My Funny Valentine

Last week we went on our Valentine's date. Matt always likes to make a big deal out of this day, so I was excited to see what he had planned! The last two years we did Valentine's day together, he picked amazing restaurants. This year we went to Fresco Italian Cafe, a house-turned-boutique-restaurant in Sugarhouse that was as hard to find (and as charming) as Narnia. The food there was so good Matt almost cried when he took the first bite of his steak. Everything there had at least six descriptively-hyphenated words attached to it. In this case, the more words, the better! This may be the second best meal I've ever had (only trumped by our first Valentine's Day meal at Tuscany).

It was fun to have an excuse to dress up and spend some time together outside of our apartment. Every time we go up to Salt Lake, we end up having a great time. Why don't we go up there more often? Dinner was followed by an evening at Abravanel Hall. The Utah Symphony performed music from Romeo and Juliet and Sleeping Beauty by Tchaikovsky. I had never been to a legit symphony before, so I was pretty impressed! I used to set up the stage background before performances at BYU, so I was double impressed. Those panels looked heavy!

Matt made sure to remind me that his main reason for going the symphony was for school credit. I guess that was a hint that I shouldn't get used to this? I think he changed his mind once he heard that live music, because he walked out at the end talking about coming back. I think we have a believer on our hands. Lucky me :)

And...a really bad iPhone photo.

Happy Valentine's Day!

a story of love

This is my first Valentine's Day as a married lady. I'm gonna be honest, most of my Valentine's Days have been spent "alone", pining for the day when I would have someone special to share it with. You know, that's just how it went.

My V-Days didn't get good until Matt came along. Lesbehonest, I was just happy to have someone awesome to spend time with. But he went all out to make me feel special.

These past two years, Matt was on his mission in the Philippines. The first Valentine's Day was spent hoping this guy I was going on dates with would call me (he didn't) and the next one was spent pranking people around Provo with my roommate and a mannequin head on a broom stick painted like David Bowie. Let's just say it was a weird two years.

I don't know what this year will bring, but I'm happy to have an excuse to reflect on why I love my husband and other special people in my life. Here are some links I found to help you guys get in the holiday spirit:

A tribute to 19 years of being single on Feb 14th: 10 great things about being single on valentine's day

diy chocolate heart wall (I would love to walk home to this any. day.)

"I love everything about you" color-yourself printable

a printable chalkboard valentine

Plus, in case you missed it, a post about what no one tells you about being engaged.

And...some quotes on love:




"Surround yourself with the dreamers and the doers, the believers and thinkers, but most of all, surround yourself with those who see greatness within you, even when you don't see it yourself." - unknown

“All I understood was that she was the girl I sat up every night thinking about, and when I’m with her, I feel happy to be alive. Like I can do anything. Even talk to you like this. So that’s, that’s what I think is love, mom. When I’m better because she’s here.” - Cory Matthews, Boy Meets World

"I wish never to be parted from you from this day on." - Mr. Darcy

"Never allow your happiness to depend on a relationship. I think it's a very special thing to find love. It's beautiful. Nothing can match it. But make sure you find other things in live that you love besides...your love." - unknown

"A reporter asked the couple, 'How did you stay together for 65 years?' The woman replied, 'We were born in a time when if something was broken, we would fix it, not throw it away.'"

"And them my soul saw you and went, 'Oh there you are. I've been looking for you.'"

"Those who love you are not fooled by mistakes you have made or dark images you hold about yourself. They remember your beauty when you feel ugly; your wholeness when you are broken; your innocence when you feel guilty; and your purpose when you are confused." - Alan Cohen

"'I was waiting for the longest time,' she said. 'I thought you forgot.' 'It is hard to forget,' I said, 'when there is such an empty space when you are gone.'"

Where The Sun Glows

Oh man. I'm so glad I married an adventurer. My personal ideal day usually consists of staying home and relaxing, but Matt loves to get away. I'm really starting to love it, too. The wear and tear of daily life can sometimes feel almost too overwhelming to bear. Getaways like this create events to look forward to and memories to last.

Today we slept in on our fancy air mattresses, ate sausage mcmuffins the size of my face, took naps, walked to a charming outdoor restaurant with the best French waiter and vinaigrette I've ever seen, and danced with baby in the living room.

