Love day

This week was Valentine’s day. I wanted the boys to wake up to a surprise. The night before, Shaun and I hid about 30 winne the pooh valentines all over the house, sticking them to walls and such. We left some red mailboxes on the table for them with goodies inside. Went to bed giggling:)

I apologize that I don’t have pics to show, but it was 6:30am when the boys were up having a great time finding their surprises. I wasn’t quite awake to document, but it was nice to hear their little voices, “Kevin, here’s one! Look at this!” with the little Kevin’s “Oh, yes” replies. I just wanted to make it fun for them.

I went to the store to get stuff to make the awesome chocolate Bundt cake for Shaun’s gift. Who knew that 2 cups of sour cream could make this recipe SO good? As I was leaving, I heard the bag girl ask the clerk what she was doing for Valentine’s day. The clerk said “Oh, I’m married. It’s just another day”.

I totally disagree! It just made me think of my long waiting time to find Shaun. When I was 20 going off to Ricks college in Idaho, I sure thought I knew my plans. I was going to have a great time at college, (which I did, and that deserves a blog post of its own!) and marry my friend when he got home from serving a mission for the church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints, two years later. Many of my friends and roommates got engaged left and right. I had the thought of ‘maybe my darling husband is up here at school’, as everyone seemed to be finding their soul mate on campus. Not for me, but oh Ricks, (now BYU-Idaho), what a wonderful school experience.

In the meantime, I made a ton of friends at school, learned a lot, grew up a little, (yeah right) dated and fell in love with another friend the summer before my missionary was to return. This was back in 2001, ah, the heartache summer, ha ha!

In short, both guys didn’t work out, and I was an emotional, sobbing basket case for a few months or so. My poor roommates. After a bit, I said ‘Oh, bag it. Let’s get out of here.’ and served a mission for the church in Florida. Small break from guys, as missionaries do not date while serving. I didn’t mind that. (It was serving around stinking hot elders that was another fun trial, but again, that’s another good story for later:)

I came home, did a little more college, saw more roommates get engaged, tried to have faith that someone would like me enough to take me out on a date, had a blast living with 11 other roommates in one house, (two bathrooms, but only one with a shower. Now, that’s fun!) and finally got stable enough to not care about getting married.

See, that’s the thing. I realized that whining and moping about my single status did absolutely no good at all, and did not speed up the ‘meeting the sweetie’ process. Once I just let go of all the fear and worries, said in my prayers ‘Well, whatever goes. I’m just going to be happy’, and kept busy doing good things, that’s when Shaun appeared. Yet, I couldn’t just sit and wait for him to come. I had to go in the area where he would be, being a singles ward at church or Institute. (church study class during the week). See, that’s the thing. I needed to do something on my part to help me find him, and the Lord guided me along to him. Isn’t that neat how it all works out? 

And there he was, sitting near me at church, his arm in a cast due to a broken wrist.  My friend introduced him to me, to which I will be forever thankful! Had no idea that this was my eternal sweetie, and that it was finally my turn to experience that joy that all my friends had found.

I went to an activity at Red Rock and Scandia, and he was there. I remember hoping I had enough to pay for my Scandia entrance, and he slapped down some money at the cashier to pay for me. To which I thought “ Oh, wow. That was nice”. What I remembered most about the fun at Scandia with the group of friends was the sound of his laughter. It was so comforting. I just remembered thinking “I hope I can hear him laugh more”.

There was another time our group of friends went to dinner at a restaurant, and he was there. He told me “Get anything you want” for dinner. That’s really the best thing you can ever say to a girl you’re interested in. I was incredibly happy at the thought of being able to afford my pasta that night! I need to teach my boys to do that when they’re older.

That’s how we began, and now it’s been 6 years of laughter, and three kids, holy cow! (Wasn’t this fun to read, Sweetie? :) So when someone says ‘its just another day’, I beg to differ. I don’t ever want to forget the road that led to Shaun, and how blessed I am to have him. He makes me laugh so much, and is my gift from above. Happy Valentine’s day, indeed!