE ice and a TON of snow (I detailed more of it in Sully's birthday post).  It was so insanely cold and dreary!  One day I threw boiling water into the air and it turned into ice/snow instantly.  It was SO cool!  We also tried to freeze huge balloons full of water to make giant marbles but it didn't quite work for us, haha.  But it was 2 weeks of Distance Learning because no one could leave their homes (we didn't even get snow days! So unfair!), rolling power outages (to help slow the rate of electricity to make it last!), rolling natural gas outages, rolling water outages, etc.  Each outage that was planned was only about an hour and they had to do it, otherwise they'd literally run out of electricity and natural gas and water all together. It was insane. You could sit on your bum and slide down the street because it was literally just THICK ice on every surface.  The kids were "skating" all around the streets and on our driveway because you could slide as far as you wanted no matter what shoes you were wearing. Our shower in the master bedroom froze for 2 days and we had to shower in the girls' bathroom and our heating bill just came..... and ouch!  When it hit -20 for 3 days in row, you know it's bad....

It was a Winter Storm we will never forget. Not just "one of the worst in Oklahoma history" but literally THE worst. Ever. Now I'm just tired of "making history" and I want life to go back to normal!  Can I get an amen?!

Piper's Valentines Day party at school.  Her teacher was the only one who took any photos of the kids.  So sad I couldn't be there at any of their parties :(