Now and Then

Our first Valentine’s Day together turned out to be nothing like we planned. Cara’s family invited us up to attend the Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House over Valentine's day weekend. It worked out nicely because it’s a lot easier to have a night out on the town in Provo than in Cedar so, the night before the open house, we decided to get all gussied up and have dinner at Carabba’s and see the new Valentine’s day release, He’s Just Not That Into You. And gussied up we got! I curled my hair, we wore nice clothes…we made all the necessary preparations…except, ya know, the dinner reservation and movie tickets.

Of course every showing was sold out and Carrabba’s had a 2 hour wait. We remembered why we love our little Cedar. Poor Josh felt so bad! He wanted to make me happy but everywhere we went the line was way out the door! And then I started thinking outside the box and remembered how much I love California Pizza Kitchen. I suggested CPK and they weren’t on a wait-probably because a pizza joint isn’t usually considered a particularly romantic atmosphere. Go figure!

Not only did we walk in and were seated immediately, but the manager recognized me from our days serving at Wingers together and gave us a discount! We had a great meal and were so pleased with ourselves for beating Valentine’s Day at it’s own game. After dinner we went to check out what wasn’t sold out at the movie theater and ended up seeing the “Underworld” Prequel and loved it! We had so much more fun than I think we would have had we followed “the plan.”

~So, now that you have some context, I’ll tell the story of our first Valentine’s day as a married couple.~

I was a little disappointed when I was scheduled to be on call at Wingers for the evening on V-day, but I figured we’d just make it work somehow. We got worried that I’d get called in and be stuck there all night so Josh suggested we go out to lunch so we at least got some "us" time in. I got all pretty and we went to Chilli’s and made the most of Josh’s lunch break. Later Josh came home and we gave each other our cards and Josh unveiled a beautiful Calla Lily plant for me so I could have my favorite flowers anytime! By the time I called in to Wingers and was told I wasn’t needed, we were pretty cozy and neither of us felt eager to brave the crowds and busy restaurants so we went down the street to the Maverick and bought…wait for it…Bahama Mamma hot dogs to eat in the comfort of our own little home.

I spent the evening scrapbooking with Josh next to me playing on the computer while we watched Terminator II on AMC! It was perfect! We decided it was just the best way to spend Valentines day: have a yummy lunch when no one else is out and enjoy our favorite hot dogs at home in the evening. As for the totally non-traditional movies we keep choosing…I wouldn’t mind keeping that one around either!