It took me a minute, and then I realized that I DIDN'T POST ABOUT OUR VALENTINE'S DAY!

What on earth is wrong with me?

So here's the rundown.

Randy and I were lucky enough to get a gift card to La Caille and decided that Valentine's Day would be the perfect venue for such a date. Valentine's Day itself had a specific menu and was a little more expensive, so we opted to have our V-Day date on the13th of February.

We got home from our days and got all dolled up, an drove up to La Caille. It's a gorgeous drive up, light lined trees and swans in the pond. We gave the car to the valet and walked around the grounds a little bit, but it was kinda freezing.

We then went inside the beautiful chateau looking restaurant and waited for our reservation time. When we got upstairs to our table right next to the fireplace and it was SO beautiful. We ordered some fancy French raspberry cream soda which was SO delicious. Then brought bread with the most yummy black-salt butter, and we ordered escargot and French onion soup. Both were SO tasty! It was Randy's first time eating escargot and he really liked it! I've had escargot before and they did a really good job. They also brought out lamb pate and it was SO good. I had never had pate before, and I absolutely loved it!

They brought us a palette cleansing sorbet which was tasty, and then it was the main event (we were already SO full but we made do!)

Randy ordered a filet mignon with crab mashed potatoes and veggies. It was a fantastic piece of steak and such delicious food!

I had scallops with a truffle risotto and vegetables, and MAN it was so good.

The whole time we were there we were people watching, chatting and sharing memories, and just having the best time. We thought the fancy experience was something Muffy and Tipper, our high school fancy alter-egos, would have loved.

We ordered dessert and shared an absolutely amazing chocolate torte with ice cream and cherry sauce. So wonderful!

It was such a fun and romantic night, a fantastic experience that we probably wouldn't have done without those gift cards! So huge thank you to my boss!


On actual Valentine's Day, I woke up early and made Randy some breakfast and we exchanged our homemade gifts, which was SO awesome. Randy wrote me a beautiful song, and I made Randy a love-note video. It was so awesome.

Valentine's Day is all about love, and it was so wonderful to have a special night with the love of my life.

Randy's 22nd year came to a close, and the 23rd year has begun! I have a feeling this year is going to be a great one, he has so many amazing things ahead.

His 22nd year was filled with:

• Working
• Going to school (and killing it)
• Helping friends, family, and our ward constantly
• Running meetings and teaching lessons
• Getting even better at every instrument (if that was even possible)
• Late night laughs
• Deep discussions
• Letting me lean on him
• Leading our family
• Photo shoots and videography
• Helping with weddings and funerals
• Giving blessings
• Reading lots of books and seeing lots of movies
• Making dinners
• Fun vacations
• Family time
• And so much love!

Someone turned 23 on Saturday, so that meant an entire weekend of PARTYING.

Here's how it went down.

I had arranged to have Randy get off work earlier than normal. He got home, and I was home for lunch from work. I told him I was working from home that afternoon, but I wanted to go get a treat or something. Before he had gotten home from work, I had packed our bags and loaded them in the back of the car. We hopped in and I started driving towards the freeway. He asked where we were going and I said I didn't know, I just wanted to go around and go someplace fun! I said I had heard of a juice place downtown that I had wanted to try, so we should go there. We drove and chatted, then I got off the freeway downtown. I turned down a street, and Randy asked where we were going. I said I had made a wrong turn, then pulled through the Little America parking lot. Suddenly, I parked! Randy asked me what we were doing, and I said "Oh we're staying here tonight." Randy was in SHOCK. He kept asking where is stuff was and how he was packed. We checked in and I told him everything, from how I'd gotten him off work early to packing the car, and he couldn't believe it!

We went to City Creek and did some shopping with Randy's birthday money, and grabbed some dinner. Then it was back to the hotel for swimming and a movie night, complete with treats we'd picked up earlier.

We had breakfast in bed the next morning, and the Little America breakfast is one of my favorites!

We both agreed that this little mini getaway was EXACTLY what we had been needing. Things had been a little stressful and crazy, and spending Randy's birthday surprising him and doing fun things was perfect.

Saturday was Randy's actual birthday and we went to Guitar Center, did some more shopping, went to dinner, and just had a super great day. Randy talked to his brother and got so many texts from friends, which was awesome. Saturday night our friends Caleb and Nannette came over and we blew out candles on brownies.

Sunday was family party day! We went to Randy's parent's house and had an AMAZING lunch, salmon and rice and stuffed mushrooms, the works! We had a delicious berry cake and had a great time chatting and laughing.

Then we went to my parent's house where we had an AMAZING dinner, steak and potatoes and roasted veggies. We blew out candles on three different cakes (angel food and chocolate, what else!) and had a great time.

Monday we woke up and went for a walk with my family, playing games at the park, then went and visited my grandparents. Then it was off to Crown Burger for a great lunch. Randy and I were going, going, going, all day Monday! After lunch with the family, we went and saw Lion which was SO AMAZING. I cried like a baby, it was so sad and tender and wonderful.

Then SURPRISE AGAIN - we met up with friends in Provo and had dinner and went to GetOut Games. Randy was shocked again! It was so fun to get to spend time with our friends, and GetOut Games was SO fun, I would go again in a heartbeat.

