Valentines Day Package!

Valentines Day has never really been a big holiday for Mike and I. We never would do anything super extravagant or get any expensive gifts. We were fine with just being together. I mean, a couple years ago he got me a shirt that said “My boyfriends a super hero” and that’s it. Haha. But when you have a missionary, you do anything to impress and keep him interested ;) Just kidding. I honestly really do enjoy putting packages together for him though. It’s super fun!

I LOVE decorating the box :)

 

This frame is perfect for us. Mike always calls me “girl”, never “babe” or “baby”, just girl. It honestly used to bother me but I love it now.

 

 

If you scroll up to the first picture, you’ll see that the flaps say “Remember when …” All of these hearts have little memories of us :) For example

-“Remember when…we went to Mr. Keith Urban?”

-“Remember when…you were referred to as my ‘special friend’?”

-“Remember when…I twisted my ankle camping and you took care of me?”

The very last one says, “Remember when…you came home from your mission and we lived happily ever after? Oops, that hasn’t happened yet ;)” Haha.

These are heart shaped balloons. What I did is blew them up, wrote something on them, and then deflated them. You can read them whether they are inflated or not. The only thing that sucked was that they kinda smeared a little bit.

What it looks like blown up

I also added a bunch of food because the best way to a mans heart is through his stomach! ;)

Adding the confetti…

The finished product!

Happy Valentines Day Boy!

I LOVE YOU!

 

Also, I just had to add this picture. Not for the fact that I’m in it but for the fact that the lighting is perfect to make my dog look like she has a little mustache! Hahahah! I promise that I did not edit it :)

To the Snider Clan

Mike writes a letter to my family every once in a while and it really just means so much to me that he takes the time to do this. He really is the great guy ever.

I know he’d love to get a letter back from everyone! So get writing! ;)

Winston

This is Winston.

Winston is my Doctors dog at my work. He’s a great dog. Since he makes a complete mess if he is left home alone, this big guy comes to work every single day and hangs out with us. He makes work worth going to.

He loves to laze around in his bed all day but he has his moments where all he wants to do is play with you.

I love Winston. I treat him as if he’s my own dog.

Yesterday, Winston was just not acting like himself. Doc told us to do blood work on him. He had a very high white blood count which meant he had an infection and he was very dehydrated. We placed an IV catheter, ran some fluids and gave him antibiotics. Before I left work he was perking up and acting a lot better. I was hoping for the best.

Sadly, Winston earned his wings last night :’(

He always had his tongue sticking out

He (being an 80 pound dog) stole my dogs (being only 25 pounds) bed. He has a giant bed but he was persistent on laying in this tiny bed.

There was no way that someone could not fall in love with this dog when he came into the office. Even though he wasn’t my dog personally, everyone at the office called him theirs. Work just won’t be the same without him.

I love you so much Winston, you will forever be missed <3

How Many Months!?!

NINE!

That is right people! My man has been on his mission for 9 months!

OH MY HECK!

I AM IN SHOCK!

I spent tonight going through all my letters and rereading them and let me just say that I have never been more in love with Mike Raines. How is that even possible?

I probably shouldn’t be saying this but I cannot wait for next month…double digits!

Michael, kocham cię tak bardzo,
i będzie na zawsze twoją dziewczyną
Będę tutaj "cierpliwie busying" siebie

Fortune Cookie!

Today I was hanging out with Mike’s sister, Misty. She did my hair in the morning and then we headed to get facials. And let me tell you…that is a little slice of Heaven :) Very relaxing and much needed. On our way home we were starving, so we stopped at Panda Express and grabbed a little something to eat. The best part of the meal was the fortune cookie at the end. I don’t like to eat them, but I love seeing the fortune inside :)

This was inside my cookie…

I’ve honestly never had a more true fortune. Haha. This one was made for me!

Waking Up To His Email

Every Monday I wake up to an email from my loving Elder. Since he is 8 hours ahead of me, Mike is actually sending his email around 1-2 p.m. and I receive them at about 5-6 a.m. I usually wake up around 7:30 and get to read this amazing email from him. But this morning. This morning was special.

