Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day has come and gone, and I must say I am kind of happy about it, it only means that we are that much closer to spring, and how I love spring!

This year we did things a little low key for Valentine's, it has been a little crazy at our house and I really haven't wanted to put in the extra work that I usually do at Valentine's day.

For the kids Valentine's this year, I thought I would make them custom for each child. I think they turned out pretty cute. I was pretty inexpensive too. I just printed them out on 5x7 prints, cut them and ta-da, there you have it, personalized Valentine's Day cards!

Peiton's had Rockstar Cards, because yes she is the Princess Rockstar!

Bode is a Super Stud so he had the Super Cool cards.

And Cooper has been way into basketball lately so he wanted basketball ones. He also made a sweet basketball Valentine's box that I am to lazy to take a picture of and post it.

For Valentine's I usually do a huge Valentine's dinner, yummy food, candlelight, I work on it for hours. The family stays upstairs and anxiously awaits until they can come downstairs for dinner. ;) Well this year it was a little different, I did do candlelight, but the food was pretty basic. I wasn't even going to do it, but I thought it is tradition, so I toughed up and made it and it turned out pretty good.

Here is little Pei looking all beautiful (I don't think her hair was done that day and Collin dressed her, so there you go, beautiful Pei) coming down for the dinner.

That is all the pictures I took of 2010 Valentine's Day, hopefully next year I will get a little more and get a little more into it.

As far as the love goes on Valentines, I must say I do LOVE my family!

Birthday dinner

My birthday was last week and my sister Hollie's birthday is next week so we decided to combine the little dinner get-away with my parents. We decided to head up to Ruth's Diner. I love Ruth's Diner, I think it is the atmosphere that I love more than anything. It is up Immigration canyon and it is this old little diner that has patio seating and it is just really nice and pretty out on the patio seating. On Thursday nights during the summer they have "Blaine's Barbecue," he lives near my parents and we have actually had him cater some of our family events before, so we all new it was so good. Well I decided to try something off of the actual menu instead of the barbecue...big mistake...well not huge, my food was still okay, but I really wished I would have got the barbecue. So that was kind of a bummer, but I was able to pick on everyone else's plate just to get a little taste, it was delish!

If there is ever a night during the last weeks of summer that we have, head up to Ruth's diner and get "Blaine's Barbecue," it is well worth it. Just a heads up, there is quite a wait, after 6:00 it is probably a hour wait. Crazy place, but crazy fun! They do have a live band on Thursday's night, which kept Peiton entertained.

Thanks for dinner dad and mom and for the fun night and thanks Jacki for tending the two boys so we were able to go.
Peiton got to tag along with the adults and she was so good. She loved listening to the band, we were front and center and she just sat there and clapped and kicked her legs. She had a blast.
Love ya dad and mom!
Russ and Haws...Russ your hand looks HUGE in this picture!

{Valentine's Day}

One of my most fondest memories growing up would have to be the Valentine's dinner that my mom would make every year. My dad would take all the kids to a movie or something, just to get out of the house and my mom would stay home preparing this fabulous dinner. When we came home we would have to be blind folded downstairs so we could not see what she had prepared. Once we were all downstairs she would bring us our appetizer for the evening. Soon after we were blindfolded up one by one and taken upstairs to our seat. There we would see this beautiful candle lit table, darling decorations, and scrumptous food. We all LOVED it so much. And one of the most favorite things about the dinner was that afterwards she did ALL the dishes, we did not have to do anything. Valentines dinner is something I will always remember.

Because I loved this tradition so much, I decided when Collin and I got married, I would continue to do it with our family. So, for the past 9 years I have been making a Valentine dinner. Until our kids get a little older I have been inviting people to come over for the last little while. It is something I LOVE to prepare, and I find enjoyment in doing it. The last couple years I have invited friends over and last night was the record on how many people were there. We had 12 adults and 11 kids (counting 2 babies), we had quite the crowd. (But what is 25 people, we all have a blast together, I have some of the most amazing neighbors...very lucky!) Because it is tradition, I won't let anyone see the whole dinner display until it is absolutely ready. So everyone is jammed upstairs, kids and all. But I feel that everything turned out great and everyone had a good time. Here a few pics of the dinner....sorry some of them,actually most of them, didn't really turnout that well. If I get better ones, I will have to post.

Menu

Pepperoni pinwheels-appetizer

Spinach artichoke dip w/bread and chips-appetizer

Berry Salad

Rolls

Cranberry Pork

Heart shaped twice baked potatoes

Orange glazed Asparagus

Chocolate Ice Cream dessert

Cookie Dough Truffles

All our little Valentine's....

Adult table

Sorry :( the pic is really dark...

Kids table