Valentine’s Day: is any holiday as simultaneously loved and hated? I think not. Valentine’s Day makes some giddy with anticipation and others overcome with dread. Its advocates love the gushing cheesiness and cliché romance it embodies. Its loathers despise all of thee above or they despise that their partner expects all of thee above from them on this day even if they are content with far less the rest of the time.

Jason brought these beautiful flowers to my work on Valentine's Day. All my coworkers were jealous that they didn't have a Jason to spoil them.

This year, instead of going on my usual tirade about how I hate Valentine’s Day haters, I am going to simply write about, in a very drawn-out manner, what made my valentine’s as spectacular as it always is. This will be as good of an explanation for why I am no hater as any. Because, although my holiday may have been stuffed with more cheese than a block of Velveeta, it was fun, it was romantic, it was full of expected surprises. It was everything Valentine’s Day should be.

I wrapped Jason's presents in the cutest wrapping paper. I'm not entirely sure he properly appreciated their cuteness.

It was Jason’s turn to plan out Valentine’s Day celebration this year. He isn’t the party organizing machine I am but he does alright for himself. He came up with a three-pronged plan for our festivities. The first part of the plan involved going out to dinner with our friends the Rowleys and the Ashleys to a new place in Salt Lake City called The Copper Onion. This restaurant’s niche is locally sourced food that is turned into made from scratch deliciousness. I very much enjoyed the beef stroganoff I ordered. How can you go wrong with fresh made noodles? And surprisingly, The Copper Onion was very economical. Dinner and deserts for both me and Jason only set us back $50.

Pago was scrumptious but I still can't figure out what the name refers to.

Part deux of Jason’s Valentine’s Day strategy had a very similar plot to part one. Another new restaurant specializing in local offerings was involved but this time the dinning was at a place called Pago and no friends were invited. V-Day dinner numbero dos was also yummy, pricier, but still yummy and spending some one-on-one time with my muy fantastico hubby was grand.

The adorable dress I wore to the dance came from my shopping spree in New York City. Good thing I decided to spend way to much money out there.

The last of our Valentine’s Day partying actually happened on the actual holiday. We went with our friends Dan and Raquel, and some of their acquaintances, to a dinner dance at Thanksgiving Point. I am a sucka for the dance floor so I was stoked about getting a chance to boogie. The food at the dance was decent but not noteworthy. However, the live band was terrific and the setting was lovely. I would recommend this event to anyone wanting to do something romantic on Valentine’s Day without having to fight the restaurant crowds; it always sells out though so make sure you plan ahead.

I gave Jason a new snowboard for Valentine's Day. He was totally shocked and so excited about it that he couldn't fall asleep that night.

Jason and I had another great love day but that’s not surprising; the two of us have a blast doing pretty much anything together. And those of you under the impression that I did all of the V-Day receiving and none of the giving are mistaken. I made sure Jason was bombarded by random flashy deliveries at work, a cookie bouquet and chocolate covered strawberries, because everyone needs some Valentine’s Day spousal embarrassment. His love was also effectively bought with lots of presents, including a new snowboard. So all you haters can ram that cheese right down your throats!

Christmas represents a lot of different things to different people. For many it is a time of gathering, of renewing connections with family and friends. For some it is a chaotic blur of shopping and hosting that leaves exhaustion in its wake. To others it signifies a renewing of hope and faith in the goodness of the human race and in the future of mankind.

For me I think Christmas is a little of all of the above…and perhaps more.

Jas and his brother Matt: crackers with cracker crowns.

Jas and I are rarely pictured together so this photo is a treat.

Wes was all about cheesy smiles as he played with new toys aplenty.

These are the men of my family-or at least the portion of them that was present and willing to sit still for a moment.

