Image courtesy of ldschurchtemples.com
On the way home, I got to ask Ryan a billion questions about his work which was fun. One of the things he's working on right now he can actually talk about and you can see the link here. His part deals with crowdsourcing and as we watch events in Egypt and the Middle East unfold lately, it's interesting to see how this crowdsourcing stuff is a big deal. He often doesn't talk about work at home and our evenings with the kids don't really lend themselves to such discussions so it was so nice to have him all to myself on our drive before I passed out. It's a passenger problem I have, can't stay awake!
Our Sunday mornings are always a blur with church beginning at 9am and a half hour commute there. Yesterday morning everyone woke up and came in to snuggle on our bed and it was just so comfy and wonderful that we had a hard time getting up and moving. We got ready in record time since we also had to be out the door a little early to swing by and fill up our two cars with a newer large family in the ward. {I not-so-secretly hope they never find a house and have to stay in the hotel nearby so my new favorite babysitter stays close. A girl can dream, right?}
The problem with scooting out the door so fast and driving myself was that usually I'm putting on my makeup while Ryan drives us to church. I didn't even remember this technicality until we were sitting in sacrament meeting. To my horror, I couldn't even remember looking at my face before we left! What if there was dried up drool around my mouth or eye crunchies?! Wouldn't that be lovely. And I'd already been face to face with three good friends as church began! Oh dear, but oh well!
Later that evening Easton and I attended a baptism. We're looking forward to him being baptized this year and with an upcoming baptism preview meeting and our recent Primary / FHE lesson on Jesus' baptism, this came at the right time. My favorite parts were hearing Easton sing the hymns and then the discussion we had the entire way home about baptism in our family. Man I love this kid!
So today is Valentine's Day. Our kids' schools don't celebrate it so we didn't do the whole routine this year which was kinda nice! I was able to sneak a Valentine note into the boys' lunches which was fun. I decided yesterday that I'd make a nice dinner for us since it's sadly been awhile.
After a busy snuggling Morgan on demand (so rough, I really hate that part of my job! *wink*) and running errands, I began making dinner at 2pm since I knew I'd lose an hour picking up Easton from school. Just as I was needing to go get him, Ryan got home early! YAHOO! He wanted to fix me dinner but I was already well into my preparations so he put Morgan down for her nap and took McKay with him to get Easton. To cook in solitude listening to something nice is a wonderful thing!
I realized I was going to have a lot of leftover stuffed shells and called a friend to tell her not to cook tonight. Spreadin' the love! It'd have been nicer of me if the times I've made food for her had actually turned out to be better food. It's the thought that counts, right?
By the time we sat down to eat, I'd already gotten to sample the salad and pasta but was underwhelmed with the results. The menu sounded better than it was -- stuffed pasta shells (sauce too sweet); a green salad with strawberries, nuts, and feta (greens too bitter, candied walnuts just aren't my fave); and secretly mixed pink milk.
Highlight of the meal: McKay catching sight of me pouring the pink milk into Ryan's cup. Amazed and confused to the extreme! The boys kept tasting the milk, sure it would taste different. It was seriously a mystery to them and that made my day!
Low point of the meal: Morgan's screaming tantrumSSS of refusal to eat a single bite and being denied dessert. I will go grey earlier due to her, I'm sure of it! The boys' teachers have each commented as much to me as well. We ended our evening watching a little Charlie Brown Valentine special and eating Ryan's peanut butter kiss cookies.
I wish I looked forward to silly holidays more so that I would endeavor to make them more memorable. I think Ryan took care of making it memorable to them by letting them pick out bubble tape gum and HubbaBubba at the store. Those kids number the days I put a surprise treat in their lunches! I was so proud of Easton for giving his beggin' best friend his lone cookie today. What a great friend! And although the dinner effort is always lost on the kids, it was made with love for my wonderful husband who is putting dinner away. I love and appreciate him more and more as the days go by! It's so great to have my best friend love me back despite my innumerable glaring faults! That's love!
Happy Valentine's Day!
