Holiday Weekend

When I was young, Valentine's Day was a very good holiday for me. Before I was born, my parents had a scare with a carbon monoxide leak and they were released from the hospital on Valentine's Day. They were so grateful to be alive that every Valentine's Day they told us the story and gave us extra gifts to celebrate.

As I entered the teen years, Valentine's Day became a holiday of receiving flowers and going out to fancy dinners. That only got better in the college years. So, yes, Valentine's Day has always been good to me. And, just when I could have started being bitter about the holiday (my photojournalist hubby frequently has to work on Valentine's Day), a sweet Auntie of mine shared with me that Valentine's Day is one of her favorite holidays because it gives her a chance to show her gratitude and love to others. I'm so grateful that she gave me that gift (it was on the Valentine's Day before Soph was born) because, since that time, I no longer think about what I will get, but rather, enjoy the opportunity to make cards and pink frosted heart cookies to give to friends and family.

The kids were bathed in love notes and candy from their class parties before the weekend even started. Saturday morning began beautifully with an early yoga class while the rest of the family slept in. I haven't been working out much since my walking buddy had to quit due to pregnancy complications. Since I pretty much have two choices: 1) get up and work out at 5:30 a.m. or, 2) don't go to the gym -- I've been choosing sleep. I overcame my fears of falling over or being a weakling and got myself over to the gym Saturday morning where I was reminded of just how much I love yoga.

I was so pleased when I got home and found that the family really had slept in. That meant I got to make heart shaped waffles for them. And, after breakfast, the kids and I cut out heart shaped cookies and frosted and delivered them together. Photoguy and I exchanged little boxes of chocolates before he had to go to work in Salt Lake. And, I devised a plan to meet him for dinner. I needed to go to his parents' house in Bountiful because Photoguy's Aunt who lives in Sweden hand pieced a beautiful Sunbonnet Sue quilt top for the baby. And, now my mother-in-law is going to hand quilt the whole thing. I can't believe how incredibly lucky I am for this gift! We needed to go to the fabric store to pick out the back (and, I picked out pink, yes indeed I did).

The only hitch in the night was that Photoguy was too busy, so we couldn't meet for dinner. Photoguy's mom was so sweet to invite us to stay for her homemade mac and cheese, which we did, and it was a mighty fine way to spend Valentine's Day with family, even if we did miss Photoguy (and, he was bummed out that he missed the mac and cheese -- or, as AiAi calls it "mac and cheese and roni and cheese").

Sunday afternoon, my mom invited the whole extended family over for a beautiful Valentine's dinner, complete with all the tiny details of decor and a heart shaped cake for dessert.

And, then, as if things couldn't get any better, Monday was President's Day, meaning all the kids were home from school (more heart shaped waffles and a lazy morning in our P.J.s were in order). Plus, I was able to convince Photoguy in advance that he couldn't really drum up sponsorships on a holiday so he should spend the day with us. He did get called away on a project in the morning and ended up working the late shift at the newspaper (someone was sick), but, in between all that he spent three whole hours with his kids -- who have been missing him greatly while he's been ultra-involved in the book project. He took the whole bunch to Nickelcade and guess what I did? I went to the chiropractor and had a 60-minute massage because my sciatica has been making me walk funny for the past couple of weeks. It was only $30 for the massage and I found a spectacular therapist who works my muscles so deep it feels like they are turning black and blue. The results are amazing. I wish I were back there right now.

Photoguy handed off the kids to me and headed to work while I went to Costco. The kids were so well behaved and I was thankful for that (well, except AiAi was tired and crying the whole time, but two out of three is pretty good). As we headed toward the exit with our huge cartload of goods, I had an idea. It was dinner time, so we did something we haven't done in a long time -- we ate at the food court. $6 later there were pizza slices, churros and ice-creams all around. We had a big bad food feast and AiAi was even pretty calm as long as he could have his very own super sized ice-cream all to himself (and smear it all over his coat . . . ah, well).

Back at home, the kids got ready for bed early which meant extra snuggling time. Really, just a fabulous weekend around here. Hope your holidays were awesome too!