Like most people, Jason and I are super busy at Christmastime. I am a very organized person so I start my Christmas shopping well in advance but even with my abnormally early preparations there still always seems to be a general shortage of time to accomplish all that needs to be done before the big day. We love that we live near both of our families and so are able to spend time with each of them on Christmas but this double family whammy sometimes isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be. Many a Christmas has passed where Jason and I have had very little time to ourselves and haven’t even had a chance to open our Christmas presents to each other until midnight or later. I love our families but I love Jason more. (Sorry fams, you can’t seriously think you can compete with that boy.) That’s why I was so grateful when our family get-togethers this year weren’t all scheduled for Christmas. Jason’s family gathered on Christmas Eve while my family members spent a few hours with each other on Christmas afternoon. This left me and Jason some sublime time for sleeping in and making breakfast together on Christmas morning. Fantastico! Since our holiday evening was also free, shockingly, we gladly used it to make a yummy dinner of chicken marsala and gingerbread cookie sandwiches. Lovely, lovely, lovely. I think I’m going to have to insist on less packed Christmases in the future-I can’t go back now that I’ve had a taste of that restful sweetness-I’m hooked.

We gave my sister and her husband longboards for Christmas. John was so thrilled about his board that he had to go right out into the freezing night to give it a try.

Our nephew, Jadon, was very excited about his candy cane and homemade sweater. And I was excited when I realized that the two canes in this picture are chiral images of each other.

The chicken marsala I made for our Christmas dinner was scrumptious! Thanks Robyn for the great recipe.

Jason bought me a new snowboard for Christmas. I was eager to give it a go in our living room.

So what does Christmas mean to me, besides busyness and the crammed family schedule that we somehow avoided this year? It means fun and crazy Black Friday shopping with friends and family. It means hiding presents for Jason in the “secret closet” until the closet doors will no longer close and being supremely excited about my ingenious gift ideas for that superb man. It means spoiling the members of our families that we happen to draw the names of pretty rottenly. It means listening to Christmas music and being unable to keep from tearing up a bit. It means watching nieces and nephews open new toys with the magic of Christmas all over their faces. It means feeling the conviction that mankind is capable of more. It means having a great excuse to spend time with family and friends. It means partying. It means being generous. It means filling a dreary month with some light.

Christmas is spectacular, and tiring, and thrilling, and sometimes exasperating…but I wouldn’t miss it for the world!

While Jas and I were out running last week on the Jordan River trail we came across what I thought at first was a ferret but it turned out to be two little kittens playing on the side of the path. This seemed like an odd spot for kittens to be hanging out since it wasn’t near any homes so on our way back we kept a lookout for these little guys and sure enough they were still in the same place chilling in the bushes.

We realized that they must have been abandoned by some irresponsible moron so we really could only consider one course of action. We ran home and grabbed a cardboard box, some tuna fish, and flashlights. Then we literally ran back in the moonlight to where we found the kittens, which was over a mile and a half away from our house, and used the fish to lure them out of the thick bushes and river grasses. It worked; they came out when they smelled the fish but to our surprise there weren’t just two of them, there were four and a very tired and skinny looking mama.

This kitten is probably my favorite. She is mild-mannered and very fluffy.

We had been planning on catching the little guys, taking them home with us, and keeping them until we found them good homes but the presence of their mother changed our approach. We didn’t want to separate the babies from their mama but we didn’t think we could catch the mom so we fed them all and left them to their mother’s watchful care.

I named this kitten Willy. He's very playful and feisty. He also seems to enjoy aggravating his siblings.

We have made the 3 mile round trip to these cats nearly every day since then, either on foot or on our bikes, to feed them. They have become more used to us and we plan on trapping them soon so they can begin the process of finding loving homes. We have conversed with several animal rescue organizations about these furry rascals and the consensus on their origins so far is that they were probably semi-feral barn cats before they were dumped by the river and therefore have had somewhat limited human contact. This would explain why they seem relatively used to humans but still not too anxious to associate with us. The experts we have talked to also believe that it is very likely that the mama cat was abused or neglected based off her demeanor.

I call this kitten the Mama's Boy. He follows his mom around like a shadow.

