Lovers Day

Happy Valentine's Day! In my opinion, today is literally one of the best days of the year. I even loved this day when I was single because I was surrounded by people that I loved, and that I knew loved me. The purpose of this holiday is to share love and receive love. You can do that with many, many people. It's simply amazing.

Of course, having a significant other brings on a different meaning to this day (holla!). Before Robbie and I got married, I made of list of things I needed to do, how I needed to treat him, and qualities I needed to possess in order to love Robbie fully. I am still working on many things, but one of the greatest truths I've learned about love is when you love someone, you make a decision every day to love them. You love every part of them. You pray to love them the way the Savior loves them. You forget about yourself and focus on making them happy. It becomes less and less about you. I think that is how God intended it to be. It really is a beautiful thing.

Robbie and I have a long way to go before we have a relationship anywhere near perfect, but we sure have come far.

Happy Lovers Day to my one and only. Love you, honey.

Tired, Happy, and Everything in Between

Robbie is out of town, so we've been using Face Time to our advantage. I'm pretty sure we yawned a dozen times each during our conversation last night:

We had lots of happy moments as well:

'Tis a crazy time of year! With school, once February hits it is a race to the finish! We're busy, tired, but very happy. I have Parent Teacher Conferences today and tomorrow, but I also have enough chocolate to get me through. One chocolate for them, one for me. Every time. Pretty slick, right?

Happy Valentine's Day week!

Simple Joys

After school each day, the teachers walk outside and head to their carpool spot. We make sure the kids get to the right car and aren't throwing snow at each other (you'd be surprised how many break that rule...the little sneaks!). As I was walking out the outside doors yesterday, I saw two little first graders. These two girls are just the best of friends, and I always see them holding hands. Anyways, one turns around, looks up at me, and with the most excited/happy face I've ever seen in my life yells, "I get to ride home in HER car today!!!" Literally the cutest thing I've ever seen. I couldn't help smiling and laughing to myself. I later found out that she was so excited because her friend had a T.V. in her car. Such a simple joy. Her expression was a mixture of these two cuties:

Adorable, right? This little girl taught me such a wonderful lesson yesterday. She reminded me of the joy we can find in the simple things every single day. I think we all take for granted the amazing blessings that are ours, especially the people surrounding us. I think opening our eyes and letting gratitude envelop our thoughts will help us experience the happiness God wants for us.

"It's the simple things in life that are the most extraordinary."
-Unknown

I love that I get to be around children each day because their eyes are always open to the small and simple things. They teach me so much.

If you haven't seen the following video, I highly recommend it. It is a little girl's response to playing in rain for the first time. It really put things in perspective for me:

A Child Discovers Rain

What are the simple joys you've experienced today?