Our Annual Valentine's Day Feast

Valentine's Day has always felt too commercially driven to me (and Brett and I are massively in love everyday ;-) so we forgo the pricey roses and chocolates in lieu of one of our favorite meals: steak and crab legs! We've prepared our annual dinner together for the past 4 years and it's something we both really look forward to on V-day. No reservations required and no worrying about if you did just the 'perfect thing' to make the other feel loved. The love is in the meal we prepare and enjoy together. It's a bit trickier to indulge in a romantic dinner at home with a toddler, but we managed to do it this year at 8:30pm when Austin was a snoozin'! A little late for high calorie succulence, but who cares!

We paired out king crab and Omaha steak with my favorite new recipe for green beans and some tasty artisan bread. Then we topped it all off with the only dessert that can hold up to the deliciousness of the meal itself: chocolate bundles! These little puppies are made of puff pastry with your favorite candy bars melted inside. And, as if that's not enough, we top them with chocolate ganache and whipped cream (the real stuff). Thanks, Paula Dean!

Our conversation centered around family, work and each other. It was so fulfilling to be able to talk with one another at the table as opposed to reciting persuasive commands like "eat 3 more bites and you can have a..." to a 2 year old over and over again. Brett gave me a wonderful homemade card listing "The Reasons You'll Always Be My Valentine" and I, being the loving and caring wife I am, forgot to even sign his card I bought him at the store. Damn! I better get my act together next year...so unlike me. By 10pm we were stuffed and ready to call it a night. But alas, dish duty awaited. I must say, it is the ONLY drawback to our Valentine's day of love! Anyone want to volunteer next year...spread a little love our way? ;-)

We hope all our family and friends were as blessed on that evening as we were.
XOXOXO

Kisses, Hugs, Knucks, High Fives...

Bedtime at our house goes something like this:
PJ's - Brush Teeth - Potty - Stories - Rocking Time - In Bed

Once in bed, it goes something like this (per Austin's request):
Kisses - Hugs - Knucks - Kisses - High Fives - Little Baby High Fives - Kisses - Knucks - Hugs - "Night, Mom" - "Love You"

And sometimes before I leave the room Austin reassures himself like this (referring to his bed): no bugs, no spiders, no snakes, no bees...

It makes me smile every time. I'm not sure if he's trying to prolong the inevitable or if his little routine is just what makes him comfortable before sleep. I don't care, I love it.

Idaho City, ID

In keeping with our new year resolution of 'creating family memories', we ventured up to Idaho City. I hadn't been up that direction since I was a kid and Brett never had. I mostly remember the hot springs - well that's pretty much all I remember. The facilily had a funny sign in the dressing room: "Welcome or our OOL, notice there's no P in it." Sadly, the hot spring pool isn't even operating any more. So what else does Idaho City have to offer in the wintertime? Well, snow and lots of it. We were looking for a snowy adventure and we found it. We meandered up a plowed summer camp road and had a blast enjoying the brisk air, beautiful scenery and each other. Lucky for sparky, he got to share in the adventure with us. I've never met a lab that didn't enjoy a good romp in the snow! So, cheers to our first family adventure of 2011! May we enjoy many more moments like this one - minus getting the new car stuck in the snow and flagging down the only car we'd seen for hours (ok, maybe minutes) to pull us out!

My boys...
The momma...

The once happy snow angel creator who got a little too cold...