The Day of Love

Rob came home on Friday, the day before Valentine's, with these beautiful flowers for me.

What a thoughtful hubby I have!

Being a thoughtful father as well as husband, he also brought a rose home for Lexi and candy home for the boys. They were thrilled with their new treasures.

Sadly, I'm behind on the gift I'm making for Rob for Valentine's, and he still doesn't have it. (Boo for me!)

A friend kindly offered to take the kids for us so we could enjoy a couple of hours together for a Valentine's date. We went to Red Lobster for an early dinner and used a gift certificate we had. Love it! Free babysitting and dinner! (Ok, we actually had to pay $10 for our dinner. We went a few dollars over our gift cert and then that dang tip!)

On Saturday, Valentine's Day, we enjoyed Rob's delicious strawberry crepes for breakfast. (We had already had heart shaped pancakes the day before.) And then we went to the Draper Temple (http://www.ldschurchtemples.com/draper/) open house.

Here we are waiting in a nearby church for our turn to see the 12 minute movie on temples and the Draper Temple. Yes, the kids were getting grumpy and restless. (Just in case you couldn't tell by the picture!) Not sure what Rob was thinking.:)

It was a cold and snowy day, so the shuttles were running a bit slow. But we finally got our turn to ride the shuttle to go to the temple. The kids, of course, enjoyed the ride.

The new temple!The kids were thrilled for the opportunity they had to tour the temple. When we announced to them a couple of weeks ago that we were going to be able to go, they were full of questions. Mainly, why could they go to that temple and none of the others? We explained that the church gives everyone the opportunity to tour the temple when it is built. Then the temple is dedicated making it a sacred place and therefore, only members with recommends are able to enter.

After the tour, everyone is lead to a church across the street where the gym is amazingly transformed. There was a beautiful picture display of temples. Other beautiful pictures, including of Christ, and fancy decorations and furniture.
The whole production was very impressive. I can only imagine the amount of volunteers it takes to run the entire operation. The temple open house is an amazing opportunity for the public--nonmembers and members who haven't been to the temple-- to go inside and experience the beauty for themselves. When we were in the Celestial Room, Lexi turned to me and whispered with a smile, "Mom, I can feel the Holy Ghost." Music to my ears!


Here's a great website for anyone with questions about temples: http://www.lightplanet.com/mormons/temples/tour.html.
This website shows pictures of the individual rooms of the temple with explanations of each room.

That was the main event for our Valentine's Day! After the temple, there were things that needed to be done, unfortunately.

After errands and chores, we enjoyed a fabulous dinner cooked by Rob. He made us tasty artichokes with hollendaise sauce, and salmon my Dad brought home from Alaska. The kids opted for mac and cheese over the fish. What? Crazy kids.

For dessert, I made mini chocolate molten cakes served with candy chocolate lips and vanilla bean ice cream.

A sweet Valentine's Day indeed!