happy love day

What with busy season going strong these days, Clark, Dave, and I have been lucky to spend two minutes together with all three of us awake at the same time.  So I could have kissed his manager when she sent Dave home (relatively) early on Friday night and told him he didn't have to come in on Saturday.  Two whole days of being together??  We were going to live it up.

Saturday morning was just what it ought to be: a baby in pajamas and cuddling in bed.  I keep thinking certain outfits are too big for this little boy and then I wash them and...they fit exactly.  Can't believe this little chunk is growing so fast.

As per Valentines tradition there were heart shaped pancakes for breakfast and homemade whipped cream.  My favorite.

For lunch we mozied on up to a local haunt we've been wanting to try called The Braise and Crumble.  Doesn't the name just sound delicious?  And the food was just as good.

I love that picture of Clark on my lap - he looks so tiny!  And on the stroll home we were sure this little bug was planning something devious...

I will never admit how many pictures we took trying to smooch those little cheeks just right.  But it was a lot.

"Hey baby, I'm a sucker for you.  Happy Valentine's Day." - Clark

xoxo

just because

David got home yesterday at his usual later hour, but, instead of walking in with his usual briefcase, he sauntered in with a beautiful bunch of pink roses and a jar of Nutella.   

If that's not true love, I don't know what is. 

15th is the new 14th

Valentine's Day.  Something about me still loves it: all the lovey dovey-ness, chocolates, and husbands running to the florist after work to pick up a bouquet for their misses.  It gets me every time.  But since David's flight home didn't touched down till 9:30 in the PM on Friday, we were short on celebration time and were wiped out to boot (he'd been traveling/ working all day and I was in the car for 4ish hours that day - darn you Jamzilla!).  So we rescheduled for the next day and went right to bed when we got home.

Turns out I married a pretty sweet guy.  I woke up to the smell of pancakes and walked out to find two huge bunches of tulips on the table.  There are definite perks to his internal clock still being on central time: he'd gone to the grocery store (at like 6:45 AM) to get all the fixings.  What a doll.

Those chocolates are almost gone, the pancakes were heavenly, and we topped the day off with a showing of The Monuments Men, which was pretty great.

It can be belated Valentine's Day every Saturday as far as I'm concerned.

two whole years

Well, we finally made it up to Utah!  And we are so so happy to be here.  Get a load of that sunset??  Gorgeous.  It is oh so good to be back.  We've already had two or three summer rain storms pass through and I am one happy duck.

We stayed with David's brother and sister-in-law for the first couple of days we were here and this was the view we woke up to every morning.  I could get used to this:

And then on Saturday Dave and I celebrated our SECOND anniversary!!!!!  It's pretty hard to believe it's been two whole years since our wedding day.  Where does the time go?  I've gotten to the point where I can't really remember what it was like before David.  I guess that's a good thing ;)

We started the day off right celebrating with brunch at our favorite Communal on Saturday morning and ate the most delicious things.  Holy cow, we love that place.  Fluffy buttermilk pancakes, fried french toast, and our favorite biscuits and homemade jam.  Honestly, one of the things we miss most about our Provo (besides family), is some of our favorite eateries.  Maybe it's a good thing we moved away.  Our waistlines might be (might be) a little slimmer ;)

I think we might be doomed to have waiters who take not so great pictures of us on our anniversary.  (Proof here as well).  I guess we'll have to make a tradition of it.

We spent the rest of the day enjoying being in Provo and eating my favorite Hawaiian shaved ice.  Soooooo delicious.  I could eat that stuff all. day. long.

And that night we decided, even though it was our anniversary, we'd spend time with our favorite people.  We made our favorite pizza from this favorite Provo haunt with the Nemrow family and then ate dessert and played games with some of our favorite friends.  It was a night of favorites and the perfect evening.  Dave and I can have a romantic dinner together anytime, but while we're here we're going to spend as much time as we can with our best buds.

