Valentine's 2009

On the 14th of February, 2009, Casey and I celebrated our 14th Valentine's Day since getting married!

Here are some of the fun things we did on the day before Valentine's Day:

Casey worked.

I left the two little girls with him (during Rosalie's nap) so that I could go to school to help Anderson's class make paper flowers.


I snuck out of the First Grade Flower-making Fest to take some pictures of the Sixth Grade Valentine's Dance. Here is Anika dancing with her cousin Brigham. Aren't they cute!


Then I ran to town with Rosalie to get some fresh blueberries and strawberries on sale at Smith's but so did everyone else. So I got a raincheck instead and a bunch of refrigerated rolls.

I got home in time to say goodbye to Casey and the older kids as they went off to Casey's basketball game. After I fed myself and Rosalie, we drove over to watch, too. We cheered for a while, and then I took Rosalie into the women's bathroom to be changed. When I came out again, they were mopping Casey's blood up off the floor. The spectators excitedly informed me that my husband was probably in the men's bathroom and also probably in need of stitches. Both proved to be true.
It took us a while to get the whole family loaded back into two cars, drive home, set them up with instructions on how to spend the evening without us, and get to the clinic in North Ogden. About an hour later Casey had six stitches in his upper lip (mostly on the inside) and we were on our way home to watch Corner Gas together while Casey tried not to laugh.

Here are some of the fun things we did on Valentine's Day:

I actually decorated! That is, I put out a red tablecloth, only the warm colors from our plastic plate collection, and glass cups. They didn't match, but I knew I'd achieved the desired effect when Anika walked by and said, "Oooh---Fancy!"
The monkey bread (here's where the refrigerated rolls come in) looked wonderful. And was totally doughy inside. I followed the instructions exactly, but. . . Next time I'll skip the fancy bundt pan and just use a casserole dish. So I whipped up some crepes while we waited for the middle parts to recook.
After that, Meredith went back to bed with a fever while Casey lay on the couch in pain and hunger (it's really hard to eat with lip stitches.) Then he got up and did our taxes. And then his sister Emily's taxes. 'Cuz as long as you're in pain . . .

Lissa had been begging me, so I helped her make this owl (from a pattern my friend Star designed.) See how much she LOVES it. Anderson looked on. Anika drifted around between the bookshelf and the monkey bread platter.
And the day wore away like any other Saturday. Two baths for Rosalie, three outings (as in "get out!") for Anderson and Lissa, each, and some cleaning of the house in time for Sunday.

But wait! Did I mention our mutual gift exchange? We got each other matching King-sized Snickers bars! Go ahead and laugh (or snicker) if you must. In our defense, I think flowers are beautiful but I hate watching them die. Especially the potted ones. We had a discussion about getting some chocolates and realized that our favorite kind are the kind with nuts and caramel, but a box of them would be more than we want to go to waist--ergo the Snickers. Out of sympathy I am waiting to eat mine until he can eat his.

This year's Love Poem:

"Are you glad that we did marry?"
"Yes, my love," I answered. "Very."

The End