Big. Crush. On. Him.

Valentine's '09 just may have been my very favorite. My parents and brother Jesse came into town and were planning on heading back to Idaho mid-day Saturday. Jason had previously called my mom and asked if he could take me away Friday night and leave Lucy with her. I kinda got a little hunch that he had something up his sleeve when I asked if I should call my parents and see if they could stay a little longer on Saturday so that we could go out. He said, "No," very abruptly, and then avoided eye contact. He also said, "Make sure you pump more milk than usual." and got the look he always gets on his face when he has a secret...tries his hardest not to smile... eyes slightly bugged out. Good thing he doesn't have secrets very often, I'd sniff him out every time. It's a gift you know, not being able to lie to your wife.

So we left around 5:30 on Friday and headed away. I was slightly torn with anxiety because Luce has been sick, so of course I shed a few tears as we left but knew how much we needed the night and knew there was no one I trusted her more with. Giving Grammy a detailed pep talk about all the dos and don'ts always seems to help as well, even though you realize the ridiculousness of your details as it's all spewing out of your mouth.

We drove up and checked into the Hilton in SLC. Haven't been there since the night before our wedding day, so it's a memorable place. Then we headed out on foot over to the Gallivan Center a few blocks away. I didn't even know that downtown had a place to ice skate! It was so cute! The lights were all still up. It felt so invigorating just to be outside even though it's winter. Plus, once I got started on my triple axles I didn't even feel the cold anymore. (Actually we were laughing because there were people there that were taking it way seriously... weaving in and out of little children...doing leg lifts...Blades of Glory style. I was kinda jealous and kinda embarrassed at the same time.)

We had reservations at Flemming's after skating. Dinner was fabulous and jumping on Trax afterwards to head back to the hotel made me feel like we were even more "out of town". Once we got back to the hotel, he gave me a double frame, one side with a poem he wrote me 5 years ago right before I left on my mission, the other side of it with a picture of the silhouette of a girl with short dark hair standing against the sunset, who actually looks like me. I gave him a home-made card with a few of my journal excerpts inside completely gushing about him from a long time ago when things started between us and from when we were engaged. The night was all very magical. Sweet and romantic and simple and wonderful and very much needed. Sometimes as parents you become so centered on caring for the little one that you forget just how much you really love being with each other. It was a huge reminder. I married the most unbelievable man. I couldn't have created a more perfect man for me. He just was and is and always will be my perfect match.

The next day we came home and found the little stink safe and sound! And she had actually had an ok night considering.