Happy Valentine's Day

To fully appreciate our Valentine's Day, you have to hear how crazy it was for three days. We start on Wednesday when the snow storm rolled in about 3:00 in the afternoon. We got hit with the worst of it having 70 mph winds and totally white out conditions through Eagle Mountain, Lehi, Highland, and Alpine. Lucky for me, it was Jay's day off, so he was home through the whole ordeal. About 4:30 our lights started flickering and went out for about 45 minutes. Meanwhile, my mom called to tell us to stay put (cause we couldn't figure that out on our own) and was worried about driving home from work. Jenn made it home, but drove through white out conditions in Alpine and Highland to make it. She works at a school up in Alpine that is just down the street from Ridgeline Elementary where kids and faculty were stranded overnight. When our lights came back on, I had just enough time to make dinner and then they went out again for another 45 minutes. Of course, Sierra was loving it, running around with the flashlight. Brooke just stared wide-eyed at all the lights flickering and the shadows dancing, and Jax just continued to play with his trains through the whole event. Good thing they're battery powered! My mom called again about 6:00 saying that my dad had made it down from Salt Lake, and she had made it down to American Fork, but all the road closures had started and there was so much traffic, they couldn't make it up to their home in Traverse Mountain. They decided to wait it out at the movie theatre. The exit ramp at Thanksgiving Point was closed, SR-92 was closed, the road by Lone Peak was closed, and the road to Eagle Mountain was closed. Most were due to accidents and driving conditions. It was crazy how many people got stranded. The winds continued to blow and I called my mom about 9:30 to see where they were at. They were in the traffic at Thanksgiving Point, trying to make it home. The winds were still going crazy and the snow was still coming down. I got a phone call at 10:15 saying they still couldn't make it and were trying to get back to my house. My mom finally showed up at 10:45. She had lost my dad in the storm and when she called him, he had made it home by taking some back road. He had to plow through a 4 foot snow drift in front of their garage, but he made it. My mom spent the night on our couch! Now, what does all this have to do with Valentine's? Due to the storm, I was not able to get to the store to get the ingredients that I needed for Jay's Valentine dinner.

Thursday came, Jay left for work and my mom made it home through still more delays. She got stuck once in the driveway, but was able to plow through my dad's tracks. Our truck hasn't been working, so I was still stuck at home and unable to go to the store, so I had to figure out something else for dinner. We gave the kids their cards and treats and wished them Happy Valentine's Day and the day was fairly normal after that. I got a delivery of a dozen red roses that afternoon. Thanks Jay! They were gorgeous and went great on our table. I ended up making Baby Back Ribs, Noodle Salad, Ranch Potatoes, fresh bread, and cheesecake for dessert. It turned out well, even amidst crying and whining kids who took up most of my time, making dinner a 2-hour event. Thanks to all who voted and the Pork Tenderloin is on the list for an upcoming dinner. Jay brought me a box of chocolate truffles when he got home. Yum! We spent the rest of the night making sugar cookies for Sierra's preschool party the next day and fell into bed at 1:00.

On Friday, Jay took Sierra to school in the morning while I got ready for her Valentine Party. I went over about 11:00 to help with her party. I helped the kids decorate sugar cookies, play Bingo, and have a cake walk. Then it was time to hand out the Valentines. I went to help Sierra and lo and behold, her backpack is not there. I should have known by now because Jay forgets to take her backpack to school about half of the time. She had signed them all and got them ready that morning, so I had to run home and grab them and hurry back to the school before the kids were picked up. Luckily, we made it!

Later that afternoon, we went furniture shopping and picked out a new couch for our Living Room. Jay also found time to get the truck fixed, the garage fixed, and I had a flashback to the Friend's episode when we were moving three couches around in our house! The couch is probably the best Valentine's present I ever received. I was so excited! Now I told him to stop and get a can of paint tonight and we'll be good to go in that room!

Even though this was a crazy week, everything turned out well and we hope your Valentine's Day turned out as great as ours!