Valentines Day

Ben and I normally don't go all out for Valentines Day, it is just a little too commercial for us and seems a little hokey to spend too much money on each other. Sure we love each other and love the chance to let one another know it, but we usually don't use Valentines Day as an excuse to show it. Usually a simple card and a romantic dinner suffice. But this year was a little different for some reason. Maybe it had something to do with our conversation a few weeks earlier about rekindling the magic and not letting our relationship get put on the back burner, I'm not really sure, but we had a really fun time spoiling each other and spending some well needed mommy and daddy time together. It started out on Friday night with an evening of Sushi... and climbing...Two of our most favorite things to do together, and then on Saturday a day of skiing and just relaxing at home afterward and exchanging our heartfelt gifts.

It was super fun skiing together which came as a little bit of a surprise to us. This is only the third time I have ever skied and the first time since high school. Snowboarding is my winter sport of choice, but even that is a bit of a gamble for me. On a good day I could maybe pass as novice, but not on ski's, skiing is a much different story. For those of you who know Ben, you know he was born with ski's on and he loves it loves it loves it. It's kinda a requirement if you want to be born a Marsden. We've tried skiing together before and it just ends up in frustration for both parties. It's always the same thing, he's frustrated with me because I can't get my gloves on and I wont ski until they're on, me frustrated with him that he wont help me get the snow out of my gloves and wait for me to catch up. This time we just stayed on the Little Cat, which I'm sure was thrilling for him, but I loved it. Ben was totally patient and such a good teacher. And I might add... I totally owned that bunny hill by the end of the day. Oh ya, I have some pretty sick ski skills.

Warming up in the gondola...

After skiing we went home and relaxed and exchanged our gifts. Ben surprised me with this lamp post that I have been coveting ever since we built our house... It matches the sconces that we have outside and it is SO gorgeous. I love it so much. We will hopefully install it sometime this summer as we are planning on beginning to landscape then. He also got me a super cute shirt from Victoria's Secret. I got him some classy new brown shoes to wear to work and a new wedding ring. He lost his original ring down in Zions as he was going through Mystery Canyon without me. Serves him right for leaving me behind on that trip. The new one is just a sterling silver band, and cost but a fraction of what his original one was. Good thing neither of us are terribly sentimental. I know he loves me with or without his original wedding band. After we did our traditional gift exchange, Ben told me he had one more surprise for me. He sat me down at the computer and pulled up our blog and showed me his post. I was so touched at his thoughtfulness and his poem was so beautiful, it just brought me to tears to think of how much I love him and of how much I felt he loves me. The poem means even more to me as I read it over and over and realize all of the hidden meaning that was behind it all. It is full of symbolism's and memories of our life together. He is so incredible and I love him so much more now than I ever did. So that was our special Valentines Day this year and as always, I now leave you with some random funny pictures of our kids...

Kai likes to bury Jude with pillows...

Jude thinks it is hilarious...Ben and Kai snuggling out on the deck to watch the sunset...

Kai and Jude playing in their "hut"...