Valentines Day 2009. Just another amazing day with my husband. The one thing that Darren dislikes about V-Day is the fact that some people use it as a reason to do something nice and sweet and like he says "these are things I should be doing everyday anyway."

The day started out with Darren reading me a poem that he had typed up and put on a big red heart made out of construction paper. Here's the poem: "How Do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height my soul can reach, when feeling out of sight for the ends of being and ideal grace. I love thee to the level of every day's most quiet need, by sun and candle-light. I love thee freely, as men strive for right. I love thee purely, as they turn from praise. I love thee with the passion put to use in my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith. I love thee with a love I seemed to lose with my lost saints. I love thee with the breath, smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose, I shall love thee better after death." It was soooo sweet! I think I even teared up a bit.

That afternoon, Darren took me to Sports Authority and told me to pick out any tennis racket I wanted. It was a great surprise! We've been playing pretty regularly and the racket I've been using, while funtional, is a little outdated and has lost some of it's spring. He said he had wanted to buy me flowers but thought I might like this instead. It was a perfect gift and lasts much longer. Thanks again babe! :)

Picture of Darren painting my toenails for V-Day. One of the many sweet things he did for me. I had been saying for a while that I needed to get a pedicure or just suck it up and paint them myself, so later that night he came walking in with a bottle of polish. He did such an amazing job!! I told him he'd just have to paint them for me from now on :)
The story goes something like this (Darren can revise it later): He walks into the store and looks for the isle where polish would be. He sees a display of them and picks one up to observe. About that time a lady walks by. He says, "excuse me." She says, "oh...I don't work here." He says, "um....I just have a question. Is there a polish for fingers and a polish for toes or will this just work on both?" She answers laughing softly, "no...there's only one kind. It will work for both." He replies almost sheepishly, "Thank you." I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall. Haha...I have to laugh to myself while writing this. He had no idea to what lengths he would go to once married. Fingernail polish for V-Day, girls underwear for Christmas. What will it be next? ;o)

For dinner we went to a place called Rustler's Rooste. It's on top of a butte at the foothills of South Mountain, the same location that used to be used as a hideout for cattle rustlers. It was a fun place. It looks basically like a 2-story log cabin inside, log railing etc, except that it was built directly into the mountain so some of the walls are stone. The lights inside were kerosene looking lamps on top of old wagon wheels. The salad plates were old, bent up mining pans and the cups were wide-mouthed mason jars. It was way fun and we thought it would be a great place to bring family when they come into town. Above all the day was great and we had a great time spending it together.