Frigid February

So I really don't mean to sound whiny, but the biggest part of my February was a huge, long-lasting, miserable virus. I have not been that sick for a long time. I started feeling crummy on Thursday February 5 and I have just this week had enough of my voice back to sing above a high E (that's still significantly lower than my typical range). It was not a fun month in that respect. I only ended up missing two days of class, and it was only one day of each of my classes, so it wasn't too bad. I missed institute choir for about a month because I couldn't sing, and by about 3:00 most afternoons for about three weeks I had to take a nap or at least lay down for a while because I was so exhausted.

I have to insert a story here so that I can finish my virus story. There was an LDS Institute girls' choice dance on February 6 and I asked my friend Jason a couple of weeks before. I had started getting sick the day before the dance but I figured I could just suck it up and go. Mom shipped me my favorite blue formal to wear and I was all set and ready to go. A half hour before Jason came over I still had a raging fever, ached all over, and could barely talk. I was using a whiteboard to communicate with my roommates to try to save my voice. With the help of ibuprofen and steam I was able to break my fever before Jason came over. I still couldn't talk very well, but I was feeling mildly better. I couldn't believe how many people were stuffed in that institute building! We had to laugh though; it was like a glorified stake dance with a bunch of 20-year-olds. Since Jason and I are not from Utah, it was a little bit of a culture shock. We were cracking up. After the dance we headed back to my dorm and played some Balderdash game with Stacey, her date, Ashley, and her date. We finished around 2:00 that morning and my drugs had definitely worn off by then. Don't get me wrong, the date was still fun, but I was still not feeling great.

Stacey and me getting ready

All dressed up!

Jason, me, Stacey and Eric

Jason and me after the dance

I had hoped to just sleep off whatever bug I had, but when I woke up Saturday morning I was even worse. I couldn't get one word out. I got on my laptop and Dad was online so we shot up the webcams. Mom and Dad were there and I started wheezing while I was trying to laugh when Dad said, "Not to sound mean, but you look terrible." He was dead on because I felt pretty terrible too. I went to an InstaCare place in Logan since pretty much everywhere else was closed on Saturday mornings. I was so sad when the doctor said that there wasn't much he could do, that I was just going to have to ride it out. He was able to give me some weird liquid to gargle with so it numbed up my throat for a while so it didn't hurt as much. I stocked up on orange juice and water bottles at Albertson's while I got my prescription. My roommates were the absolute best. They took such good care of me. Kristin and Stacey were so good about getting me whatever I needed. Ashley yelled at the guys across the hall for being too loud (honest to goodness I had nothing to do with that). I was dead on the couch that entire weekend. It was a good thing I had a bunch of Lysol. I tried to keep things as clean as I could so I didn't overshare my germs. Thank goodness none of my roommates got anything. I don't know how they dodged it, being in such close quarters with me, but they did! The saddest part of being sick was that I couldn't go to the basketball games. For most of them I was still too sick but by later in the month, I knew I would go to the games and scream and my voice was still too fragile to do that. I just had to read about them later.

Over President's Day weekend, I went home. Darcy, Kacee, and her roommate Kaitlyn went home with me. It was nice to have some people to talk to, but they had to do most of the talking because my voice wasn't back. Mom and Dad went to the USU vs. BSU basketball game in Boise on Valentine's Day. They got way good seats and didn't have to buy tickets because they were part of some alumni group or something. Lindsay and I watched the game on tv, which wasn't very smart because I just wheezed a lot. Linds kept threatening to turn off the tv if I didn't stop trying to yell. It was a heart breaker game too; BSU broke USU's 19 game winning streak.

The last weekend in February, Kacee and I went to the Draper Temple open house. What a beautiful place! It was in a beautiful area of Draper, and the structure itself was absolutely phenomenal. I drove Kacee's friend Maren to the temple as well, and we met her family there. I loved going through it. It was a lot bigger than the Twin Falls Temple. The detail and chandeliers in particular were my favorite. It was just pretty spectacular. Kacee and I sort of forgot to get pictures in front of the temple, so we got pictures in front of the Jordan River Temple, which is right next to Grandma Vance's assisted living center. Grandma wasn't feeling very well, so we just stopped in to say hello for a few minutes. That afternoon, Kacee and I just crashed on Aunt Elaine's couches. We weren't very excited but we were both way tired from a late night the night before. Aunt Elaine, Kacee and I met Mandy and her friend and her friend's mom for dinner at Olive Garden. It was delicious, as usual. I'm a sucker for Olive Garden. Aunt Elaine sent us off with a fantastic Sunday dinner the next day.

Heading out of Logan early Saturday morning

Draper Temple

Kacee in front of the Jordan River Temple

Me in front of the Jordan River Temple

I think that covers February. Man, I have got write this stuff down closer to when it actually happens. Haha.

Lots of love and Chocolate Almond Aggie Ice Cream,
Carlie