February -My Love Month!

February began like January with lots of snow and ice.  In fact, I had been looking for a new, longer coat for my birthday since the after Christmas sales began.  I finally made a decision and purchased one as my birthday gift on February 1st.  That afternoon we drove to CV.

It was lucky for us that the local high school had a basketball game that night, and the young cheerleading group was performing at half-time.  We were excited to watch Korinne.  We were also excited that our team pulled off a 4th quarter win thanks to a couple of brother from our ward.

I wanted to celebrate my birthday doing family names in the temple and counting my blessings.  I got to do both of those and then we ate lunch for the first time in the Logan Temple cafeteria.  The salmon was really good.  I think that we will pass on the key lime pie next time.
We drove back to SL that afternoon as we both had work commitments on Friday the 3rd.  After attending an economic forecast breakfast for the real estate professionals, I met up with some of my siblings for lunch.  Steve and Greg hosted.  It's fun to meet at their home because Steve has made it so cute and cozy.  Cathy made a fabulous cake.  It was so yummy!  After that I did an open house on a home I have listed for sale.

We stayed in SL and Hilary and Jenna drove down and stayed with us on Friday night.  The next morning we all went to Thanksgiving Point to watch Jenna perform in an all-day ballroom dance competition.  It is so fun to watch her.  She only started a few months ago, but already she really dances with a flare.  She is a natural!

That evening her team took second place in one of the events.  We thought that was fabulous.  Sorry we couldn't stay, but I had a lot of preparations to take care of for Sunday.

Monday, we met with our accountant and sent in our income taxes.  Whew!  It is always nice to get that finished.

Here Steve is chalk painting an old table we have moved dozens of times.  It will be fun to see how it turns out.

Monday afternoon, we drove back to SL so I would be there for my Broker Network meeting.  I had my listing on tour which means preparing flyers, comment sheets and treats.  I also hosted my Murray bookclub that night, we we needed to finish cleaning the house and preparing the food.  The book took place in a little French village south of Montreal so I served the only French food I really know how to cook.  I had to search for the fresh strawberries, blueberries, etc. to make a yummy dessert crepe.
That afternoon we got a text from our CV tenants that the sump pump wasn't keeping up with the melting snow and ice.  Steve purchased a bigger pump and immediately drove up.  By the time he got there, water was coming in the laundry room, family room, etc.  He bought a wet vac and went to work.  The temperature had warmed up into the 40's and it was raining.  Two feet of snow melting so quickly turned into a disaster.  The next day, he pulled out the sopping carpets and pad then took it all to the dump. Then he vacuumed until things were pretty dry.  He worked on everything again on Thursday and decided he was safe to drive back down to SL on Thursday afternoon.
Then it started raining again.  Many homes and businesses are having flooding issues throughout CV. It is still raining.  There's not much else we can do for now.  Our tenants are looking for a new place to live as they don't want to wait for new carpet in the basement until spring.  We agreed to let them out of the lease.

It was a huge job for Steve to remove all of the wet carpet and drag it out to the pickup and haul it to the dump.  Too bad the tenant didn't offer to help.  I felt terribly guilty lunching it up in SL, but I had work commitments and my friend Jean has been having a rough time lately.

So on Wednesday, I met my friend Jean for lunch.  We haven't seen each other for about 10 months as she moved in with her son in Tooele.  She is back living with her daughter in WJ now.  I ordered a nice salad.  All she wanted was ice cream.  She took more than half of her ice cream sundae home and stored it in the freezer for supper.  She was in the mood for ice cream that's for sure.
Thursday I had my appointment with Jana, my hairdresser and did another open house on my listing.

Friday morning, Steve and I went for a walk along the parkway.  It was amazing to us how much things had greened up with just a couple of days of warmer weather.  The snow in the valley has melted but I love seeing the snow covered mountains in the distance.  Shortly after our walk, it started to rain.  Of course, it has continued to rain in CV, increasing the flood problem there.

This afternoon, Steve went to the equipment dealership to work on a presentation he has coming up.  I hosted my birthday friends for soup and salad at our house.  Marlene, Maretta and Mynon were all born on the 7th of Feb. & I was born on the 2nd all in the same year.  When we discovered this birthday phenonmenon, we were all living in the same ward and we started having dinner together to celebrate.  Our dinners were changed to lunches for the girls and it is a tradition we have maintained for about 28 years.  This is the first time, we didn't meet at a restaurant.  It was more relaxed and easier to chat.  Happy Birthday, Girls!  We aren't too good at taking selfie photos, but we had fun!

I have done quite a bit of cooking and hosting these past two weeks,  However, it makes sense that once I get the house cleaned up, I might as well group my social engagements close together.  It is much more efficient that way.  February is always a busy month for me since I have quite a few friends with February birthdays too.