My Valentine

A promise is a promise and even though I have seemingly lost my ability to write on here, I'm going to do my best to get everything up to date and documented and hope that somewhere along the way my blogging mojo returns to me.  And what better place to start than Valentine's Day?  It's a day filled with love, and flowers, and CHOCOLATE!

This year Jared and I celebrated the big day a little early. Jared came home from work one Friday early in February acting very suspicious.  He was making secretive phone calls and talking furtively talking with Madison in corners.  I knew something was up, but I also know that Jared loves surprises so I did my best to stay out of his way and just let the surprise happen.  He did ask me if I'd like to go to out to dinner so I played along and happily went about getting ready for our date.  Eventually though, the entire plan was revealed.  We weren't just going out to dinner, he had arranged for us to have a night away.  I must say, it was interesting to look in the bag Jared had packed and find what he considered to be essentials for staying overnight in a hotel.  There was not a toothbrush in sight.

On February 14th when it was actually Valentine's Day we didn't make too much of a big deal about things - it was just the usual cards and flowers and Jared also had chocolate for all the girls in his life.  I love that he remembers our sweet kids on Valentine's Day.

In addition to hugs and kisses, I was given these lovely flowers on Valentine's Day
That night as I was writing in my journal I reflected on Jared, our life together, and my love for him.  Mostly I was thinking way back to 1996, when we were engaged and then newly married.  I overwhelmed then by how much I loved Jared.  I remember being in the temple the day we were sealed when Jared took a quiet moment in the hall to ask me if I still wanted to do this.  I think he was only half joking.  At the time I couldn't imagine loving anyone else or loving anyone more.  Now I know that what I felt then was literally nothing in comparison to the way I feel now.  I don't want this to sound wrong - I knew I was in love and that Jared was the right person to marry.  I had prayed about it and felt that I was making the right decision.  Still, there is almost no comparison between the depth of my love then and where it is now.  Sixteen years ago, when we were first engaged, we used to talk about loving each other "more than yesterday and less than tomorrow."  I think it's from a song or something?  Anyway, it was a cute thing to say but now I see how that concept really works and I have a hard time even imagining how much better things will become the longer we are together.

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