Happy Valentine's Day!
Valentine's Day is very special to me. It is the anniversary of my husband and I's first date! Not to mention, I am a romantic, sappy fool. The guys in our family cooked for us on Sunday. It was a crazy day because I took my son to a four-hour driving course entitled BRAKES. We both got to drive on Firebird Raceway. I learned quite a few things myself. Cole and Mark went to my inlaws house to cook and Taylor and I went to our National Charity League two-hour meeting. It was very nice to arrive at my inlaws where the guys were doing the cooking. They even decorated the table! They've been well trained.



I received a special delivery at work Monday. My husband usually uses Pro Flowers. This year he sent Shari's Berries, which is a division of Pro Flowers. Take a peek! Don't they look yummy?? They were!


This year I sent my Valentine's through the post office at Love Park, Idaho.

I was spoiled by my students!



Of course I brought them treats too!

Since I worked on Valentine's Day, I wasn't able to cook a big dinner so I bought heart-shaped pizzas from Papa Murphy's.

I'm very particular about my Pizza. I have to say, that their pizza was not bad.
I bought these beautiful, delicious cookies from AJs.



I set our table too!




Isn't this beautiful? I've been taking a friend of Taylor's home everyday from school. She and her Mom surprised me with this darling, bilnged out container filled with chocolates.

I found this cute frame at World Market. I need to get some photos in it.

We noticed this sign from one of the ranches in our neighborhood. Love the simplicity of it, as well as, the message.

This are the snowflake cookies that I made for our annual neighborhood cookie exchange. Even though I have my favorites, I change it up every year and challenge myself with a new cookie. I love the way they turned out. They are far from perfect, but it was my first attempt using royal icing. I bought the edible pearls from William Sonoma.
Taylor hosted her 3rd annual Christmas Caroling party at our house Friday night. I baked for five hours Friday, my first day off from school. We also set up a little hot chocolate bar, and of course, filled some candy jars and cookie trays.

Hello Cupcake!
Saturday I went to a cupcake decorating party. It was actually for a fundraiser. We each brought a dozen cupcakes and received a lesson from a professional cake decorator. Needless to say, it was not as easy as we thought it would be. We got to bring two of our own cupcakes home and donated the remaining ten for the fundraiser. I wish I had all of her tools so that I could make recreate them while I remember all of the techniques we learned.

Another milestone. Our 16-year old son got his driver's license yesterday. Yikes. Half of me was hoping he didn't pass the driving test. I'm not ready for this yet. He is though. He certainly is. I caught him smiling so many times yesterday. By the way, this rare photo of him was his extra credit for his Calculus class.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING FROM OUR FAMILY TO YOURS!

Fire and Ice
Taylor and her friend's celebrated her 14th birthday Friday night. The theme for the party was "Ice Blocking". Taylor planned all of the activities including roasting marshmallows around a fire to warm up after their ice-cold ice blocking. Needless to say, I said whole lot of prayers and am so thankful that there were no injuries. They had a blast!


Some of were more adventurous than others.


The Candy Bar was a big hit. They each brought home a little goody box.