Valentines Day FHE

So, in preparation for our Special family Valentine's dinner & FHE, Emma and I attempted Martha's "lovebug" cookies. I couldn't find a ladybug cookie cutter, so we did "love butterflies" instead. They turned out cute. They were yummy, a very chocolatey sugar cookie. I skipped the royal icing and did buttercream instead. I only made about 6 cookies instead of the usual HUGE batch, to keep munching and splurging on calories down. :)

Emma and I made the dough in the morning, and Emma loved to eat the batter off the spoons. I remember fighting with my brothers over the spoon and bowl growing up. It just made me laugh. Licking the spoon must be an inherent skill of being a kid. You just know it's going to be good.

(these are my beautiful pink roses from Shane... I also got a matching bear with angel wings from Emma, that immediately was commandeered and became one of her collection)

In the evening, we cooked steaks, vegetables and I tried a special sauce that I found. It was super delicious, but required wine. I had bought some wine on my return trip to Chile a couple of years ago (don't know why, but I did), and it's been sitting in my kitchen ever since. So we cracked it open, and used it in the sauce. It was our first bottle of wine that I had, and the cork looked so cool in the bottle, so I snapped a quick picture.


The dinner turned out great, and Luke and Lindsay were in town, so we invited them over to join us. After dinner we decorated our cookies, they turned out great. We made an extra for Grandpa Lyons and took it over to him in the morning.





Finally, we ended the evening with our special FHE on temples and marriage. We watched a slide show of our wedding pictures with Emma, and sang "I love to see the temple" a few times (at Emma's request). We also looked at Luke and Lindsay's pictures and videos from their wedding, and read the book, "My Wedding Day". It's all about a little girl who asks her Dad if he'll walk her down the aisle for her wedding. The dad says no, but then goes on to explain how special that day will be in the temple...very sweet. I couldn't get through it without a few tears.

We talked about forever families, and how happy Heavenly Father will be for her when she gets married in the temple. Overall, a wonderful night together. My favorite Valentines Day we've had for a long time. The best part: Ask Emma where she's going to get married, and this is her response... "I'm getting married in the temple to a nice boy!" Whew...hope she remembers that for a while.

We put Emma in bed, and then watched one of our favorite romantic comedies "The Holiday". Not sure why we like it, but we do! It was a good day...