And there are only more fun Utah times to come!  Can't wait for this next week up at our cabin in the mountains!  Bring on the summer thunder storms.

my best friend's wedding

Two Fridays ago Dave and I got off work as early as humanly possible (what with busy season and a crazy night at my office), grabbed some McDonald's for the road, and hopped on the 210 East towards Phoenix, Arizona for a very important event:

My best friend was getting married!!!!

We (meaning Dave) drove through the night and didn't roll into Ma & Pa Fuller's house til 2:30 in the AM.  Our other friends had already arrived earlier that day, and I asked them to please not wait up for us.  We let ourselves in with the key under the mat (aka: breaking and entering) and were greeted with these:

We were sleep deprived.  

We died laughing.

After 5ish hours of rest we were up and excited to see everyone.  Fresh grapefruit right off the tree in the backyard for breakfast, a quick shower, and some make up later we were in the car on the way to the Mesa, Arizona temple.

Neither Dave or I had ever been to the Mesa temple before, and it was lovely.  The whole place was surrounded with orange trees full of fruit, and it was a lovely desert day (as in we weren't sweating too badly).

And about an hour later...they did it!  These two cute kids got themselves hitched and I don't think the smiles could have gotten any bigger.

C+C for life.  I'm so happy for this cute girl.  We were random roommates our first summer semester at BYU all those years ago and we've pretty much been inseparable since.  And now she's a married woman!  Good thing I like that Jonny.  We wouldn't give up our Caitlin to just anyone...

After celebrating the boys, understandably, didn't feel like sticking around to take pictures, pictures, and more pictures.  So while we stuck around and got shutter-happy with Papa Fuller the amazing photographer and his protege, Jarelle:

They went off and hiked a mountain:

That night the real party started down in Casa Grande.  There was cake, tacos, DE-licous Eegee's smoothies, dancing, pictures, and lots of love.  

Yes the lighting is bad.  No I didn't bring my big camera.  This was one event I decided to just enjoy.  iPhones were invented for a reason.

And that was that!  We drove in late Friday night, partied all Saturday, and took off Sunday afternoon after church with these awesome gals:

It was great weekend and it went by way too fast.  Too bad we couldn't steal these great girls (and the bride & groom for that matter) and bring them back to Santa Clarita with us.  Maybe next time...

Love Day

Yesterday Dave and I continued our annual heart shaped Vday dinner which wouldn't be complete without homemade whip-cream. In an attempt to surprise my valentine I stopped by Ralph's on my way home from work with the masses of men in suits in ties buying last minute bouquets. I ran to the back, grabbed a tiny carton of heavy cream, paid at the register, turned around...and saw Dave. Buying the exact same thing plus an armful of goodies that were supposed to be a surprise for me.
Oops.
Surprise ruined.
The grocery store clerk probably thought I was crazy when I busted up laughing and kissed the man he was ringing up, but that's okay.
Great minds think alike I guess, and in David's case, he can read mine. (Lofthouse heart-shaped cookies for dessert?? That's my man)

1 YEAR

To celebrate our first 365 days of marriage, David planned a surprise celebration for the two of us, and, lucky for me, it involved delicious food.  He knows me all too well.

We got in the car and drove south to LA, got off at Santa Monica Blvd., and traipsed our way toward Beverly Hills.  We stopped outside a small little restaurant with a saber-tooth tiger skull hung up next to the door.  I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little bit hesitant about going inside, but I needn't have been.  THE SHERBOURNE might have some eclectic decor, but the food (oh the food!), and the delightful service were the best.

We had a fabulous time trying every dish that caught our eye (like tasting scallops for the first time), chatting up our server (an up and coming Hollywood actress), and enjoying the ambiance of the restaurant (saber-tooth tiger skulls and all).

We didn't enjoy any of that food.

Not at all. . .

And, yes, even though I hated to ask our server to take a picture with flash in this dark, quaint little restaurant, I did it anyway.  For memories.

It was worth it.

Cheers to our first year together sweetheart!  Let's have many more to come!