February 2020 Part 9: Our Dativersary

 Brian and I started dating on February 29, which only comes around every four years. Each time it has come around, we've made a point of celebrating it. The first time, we went to Vegas. The second time, we stayed at a Bed and Breakfast in Provo, where we started dating, and this year, we wanted to do something big, but had a Disneyland trip planned for the next weekend, so we decided to cross off an item from our Bucket List: Stay in a 5 star hotel. Cal and Cassidy watched our kids, and we headed clear to Salt Lake to stay in the Grand America. 

We ordered room service, because why not? Dinner was fabulous, but dessert was this thing:

That's their idea of an apple tart. Grandma's can beat theirs up. 

Here's the view from our room: 

After dinner, we explored the hotel, because it's so fancy. 

But clearly we don't know how to behave in an elevator. 

We took advantage of the plush robes. 

We watched a movie in our room, thanks to our Roku that we sort of brought from home (but ended up swinging by a Target to buy a remote because we forgot to bring ours. Oops. )

The next morning, we had breakfast in one of the hotel restaurants. It was delicious. 

We checked out and went shopping at City Creek Mall. I'm wondering why we didn't buy these birds:

We walked over to Temple Square, and it was strange seeing the grounds all torn up due to the Temple remodel. 

Back at City Creek, our objective was to pick out cologne for Brian. 

We smelled a ton of colognes and coffee grounds, which apparently neutralize your nose. We finally settled on some Jimmy Choo Fragrance, but not the one pictured here. The guy at the Fragrance place was incredibly patient with us. 

I also picked out a few pairs of more casual earrings. Most of my earrings are pretty fancy--pearls and crystals. 

All too soon, it was time to head back home. We stayed out until the kids went to bed, but we didn't want to be gone on Sunday, so we went home just after 8 or 9. As always, it was a blast hanging out with Brian. Happy 12 years of dates! 

February 2020 Part 8: All the Stuff in Between

In February, we played in the snow and shoveled the driveway. Usually Scott next door takes his snowblower to our driveway before we can get to it because he's amazing like that. 

We chilled and relaxed. 

We did laundry--and acrobatics at the same time. 

One of us wrote a cute letter. 

One of us drew some cool pictures. 

We baked. 

And we ate the stuff we baked. 

And we baked some more (but don't worry, these were at least a week apart). 

We slept. 

We worked out. 

We went to the dentist. 

And couldn't get enough of the screen in the ceiling. 

We played a new game. 

We took advantage of all our blankets. 

And despite the cold, we still somehow needed ice to cool down food? What is happening here?

We smiled. 

We channeled our inner gangster/punk persona. 

And Brian and I went to the temple. 

 My goal was to go once a month in 2020, and here I am 2 for 2. And we also celebrated another milestone....

February 2020 Part 7: Disney Prep

The stars aligned with our schedules and Kirt and Julie's schedules for us to go to Disneyland together in the beginning of March! We're all amazed that Kirt had the weekend free! It's so hard for him to take off in the middle of the semester. In February, I started work on some preparations for our trip. I love wearing BYU gear in the Park, so we had to make a trip to BYU to get everyone a new shirt to wear. 

They've added this sweet play area in the Bookstore, and the kids loved it. 

I also decided to make our own Mickey Ears. The kids all wanted to help. 

The thing that was the hardest was cutting out all the cardboard and the fabric pieces. Michael made all his own ears, and Gabe and Rachel helped stuff their ears with batting while I assembled everything else. 

Gabe picked out Spiderman fabric for his special pair. 

I made a set of BYU ears for everyone, including Nana and Papa. 

I found this cute tutorial for Ariel Ears, and since I already had this sweet fin fabric, I HAD to make it. Here's half of it: 

I also made some t-shirts for the trip. Here's Brian and Rachel's Star Wars Shirts: 

We were all getting really excited about our trip as February started zooming by!