Sometimes I am ashamed to be a human; it is unfortunate that intelligence and conscience do not always go hand in hand. Those poor little river cats are adorable and anyone that could discard them like yesterday’s trash, leaving them to starve or fend for themselves, obviously has the moral fiber of a cockroach. We hope that someone can offer these tiny cats caring homes and show them that not all people are unkind. We have been working with a couple of great local animal charities, Four Paws Rescue and No More Homeless Pets, to make that happen. I will update all you curious animal lovers on the outcome of our feline adventures when the situation is completely resolved.

Valentine’s Day is always a treat for me because not only do I get to hang out with my most favorite person on the planet but I also usually get to eat some awesome food and do something cool. Does this make me a cheese queen? Absolutely. Am I proud of it? Absolutely. By the way, this post is oozing with cheese…consider yourself forewarned.

This is the group of friends we celebrated our marriage with.

Last Friday Jas and I continued our Valentine’s Day festivities by attending “A Celebration of Marriage” with a group of our friends. This yearly happening consists of dinner and lectures on ways to improve your marriage. Sounds lame right? Well, it was actually quite interesting, thought provoking, and fun. Jason is a pretty darn perfect husband so he doesn’t need much in way of advice, but I think we both walked away from the event with a few ideas on how we could make our relationship even better. Thanks Fran for organizing our group’s attendance!

Finally! I got a decent picture of Jason taking a jump. He may not be Shaun White but I think he's very talented.

On Valentine’s Day itself Jason and I woke up, checked the snow report at Brighton (6 new inches overnight), and decided to go boarding on a whim. It turned out to be an excellent idea. The snow was soft and the weather lovely. When Jason and I got home from our boarding expedition I quickly shifted gears and begin preparations for the romantic candlelight dinner that I had planned. I made Shrimp Scampi with Linguini, Lemon-Butter Green Beans with Pine Nuts, and a Mexican Chocolate Crème Brulee. Everything was quite tasty but the crème brulee was delectable! At the bottom was a band of creamy cinnamon syrup that was concealed beneath the rich chocolaty custard. Topping this heavenly indulgence was oven roasted brown sugar caramelized to perfection with the help of my kitchen torch. Fab-u-lous! The charm of the occasion was accentuated by twinkling tea lights and scattered rose petals…and of course great company. After all, any dinner with my best friend, who happens to be hilarious and adorable, couldn’t be anything less than amazing.

I set the table for a lovely private dinner.

On a side-note, I know a lot of people detest Valentine’s Day: the crowds, the mushiness, the PDA. Yes, restaurants and theaters are usually quite packed on Valentine’s Day but if you never go out among the love struck masses I think you are missing something. This year Jason and I skirted the V-Day crowds, not by design but simply because that’s how my event timing turned out, and to be honest I kind of missed the craziness. So what’s so appealing about being in the throngs of V-Day couples? When you go out on Valentine’s Day you are surrounded by people holding hands, snuggling, staring contentedly at each other. Everywhere you look there are couples on their first dates, excited but awkward, married couples that are relieved just to have a few hours away from their kids, older couples that have been together for practically their whole lives yet you get the sense as they chuckle and hold hands that those lifetimes haven’t been long enough. What’s more, you can tell that this occasion means something to all these people by the way they have dolled themselves up for their special someone even if that someone has been with them for many years and has seen them every morning with their hair askew and their face smeared with mascara.

When you go out on Valentine’s Day it’s easy to be so enthralled with your partner that you are hardly aware of what passes beyond your tiny sphere but if you take a moment to glance around you you realize that this holiday really isn’t just about the two of you and your little bubble of bliss. The multitudes of pairs dining near you are there for the same reason you are and when you see the adoration and respect you feel for the person sitting across the table from you echoed in their faces as they gaze at each other you appreciate just how much love binds us as human beings. As you glimpse at the crowds you understand that Valentine’s Day isn’t just about celebrating our partnerships, it’s about celebrating our commonalties and connections as human beings. We all need love…and maybe the Beatles were right, maybe that is all we need….well, that and perhaps some flowers, or chocolates, or expensive perfume…