The best things in life are FREE

TWITTERPATION  AT  ITS  FINEST

I feel like the last few days have been LOVE in every sense of the word. SO not perfect, but SO wouldn't change it. Since we have been celebrating our Valentines Day all weekend,  it's been more like Valentine's SEASON.

SATURDAY -  We rolled out of bed a little hesitantly, but we had plans to attend a Breakfast Fundraiser at Applebee's. It was held in honor of our neighbor, Jeanette Johnson, who was in a car accident and is currently in a stabilized coma. We have really been wanting to show our support, but weren't sure how to help. So we were glad we found out about this. When we showed up the place was overflowing with people. It was crazy mayhem, but  made me feel good about the people in our community. I was choked-up when I witnessed the crowds and knew how much she is loved. Unfortunately, they were only accepting cash and we didn't have enough. We donated what we had, but did not get in to eat.  There were really more people than they could accommodate as it was, so I hope our good intentions counted for something. While we were out and about we ended up going somewhere else for breakfast. There is a place in Rexburg called the Flap-Jack Shack that serves an awesome breakfast. I would highly recommend it! You get a full breakfast complete with eggs, bacon, hashbrowns, and heavenly pancake for $5. Their specialty pancakes include chocolate-chip, huckleberry, hawaiin, and a few others. Sooo good. They also have other fantastic choices (biscuits and gravy) if you are not a pancake lover. The couple that runs the place are just the coolest --- small town family business ---and we support them every chance we get! Anyway, we thoroughly enjoyed our meal, then headed home.

Jake told me to suit up in my snuggliest snow-gear and he would take me to the sand dunes with a sled! SLEDDING! I was sooo excited about this prospect. The idea has come up every winter since we have been married, and now in our fifth year we were finally going. Well... there was a road closure on the way which significantly slowed our progress. Something about the extra driving made me really car sick and I kind of put a downer on the outing. BUT, we did find a detour and arrived at the dunes. There were quite a few families out there already, and the sound of their giggling and squealing cheered me right up again.(That, and the crisp cold air)  The first hill we found was insanely steep so Jake braved it first. I saw his intense grasp on the sled as it skidded out of control, then watched as he crumpled at the bottom, and let out a low moaning noise. hahahah- I tried not to laugh as he told me we should find a different spot. We found a long hill with several good tracks on it, where we spent the next hour or so. A couple families joined us there and it was funny to watch the kids get dumped, and watch the grandparents slide down too! Jake and I raced a few times, pushed each other occasionally, and caught some brag-worthy air once or twice. It was such a nice day that we had to shed our coats and even our hats so we wouldn't be so hot (I think part of that was repeatedly hiking up a snow-covered hill.) We are oldies, so we got tired out and went back to the car. But on the way out, I saw another hill I had to try. It was different than the others because it had softer snow on it. I didn't anticipate how much harder that would make it to climb - but the ride down was WAY better. Not so brutally bum-bruising! We spent probably another half hour here, because I was having a grand ol' time. I was all about getting as many runs in as I could. Jake liked to stay at the top and try to prevent me from climbing up --- I was bombarded with snowballs and he caved in the footprints that I was using as steps! How rude :) Then I joined him up there when we found out we could cut out a chunk of the crust and it would roll down the hill like a wheel. That was pretty entertaining, and I held the record for a while - but Jake finally beat it and THEN it was time to go. hahaha. I think I still took 2 or 3 more coasts before we left. Ahhhh, it was such a beautiful day for it!

And the fun had just begun... We got all cleaned up, and met another couple for dinner. The four of us drove to Idaho Falls where the boys treated us to Olive Garden! Another fantastic idea - but when we got there they said we would be waiting for an hour for a table. boo! So we put our names on the list, got a buzzer, and went to Walmart to wander around for awhile. Us girls browsed the baby aisle, and the boys went to sporting goods. About 10 minutes later, the buzzer starting playing a little tune to notify us, but the boys thought it was someones cell phone ignored it. silly boys :)  Can't blame them though, they weren't expecting it to go off for another 45 minutes! We met up with them not too long after that, and we all realized that the buzzer was going off. Amazingly, we made it back to the restaurant in time to claim our table. I was glad we only waited 20 minutes, because I was so hungry and the place smelled so good! I think just walking in there and breathing the air is like eating 500 calories. hahahaha. I ate 5 helpings of their salad, and was on cloud nine. It's a strange phenomenon - how much I dislike dressing of anykind except Olive Garden. Between that and the breadsticks I was completely content, and then I got to order some Chicken Alfredo as well. Yum! Jake got steak pasta, then the other two got cheese filled ravioli and a pear and shrimp pasta. We all tasted the pear plate, because it was so weird, but were all very impressed by it. Our waiter was probably the best waiter I have ever had, EVER. Don't really know why, but he just did an excellent job - and maybe I was just in an especially good mood.

