Valentine’s Day with Ali was fantastic!
The holiday is becoming a big deal at our house. Last year I canned Alex’s Valentine on BYU Campus — seriously, I sealed his candy and sock monkey in a giant CAN — ironically his can opener broke and we had to cut it open with some heavy duty scissors… Alex bought me yellow daisies and my favorite chocolates from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory — I insisted that buying my absolute favorite types of chocolates (turtles) would be 10x better than any large box of assorted candies (PS it totally was).
This year, we kept the chocolate giving tradition alive. My Alex came through with turtles and truffles, while I picked out half a pound of BYU fudge to add to my “Cuddle Kit” surprise for Alex (Big shout out to Dating Divas for the idea!). Yep, no canning for me this year…instead I wrapped up a bottle of sparkling cranapple cider, BYU fudge and a Clint Eastwood movie in a bright red throw. The throw was totally inspired by our living room colors — two birds, one stone!
Breakfast was heart shaped, sunny side up, egg yolks — forgot to take a picture — with warm Cinnabons and sausage patties. I also can’t forget the free printout sign I got from Dating Divas too (they think of everything).
Alex surprised me at work with orange and pink roses — so much prettier and more original than red — and took me out for a surprise dinner date.
When it comes to dinner on Valentine’s Day, DON’T let your hubby skip out on making a reservation. I was so glad Alex didn’t skip. We drove in right on time to our 7:30pm dinner appointment and sat down in the nicest pizza restaurant I’ve ever been to: Pizzaria 712. The location was tiny and quaint, but don’t let that fool you on the experience. I LOVED how although the place was packed and sappy 90s love songs were playing on the stereo, I STILL was able to HEAR my husband talking to me. We originally were going to eat at the Tortilla Bar (whose food is to die for) but the place is soooo loud and crowded (we decided to move that date to the spring when it’s warm enough to sit outside).
The Pizzaria 712 waiters recommended sharing an appetizer, salad and a pizza, so we ordered:
A little something: rockhill creamery gouda mac & cheese, crimini mushrooms, breadcrumbs, crispy speck
Greens: frisee, hand pulled mozzarella, pear, date emulsion
Pizza: housemade sausage, caramelized onion, roasted fennel, tomato sauce, mozzarella
The mozzarella is handmade fresh, daily — sooo delicious! We also each enjoyed a bottle of Cream Soda — which I’m actually glad I picked over RootBeer.
Dessert was an off-the-menu Valentine’s Day special: Chocolate tart crust filled with ganache, caramel and raspberry sauce, topped with sea salt flakes. Delicious, perfect and a darned shame it won’t be on the menu again (a pro and con to original restaurants).
We ended the evening with a RedBox adventure. Apparently every single girl in Utah had rented “Austenland” so we arrived home empty-handed after treking all the way to Springville to check 3 RedBox kiosks. Praise be Amazon, when I found it for rent on Instant Play at home — yep, my husband loves me enough to watch a sappy chick flick based off a book I read two summers ago — the night was perfect and of course ended with 100 kisses.
I want to keep every Valentine’s Day of our marriage this way. It’s important to have several extra special dates throughout the year — along with the usual Friday night escapade — It won’t be easy when the kids come along, but I know it’ll be worth it. I love my Alex and am so thankful for all that he does for me. The best part of the day was the note he sent with my flowers:
