Surprise Date!!

A couple of days before Christmas Rick brought in an envelope and there was a letter for Wendy Jensen from "Magic Hands Massage." Inside there was a flyer saying that I had been recommended by a friend for a free dinner and massage seminar that was to be held at the Cliffside Inn on December 30th. The Cliffside Inn is a really nice restaurant with delicious food and an incredible view of the city. It was advertised as more than a simple massage seminar though -- it sounded pretty sketchy. Plus the flyer was only for one person -- not a couple.  I asked Rick if I should just throw it away, after all, it didn't sound very "appropriate" for a woman to go to something questionable like this. 

Rick said that he thought I should go -- it was a free dinner and maybe I could learn something. I just didn't feel comfortable with the whole idea -- besides, how did this business even get my name and number? He said to show it to Jase and Ellen. Jase said, "You were chosen? We were at a restaurant and they asked for names and addresses of people we thought would be interested in this and we put down a whole bunch of people. We were hoping that Ellen would get it!" Then Ellen said that her sister went to one of these seminars and that it was really fun. She said, "Don't worry, it wasn't anything crazy." Well, that all made me feel a little better about the whole thing, but I still wasn't sure I felt comfortable showing up to something like this by myself.  I wondered what to do, because I could tell that Rick really wanted me to go. The whole thing seemed rather strange. 

Anyway, I was totally stressed about what to do. The flyer asked for a RSVP and included a phone number. We headed up North and I put off the decision for a few days. After we got home I thought I had better make a decision since it was the next day. So I pulled out the flyer and texted the number on the flyer and when I typed up the number two contacts popped up in my phone -- one was "Family Story Podcast," and one was "Rick's Laptop." I started laughing and felt incredibly relieved! Rick was behind this whole thing!! I called up Rick and said that I went to RSVP for the dinner/seminar and guess whose number came up!! He acted all innocent like he had no idea what I was talking about. He had no idea that this secondary number of his was in my contacts! I went ahead and texted the number to RSVP and this message came up: 

"Thank you for your response. Because you have responded within the 24-hour deadline, you are eligible for a free one night stay at the Best Western Inn. It is here that your massage therapist, Rick E. Romance, will demonstrate some of the techniques discussed during the workshop. Please respond by texting 1 to accept the invitation, or 2 to decline the invitation." 

So needless to say I accepted! So the plan was for me to show up to the restaurant and ask for the seminar and then Rick would be waiting for me wearing a wig. (This is one of the wigs he was thinking about getting, ha ha!) But since I knew it was him we were able to go together (which I much preferred anyway!!) From the moment we arrived Rick was "in character." He spoke in an Australian accent and pretended to be a single guy who made a career in massage therapy. He even brought his laptop that did indeed include an entire power point on the benefits of "this type" of massage therapy. It was so funny! I was worried that the waiter might ask where he was from, but thankfully he didn't, ha ha!

After dinner we went to the hotel where I enjoyed a very nice full body massage from my own personal massage therapist! It was awesome!! I feel fortunate to be married to someone who is so creative and fun who makes our marriage interesting to say the least!! 

Happy Mother's Day!!

We had a great weekend! We have something we are working on for Father's Day and so we were all working on that Friday night. Then Friday night around 11:00 p.m. Janika and Brandon showed up! They had decided to surprise me by coming for Mother's Day! So that was a nice surprise! Janika brought us a mask she had made for me and Rick. I stayed up and visited with them for a while.

Saturday Janika and Brandon went swimming with the kids in the morning. Scott came over for a visit -- so that was nice! The rest of his family was off hiking but he couldn't because of his back. The family worked on our Father's Day project and then Jenna and I went swimming with Jase and Ellen. Saturday night everyone watched "Psych The Movie" in the basement.

Mother's Day was great! It was so nice having everyone there - except for Jared and we got to do a video call with him later in the evening. Josh taught a nice lesson for church and then Brandon and Jase and Josh took care of the sacrament. We then had a lovely meal of ham, cheesy potatoes, beans, corn, and salad for lunch and cleaned up and prepared for Mother's Day Tea!

Mother's Day Tea consisted of Dad being a "nose coach" with a covid-19 mask around his nose. He talked in this weird unintelligible way (I am not even sure how to describe it) while also signing. I interpreted for him part of the time but he said, "You don't need to interpret for me -- they can understand me just fine!" Which of course nobody could -- except me since I know sign language. His job was to teach people how to breathe.

Janika and Brandon were "vacationers." Jase and Ellen played the parts of Sully and Mike Wazowski from Monster's Inc. Janelle was a person who fell asleep in the sun. When she told me she was going to be a sunburned person I thought, "okay..." But she really did look like someone with an awful sunburn! (Thanks to some red paint mixed with water). She played her part really well!

Jaiden was Baljeet from Phineas and Ferb. She has been practicing her Indian accent recently. Josh was a zebra and Jenna was the devil. I wore Jared's track uniform and all of his medals and called myself "Jaredina" (Jared for short). I tried to be loud, excited, walk with a strut, show off my muscles, and take secret snapchat videos.

