Valentine's Festivations

It was a fun weekend full of Valentine's-y things.  On Friday, the kids had their class parties, which meant handing out Valentines, and bringing in boxes (for Cat and Jack).  Nobody's Valentine candy lasted more than 24 hours.

I helped out with Cat's class party and this is the project I planned: a collage poster for Cat's
teacher for his birthday the following week, as he wasn't at school the day of the party.
Each kid at the party drew something for their teacher in one of the squares.

Eliza brought these crafts home from her class party.

That night, a YW in the ward watched all the kids while the adults attended a ward adults-only Valentine's Party.  I was asked to sing a couple of songs and really enjoyed it.  I decided on an Italian art song, "Caro Mio Ben," as the theme was "That's Amore" and then the woman in charge wanted me to sing "Someone to Watch Over Me," which is another favorite.

The next night we had heart-shaped pizza for a pre-Valentine's dinner.

I decorated the kitchen table with a little note for the kids to find when they woke up in the morning.  Then I got a big surprise because Ben had bought waffle dough from our favorite Belgian Liege waffle place.  I added some heart-shaped bacon to the meal and we had ourselves quite a feast before church.

That morning we were told that young single women, along with girls ages 8-18 and their mothers from our ward were invited to a special tour of the Provo City Center Temple.  Cat and I drove down to Provo in the afternoon and watched this cool video as an introduction, then saw the bride's room (which is not on the usual tour of the temple), the Celestial room, a sealing room, and the marriage waiting area.  When we finished the tour, the bishops of the wards in the tour were handing out special embroidered handkerchiefs for the girls.  It was really special and I'm so glad I was able to do that with Cat.  She was mostly impressed with how beautiful it was and the peacefulness in the temple.  What a great experience.

When we came home from the temple, Eliza was eager to show me what she'd created during her quiet time.  Can you tell what shape that is?

With lots of help from Ben (including baking the bread, since I had to be at the temple during the time it needed to be baked), we were able to still enjoy a delicious fondue dinner, followed by partner dancing, and chocolate fondue dessert.  We loved getting to share this fun tradition with Ben and Suz and Whit.  We had so much fun.

Sometimes Ben had more than one partner...