Valentines, sunsets, and life.

Sometimes, I find myself on "pause" from all the busy-ness of life, and I remember to be thankful for my blessings. I've been reading another blog lately, which brings a lot into perspective for me. It's a good reminder.

Our winter has sure been mild this year. That's a mixed blessing, I think. Milder temperatures, minimal snow and cold, ... sounds wonderful, right? But when we're in the hearth products business.... well, it's not so easy to sell stoves and fireplaces when people aren't really feeling the cold, you know? Still, we have been able to support our family and our business, which is really all I pray for.

Mild temps bring the bulbs out of the ground in a hurry:

Those are daffodils that are 16" out of the ground in the middle of February. In Idaho. It's unreal!

My "vintage" yardstick -- has '57 Chevy on the other side of it. Kinda fun!

As an early celebration of Valentine's Day, we and some of the extended family went out to dinner at one of our favorite Italian restaurants...

Todd was a real sweetheart and got this huge arrangement of roses and lilies. He sure knows my favorite things.

I had a singing Valentine come to work that morning... still trying to figure out how to get that video off my phone and onto the computer.

Todd also went out on a date with another girl:

She was over-the-moon excited when she found out that we'd gotten tickets for her and Todd to go to the community's  Daddy Daughter Dance together.  Since it was the day before Valentine's Day, I did a fancy hairstyle for her:

Todd took her out to dinner to one of her favorite restaurants before the dance, too.... 

And they posed for the photographer at the dance, as well:

Emma was just so excited about the whole thing! It sure made me smile to see the two of them heading out together. Todd said he got a lot of positive comments from total strangers at the restaurant, as well. 

As for us, we kept our Valentine's Day celebrations kind of quiet this year. We decided to eat in, instead of trying to fight the crowds at the restaurants in town. We know that Todd can cook steak better than them, anyway! 

So we ate home-grilled smothered steaks that night:

Realllly good!!

And I experimented with a copycat recipe of one of Todd's favorite restaurant desserts:

If I'd been completely happy with the results, I would have posted the recipe here. Since there are definitely changes I would make in both the blondie and the warm sauce, I will wait to post the recipe until I've got it the way I want it.

February has also been giving us some pretty sunsets along with the warmer weather. And it's warm enough (and dry enough) to even be out jumping on the trampoline in the late afternoon/evenings. 

(With a jacket, of course!)

One of these days, I will take the time to learn the settings on my camera, better than I know them now. After all the pictures I take, I'd think the quality would have improved a bit more. It's not perfectionism. It's just desire for self-improvement.

This morning, I told my Seminary students that I want them to go out and be different, so they can be better. If we keep doing the same things, we're going to get the same results. If I want to be better, I've got to do things differently.

And that, my friends, is my little gem of wisdom for the day!