this poor guy

married a complete psychopath.

he's been on tdy for a whole week (with a whole other week to go),

so of course i'm missing him like crazy.

we've literally talked on the phone no more than 40 minutes (total!)

the entire time he's been gone, and i've been keeping myself busy

so i don't go nuts without him (or let myself hear all of the scary noises

i never heard in our new house when he was here).  i was excited for

the weekend, knowing that he wouldn't be so busy and we could talk

for longer. so how do i use that precious talk time with my bff/lover?

i start a fight, of course.  i turn into a complete lunatic and make him

happier than ever that he's hundreds of miles from the place i am at this

exact point in time.  luckily i've got another week for the absence to

make his heart grow fond enough to be happy to come home.

home to a crazy person who will hopefully have her meds right by

the time he gets here.  why the face?

these is my words

that is the title of the book we just finished reading for book club,

i'm not just using poor grammar.  i may be my mother's child, but i have

a father, too, and his grammar ocd trumps all of the jan-isms i may have

inherited.  most of the time.

i loved the book.  loved it.  sarah and captain elliot's love story swept me

off my feet - had me holding my breath during multiple kisses and crying

at the end of the book.  i've said it before, and i'll say it again: i would've made

one crappy pioneer.  sarah would've hated me for sure. 

none of us really wanted to dress up like pioneers for the meeting, so karen

and annie made a covered wagon full of books (just like the one sarah bought),

and karen kindly shared her stock of dress-up mustaches with us.  apparently

wearing mustaches is quite common at karen's house, and i can't tell you how much

i loved that none of her family members even questioned what we were all doing

when they saw us with a little extra facial hair.  classic.  karen also made

mustache-shaped cookies.  she's the best host ever.  did i mention the noises

from the great outdoors we had as ambiance?  best host ever.

i still love book club.

democracy rules

because it means that we get to celebrate presidents day by not working.

we started our day off with a run through our new neighborhood and around

the cemetery (our old neighborhood).  i generally don't love running, but i'm

training for the ogden half-marathon, and we're doing ragnar with some of

richard's co-workers this summer.  this was literally the first successful run

we've been on together since we were first married.  mostly because i hated

being left in the dust...but that's the funny thing about training...no dust.

we ended the day in style.  and with nosebleeds.  but the good kind.

my parents took us all to the jazz game, which was fabulous, of course.

thanks, in part, to the least obnoxious family in the world who sat in front

of my sisters.  grandma potty-mouth, her daughter with the wandering eye,

and the young geography whiz were definite highlights of the night.

these kids sure know how to have a good time.

thanks, mom & dad!

they lost, but we tend not to take it as personally as we used to.

it sure didn't keep us from having fun.

oh, baby!

congratulations are in order for our friends, the johnsons.

they've been going through the adoption process, and just

the day before their dinner/silent auction fundraiser they met

with a birth mother who surprised them with this sweet card

telling them they are going to be parents of a precious baby girl

in a few short months.

we were all on the verge of joyful tears most of the night.  to tell

the truth, my emotions were heightened for a few reasons...this

was my first experience with a silent auction, and i was in a major

bidding war that had my heart a-racing.  i was a little worried that

richard wouldn't be thrilled when he found out how much i was

bidding, but he unknowingly gave me the go-ahead, so i did what i

had to do to win this amazing giant candlestick.

jenkins scored some pretty sweet booty, too.

richard provided the entertainment for the evening while we

all dined and spent.  he's really not in pain in this picture...i just

caught him mid-lyric.  he was thrilled to help our pals out.

my mom's family even came to enjoy the festivities.

my mother herself was m.i.a. because she was on the cougar prowl

congratulating the high school wrestlers that she's hunted all season.

her folks must have raised her right.

i'm a lucky girl to have friends like these gals, and i couldn't be happier

for mj...she's gonna be the hottest little mama on the block.  how lucky

is her little girl going to be to have two aunt rachels?  i know.

the greatest thing you'll ever learn...

is just to love, and be loved in return.

we broke away from our usual valentine's day routine this year,

mostly because our oven wasn't working and couldn't bake our

yearly heart-shaped pizza.  instead, we capitalized on the many gift

cards we received for christmas and enjoyed a SUPERDATE.

we pretty much hadn't had a proper night on the town since we moved

into our new house, but this night was special.

first, we went to dinner at the olive garden.  used to be one of our

faves, but now i feel as though i could make literally anything on

the menu (if my oven is working) for a lot less (money and calories).

that's beside the point.  the point is, we had a great time.

from the restaurant, we made our way to wise guys comedy club where

we burned dinners off by laughing our you-know-whats off.  the comedian

did a little magic, but mostly made us laugh until we cried.  definitely one of

the best we've seen.

after we got our laugh on, richard proved that he loved me by taking me to

see the vow.  he really wasn't looking forward to it at all, but i'd been

counting down the days.  we snuck our pretzels in, and enjoyed the movie.

its no notebook, but it was romantic enough for me.

the superdate took place the saturday before valentine's day.  we may love

each other, but we do not love all of the crazy people who make restaurants

a zoo on the actual day.  richard took care of dinner - we still had pizza!  he

picked up a pie from our new fave in our new neighborhood, the pizza runner.

we ignored the laundry on the back of our couch, and we ate while we watched

the surprising video gift i gave him (not really, i give him the same thing every

year), and a redbox.

richard reminded me over and over that night why i fell in love with him in

the first place:

he looked at me like i was beautiful, despite the fact that i was sweaty and

gross after working out.

he gave me gardening gloves because he knew how excited i am to start

our first ever backyard vegetable garden.

he chose a redbox that he'd vetoed  many a time because he knew i'd read

the book and really wanted to see it.

he didn't get mad when i fell asleep half-way through a movie that he

never wanted to watch in the first place.

he remembered what my favorite donut is and got it for my dessert, which

is impressive since i can't even remember the last time we had donuts!

oh, my man, i love him so!