"Do you like Youtube"

Dan and I have come to terms with the news that he didn't get accepted to Wisconsin. We are seeing all the positive things this will do for us for the near future. Soon we'll be able to blow out of this little town of Bluffdale and move on to bigger and better places like Springville.

I'm serious.

I think if I have to drive 500 miles a week for one more school year you'll see me in a mental institution. I wouldn't mind the driving if it was in a city where people knew how to drive and were courteous. That's really my biggest biff with driving in Utah. You've always got that guy in his sunglasses with one arm on the steering wheel and the other texting on his cell phone weaving in and out of traffic like a maniac until he is 3 cars ahead of me and everyone else he almost killed.

For all of you who do not recognize this problem, or recognize the rudeness of drivers in Utah, I submit to you that you have never really lived anywhere else. Vacations don't count. Dan used to think I was over-reacting too...until he made the drive to Idaho. There's that miraculous point as you are leaving Tremonton and headed to the Idaho border where the clouds part, rainbows come up, birds start chirping, and suddenly you realize you don't have a white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel anymore, your heart rate has returned to normal, you aren't nervously chugging diet coking and pounding road-trip food, and you aren't bickering about driving with your spouse.

I could handle living in Utah a lot longer if driving wasn't such a focal point in my career. I might even consider living here long-term (long-term meaning 5-10 years) IF everyone in Utah took a courteous driving course and they widened the lanes in Utah County. Seriously! Nothing is worse than those narrow lanes through Utah County combined with wide-load semi's and then the little punks driving like they're playing a video game.

It really is a unique problem that is unique to Utah. That is the gospel of driving according to Stephanie and I pinky promise you that Dan agrees so it is ok for this to be on OUR blog :)

Wow, guess I've had a rough week of driving eh? Every week is really a rough week of driving and I really hope that changes soon.

In other exciting news, my car needed a mass air flow sensor replacement so buh-bye February savings! At least it wasn't a new transmission or something super expensive. Nothing like those $300-$500 car repairs every now and then to make you grumpy.

I guess in blog-world tradition I should tell you what we did for the big V-day.

We gave each other presents first thing in the morning. Dan gave me a teddy bear to take with me when I go to Idaho next weekend and a bag of Dove milk chocolates....mmmmm.

It was a little rough reciprocating Dan's romantic gift when I surprised him with a reverence pack for church. I'm married to the guy who has sleeps in church. You might be that girl too and usually I just try to keep him awake enough to he doesn't share his snoring talent with everyone. He claims it's the warm natural light, soothing voices and music and church-appropriate snuggling that happens in church.

I really don't care if he sleeps as long as he doesn't snore. I just know he gets bored and annoyed sometimes so I bought him some entertainment supplies that are disguised as scripture highlighters.

I got him a composition book to record his thoughts and feelings, colored pencils for highlighting important things in books, manuals, and magazines, a pencil case for those colored pencils and pens of his, and a bag of fave red starbursts. Guaranteed his composition book will be full of short stories, drawings, and deep thoughts about life. Dan is in all seriousness one of the deepest thinkers I know and sometimes when I'm reading over his shoulder about his thoughts and questions on life and the gospel I am amazed. Yeah, he's got good thinking skills :)

Later that night after a long day of work and school, we cooked dinner together. So romantic. We made Alfredo the RIGHT way (heavy whipping cream, butter, etc.), pan-fried chicken for the Fettecine Alfredo, baby portabellas and sun-dried tomatoes, and asparagus. In Dan's words, he lost his foodgasm virginity that night.

After dinner we read all our eHarmony emails from start to finish. 30 pages single spaced 12 point font to be exact. We read them out loud and laughed and laughed and laughed. It was so fun to remember our special love story. A few of our favorite questions and responses were:

Dan: "So how many of these outdoor adventure activities to lakes and such do you usually go on?"

Steph: "To answer your question, [about how I enjoy being APPROPRIATELY intimate with someone I'm in a relationship with. Yeah Dan was pretty bold :) ) One of my favorite things is falling asleep with someone I love and then waking up and just watching them breathe because it reminds me how alive they are."

I guess I only meant that because I hadn't ever fallen asleep with someone who snores :)

Dan: "Do you like Youtube?"

Steph: "Some of my favorites foods are vegetables, Thai food, and Indian food. One of my most favorite breakfasts is quinoa with soymilk with pumpkin seeds. It's so good I could eat it everyday!"

I guess I assumed everyone loved veggies and quinoa and hoped Dan and I would have some mind-blowing connection with our love of wholesome and ethnic foods! I guess if you count Velveeta shells and cheese as ethnic...

So fun to read our letters and then follow it up by eating Grandma Cramer's recipe for cheesecake. MMMMMMM.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!