For Valentie's Day Dal and I used the money grandma gifted us for Christmas to book a stay at the Zermatt Resort in Midway, Utah.  Midway is called Little Switzerland, and for good reason.  Nestled between gorgeous, looming mountains, and built with pseudo-germanic architecture, the town reminds visitors of faraway Europe and of the Swiss pioneers who settled it years ago. 

We started our short little getaway by visiting the outdoor skating rink.  I definitely got a nice lump on my knee after I biffed it on the rough ice.  Dallin and I held hands most of the time, so he's lucky I didn't pull him down with me! 

Then we bought a chocolate croissant reminiscent of those I got with my companion every Monday in Augsburg.   We checked into our room and relaxed for a bit before getting dinner at a local Mexican restaurant.  Then we hot tubbed, giggling at the little family playing "guess what animal I'm thinking of" with their kids who were probably 3 and 5. My favorite was when they asked the toddler how many legs her animal had, and she said it had 3 legs. Everyone was thoroughly stumped after that, so she gave another hint: it ate raptors. The answer ended up being a stegosaurus, haha.  After the cute family left, Dallin and I talked about baby names.  Nothing to ramp up the baby fever than hilarious 3-year-olds.

We went back to our room to listen to the Wheel of Time and watch a movie. We slept in with just enough time for Dallin to hope onto his work call, and then we headed back through the snowy canyon back home.  

 We still couldn't get ourselves to do an intense cake-smashing-in-the-face...that dress was just too expensive!
For our actual anniversary, we both had work.  Originally we were going to be in Germany, but what can you do when there is a global pandemic? So instead we drove to the nearest Cheesecake Factory, ordered take-out and found a cute little park with lots of baby ducks. Then we sat in the grass underneath a tree and talked for an hour!  Of course, now that we have been watching an episode of The Last Kingdom every night, we could not break our streak.

 This Valentine's Day, the sun was out and I suddenly felt more happy and energetic than I'd felt in a long time.  It was 45 degrees out, but apparently I've acclimated to the cold because that felt so warm!   I put on a tank top and shorts and sun tanned for two hours in my front yard while I wrote my book. Rachel and I shared a chocolate milkshake, and then Dallin surprised me with gorgeous flowers and a Reese's peanut butter egg. My favorite!
Initially, Dallin had planned on surprising me with a hike for our date.  He decided to instead run it by me, and I said it was perfect! He knew me so well; that was exactly the idea I had come up with for what we should do on Valentine's Day.  So we drove to Provo Canyon, where the towering mountains preserved its winter snow.  We walked, passing bear tracks and holding hands to prevent slipping on the ice, meanwhile we discussed the Wheel of Time book series. Dallin had been begging me to listen to the audiobook for a year, and when I finally purchased Audible I realized I should have listened to him a year sooner!
After our little walk, I made orange julius and chicken bowtie pasta with way too much salt.  Dallin set up the air mattress with lots of blankets in the family room, and then we snuggled up and watched a cheesy movie.