Savannah's Day

This year, Savannah's Day was pretty laid back. We've been out of town for it the last several years, but I had a few things I wanted to be home for on Saturday. Josh picked out two cards. A romantic one from him and then a cute one from him and the fur-babies, which included an iTunes gift card.

 

He also let me pick out a few charms for my Pandora bracelet and a new necklace.

To top it off, he joined me at church that day. Afterwards, we went home and enjoyed a lazy afternoon of Mario Party. It was the perfect day.

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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Flowers and Nephews

Last week, Josh had to work out of town all week. Usually, when he does, he doesn't get home until after nightfall on Friday night. But this time, he surprised me. Right as I was walking out the door to go to an appointment, he pulled into the driveway. I was running a minute late, so I told him I would be back in an hour. When I got home, I was greeted by these beautiful flowers and sweet card. 

The other great part was he was home in time to help me babysit. I spent my Friday night with these three cuties. We had a Wii party while their parents went to graduation. There was some tears, some "winners dances" and lots of laughs and grins. It was a perfect way to spend a Friday night. 

Savannah's Day 2014

Lately, Josh has had some pretty crazy hours. He was either working in Moab or Wyoming, for a full week. Or even on the days he worked from Vernal, he was leaving at 6 AM and not getting home until 10 PM. So as Savannah's Day approached, I decided, instead of a gift, I just wanted a weekend away.

I did some searching online and decided it would be fun to go see a play and then spend a night at a bed & breakfast. I choose Ballet West Presents Cinderella at the Sandy Amphitheater. It was a little rainy, but fun. Josh had never been to a ballet before (and I have only been to one years ago when I was young), so it was a little different because there was no talking. But we both really enjoyed it. 

After that, we headed back to our room. I had found a cute bed & breakfast called the 1887 Hansen Home in Sandy. It was located in the historic part of Sandy, so it was a nice quite area. The house was charming and I loved our room, The American Cowboy Room. We were the only couple there that weekend, which was also nice.

We were able to visit with the owner the next morning and learn the history of the place, which was pretty cool. We told her how much we loved our room and she said its usually the least liked. I can't see why. You can see the love her husband put into that room when they were building it. The outhouse around the toilet was perfect! I can see how other people would prefer the more Victorian themed rooms, but for us, this room was perfect. 

Because we were out of town, we didn't see our own mom's, but we did call and wish them a Happy Mother's Day. I made some more scrapbook pages for my mom. I had a harder time figuring out Josh's mom, until I saw this cute idea on Pinterest of a bright gift basket of various yellow items. I had so much fun putting it together. In the end, I couldn't find a yellow basket, but I decided the orange matched it perfectly. 

I love that Josh picked the card out himself. On Sunday, before we headed home, I wanted to stop at Victoria's Secret and get a few new bras. Josh doesn't like to go into stores with me, so he just walks around the mall until I call and tell him I'm finished. During one of his laps, he decided to stop at the Hallmark card and pick out a card for his mom and another for myself. 

I always love getting cards from him. I know he spends a lot of time trying to find the perfect one. 

This is actually the 3rd year we've been out of town on Mother's Day. I have found it makes it much easier to deal with being a childless couple, so its probably a tradition that will continue each year. 

My Anniversary Gift

When we first looked at our home, the previous owner had a small wine cooler. That day, not only did I fall in love with my soon to be new home, I also feel in love with the wine cooler.

Since I wanted the Ninja Cooking system even more, I decided to ask for it for Christmas, and than the wine cooler for our Anniversary. I looked at a few online, but decided it was something I wanted to buy in person instead of online.

A few weeks ago, we finally made it to Lowe's. We also bought enough champagne and wine to fill it. ;)

I love it!

13th Anniversary

This year marks our 13th Anniversary. It seems like I can't even remember having a life before meeting Josh. I love him so much. 

This year, we decided to go enjoy a relaxing weekend at Lava Hot Springs, Idaho. About a month ago, I started searching online. We finally decided to stay at this little apartment building. It was cheaper than the other hotels and it included a kitchen. (I forgot to take pictures of it.) It was older, but still very cute. We had planned on doing our own cooking, but when the time arrived, we decided to just eat out.