For some reason I woke up at 6:10. This is not normal for me because first of all, I am NOT a morning person. Not in the slightest. And second, I went to bed super late last night, almost 1 in the morning. This means I only got about 5 hours of sleep before my inner alarm clock woke me up! I am sure glad it did though…

I woke up with my heart pounding, like it does every Monday. I always get so excited to grab my phone and see “Michael Raines” in my inbox. Today, I had only received one email with a couple pictures. I thought that was odd but then looked at the time. He sent them at 5:45, which meant that there was a strong possibility that he could still be using the computer! I send him a quick email asking if he was still there and….I GOT A RESPONSE! Oh my heck!!!! He answered me! You have no idea how great it is to have an actual conversation with someone that you don’t have to wait months for a response to something you said. All I could do was smile and bawl. Haha. We had a nice little conversation for about 10 minutes. It was the best way I could ever start off my Monday morning! I just love him so much!

Enjoy the little things <3

Michael Christian Raines <3

Never have. Never will.

My Poor Little Sick Missionary :(

On Monday, Michael informed us that he would be going to Warsaw on Tuesday for leadership training. I was super excited for this because that means he would be on the Poland Mission blog and also he would hopefully be given the packages from me! As I was looking at the mission blog today, I could not find Michael in any of the pictures! I was really confused and slightly disappointed that I couldn’t see his smiling face! I thought that I had misunderstood him. But as I kept scrolling, I had finally found him! Sadly, this is the picture that I found…

My cute little missionary has the flu :( Poor kid. I have learned from the 4 years I’ve been his girlfriend is that he really does not have the best immune system. On average he gets sick twice as much as me. But, it still doesn’t help the fact that I can’t help him feel better. I am glad though that Sister Nielsen (the Mission Presidents wife) took good care of him and he got his much needed rest. I do hope that it’s only a 24 hour bug and he starts feeling better soon!

GET WELL SOON MIKE! LOVE YOU!

You are Hereby Called to Serve...

Dear Sister Snarr,
You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You are assigned to labor in the England Manchester mission!!! :D

I couldn’t be more excited for her! Janell is my bestest friend in the whole entire world! She will be such an amazing missionary and England is lucky to have this girl!

Wanna know something crazy? She leaves April 18, 2013. What’s so special about that day? My missionary, Michael, left April 18, 2012. She is leaving on the exact day that Mike left on one year ago!! That just blows my mind! I decided that that day is going to have very mixed emotions for me. It will be Mike’s ONE YEAR mark!!! On the other hand, I will also be saying goodbye to my best friend for a year and a half. But if I’ve learned anything from my experience with my missionary is that anything is possible if you just put your mind to it.

Janell! I’m so stinkin happy and excited for you! I’m also so proud of you for your decision. I know that I could not be doing what you are doing… so for that, I am proud of you and look up to you in so many ways. You are such an amazing person that I’m lucky to call not only my best friend, but my sister for life <3 I cannot imagine where I’d be without you!  I love you tons!

CONGRATS GIRL!!!!

One Lucky Girl

Everyday I am reminded just how lucky I am to have Michael Christian Raines in my life. And not just in my life, but the most important and the biggest blessing I’ve ever received. I’m forever grateful for everything that he has done for me and continues to do for me to show me how much he loves me, cares for me and how I’m the most special girl in the world to him. He’s the love of my life.

“ And if you’re lucky, I mean, if you’re the luckiest person on this entire planet. The person you love decides to love you back.”

I’m the luckiest girl ever <3

{M&A}

I love him

The New Year 2013

I always love celebrating New Years Eve but I never do anything big, extravagant, or extremely special for it. My nights usually just consist of hanging out and bringing in the new year with my family. And that’s the way I like it. I would much rather bring in the new year with family. This year was no different. Jamie, Tommy, Sean and Carson came over around 6:30 and we ate junk food for dinner. After eating, we all starting playing games. Around 10:30 I went to Mike’s house to hang out with his family. We hung out and also played games. We were sitting around the table when we started the countdown to the 2013 year.

5…4…3…2..1…HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

I may not have been able to get my new years kiss from the real Michael but Cardboard version is the next best thing :)

A couple of my 2013 Goals
1. Read The Book of Mormon by April 14, 2013
2. Get my Patriarchal Blessing
3. Write in my journal everyday
4. Write Mike at least once every week <3

Here’s to 2013!

This is a tough fight, but I like a challenge. Bring it on!

P.S. I can now officially say that Mike comes home NEXT YEAR!!! :) 2014 <3