Cooper's Party, Sunday Funday, Cassandra

Friday was a long day.  I was feeling so sick.  Jake got home around 6 or later.  He went to work that day intending on coming home at like 1:30 or 2, but had to stay to meet a deadline.  He didn't tell me because he didn't want me to be disappointed if it didn't happen.  Oh, how I would've loved that!

We went out to eat because I needed to get out of the house... I would've gone crazy if we hadn't!  The only two times I went out last week was to the library on Tuesday and house-shopping on Wednesday.  So, we went out, even though we all felt pretty bad.  We went to Panera on West Main.  Lila had fun watching all the people--she'd been stuck inside all week too.  She even ate a potato chip. :)  After that we stopped at the Stake Center to pick up the food we'd ordered from the YW fundraiser: a fruit pizza and chocolate covered strawberries.  Then stopped at the KUB to drop a check off from the stake.  Mike and Emily were there at the activity.  We went home.  After the activity, Mike and Emily went to Main Street Pub and were there till like 1am.  I'm so glad that they're friends now.  Mike got to talk about Cassandra and Emily talked about Shane.

Saturday morning, Jake had to get up early and go to the Worldwide Leadership Training at 8.  He came home and hung out a little bit, then went to the KUB to unlock it for Brady and Kelsey so they could set up for Cooper's party.  He came back to pick us up and then we headed back to the KUB for the party.  It was Cooper's first birthday!  They flew here on Friday and are spending a week here.  The party was so nice!  It was Brady's first time meeting Lila and we hadn't seen Cooper in 6 months.  I can't believe the babies are already turning one.  Mike was there.  The best part of the party was when the four babies who were there played with all the presents together.  It was adorable.  Lila was the youngest, but the biggest. :)  It was fun to see how different the babies all were from each other, their personalities.  Holly (Kelsey's friend and Addy's mom) was saying that Addy is already turning into a "diva."  (I think a lot of that has to do with parenting. ;)

After that we came home.  Lila took a nap.  Jake and I watched a movie, Knight and Day.  We went grocery shopping (ran into Desiree at Walmart again, oddly enough), came home, did showers and bedtime.  Jake was in bed by 10:30, but I stayed up till midnight reading.

Sunday, yesterday, was a long day but a very good one.  We woke up early for church.  Jake and I made French toast for breakfast.  We sat with Brady/Kelsey/Cooper during church.  Most of the time, the guys were in the foyer with the babies.  Kelsey and I whispered a lot.  It's so fun having them here.  They took me and Lila home after sacrament (which was longer than usual because it was ward conference).  Jake was at church till almost 3 for meetings.  I was sad that he was gone so long.  I didn't feel good and just wanted my hubby home.

Emily arrived a little before Jake got home.  He'd stopped to pick up some board books from Craigslist on the way home.  Lila loves books now.  She definitely prefers books over toys.  She loves turning pages and looking at the pictures.... but mostly she loves turning pages.  She'll sit for a long time reading with me.

I love Jake.

Jim, Angela, and Emily (niece) arrived precisely at 3:30.  We were really surprised (and amused) that they showed up exactly when they said they would.  Jim has been infamous for being at least an hour late for family get-togethers.  Jim was the one who suggested we get together.  He and Angela just took a trip to Columbia to visit her family.  They brought back souvenirs for us.  Mike came too.  We had pizzas for dinner.  A few frozen and a few homemade.  The homemade ones took a long time to make.  Dessert was the fruit pizza we bought, it was really good.

Afterwards, people played on the iPad.  Emily and Mike helped clean up.  We were all so stuffed.  Jim and Jake talked business--Jim's business isn't doing so well and Jake encouraged him to stand up for himself if needed.  He and Angela still seem very happy together, which is great.  Emily (niece) had fun playing with Lila.  Jake and Mike prank texted cousin Savannah; she'd put her phone number on her Facebook status, asking for people to text her.

Emily left and so did Jim/Angela just as Brady and Kelsey (and Cooper) arrived.  We had so much fun with them.  It was funny to see Cooper crawling all over the place--he's got a lot more energy than Lila!  And of course it was so fun visiting with Brady and Kelsey.  We always end up giggling so much when we're with them.  We haven't really hung out with them since summer '09 when they came to visit.  Jake told them about his butt surgeries.  Mike stayed till late and we all talked about Cassandra and his "relationship" with her.  Gave him advice. (More on that later.)  We played Euchre.  The guys won.  They were here till midnight.  The babies went to bed so we got a few hours without them.  It was so fun.  We really hope they can find a job here soon.