Saturday morning, we went to leave. We got about 10 miles down the road and my car's "check engine" light came on. We decided to turn around and go get the truck instead. Before we could even get home, the light went off. But we decided to play it safe and take the truck anyways. 

When we got to Lava Hot Springs, it was BUSY. Turns out it was their Fire & Ice Winter Fest. I spent all that time online looking at hotels and restaurants and never even noticed. At first, we were kind of mad because we wanted a quite, peaceful weekend. Than we saw a list of events and were mad we didn't know about it before hand. We had missed some fun stuff on Friday and there was a run planned for Sunday, but we didn't have our tennis shoes with us. It was busy, and parking was miserable, but in the end, we decided we want to go again next year. 

There really was no parking in town. We ended up parking a block away from our apartment. But because the town is so small, we decided to just walk everywhere. The first night, we walked up to a pizza parlor. On the way back, they started lighting off fireworks from the mountain side. 

We spent Saturday night at the Hot Springs. Than we went again Sunday morning. That is when they do the Running of the Bulls. Every starts at the other end of main street and races to the Hot Pools, in just their swim suits! It looks cold, but the run is actually pretty short, maybe half a mile. Josh to try it next year. 

Sunday night we went to a fancier place for dinner. (We had to make a reservation online!) We went to the Portneuf Grill & Lounge in the Riverside Inn. By that time, the town was pretty much deserted. For most of dinner, we were the only people there, but a second couple showed up right when we were leaving.

After dinner, we decided to go back to the Hot Pools one last time and ended up staying until they closed. 

We talked about going again on Monday morning, before we left, but I was afraid I wouldn't be able to leave. So we decided to just head home. During the weekend Josh commented how far we had come. When we got married, all we could afford was lunch at the Dairy Keen in Heber. So in honor of our first meal together, as husband and wife, we stopped there on our way home. 

When we got home, I had a fun surprise. My mom had watched our pets for us while we were gone and she left me an early Valentine.

I ended up calling in an IOU on my gift, so I can shop around. I want a wine cooler for our kitchen. But I need to decide where I'm going to put it and how big I want it to be. Our kitchen is pretty small, so I'm still deciding. I would also like to look at them in person instead of just online. 

For Josh, I got him a new leather wallet. He loved it! I've had it since before Christmas, so it was really hard for me to wait this long to give it to him. I almost let the surprise slip a few times. 

He wanted me to get something, so while in Lava Hot Springs, I picked out a pretty flower necklace.

Some days, it feels like we've been married forever (but in a good way). Other days, it feels like not that long. Either way, I'm so grateful he asked me to be his wife all those years ago. 

Love Boat Night

Every year, the local USU branch does a Love Boat Casino night the weekend of Valentine's. This year was our first year going. It was fun. A lot of people dressed up in formal wear, but at the last minute I chickened out. Next year, I want to dress up fancy like everyone else.

 

Dinner was catered by the Golden Corral. I am not a fan of their buffet restaurant, but I LOVE their catering. Dinner was chicken cordon blue that was out of this world delish. Then they also had someone catering dessert, which was a wide assortment of cookies, cakes, brownies, cheesecake bites, etc. Then another company came in and had free smoothies. It was all so delicious.

 

After dinner, they hand everyone some fake money and open the gaming tables. Josh and Andrew tried their luck at Blackjack. They both did pretty good. At one point, Josh even made me come get most of his winnings so he wouldn't loose them.

 

 

At the end of the night, they had a ton of prizes they auctioned off with the money you won. Most of them didn't look that interesting, but Josh did bid on a fishing pole until the bid went outside of his winnings. After that, nothing looked good, so we gave our money to Andrew & Jessica. Then a few other people gave us money as they walked out. In the end, Andrew had just enough to win the 3 pot crock pot Jessica really wanted.

 

My favorite part of the night was when Josh asked me to dance. Twelve years of bliss and he is still a romantic guy. ;)

12th Anniversary

I could just title this "The week of our 12th anniversary." It seems like we did something small to celebrate almost every day. On Tuesday, the first half the of Josh's gift came. I had a friend of his help me get him a few new beaver traps. I knew he would be setting traps on Wednesday, so I gave them to him Tuesday night.

