birthdays, death, and valentines!

We are partway through February so Happy Valentines Day!!!!  We are almost there!  It has been a quiet weekend.  Lauren has been here this weekend.  It is nice but she loves the toy room and that bed is her hangout.  When I think about my teenage years it is how I loved spending my time.  I am also glad she is so comfortable to just chill out here and get snacks when she wants. Here are just some random pictures of her this past year. It's been a rough year.  Her dad left his job and he and his girlfriend decided to move to Arizona so she is missing him a lot.  She acts like it is no big deal but we all know it is.  Breaks my heart for her.  We haven't talked to him in a long time.  A few times he had been very disrespectful and cruel to me and I can't let someone treat me like that repeatedly. Lanny has been very hurt by the situation. That is the worst of it.  Now they don't have a relationship.
I just keep praying.  God is good and powerful.  Now he doesn't have much of a relationship with his son and the one with his daughter will suffer with him moving away and giving full custody to Amanda.  Oh well. Just keep praying.  Here are pictures of Lauren to make me smile.

She misses her brother too who is off to college.

A few pictures from past sleepovers. These pictures make me smile.

Breakfast time at sleepovers! So fun!

Went to Lauren's last game and they won the championships so the Huskies are #1!!!  Sadly she is done.  She didn't make varsity and she didn't want to play JV again so she chose not to play.  The way the coach blocked her out was really unfair.  He is pals with all the girls on her team and their parents so everyone on Lauren was picked but Lauren.  Very unhappy and angry but nothing a person can do.

Last week our family had a couple birthdays.  Brad turned 46 which freaks me out!  He's been hanging out at our house since high school when him and Tara started dating!  Just weird.  Here's some pics of him and Tara over the years....

It was also Joel's birthday. He turned 42, the same age Karla will be in 5 months.  That is crazy too!  Here are some pictures of those two together!!!!

I like to pick up Madi from school some days and spend time with her. We'll sometimes go get lunch or just go to Madi's and watch "Once Upon A Time" on Netflix.  We just enjoy each other.  It used to be on Wednesdays but when Dylan's college schedule changed I started to get Madi on Tuesday and Thursdays.  But last week was soooo weird.  I couldn't pick her up on Tuesday because the bridge closed.  Then Wednesday Joel was home so he picked her up.  Then Thursday we had a wind storm and the bridge closed again. So Karla picked her up and took her to work with her.  Finally I got to get her on Friday.  We went to her house but Dylan was home so we just visited with him.  It was fun but we didn't watch our show so this week we will.

We sure had quite a windstorm last week.  Pretty big gusts.  They close our bridge when it gets really windy because it is a floating bridge and they open the slide out to relieve pressure on the bridge.  When we say it is closed we mean it is closed to car traffic. Then our power went out for over 6 hours!  I hate power outages so much!!!  But for about an hour or two before the power came back on Lanny and I just talked with a lantern on. We talked about our kids and how far they've come. We talked about our amazing grandkids.  We talked about how we grew up and our parents. We talked about our neighbors as kids.  We talked about our jobs we had and our previous marriage. Covered so much and it was such a bonding close experience.  I loved it.

Today is my dad's birthday.  He would have been 94 had he lived.  He died at 81 in 2004  Seems like a lifetime ago.. and then seems like it wasn't.  I miss him everyday. It seemed like when mom was alive she kept him alive too.  But now that they are both gone there is no one that shares stories.  I guess that is why I love my pictures so much.  They really help my memories.

Today is also my lifelong friend, Berta's birthday.  She was 2 months older than me which was awful when we were younger but better as we got older.  But Berta passed away last year from cancer. We lost contact for years only talking off and on.  That happens sadly.  Taught me a lesson.  I try to stay closer to my friends now.

Berta with brothers!

Berta with her brothers and parents. Love this picture!

Her parents were like parents to me! They treated me like their own!

One of my favorite pictures of Berta with her daughter Christy.

Lanny's stepdad, Jack McCann passed away.  When Lanny was young, Jack was not a nice man or stepdad.  A redneck Okie.  But the past couple years they would call each other and patched up their relationship.  They would talk about the Lord a lot, what was going on with Michael and our family. They would always hang up saying "I love you" to each other.  A lot of forgiveness and mended hearts.  God can make anything possible.

Valentine's Day is in 2 days!  I hope you have a wonderful day and feel the love!

Well,  Lauren went to have dinner with friends again.  Hope she has a good time.  Lanny put chicken, carrots and potatoes into the oven to bake.  Num. Smells good.   I will try to write in another week or so.   God bless you and yours!