Valentines Day

Thursday and Friday, we spent in Utah with family, to see Mom and Dad one last time before their two year mission to Argentina. It is always so much fun spending time with family, but we had to leave earlier than we hoped because we had to rush home on Saturday to go to a ball! For the past five Saturdays, our stake put on some dance classes, taught by a good friend of mine in preparation for this ball. Dean and I were only able to go to two of the five classes, but managed to get a quick recap of the others, and we learned to foxtrot, waltz, cha-cha, and swing (not that we could actually remember much by the time the actual dance arrived. We missed the final class which was a review of everything.) So the dance was awaited with eager anticipation. 

We got home from Utah around 3 in the afternoon, just in time to shower, and head over to a friend's house where she and another friend helped me get ready for the dance. I am hopeless when it comes to hair, and I don't even own makeup, let alone know how to put it on, so they were extremely helpful with all of that. This was probably my least favorite part of the evening, but I am very grateful to have some good friends who are able and willing to help me with my non-feminine ridiculousness. 

When I got back home Dean surprised me with some bright blue roses. I've never seen any like that before, so it was kinda cool. I only had time to appreciate them for a moment because we immediately had to rush out to make our dinner reservations. Grandma was kind enough to stay with the boys so we could go out. We met a couple of other friends at Chopstix, an Asian restaurant, which was pretty good. I'm not a huge fan of most Asian food, but thank goodness for orange chicken. The company was fun too, and eating out with others isn't something that we've really done before, so this was cool.

 

After dinner it was off to the ball. Dean looked great in his uniform. He doesn't get much opportunity to wear it, so he was excited about that, and I was too. I always think he looks like my prince charming when he wears that, and he always makes fun of me for it, but I don't mind. His uniform was a good source of conversation throughout the night too, with everyone asking about his medals, and his deployments, etc. It's kinda nice being out with Dean, because he can talk forever, and as long as they're talking about him, then it's not awkward that I'm sitting back not saying a whole lot. 

  

Dean fell in love again at the dance... with bacon wrapped shrimp, two of his favorite foods combined into one, neither of which I really like. I was happy with the chocolate fountain and a nice array of fresh fruits.  

We danced some. We ate some. We sat and listened to the live band some. We talked with others some. We danced some more. All in all, it was a great evening, although it probably lasted longer than I had the energy for, especially we stayed after for a while to help clean up and get the cultural hall ready for church the following morning. We were home by midnight, and then I had to figure out how to get all that makeup off again. 

It was fun, but I'm glad Valentines Day only comes once a year. That said, Dean was at the police academy last year, and he'll be in Afghanistan next year. Of the seven Valentines Days since we've been married, three of them we weren't even together, and a couple of the others we just overlooked entirely. The most we've ever done in the past was dinner and a movie, so this was really a lot of fun.