Love Love Love

(My treasured Love Letters)


(Ice cream cake from Cold Stone)


(Card I made for Josh's mom)



Josh and I had our anniversary this weekend. My favorite part was the love letters we wrote to each other. (Yes, my husband actually sits down and WRITES down his FEELINGS... two key words being write and feelings. Amazing!!) What was so interesting is that we both wrote them at different times. We were in separate rooms and ...I'm the writer in the family. I can always think of things to say. But our letters were SO similar it was...distractingly beautiful. When it comes to our relationship, we love and value the same things. We acknowledge the good stuff and lovingly and gratefully cling to our ability to work through the hard stuff. As we sat there reading our letters from the other, we both looked up at each other once we were done with this look of... WOW ! I treasure Josh's sweet words to me. And that... "he loves me more then I will ever know ".

We had originally planned to go camping and hiking this weekend but the weather turned (cold and snowy) on us. So... we settled for going out to eat to a really good Chinese place in Park City. The food was really good and so filling. We had a great time ! (Despite the obnoxious lady behind us talking VERY loudly on her cell phone with her teenage son cussing every other word as he spoke to his mother... excellent parenting lady). We didn't order any dessert,but did choose to go to Cold Stone instead and get something VERY chocolaty !!

It's amazing how time flies. A lot has happened to us this last year. Much goodness... and some hard times that have brought us even closer and made me so amazingly grateful that I publicly pledged my love to Josh in front of our friends and family at the bottom of that gorgeous lighthouse above the vast ocean waters...

Josh... you are my love !!

Other things that kept me busy this weekend were crafts, canning some more pasta sauce, missing a call from my mom from ITALY !! She was calling to say Happy Anniversary ! I can't believe I missed a call from ITALY ~ She said it's gorgeous there (given...) and that they are having a wonderful time. I think they fly home on Friday. Thus, ending their two week stay in heaven... or pretty darn close.

On to "not so happy news": We got a call from Josh's mom on Saturday. She is supposed to be coming out to see us this week (Thursday), but she informed Josh that she has been getting several tests done lately. She's having terrible pain in her left chest/breast area and her left arm . They ran an EKG (Carolyn, is that right... to check her heart? )The Dr. said it could be just stress because the results for her heart test came back normal. But if it's not stress or severe anxiety attacks, it could possibly be Breast Cancer. And if it's that, and she's having the level of pain that she is.... then the cancer has probably been progressing for quite awhile. Our hearts sank !I was in the other room talking on my cell phone to some friends in CA and when I walked into the family room, Josh was in tears on the couch. She should be finding out more results this week. So, her trip to Utah is on hold for now. Hopefully the news will be "positive" and she can take a break from the stress and come out here so we can pamper her. But if the news is bad, then I told Josh he needs to fly to WA and spend some time with his mother. We are planning on seeing her in November of course, but I just want him to be there for his mom. Even if he can't do anything about it. Just to BE there. I know she would appreciate it.

I don't know what is going on this year with and our family and friends dealing with such poor health, but it just breaks my heart. Life is truly so short. Don't waste time being angry at people or holding grudges. Reach out and make the effort to mend relationships. To maintain them and feed them. Tell people you love them and you're so grateful you have them in your life. I know my own understanding of death, "helps" in dealing with issues like loss. I know I will see the people I love again. I was at Target this weekend and the cashier saw my "Gracie" necklace... she asked if that was my daughter. I was so caught off guard. It's a normal question when you see something like a little girls name on a necklace hanging from someones neck, but I'm just not used to strangers asking me about it. I stood there with a dumbfounded look on my face. People in line behind me looking at me. I finally found my voice and said " yes. Was. I mean. Is. She just looked at me like she wanted to insert her foot into her mouth. She asked what my religion was. (only in Utah County). When I told her, she said "You'll see her again". All I could say was "I know". And I walked away. If I didn't have the beliefs that I do in my heart, if we all didn't believe in something... I don't know how we would function or deal with heart wrenching things that happen to us. I'm so grateful to my Father in Heaven. I know I'm not perfect, but just knowing He is there for me and knows my heart, gets me through... day to day to day...