We took pictures and then had treats -- chocolate covered strawberries, cheesecake, apples, blueberries, yogurt, and ice-cream -- LOTS of sugar, ha ha! It was a fun time! After Mother's Day Tea Janika and Brandon headed back to Logan. It was fun having them here this weekend! Tonight we did a video call with Jared. He is SO funny! He had the whole family cracking up the entire time! It really made me excited for him to return home in a couple of weeks! I remember when he left for his mission -- I knew that one of the things I would miss most was his sense of humor!

Other fun parts of Mother's Day were reading all of the memories about mom that Chris put together and going through the new family blog that Jen put together! Mom and I texted and e-mailed a bit and I also talked with Mom Jensen for a bit as well. I called one of the ladies I minister to wish her a Happy Mother's Day and she kept me on the phone for an hour and so I didn't get a chance to call the other lady I minister for. I will have to call her tomorrow!

 

The Truth Revealed (Jenna Catches the Easter Bunny)

We have never emphasized the Easter Bunny at our house. In fact we have hardly ever even mentioned the Easter Bunny so as not to take away from the true meaning of Easter. We still do Easter baskets and dye eggs and have Easter egg hunts, but we don't say things like "Aren't you excited for the Easter Bunny to come tonight?" In fact when Jenna stumbled upon some candy in my closet and asked what it was for I told it was for the Easter baskets. She said, "I thought that the Easter Bunny filled our baskets!" I didn't affirm or deny that and when she asked Rick if the Easter bunny was real he just waved his hand and scoffed and said, "no." She refused to believe that and set out to write a letter to the Easter Bunny. 

She wanted a way to prove the Easter Bunny was real and Rick suggested that she set up a camera that would supposedly take pictures during the night if it detected any movements (as if that was a thing) to "reveal the truth." After she went to bed Rick thought it would be funny to have he and I pose for the pictures as if we had been "caught in the act." I know that sounds a little mean, but we decided at ten years old she should probably know the truth about the Easter Bunny and so we decided to go ahead. She was singing a duet with Rick in Sacrament meeting on Easter Sunday and so I told Rick not to show her the "the footage" until after church so as not to upset her right before her musical number (which was absolutely beautiful by the way!)

After church she asked to see the "footage" and we showed her. She burst into tears and ran into her room. I went in to hug her and she said that we had lied to her. She said, "That means nothing is real -- Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, nothing!!" Then she said "you could have at least taken a picture of a stuffed bunny or something!" I said, "Well wouldn't that be lying?" I explained that Jesus was real and that Easter was a time to remember and celebrate His atonement and resurrection. Of course she already knew all that but I guess she wasn't ready to give up the fun and magic of the rest.  Later we found that she had written little messages across her can of Stax potato chips such as "Easter Bunny not real," "All a lie," "Drawn (her spelling) away from my childhood," with pictures of frownie faces with tears coming down. She is so dramatic!! 

Mutual Mall Find: Twenties

Tonight our Mutual was having a Mall find.  That is where different ward members dress up in disguises in the mall and the kids try to find them.  I know it sounds pretty corny, but we were asked to be some who dressed up.  Rick asked what the purpose was and suggested that the seminary kids have to pass off a scripture mastery scripture when they found us.  She gave everyone puzzle pieces with a scripture about “finding the lost sheep” or something. 

Rick made it really fun and really got into it.  He decided to dress up like the twenties.  Jase looked soooo cute!!  He put Jase in black shorts with a white dress shirt and black suspenders and a black bow tie.  Then he parted him hair in the middle and gelled it back.  He looked just like one of the little rascals. I might have him do that for Halloween instead of the pumpkin costume I got for him because he looked so cute.  Jani wore a little twenties style sun dress with a sun hat.  Rick looked like Jase with a black hat and glasses.  He pursed his lips and totally acted the part with an accent and everything.  I wore a dress and sun hat.  We even dressed Jared up in a little bow tie.  We should have done his hair too but he was asleep when we were getting ready.

We didn’t know we were supposed to “blend in” at least that is what the others did.  One guy had a baseball hat and sat at a table with a laptop.  His wife sat at another table with a baseball hat sipping a shake.  Another couple separated and wore black leather jackets with these gray wigs – they looked really good.   We totally stood out of course and were easy to find.  Rick was so funny with his part.  He made the kids stand up on a bench and recite scriptures or sing primary songs. Then our family went out to ice cream amidst all the funny looks.  Rick is so fun to be married to – I couldn’t help but smile every time I looked at him. In the mall he saw one of his students and yelled across the court in his accent “Sister _______! !  What are you doing in such a worldly environment?!”  She squinted and then said, “Brother Jensen????” 

 Rick had already tucked Janika in and then she wanted me to. She actually gets back out of her covers so that we can both tuck her in. When I re-tucked her in tonight she said, "Do you know why I have you and Daddy both tuck me in?" I said I didn't. She said, "So that one of you will not feel sad that you didn't get to do it!"