The house isn't finished yet, so we are improvising...which means cooking with a grill and microwave, and using the front stoop as our fridge.





And I had two (yeah, two) of the best baths ever in a triangle whirlpool bathtub.

We even started planning our summer vacation. What initially began as a cruise to the Bahamas has turned into a week in Costa Rica with the brother's family, then Miami, then the cruise.

When the sun started to set and all were napping, I sat outside on the deck to worship the forgotten sun and bottle it up. I wish I could take the sun home to Provo with me. It makes all the difference.

Hopefully this will get me through the last weeks of winter. What do you do to recharge?

Friday Favorites

It's Friday! Why is Monday so close to Friday, when Friday is so far from Monday?

Our best friends got married to each other this weekend! Other than that, we have spent the entire week detoxing from Thanksgiving. We have been hitting the gym way more than usual (easy, when the usual is never lately), cooking healthy meals, and overdosing on all things Christmas. This weekend we're going to see the lights at Temple Square (I'm a sucker for twinkle lights) and doing a temple session. Lesbehonest, a good portion of this weekend will also be spent on my rear.

Here are some of my favorite things this week:

Provo Christmas Bucket List

Guys. December is crazy. There are so many things to do, and yet somehow, I still end up sitting on my butt at home watching Christmas specials on TV. Love me some TV, but there are so many things to do in Utah during the holidays! I have compiled a list of the most exciting things happening in Utah Valley during the month of December. This is in no way an exhaustive list, but I did a lot of curating for you. For more complete calendars of events in Utah Valley, go here + here + here + here.

A Snow Memory

Our first snow! I always feel a little like Lorelai from Gilmore Girls on the first day of snow. What is so magical about new snow? I think it's because it sugar-coats every surface of your corner of the world and lets you see things in a new light.

My favorite snow memory is from Christmas 2009. Matt and I had been dating for 16 months, and apparently that's the appropriate amount of time to get a free pass to family Christmas vacation. All 30 of us drove up to this cabin in Island Park, Idaho a few days after Christmas. It was in the middle of the woods, and a fresh blanket of snow had just fallen. Matt and I bundled up and went on a walk in the middle of the forest, hand in hand. Everything around us was dead silent, I swear I could almost hear the snow falling. I remember being completely content with where I was at that moment. 

What's your favorite snow memory?

The 8th Wonder of the WORLD!

The first time I heard about the Kennecott Copper Mine, I was 19 and had probably never been anywhere in Utah but Provo, St George and downtown Salt Lake. Every couple of months, Matt would say, "We need to go to Kennecott Copper Mine," and then spew of a bunch of facts about it. I would utter some platitudes, and he wouldn't bring it up for another few months. I honestly had no idea what the lure of a big hole in the ground brought, and I avoided it like the plague. Who knows why.

Luckily, Matt went on his mission before I had to go! I thought the subject was tabled until he started bringing it up every few weeks. Matt finally decided he wanted to go for reals, and turned it into a double date so he could trick me into going! Little did I know, he tricked the other couple into going by saying, "Kellie REALLY wants to go see this." That little trickster!

He kept saying, "Kennecott Copper Mine is the only thing besides the Great Wall of China that you can see from SPACE! Space, babe. Space. I'm pretty sure it's the Eighth Wonder of the World." 

Alright...

(By the way, it's definitely not. But you can def see it from space.)

So yesterday we drove out to Herriman to see the mine. It was honestly a lot cooler than I thought it was going to be. Yes, it is a huge hole in the earth. But we have been watching Gold Rush a lot, and I've been getting excited about finding little specks of shiny stuff in millions of pounds of straight dirt. There was even a video explaining the mining process that was probably made in the 90s, seeing as the host's pants were basically up to her belly button (the higher the waistline, the older the pants). The hole is over a mile across! And the trucks they use to haul the dirt are bigger than Optimus Prime!

While we were there, I finally figured out why Matt cared so much about this hole. He loves digging! Give him a shovel and patch of ground and he would probably dig until he got to China. I don't know why, but he does, and I love that about him. I love that he cares so deeply about something that most people would not care about. That man's got passion in spades.

He's honestly the most endearing person I know.

So now I can say I've been to the Kennecott Copper Mine. If you have small children, or a husband who loves digging, just do it. And yell something awesome into the hole for me while you're there.