Check out my NEW BLOG!!!

Hello my lovely followers! I now have a new blog that I will be posting on so if you want to keep following the lives of Ashlee Snider and Michael Raines then go to....... mikeandashlee.blogspot.com Super hard to remember, right? ;) Thanks to everyone for all the support these past two years! It was a great adventure but I'm more than ready for my awesome new adventures WITH Mike :D

h.o.m.e.

Well, in case you didn’t know, MIKE IS HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mike has been dealing with some health issues for the past 2 weeks but I wasn’t made aware of it until 1 week ago. He was finally moved from Kielce to Warsaw so he could get some tests done and rest up so he could get back out there. But it didn’t turn out like we had hoped, so on March 28th I got a text from Mike’s mom saying that Mike would be coming home tomorrow. Oh man, did that take me by surprise. I happened to be at work at the time which was not a good place to take in that news. My first reaction to this was tears, lots and lots of tears, because I was scared. Scared because I didn’t know what would happen. Yes, I was happy that Mike was coming home but I was scared because there was a possibility of him going from the airplane straight to the hospital. And it was especially hard that I had absolutely no contact with him. Work was nice enough to send me home early so I could process all this information. I spent the rest of the day and into the night trying to get stuff ready that I thought I had another 2 weeks to prepare. I ended up going to bed around midnight and to my surprise I was out like a light!

Saturday March 29, 2014…todays the day…
Waking up that morning was…different. Mike’s flight plan was to leave Poland at 7am (11pm on 3/28/14 Utah time), fly 3 hours to Amsterdam and then take the long 9 hour flight to Detroit, land there at 2pm (noon Utah time), and then take his last flight to Salt Lake landing at 6:30ish. Basically what I’m trying to say is that Mike had a very VERY long day. Mike, or should I say Elder Raines got in on time and his parents were at the airport to pick him up. At first he wanted to go to the hospital but then decided that he wanted to go home so he could see everyone. I rushed over to his house to decorate and be there for when he got there! I was talking with his sisters when one of his sisters starts freaking out that MIKE IS HOME!!!!!!!!! She rushes to the front door and there he was. Standing there.In person. All I could do was stand there in awe. I had the biggest smile on my face. We all at to hug him softly because he was having abdominal pain. I let him hug his family first and then he looked over at me and walked over and hugged me. It was thee most perfect hug I’ve had in like two years ;) But seriously. It was amazing. We spent the night with his family and then the stake president came over and released him to officially being MICHAEL RAINES! I no longer had a missionary. And I was no longer a missionary girlfriend. I am now Michael’s girlfriend. And that makes me really happy. My family then came over and we all talked about his mission and just had a nice time being with Mike. It was so awesome to hear his Polish. He is so good at it and I could listen to him speak all day long. As everyone started trickling out, his mom, Mike and I were up in his room looking at his stuff. His mom finally left and Mike and I were just talking. It was amazing. Everything felt perfect. I know this sounds crazy but it honestly felt like he never left. I think about it now, and I’m like those two years went by fast! Haha. It’s gone by fast now that he’s home. I was a little afraid that it would be a little awkward for us and that he would still be in the “weird” missionary mode but honestly he wasn’t. I have my same old Mike back, but just a little better. It was awesome being able to have him in my arms again even though I wasn’t able to hug him as tight as I wanted to. And to top off the night, he kissed me :D It was an amazing second first kiss :) My heart could not be any happier.

First picture taken together after 2 years!
Man, we’re cute!

Last picture taken together before the 2 years. We’ve changed a ton.

We’ve spent the last two days together and it’s been absolutely incredible. How is two years comparable to eternity with this kid? It’s great getting to know each other again and being able to totally be ourselves around each other. The only thing that could make it any better is that if Mike were feeling better. So keep him in your prayers for a speedy recovery and hopefully we can get him out of the house moving around soon :)

He was so worth the wait <3

Since this blog is dedicated to being a missionary girlfriend and seeing as how I no longer am one, I am going to make a new one! About the adventures of Mike and I. I haven’t made the blog yet but keep checking in and I will have the new blog address up here.

Otherwise, this ends my Life While He’s Gone…and starts the even better chapter of Life With Him Home <3

Day 27

“Favorite Scripture”

It’s kind of a funny story how this scripture got to be my favorite.
I asked my parents for a new set of scripture for Christmas back in 2007. I wanted a small quad that could button up. So on Christmas morning I got just that! And I loved it. As I was just flipping through the pages I came across a page with a scripture already marked…Doctrine Covenants 19:23. That’s odd, I thought. So I asked my mom if she marked this scripture but she hadn’t. And the weird thing was that I opened it from it’s original packing…So I decided to take it as a sign that this scripture was supposed to be in my life. It’s been my favorite scripture ever since :)

“Learn of me, and listen to my words; walk in the meekness of my Spirit, and you shall have peace in me.”

This Gospel brings so much peace in my life as I continue to learn.

Day 26

“Friends”

Haha. You wanna know about my friends? Well. Basically all of my friends are either on a mission or married.

This is my favorite picture of my group of friends. It was taken back in 10th grade, So like…2008. Haha. It’s kinda old but I still love it.

Day 25

“Pajamas”

Day 24

“P-Day Emails”

P-Days are awesome. I love them. And it’s even better that I don’t work on Mondays so I actually get to have an email chat with the missionary! Sucky for me that with the time difference of us I have to wake up at 4 am to talk to him. He’s worth it <3

Day 23

“Dream Holiday”

My dream holiday would be somewhere warm. Somewhere with a beach. Somewhere beautiful. Somewhere that could be an adventure. Somewhere like Hawaii…that place was amazing.