So, about Mike.  He found out Thursday that Cassandra would be coming to town this weekend.  He was a little bitter because she still hadn't written him back; he hadn't heard from her in almost exactly a month.  Saturday morning he went to Ultimate Frisbee as planned and at the beginning, she said hi and that was it.  And then as he was getting into his car and she was getting into her's, she said, "Hey Mike! You going contradancing tonight?"  He said, "Uh, I don't know."  She said, "Well, let me give you a hug then in case I don't see you there."  So they hugged and left.  Weird, right?

So then for the rest of the day he debated whether or not he should go contradancing.  He had planned on it up until he found out Cassandra would be there.  (He kind of likes her 21-year-old sister Sammi, but I think it's only because he likes Cassandra.)  Emily wasn't planning on going either, which made him want to go less, because he didn't want to show up by himself.  Finally, at around 7pm, he called Emily and said, "Hey, let's go, and if it's lame we can just leave."  And she said, "Oh, ok!" and he picked her up and they went.  He danced with Cassandra's friend/roommate from Canada, Michelle, and both of her sisters, but never danced with Cassandra.  He said it was an accident, but also probably he did it purposefully because subconsciously he's a little mad at her.  The last dance was a waltz, and he was dancing with Savannah (Cassandra's 15-year-old sister) and Savannah starts to ask, "So, why didn't you---" and then stops mid-sentence and wouldn't tell Mike what she was going to ask.  But we all think she was going to ask why he didn't dance with Cassandra.

Mike was pretty confused about the whole situation, so when Brady and Kelsey were here, we all talked about it for a long time. lol.  Like maybe an hour or more.  He finally decided to write her an email, because he had all these questions and was going a little crazy (not really, but a little).  So we said that as long as the email was short and not desperate/needy, it would be fine.  Finally, after a lot of debating about what he should say, this is what he sent her:

Hey, it was nice to see you this weekend. Michelle said she's going to the Valentine's dance in Lansing on the 18th. Are you going too?

Mike

And ten minutes later(!), this was her reply:

Hey Mike!

yeah, it was good to see you too! I didn't actually know if I'd be able to come down until Thursday, I'm glad I got to. we'll have to meet up at one of those again though, because we never got to dance a contra.

I'm not going to the dance in Lansing, my family is coming to visit canada and we're heading up to Belleville, so I'll miss it. Are you going? I hear it's going to be really good.

Frisbee was awesome!  do any of your other young men come?  how are they doing?

-Cassandra

We think it's possible that Cassandra may have found out that Mike is divorced.  There was a lot of really good momentum before she left for school, and then it fizzled out so quickly, that that's a very possible reason.  But maybe now that her sisters have spent time with him and know that he's a pretty cool guy, and after seeing him this weekend, maybe she's feeling ok about it?  Who knows.  Kelsey told Mike last night (and I've thought this all along but never told Mike) that she would act the same way (be freaked out a little) if she found out a guy she kind of liked was divorced.  

Anyway.  Now he's even more confused, but happy that she wrote back.  Here's what he texted me this morning after I asked if he was still in shock:

Ha! A little. Haven't responded yet. I was super excited about all this, but it kind of wore off in the last hour as I was considering future possibilities with her. But, that isn't going to change my current plans anyhow. I wish I was a seer so that I didn't have to spend so much time trying to interpret the feelings I get. I'd rather just have a vision of what my future will be like.  I was about to send my mom a text this morning relative to Cassandra.  But then I got this feeling that said, "Don't send it. Waste of time. She's not the one."  So... that's weird. Maybe that was just self-doubt? Or one of those feelings that is conditional upon a given time frame? Or it was legit, and I just don't want it to be that I actually felt that feeling. So, for now I'm still planning on writing back and I still want to see her again and date her more... just with less vigor now. I'm so weird. But, I suppose this is all for the best.

My response to that was: 

Maybe the Spirit is just telling you to take things slow and to be a little cautious. Because of how you got that prompting with Kalina that everything would work out with her... part of that prompting was true.

He liked that.  Mike is so... funny.  He over-analyzes like a girl.  Brady pointed out that he needs a lot of reassurance.  Yeah, he really does!  And I don't blame him: he was cheated on and his wife left him.  But he was even like that before he got married, too.  I'm just glad we can all be there for him.  I have never seen him so happy and healthy before.  He's lost so much weight, probably 30 pounds, and has a new wardrobe that he looks great in.  He really feels and I do too that Heavenly Father is blessing him and that important things are happening in his life; Heavenly Father is in control.