Last year's Valentine's Day was really tough on our little family. The day before, on February 13th, we had to put our sweet Hopey girl down. Technically, Hope was my little brother's dog. But, she was our family dog for 13 years and she was something special. We got Hope my freshman year in college, Michael was in 7th grade. I lived at home through college, and up until I got married, so Hope was such a big part of my home life. In fact, she used to sleep at the foot of my bed every night. She would curl up in the tightest little ball of sweet, yellow, fur and would snuggle in right up against my feet. I remember the night before Cody and I got married and it was my last night in the house, feeling sad that that would be the last night that my sweet Hope would snuggle up at the end of my bed by my feet. It makes me tear up thinking about it now because I know that she will never do that again. But, then, I also know that she isn't in pain anymore and she is playing in Heaven and has made it over the Rainbow Bridge. She lived such a good life and I know that she knew how loved she was. We all still miss her to this day, she was the best of the best.
Even though we were all so sad about Hope, we still managed to celebrate Valentine's Day. Mainly because we didn't want Seiden to miss out just because we were sad. No need to ruin her fun! My sweet Mimi had sent her a Valentine's Day package in the mail and she was SO excited to receive it, open it, snuggle with the bear, read the card, and wear the cute outfit she got her! She also got a few presents from us and from my parents. And, I had made her some V-Day pj's and an outfit for her to wear to school on Valentine's for her school party. After school was over, we decided to just order dinner in because of the crowds and I was just really in no mood to go out. I had spent most of the day crying off and on and all I wanted to do was take a shower and get the day off of me and snuggle in with my family and just be at home together. So, Cody and Seiden went to pick up Outback, which was delish. After dinner, we watched part of a movie and called it an early night. Valentine's Day 2017 might have not been the most romantic of days, but hey, that's real life people. We were all together and that's all that really matters!
