Will You Be My V-A-L-E-N-T-I-N-E?

Valentine's Day this year was a family day. There was little to do with romance and much to do with love. Even the produce we were buying seemed to be saying "Happy Valentine's Day."
I really wanted Keara to understand something about Valentine's day this year, so we had an FHE about love and filled out Valentine cards for all her young cousins. She didn't quite understand why we were doing it, but she enjoyed "writing" on the backs of all of them. Then, we made cupcakes for all her friends and local cousins. She refused to even look at her friends when we delivered the first ones, but by the end was even wishing them a happy valentine's day. I made oreo truffles for my in laws and aunts/uncles which turned out beautifully. I haven't eaten one in 14 weeks because chocolate and I aren't friends right now, but everyone seemed to love them.

After that part of Valentine's Day was done, we decided to spend the actual day at my aunt's cabin. The mountains had received a generous helping of snow earlier in the week and we really wanted to get up to the snow this year for the girls to enjoy. But I checked their weather reports and it showed only 1 inch of snow in Strawberry that week. Uh-oh. Our friends were able to join us just for the day and we met in Payson (about 1 1/2 hours from here). There was a little snow pushed into piles on the side of the road and we could tell there was snow in the high mountains, but we still hoped that at least we'd be able to FIND some snow, even if it meant driving a bit to get there.

Well, when we got to my aunt's cabin, we discovered, to our total excitement, that there was not only snow AT the cabin, but so much, we couldn't even get in the driveway! The snow was up to my knees and prestine and beautiful and perfect. Aahhh...it couldn't have been better. The weather was in the 30's and 40's and felt wonderful. We hardly needed coats.

The cabin, however, had been proofed for the winter, so the thermostat was turned down all the way, meaning the cabin was 40 degrees when we got there. We turned on the heat, but it took 7 hours to get the house up to 70 degrees and even then, it was cold. So we enjoyed hot chocolate, fires, and a warm dinner.

We made angel hair pasta with italian sausage and homemade spaghetti sauce (I'm still working on finding a GREAT homemade recipe), garlic bread, red jello (corny, I know), beans, Martinelli's and Welch's grape juice for dinner and then angel food cake with strawberries and whipped cream for dessert. We really enjoyed it.

I couldn't believe I forgot my camera, but thankfully Lexi brought hers so here's all I have.


I was really worried Keara wouldn't like the snow or would hate the cold or would throw fits if she fell down. At first, she would hardly take a step, but after a little bit, she was tromping all over the place, sitting in it, throwing it, digging in it, and, yes, eating it. In fact, that was what she did most of the time.

I thought she looked so cute all bundled up and in this wonderland. I know it doesn't look like the snow is that deep, but this spot was tramped on and she also weighs nothing, so hardly even sunk into the snow. But believe me, it was deep.

Taryn was not feeling well. Her skin hurt, her nose hurt, and her body hurt. In fact, she got so dry, her nose would bleed from the dry and so much running. Poor girl. But she LOVED eating the snow, so she'd come out for a few minutes at a time and only want to eat it.

Lexi took a couple family pics of us. It was hard to get both girls to look at the camera since they were more interested in the snow.

While it didn't solve the looking at the camera problem, giving them each a snowball to eat at least kept them still.

It was a great Valentine's Day, the best yet. It was great to spend it with family and friends and to spend so much time with the girls. We went up on Saturday and came home on Monday, just in time for my parents to come on Tuesday. It was a great weekend.