I should not have eaten so much, because directly after our divine dinner, we were headed to a dance! The boys were a little less excited about this, but were willing. My hubby can dance so well so it is a shame not to get him on the dance floor now and then :)  A lady in our church ward was born on Valentine's Day and her husband organized this surprise dance for her 50th birthday. I thought it was such a sweet gesture and so I wanted to go be part of it. That, and she is one of the ladies that I visit teach. They played lots of classic love songs and we actually had an excellent time. Between playing with the table center pieces, and munching on cookies, I would say it was a total success! It was awesome to see the little-old-lady/ little-old-man-couple out there getting their boogie on. Jake and I were both in a mood, and had a silly-cheesy-romantic-goofy-charming time! The couple we were with left a bit early so they could go pick up their baby from the sitter, and we left not long after them. Back at home we rested our poor worn out feet and watched an episode of Psych to wind down. What an amazing day full of good-clean-fun! My husband really knows how to spoil me. 

SUNDAY - Began with the wonderful activity that is called sleeping in! We lounged about, then took our showers just in time for church at 1:00. I love the feeling of sitting in Sacrament meeting and enjoying the calm after the rush of getting ready. We sat in the overflow, so we didn't listen as well as we should have. Jake wouldn't stop flirting with me ;)  I did enjoy the talk given by one of the return missionaries though. At one point I told Jake that I would draw him a picture and he had to draw me one. So I drew a crazy person face with cross-eyes and spikey hair that was sticking his tongue out - then I wrote "Love you like Crazy." It was my version of a Valentine. I don't think Jake knew what I was going for, cuz he drew me a picture of the zombie apocolypse. (complete with running people and him with a big gun pointed at them.) BAHAHAHA!

Or maybe he did know what I was going for and chose to be abnoxious - this is much more likely :) Gotta love 'im. Sunday School, was much more educational. We learned a lot about Christ's life and the miracles he performed. We both liked the way the instructor led the discussion, but threw in random tid-bits of her own off-topic thoughts. I can't really tell you much about Priesthood meeting: Jake said he was a little bummed because it was about WORK and he didn't want to think about work on the weekend. haha. But I think they were on the wrong lesson because in Relief Society we talked about Sacrifice - and I learned a lot. This was one of my favorite quotes. By Elder Ballard: "The law of sacrifice provides an opportunity for us to prove to the Lord that we love Him more than any other thing. This course sometimes becomes difficult since this is the process of perfection."

Nothing like 3 hours of church to encourage an appetite! We were invited over to Hofstetter's house to eat Sunday dinner with them. We were in charge of bringing a dessert, and I took great JOY in this task :)  I made mini-strawberry-cheesecakes and chocolate-dipped strawberries.   

 Classic Valentines Treats. mmmmm. Our firends had a marvelous baked potato bar all layed out. Lots of cheese and bacon bits for me!  So again, we ate far too much. We watched a few episodes of Big Bang Theory while we ate, then played a rousing game of Phase 10! (I would like to take this opportunity to say.... I WON! ) As we were putting away the cards, we discovered a new form of entertainment among their games. Magnetic builder set! You know the kind with the little magnetic balls that have connector sticks. The boys proceeded to try to build indestructible structures, but took great pleasure in destroying them. Arianna and I tried to build various animals, and I made some really cool looking wheels that rolled! The boys also found a way to create a nearly infinte spinning top - quite intriguing. It got late really quick. We didn't make it home until about 10:30. We've decided that we are very grateful for friends who are content to just hang out doing quirky things. 

MONDAY- It was tough to put a stop to all the fun we had been having all weekend, but it was back to work! Jake left at 8am and I was up doing laundry. We agreed that our Valentine's had been sufficiently celebrated so we would not worry about doing anything this day. BUT, I couldn't resist. I began with a roll of duct tape and put my imagination to work. About 5 hours later, here is what I ended up with:

A dozen duct tape roses! My version of manly flowers. They were waiting by the door when he got home. AND when he arrived, he had some roses for me too--- only real ones. :)  

But the romance was short-lived, because we had to be at the church by 6:00 for cleaning duty. Why would they give out an assignment to clean the church on Valentine's Day? Isn't it usually done on a Saturday to get ready for Sunday? We thought it was out of the ordinary, but maybe someone always does it on Mondays and it has just never been us? Oh well, we went to check it out. There were four families on the list, but it turned out to be just us and one other family that showed up. But we were so grateful for them! They did most of the hardest jobs, and brought their kids to help. One of the little girls followed me around and wanted to help me do everything. She told me that cleaning the church was like giving a Valentine to Heavenly Father.  So that made me smile and changed my attitude pretty quickly. It was really pretty painless, and we got it done in less than 2 hours. Home again, home again, where we picked out a movie and ate Olive Garden leftovers. Mmmmm, life is good, isn't it?  We watched "Last Song." It has Miley Cyrus in it, and was better than anticipated! But WAY too sad. We designated it a "tear-jerker" instead of a romance. In our bittersweet and pensive state of being, we curled up in our cozy bed. 

Husband! Thanks for being a witness to my life, and for living it to the fullest with me!