I took a few videos throughout the weekend, which I'll be putting together shortly! We also snapped some great photos on an excursion up the canyon last weekend, so I'll be putting those all together soon too.

So in summary, Randy had a great birthday weekend (I hope, I had fun!) I'll be putting up a blog post all about him, some videos from the weekend, and our canyon photos soon! So stay tuned!

 

I think people sometimes get confused about what love is. Sometimes, love is telling someone they are making poor choices. Sometimes it's telling them you won't help them. Sometimes it's helping people see that there are so many other, more important things.

Tough love is a concept that's hard to grasp for some people. I feel like it's about loving someone enough to help them, even if they don't always want or appreciate help.

Of course, sometimes you have to let people make their own choices. You have to stand on the sidelines and let them run their lives.

But that doesn't mean you in any way have to say that you agree, or help them make poor decisions.

I learned a great lesson about tough love during high school. The tough love came from the most loving person I have ever known, my Heavenly Father.

I didn't do anything crazy, but I didn't always make the best choices as a teenager, like many teenagers. I didn't make some good decisions, and it lead me to a lot of heart ache and hurt.

I remember praying and praying to figure out what to do better, for help to be a better person, etc.

The impression came so clear to me, "Maddy, just knock it off. Just stop it. Just stop being so stupid."

Now that was probably my own mind saying those specific words, but the message from Heaven was clear. Tough love means that sometimes you're told to just knock it off. To grow up, to stop making bad decisions. That wake up call was exactly what I needed. It taught me about my life, and it taught me SO much about love.

It's a hard lesson to learn, but it's one I am SO grateful for. Love doesn't mean it's always easy, sugar coated, lovey-dovey language. Sometimes love means telling someone something, or hearing something, that you didn't want to hear or say. And you do it anyway.

Because you love them.

My marriage has taught me more about love than just about anything.

As many of you know, Randy and I started dating when we were still in high school. Watching someone go from being just my friend, to my crush, to my high school sweetheart, to my missionary, to my fiance, it all was so crazy and full of transitions.

But the biggest transition was going from all of that, to full-time husband and wife.

You see the thing is, Randy and I already knew SO much about each other. We were well past the "honeymoon stage" so to speak, when we got married. There were already habits about each other that we found annoying, and we already weren't afraid to fight. I'm not saying we weren't crazy newlyweds, because we were and still are, but over the years we had seen things about each other and knew each other. But that didn't mean marriage was easy. It was going from a comfortable cadence that we already had, to shifting everything. It was about every, single decision that we made being about the other person instead of about ourselves. It was about forgetting our past to an extent, and plowing forward.

A lot of people say the first year of marriage is the hardest, and for us it 100% was.

But that first year of marriage taught me more about myself, and about love, than I could have ever imagined.

I learned about what vulnerability really looks like. I really understood for the first time the power we give to the people we love. I know with a word, Randy could utterly destroy me, and I could do that to him. Love is about giving someone your very heart and soul, fully knowing that sometimes they're going to mess up and hurt you. It's giving them that power anyway, and taking that from them and working so hard to build and love.

I learned about forgiveness. Randy forgave me time and time again for a million little mistakes, and I learned how to not pick and hold a grudge about every little thing.

I learned about choosing words carefully, about saying things with love, about honesty and communication.

I learned that relationships take work because people aren't perfect. But you can still be 100% perfect for each other without being perfect individuals.

I learned about being strong for each other, leaning on each other, and never forgetting what is most important to me.

I learned that being an individual is important, but that's not as important as being one with my husband. It's a hard line to walk, the balance between not losing your identity and being in a marriage. But I 100% know that I need Randy. And I had to learn to be OK with needing someone, relying on someone, being dependent on him. It's not a bad thing, it's the best thing for our marriage. We need each other, we depend on each other, we make decisions for each other and our family.

Now, some of you are probably thinking that Randy and I fought all the time and that we don't really love each other, which couldn't be further from the truth! Every relationship has hard times, as well as great times, and we have had so many wonderful and amazing times together. We're not perfect, our relationship isn't perfect, but I wouldn't change one single thing about it, past or present.

Being married to my best friend opened my eyes to so many things, and Valentine's Day gave me every opportunity to express and relish in that love. I just love love, this month full of love and hope, and the chance we all have to strengthen relationships and learn even more about loving.

Today is Galentine's Day, which is one of my FAVORITE days.


I have so many lovely ladies in my life who are the best friends I could ask for.

The lessons I have learned from them are innumerable, but there's a specific one I want to talk about.

The love of a friend is beyond who you like spending time with at the mall, who you hang out with in class or at work, who is fun to talk to about movies and boys.

It's the people who you can call, sobbing, who will drop anything to come help you. It's the people who will spend their time making sure you know they care, they make you feel loved and so appreciated.

It's the ones you call just to chat, you make time for, the ones that you haven't seen in years but it still feels perfect when you get back together.

It's the women that make me want to be a better woman. The women who help me see my potential and who make me stronger. It's the women I want to emulate and who see more in me than I can see in myself.

I'm not always as good of a Galentine as I'd like to be. I'm certainly working on it though.

I have so much love for the women who taught me that there is an army of support waiting for me.

I also don't have pics of all my Galentine's here on this computer, so these few will have to suffice!