Happy Valentine's Day!

OK. I have to admit, I was really ticked off when the stake cancelled the soccer games scheduled on Valentine's Day. I couldn't understand who cared about Valentine's Day enough to actually cancel other plans and just hang out with their spouse. (As you can probably tell, V-Day is not a huge thing at our house, and never has been.)

But, when Andrew decided to take the day off because I had the day off, he suggested going on a family date, and it was amazing! First, we went bowling. It started off a little rocky because the lane kept eating our bowling balls, and Emma couldn't push the ball hard enough to get down the lane. In fact, a couple of times, the ball actually rolled halfway down the lane and then rolled right back to us. But, after the 3rd time of an employee having to walk down and rescue her stuck ball, they gave us a ball ramp and everything went great. I didn't even know such a thing as a ball ramp existed, but it was awesome. Frank was the cutest thing ever! He wouldn't go up to the ramp with us, but if we just balanced the ball on the top and walked away, he would get a running start and hit it as hard as he could. Then he would dance back up the lane singing "Go ball, go ball, go ball!" It was adorable. Emma was a little pro, and just had to do everything herself. Oh, man, she's getting so big!

After bowling we went over to Trail Dust Town to get a steak and watch the cowboy stunt show. I love watching them fall off buildings and stuff, but Emma was terrified of the guns going off, and especially when the actor fell all the way from the top of a 3-story building. On the way home, she told me, "I was really brave during the cowboy show.....what is brave, Mommy?" "It's when you're not scared, honey," said Mommy. "Oh," said Emma "then I wasn't so brave." Somehow I managed to not get any pics of the show, but maybe that's because Frank fell off the bench and rolled underneath the bleachers and I was busy comforting him. Poor guy, he has a huge scrape on the side of his face, but was so enthralled with the show that he hardly even cried (after I fished him out of there!)

Before we left for home, we decided to do something that we've contemplated dozens of times. We always go into this studio, but finally decided to 'bite the bullet' and do it. I think the results are awesome, but now I have to find some sort of cowboy-type frame to put it in. Somehow I don't think it's gonna match the decor in our house!

After we got home, we finally frosted the cupcakes that we had made that morning. I let the kids do their own, and as always, was pleasantly surprised with the results. It's amazing how much they can do when you actually let them.

All in all it was a great day, even if Emma actually asked to not eat her cupcake so that she could go to bed, she was so tired! I really enjoyed the time together as a family, and maybe we'll make this "family date" a thing we do every Valentine's Day. What a fun new tradition, thanks, Dad!