Valentine's Day and Birthday Wishes

Valentine's Day was exciting, and much better than anticipated!

First off... Adrielle's 1-year Doctor's Appointment! Adrielle is now 64th percentile for weight, 32nd percentile for height (definitely an error considering that 3 months before she was less than a half an inch different), and 93rd percentile for head circumference... We love our little girl and are so grateful she's grown so well this past year!

Check out how darling this video is! Ryan and Adi have such a cute relationship. I love this.

And yes, my little girl is wearing a tutu. It was very festive. :)

Fast forward through the 1-year shots and tears and most of the day... Around 2pm I wandered over to the bookstore. I was so worried. I felt bad that I didn't have a 'gift' for Ryan. We went shopping last week and found some fun things, but I didn't have a gift for him to open. So, I searched the bookstore high and low (figuratively and literally) and finally found something we had talked about previously and a little something for Adrielle too! I ran to get them wrapped and went back to work.

Around 4pm, someone knocks on my door and...

Surprise!

Ryan and Adi had driven down early from the U and brought be a bouquet of my favorite flowers.... Aren't they beautiful!?

Ryan is so tricky because each year I know for sure that he won't have time to get flowers--especially glads because they're so hard to find in February. But each year he manages to get beautiful flowers. And, while roses are wonderful (he bought me pink roses and yellow hydrangea in 2008), I love glads. (But, don't get me wrong, I don't mind roses... ;)

It was fun being able to spend a little extra time with Adi, and she enjoyed the Valentine's suckers the student employees put together in the office. She opened her gift--a set of blocks, puzzle, and book to help her learn her ABCs and Ryan opened his too...

A nice tie rack to display his ties. I love how this looks.

That evening, Ryan and I threw together an impromptu celebratory dinner of yummy fish, potatoes, bruschetta, cauliflower, and left-over chocolate-covered-strawberries...

(I say 'left-overs' because my mother-in-law made them for our Valentine's Day/Birthday Family Party.)

to celebrate... my dad's birthday! Yep, he's a Valentine! Happy Birthday again Dad! Hope you had a great day!

While Ryan and I cooked, Adi entertained herself with the computer--she's so inquisitive!

My little computer baby--who knows you may be looking at the next computer programmer.

Belated Valentine's Surprise - 2010

Valentine's days have always been very special for Ryan and me...

2008 - Dinner at La Dolce Vita, flowers, and the perfect night that we decided to get married. :)

2009 - An early Valentine's going to the Salt Lake Temple and an exciting trip to the Anniversary Inn

2010 - The birth of our daughter Adrielle on February 12th and the recovery period in the hospital that eclipsed Valentine's day. Highlights? A cute bag of Valentine's (chocolate) from the nursing staff, little cards with my meals from the nutrition staff...

But, the morning after we got home from the hospital brought the most delightful surprise:

B-E-A-Utiful flowers from my sweetheart. They are so vibrant and lovely. :)

They remind me of our wedding flowers...

and they had this awesome "furry" flower...

Thank you sweetheart! I love you so very much!

A Very 'Glad' Valentine's

Last year for Valentine's Day, Ryan took me to La Dolce Vita, a charming, authentic Italian restaurant where we went for our first (unofficial) date. He bought me the most gorgeous bouquet of pink roses and yellow hydrangeas, but the best surprise of all was the bouquet of budding red gladiolus (aka glads). 

The first thing you must know about glads . . . 

. . . is that they are my absolute favorite flower. Gladiolus are a later summer flower that thrive in temperate climates (especially the South). They are gorgeous and vibrant, attract butterflies and humming birds, and smell perfectly divine. They are an all-around beautiful creation. 

Not only are they beautiful, but they hold sentimental significance for me. When I was in high school back east, my dad and I planted hundreds of glads the first year we were there. The next year we had hundreds of beautiful flowers blooming in the front yard for about six weeks, and each year afterwards I impatiently awaited the end of July for their arrival.  

The second thing you must know about glads, is that they are impossible to find during the winter months in cold climates, something I knew but Ryan didn't. He was such a sweetheart to be observant and even know that they were my favorite flower, let alone think to get me some for Valentine's Day. 

As I said, they are impossible to find during the winter months, but Ryan came through and found the most perfect red glads. I was so surprised and happy, and touched that he had remembered my favorite flower. A couple weeks later I found out that it had taken him a four-hour trip to several flower shops to even find a single stem of glads. He had worked so hard to find them for me! Wasn't he such a wonderful boyfriend? 

Well, fast forward through 2008 and a charming wedding luncheon with stunning hot pink glads (courtesy of my wonderful mother-in-law, Jennifer) to Valentine's Day 2009. Ryan and I were going to go to the  cabin over the President's Day weekend, and wanted to celebrate Valentine's Day early, so we decided to celebrate last Thursday. I planned a few surprises for Ryan, and was anxious for him to get home so we could celebrate. He was a little late, but his excuse was so darling. Ryan came home with these: 

The most gorgeous bouquet of budding pink glads. And, once again it had taken him a long trip to 3 different florists to find a single stem. Thank you sweetheart for being observant and thoughtful! You are the most wonderful, and perfect man in the entire world. I love you!