Missing Childhood

Childhood was such a wonderful time. I think I am (finally) realizing that life will never be as care-free as it was back then. Sometimes I miss the simplicity that accompanied life as a little girl.

Here is what I have been missing about childhood lately....

Having all the time in the world to go out and explore the backyard, examine every flower, look at every squirrel and dress up. The world was your playground.

Waiting for dinner to be made as you play or take a nap and slowly smell the alluring smells of dinnertime permeate the room. You are then called into dinner and wa-la--it's all ready for you.

Spending whole afternoons playing with animals I would find. You could spend all day with all your animal friends.

Possessing the innocence and optimism in everyone and everything. You believed everyone was your best friend and people were inherently good. Right and wrong seemed so clear.

Going to school and feeling such immense enthusiasm for learning.

Reading all day in the summers and taking lessons to improve yourself--dance, voice, etc. You didn't realize it then, but it was all about you.

Reflecting on my "growing up years," I realize how blessed my life has been. My parents were two loving people who taught us the difference between right and wrong and how we could improve ourselves. 

Although my siblings and I did not always get along being so close in age--five of us in seven years--we had fun together creating plays, jumping on the trampoline, and playing "school." 

Those were wonderful times, beautiful times. I was so blessed, and I didn't even know it.

Lots of Love

Last week was Valentine's Day, and my valentine and I had lots of fun celebrating this year! Our main celebration was going to The Prairie Schooner in Ogden (I had never been before), and it was so much fun! You get to eat in private booths that are just like covered wagons with your own lantern where you can adjust the lighting! I loved it! Ben and I fell in love with the soup that came with our meal. I am always evaluating potato and cheese soups to see which one I like best, and this one was definitely the winner. As shown below, a photographer came and offered to take our picture for free and then email it to us. We laughed when we got it back because it's totally an advertisement, but I guess they have to make their way in the world :) They also gave all the females a rose when they came in, so basically I would definitely recommend this restaurant!

Our advertisement dinner photo

Our non-professional picture

I woke up and made us a breakfast feast before he went to work.

I am in love with flowers, especially roses. I am glad Ben knows this about me; he did a great job picking them out .

My flowers and my poem Ben wrote to me. I am so lucky I married a poet.

I gave Ben this ridiculously, adorable, huge card. I also gave him this to remind him that I like puppies--ahem.

After our fun-filled day, we made home-made hot fudge sundaes and watched a movie--a perfect ending for our day. The next day we drove to my parents' because most of my siblings were in town. The sun looked amazing along our drive. We had so much fun spending time with family and sampling Steve's chef skills by eating the best taquitos/rice ever! It's so nice to have a future chef in the family; hopefully, we don't wear him out too fast with all his cooking.

beautiful sunset

We spent some time with Oreo, too.

The best part was watching Steve's family open their mission call to Uruguay where they will be mission presidents via webex. We love the Smith family so much and will miss them!

Even after all that fun, our weekend was still not over. We spent Sunday going to Ward Conference and then spending time with Ben's family where we had a delicious dinner and played Telestrations. That is seriously my favorite game. I used to play it all the time on paper with different friends, but it is now an actual board game--love! (Yes, I actually do like some games; I know that's shocking to some of you...Uno, Telestrations....games with no strategy are the ones I like :) The next morning we had a brunch at my house with Ben's family. (Can I just say, I think one of my favorite things in the whole-wide world is to host. I get so much joy out of having people over). We then went to Smith and Edwards and had a three hour blast! Smith and Edwards is known for having everything you can possibly think of! Their motto is "We have it if you can find it." We found the most random things there. We found Hagrid boots that Sam and Nat had me try on; I truly felt like a giant (they were a size fourteen)!



 I then found my new favorite pair of running shoes which I purchased. I love the bright colors! 

 

Yesterday night Ben was kind enough to go with me to Jane Eyre, a musical, in Logan! That's true love! It was a fun date night! I miss going to musical, plays, and ballet-type things!

This week we felt lots of love for our family, friends, and food--every week should be Valentine's week :) 

Busy Times

The last few weeks have been filled with loads of work, Young Women responsibilities, and family fun. Finally, I can write a blog post without feeling guilty because I have finally put in my loads of laundry, deep cleaned the kitchen and bathrooms, dusted, and worked on a couple of things that have been on my list for weeks.

In summary......

• Ben and I went to the Valentines Day Stake Married Dance (internationally themed) and had fun mingling with some of our dear friends; I had too much fun dancing. I can't even explain how much I have missed it. I probably made a fool out of myself, but I just get so much joy from it! Poor Ben had to suffer through it :( I loved watching all the old couples dance--there's nothing quite as romantic as a couple in their seventies swaying to the music. 

We tried to go Spanish-ish looking

We got to sit at the Mexico table, which was great except we got plastic cups and grapefruit juice while the people "in France" got wine glasses with Martinelli's--sigh. 

Heather dressed up Japanese style :) She is such a good friend and YW president. We had so much fun chatting with our fun ward friends! 

• I've been baking a ton the last few weeks for various activities etc. The only thing I dislike about baking is my messy kitchen afterwards. Here is a billion dollar bar I made that probably had a billion calories:



• We got to spend some time with Ben's parents Saturday night and last night and had loads of fun! We went to the Weber State basketball game Saturday night, and I have decided that I don't know anyone who goes to Weber anymore--sad day. However, Waldo came and sat with us so that made it all better!



• Pizza Pie Cafe is now open in North Ogden! Best thing ever :) I have always loved their variety of pizza, pasta, salads, and dessert pizzas for a relatively low price. And let's face it, North Ogden needs some more shopping and restaurants (at least, in my opinion)



• Ben got me to go snow-shoeing with him on Saturday. I really tried to like it. Really. But it really felt like you strap ten pound weights to each foot and trudge through the snow--"people do this for fun?" I thought the whole time. I told Ben I will give it another chance (the only boots I own are way too big so that may have made it extra hard). 
• Ben and I have watched a few Murder She Wrote episodes over the last few weeks--nothing like Angela Lansbury to make you happy amidst the craziness of life!

Nothing too eventful in the Browning home at the moment, but we are happy.