Valentine's Day 2015

For Valentine's, I gave Josh his gift a day early. He had Friday off, so I booked a 30 minute foot massage for him. I also bought him a box of his favorite candy, chocolate covered cinnamon bears.

 

The next morning, I woke up to my favorite chocolates and a beautiful card. He also told me to get as many charms for my anniversary bracelet as I wanted. Some could be anniversary and the rest could be Valentine's.

14th Anniverary

Last year, we had so much fun at Lava Hot Springs, Idaho, we decided to go again for our 14th Anniversary.

The cats always crack me up when we pack to go somewhere. Usually, they try to get in the suitcases, but this time, they just sat in the tub and cried. I think they have figured out when we go away, they get a bowl of water in the tub. Its one of their favorite things. Zipper started drinking out of the bowl before Josh could sit it down all the way.

I didn't get a picture of us in the hot pools, but I had to take a picture to show that there is no snow there either. I was disappointed. We've pretty much had no snow this winter (one small storm on Christmas) and I have found myself missing the snow. I was excited to go to Idaho and see some there. So I was pretty sad when there wasn't any.

We arrived Friday night and just spent time relaxing in the pools. On Saturday, we had a Dine & Unwind package. It was a couple's massage and dinner. While at dinner the night before, we asked for directions to the Lion's Gate Manor. It was about a half a mile out of town.Parking is pretty limited up there, so we decided it would be easier to walk, especially since the weather was so pretty.

Our appointment was at 6, so we left the hotel at 5 to give us plenty of time to get there. It was a gorgeous walk.

The Lion's Gate Manor. When we got there, we had to knock on the door. When the lady answered it, she looked at us weird. I told her we were there for our massages (we were about 20 minutes early). Turns out, we were at the wrong place!

 

We were supposed to go to Greystone Manor. So we started to walk back to town. I called them to know we might be a minute late. They offered to come pick us up, but we thought we could make it in time. Which we did with a minute to spare. I think the funniest part is when we got back, I found a sticky note in my phone case where I had written down our hotel, our massage info and the hot pool hours. If only I had thought to look before we left that day!

But it was a gorgeous walk and we had fun. Our massage was so relaxing. And dinner was AMAZING. We will defiantly go there again.

Our anniversary date was actually on Monday. Josh hasn't built up any time off yet with his new job, so we decided to come home on Sunday. 

Monday afternoon, I received a delivery of 14 roses to celebrate 14 years.

The day actually ended up having some hiccups in it, so we didn't get to go where we wanted that night. We had planned to go to dinner in Vernal and stop at the jewelry store so I could pick out my gift. But the store closed at 6. When we were finally ready to leave, it was 5:45 and we knew we wouldn't make it. So we decided to eat in Roosevelt and try again on Valentine's to go where we wanted.

But in the end, that ended up working out. That night, I learned a valuable lesson. Many see Anniversary's as a time to celebrate and be happy. But instead, that night I ended up crying all night on my husband's shoulder. Not only is he there for me during the happy times, but he's also my rock during the hard times. It was a wonderful reminder that marriage is about the good, the bad and the ugly and being there for each other through all of it. So even though it wasn't a perfect happy day, it was still a day spent with the love of my life.

Josh wanted a fish finder to use when he goes ice fishing. Even though he won't get to use it this year, I decided to buy it now. That way, when it finally does get cold enough to ice fish, he will be all set. He was pretty bummed that he only got to go once this year. And since he went with a buddy, he didn't even use his new sled or ice hut. But he is now all set up for next winter.

We did make it to the jewelry store on Saturday. I decided I wanted to start a Pandora bracelet. It was so hard to choose only a few charms. In the end, I went with the things closet to my heart. A dog bone for Sage, a heart with paw prints for the cats, a horse shoe for my cowboy husband, a flower with February birthstone for our anniversary, a cross for my Savior, a cupcake for me, and a "C" for our last name. I can't wait to add to it over the years.

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Preston's 8th Birthday

Preston loved his cake with the brownies on the side. 

I wrapped up the toys that didn't fit on the cake, but I also bought him a large gift. I had a hard time finding something. I decided he is always the hardest to buy for, but its because he is the oldest nephew and so each stage is always a new stage to me. I also had to remind myself that even if something didn't look cool to me, an 8 year old would probably love it. 

I can't believe he is already 8 years old. I spent the morning going through old photos of him. It was fun to see just how much he has grown and changed over the years.

I tried to mail him a birthday card so it would get there in time for his birthday. But I didn't get to the mail box in time. And since his birthday was on a Friday, he didn't get it until Monday. But he still loved it. 

Minecraft Cake

For his birthday, Preston requested a Minecraft Cake.

I had heard of the game, but have never actually played it. Or even seen it.

So I spent a lot of time on the Internet looking at different cake ideas. I couldn't decide between doing a Creeper cake or just a field cake with toys. I have loved the construction cakes I've done in the past, and really wanted to do a cake for Preston that came with a few toys he could keep.

In the end, I decided to do a cake with some toys, and then do square brownies around the edge.

I love how it turned out! I used my Pampered Chef square brownie pan and it worked perfect. This way I could do creeper, TNT and other white and red thing, which I'm still trying to figure out. It showed up a lot when I googled for mine craft, so I decided to include it.

I ended up buying way too many toys for the cake. I bought three action figure sets and an animal set. 

A close up view of the brownies. I really love how they turned out.