 

Then on Wednesday, I took the day off. One of the things I really wanted for our anniversary was a deep, cleaned house. Josh does his best, but sometimes it just needs a woman's touch. So while he went to set traps, I clean. I finished around noon. Then we spent the rest of the day watching movies together.

 

On Friday, I came home to a dozen red roses. They smell divine!

 

 

After that, we got caught up in the excitement and exchanged gifts then. I have just started getting into the doTerra Essential Oils. So Josh told me to get a preferred membership and place a large order. I also got a book about the oils and one of the newest books by my favorite author.

 

For Josh, I got him some more stuff to use for his trapping and the 2nd book to a series he has been reading. 

 

On Saturday, the actual day of our anniversary, we had planned to go horse riding. But the night before, there had been a snow storm and we couldn't get to the horse trailer. So instead we made a delish Valentine's Chex Mix and watched movies all day.



 

That night, we got all dressed up and went to the Steakout in Altamont. (Notice my dress! I wore it to a high school dance in January 2000 and haven't been able to fit into it since. So proud of myself!)

 

The Steakout has been open for a few months, but we hadn't been yet. Luckily, a friend had mentioned we get reservations ahead of time (which Josh did all on his own). When we got there, they were packed. But when we mentioned our name, we were led to an empty table. Their food was so good and I can't wait to go again.

Valentine's 2012

With our anniversary only five days before, Valentine's isn't something we really get into. Most years, we'll ask each other what we want and the response is, nothing is fine. And it is fine because in the last 8 weeks we have bought gifts for Christmas, both our birthday's and our annivsary.

This year, the answer was the same. Then the day before Valentine's, I remember this cute idea I had seen on Dating Diva's and decided to hurry and throw it together for Valentine's Day for the hubs. I know I could have just done one or two of the ideas, but each one was so cute, that I decided to use each printable. Josh loved it. And he has been a sweetheart and let me eat the Circus Animal cookies because they are my favorite!

Since I got him a gift last minute, he didn't have any ideas for me. So I helped him pick out a gift for me. Lots of chocolates and the new Breaking Dawn movie, which he even watched with me a few days later. 

11th Anniversary

When Josh got home from work on Wednesday he had these beautiful roses to celebrate our anniversary. Most years, I will hint whether I want flowers or not, but this year I didn't, so I was really surprised to see them. He picked out eleven roses for each of the eleven years we have been married. When the florist tried to get him to pick one more rose (to make a dozen) he told her he would do that next year when we celebrate twelve years. The guy in the line behind him grumbled something about he how couldn't believe we had made it eleven years when he couldn't make it two. Maybe he should take lessons from my husband since I happen to think he is the best husband in the world. ;)

He also got me a card. He is always able to find the most perfect card. This one said:
To the one I love on our Anniversary.

Then inside it said:
We've been through a lot,
you & I,
Since the day we got married,
but I still can't think of anyone
I'd rather have by my side.
Being married to you
has brought me
so much happiness,
and I want you to know,
today and always,
how much I love you.

Then his handwritten message said,
"Thank you so much for the last 11 years. I can't believe it, but I love you more now then I did then. Happy Anniversary Babe, I love you."

Yep, I truly believe he is the best husband ever.

This year, we kept our celebration smaller. We usually try to go out of town for a few days, but with all the traveling for his brother's wedding, we decided what we really wanted was just a quite day at home. The first luxury was just being able to sleep in. Then we got up and while I made breakfast, Josh spoiled me by doing the dishes that have piled up the last few days. I really am a lucky woman.

A few weeks ago, I took my rings to Zale's to get them resized. While there, they told me about a new necklace that was coming out. If I bought it in the first week of February, I could get it for just $20, after that it was going to sale for $120. So I decided to get it too. They shipped it with my ring and I decided to give it to Josh to give to me for our anniversary. ;) So we spent all day joking about what great taste he has to pick something so beautiful for me.

Yesterday we went to Vernal and did a little shopping. I bought some new shirts and a new pair of jeans and then Josh bought a new work vest that he has been wanting for a while now. I offered to buy him something else, but he said since he went to Ohio hunting, that could count as his gift. (Someday I will blog about that. I keep forgetting to get his camera from him.)

Then we went to a movie, followed by dinner at Don Pedro's. It was a great day, but more importantly its been an amazing eleven years.