Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Valentines & Anniversary Weekend


There could not possibly be a worst day to have your Wedding Anniversary than the day after Valentines.

Now there is a long story about why we picked that day to get married on in the first place, and non of it has to do with us loving the color red or the holiday. Although it was exactly 4 years to the weekend that we first meet, but even that was not the reason.

Over the years we have come to really dislike the timing of our Anniversary since everyone is trying to go out to dinner at the same time as us, hotels are more expensive, and the celebration of both Valentines and our Anniversary always get mushed together. This year was different though, I felt so special and like we were the only ones celebrating this weekend. It was perfect!

We decided to celebrate on Friday night since Valentines was on Sunday and we knew everyone in Utah would be going out on Saturday Night. So we forever in advanced asked Devin (Ryan's brother that is at BYU for college) if he would come up and babysit for us, and he thankfully said yes. We have little to no babysitting options. Devin had it pretty easy since Jayna goes to bed between 7:00 and 7:30 and we left at 6:30. So he just had to play with her a little and then put her down to bed.

We headed off to dinner at a Utah classic the Roof which we had never been to before. It is located at the top of the Joseph Smith Memorial building and is a buffet style restaurant. We were seated at just about the best table in the whole restaurant. It was away from everyone and was a window table that overlooked the southeast corner of the temple and temple square. The table had a single rose at it for me and a card on a little stand that read happy Anniversary. I was so impressed and I hadn't even sat down yet. After we went and got our salads a hostess came up and started apologizing about the rose that was on the table and explained that my husband had really ordered me a big bouquet which she then placed on the table. I was smiling so big I think my checks could have burst. The hostess made such a big spectacle of it that I told Ryan he probably got all the other men around us in trouble.

All the food was so good. We paced ourselves so we could have a little taste of everything, and I think we about did. The dessert bar was to die for though. They had everything you could want. I tried this pastry with a flaky crust filled with whip cream and topped with fresh berries and had to have another before we left. It was one of those things that I knew I would regret having two, and regret not having three all at the same time. It was the best thing I have ever had. I could not have imagined a more perfect dinner to have with my husband of now 7 years. It almost brought tears to my eyes to be sitting with him across from me and the temple glowing to our side on our anniversary.

I gave him his present at dinner which was a Craftsman 6 in 1 tool he has been wishing for. We have slight disagreements in our house about which power-tools we need to buy and in what order. He truly deserved this tool though, he works so hard for our family and always, puts me and Jayna first. He gave me my present after dinner which was that he is going to buy me flowers once a month for a year. Not one of those online programs, but that he is going to go buy them for me and give them to me each month. I thought it was so thoughtful, because he knows how much I would enjoy fresh flowers in the house. I am most looking forward to a bouquet of flowers from the farmers market this spring, they are so pretty.

So from our more than nice and fancy dinner we went to.... Nicklemania ... yes you heard right we went to the nickel arcade. It was a blast! We spent a million nickels and won tons of tickets of which we got a shocking pen, rabbits foot, and parachute man to pay our babysitter with.

After we were done playing games we headed back home. Ryan and I finished the night off with sparkling cider next to a warm fire in our bedrooms fireplace. It doesn't get used very often, but it is so fun and romantic to have a fireplace in our bedroom.

It was the perfect date with the perfect person. I cannot wait to see what the next year has in-store for us. I told Ryan that in 10 years I will have been with him longer than I haven't, since I started dating him when I was 16. Crazy to think about where we have come, where we are, and where we may be going.

Tuesday, February 09, 2010

Hidden Valley Mess

The other night Ryan and Jayna were making ranch dressing for dinner. Ryan filled the container with all the ingredients and put the little cap on the lid and started to demonstrate to Jayna how to shake the dressing bottle. Problem was he didn't put in fingers on the cap to hold it onto the lid. A few hard shakes and this is what we ended up with.



A big glop of ranch dressing shot Jayna in the face. She was petrified and very upset about the mess. Jayna hardly ever bawls about anything, but she hates big messes. It took us awhile to console her and show her that it could all be fixed and cleaned up. She is so funny.

Red came running out of the laundry-room during all the commotion too, and slipped and fell in the ranch pool on the floor. It was a pretty funny scene with both of them covered in ranch.

We managed to clean everyone up before our food was cold and still had enough ranch for dinner.