Weekend of Love!

Last weekend was spectacular!

First, Valentine's Day:

Stayed home with steak, mushrooms, potatoes, broccoli, raspberry & danish dessert topped chocolate cheesecake, Russian movie w/ English subtitles... oh, and Luke, of course!

Then a great day out with some of my favorite girls:

Makayla's birthday adventure at The Chocolate! Char came too but no pic...

LOVE these girls!!!

Then the looooong week- no less than three 12 hour work days in a four day work week = a very long week! But not complaining- so blessed to have the income!

Nice quiet weekend at home this week. In fact, as I write this, I am listening to my good friend Jim playing a live concert from Chadron State College. Love it!

Busy or not busy, my life is blessed!

And One Week to Go...

One week from today, Luke starts working again... it has been a hard year in many ways with Luke not working, but we have been incredibly blessed too! Luke works for the BEST company and has had the fortune to have excellent disability insurance. And his boss is great to give him such a good chance at being able to work again- if we can make it in the next two months, this trial may be on the downhill slope!

And even with income so reduced and the stress of the medical bills and very hard health days and figuring out a workable schedule and and and... Luke and I have had some valuable time together- time to grow, time to get to know one another, time to learn together- valuable time!

Best quote of the week is Luke's comment that ended with, "having been married MORE than a year now."

Love it!

I am so thankful that my Heavenly Father has provided this chance for Luke and I and our future!

One Year in a VERY Good Life!

 One year ago today, I was sealed for time and ALL ETERNITY to my very best friend!!!

Best decision ever!

It has been a challenging, exciting, sometimes perplexing, terrific year of new adventures and experiences...

and Luke sure knows how to show me his thoughts on our anniversary:

If you ever ask Luke how things are for us, this is his reply:

Looking to the Past, Preparing for the Future!

This is my beautiful mother- 'Grandma Pat'!

She would have been a year older yesterday... and yes, I still miss her.

She is a shining example to me in so many ways! What a blessing she remains in my life.

This year, I too will become a grandmother- Cassie and Allen are expecting their first! What a great blessing to us all! And yet, what will I be called? We already have a wonderful 'Grandma Call' in the person of Luke's mom....

So suggestions are welcome!

And the biggest blessing of this week? Luke has a chance to work once again for the Church- and they have been so very generous on the offer! What a wonderful company they are- all of the modifications to the work expectations and all of the accommodations they are willing to make (such as allowing Luke to request to be interrupted less often, wear noise reducing headphones...) this is a wonderful opportunity for Luke to work in a stress-reduced environment for a company that truly does care about his health and well-being... 

But Luke's return to work will mean finding ways to reduce any stress or demands on his energy here at home... I keep telling myself that if we can just hold on until June... and it is so true- and we are so blessed to have this chance!