It's a Jolly Holiday on Lover's Day

 (For some reason, I've got that "Jolly Holiday" song from Mary Poppins in my head right now--hence the blog post title.  "When Mary holds your hand, you feel so grand, your heart starts beatin' like a big brass band. Oh, it's a jolly holiday with Mary, no wonder that it's Mary that we love!" And since this post includes a brass band and talk about a day of love, I feel that it's very fitting as the title!)

Valentine's was just the pick-me-up I needed during a time when I was feeling pretty low due to events that were happening at work. I have loved Valentine's ever since Josh proposed to me on that day 25 years ago! And this year, the holiday got stretched out over 10 days, rather than one, which delighted me! 

First of all, Josh and I had a Valentines Retreat the weekend before the holiday, when we dropped off Kanyon for his birthday weekend at a friend's house near Idaho Falls. We stayed 2 nights at a hotel in Pocatello. On Saturday, we drove to Preston to pick up one of Kanyon's birthday gifts, stopping on the way at the "Chicken Soup" Hot Springs in Lava Hot Springs. We love soaking in hot springs, especially new ones, like this one was for us. Our soak didn't last more than 30 minutes, but it was still rejuvenating! After we picked up his gift in Preston, we shopped at the D.I. there and ate lunch at a hometown Mexican restaurant. When we got back to Pocatello, we walked around a cool bookstore in Old Town before returning to our hotel for the night. It was a lovely, relaxing day.

I liked this sign in Old Town Pocatello on
our walk to the quaint bookstore across from it.

Valentine's Day was on Tuesday, and I got multiple fun surprises that morning. The first surprise was from Josh. When I got up for work, I found this surprise basket of chocolates for me on the table. The attached note said, "Happy Valentine's Day to the "sweetest" wife I know!"

My next surprise was when I arrived at school. My classroom door had been decorated since I'd left it the previous afternoon, and there was a heart-shaped note next to it that read, "Mrs. Tolman, Can you find 8 hidden hearts in your classroom?" I immediately went on the search for them in my classroom, and as I was looking, I found other treasures left for me, too! 2 of the mothers in my class had done all this without my knowing, and it really warmed my heart, especially since I'd been struggling with some things going on at school at the time. It was so thoughtful of them, and put a smile on my face all day!

As a teacher, I also love celebrating this holiday. We made Valentines containers the previous day, using old ice cream buckets I had, and that morning, the students passed out their goodies and we had a party that afternoon, too! It's always a fun day in an elementary classroom, and my students spoiled me as well! I felt so loved!

The high school band's "Swing Night" was the Friday following Valentines on the 17th. It was the same day as Kanyon's district wrestling tournament, so he had a very busy day. Josh got to the music event a little late, as he stayed to watch Kanyon's teammates in the finals round of wrestling, but after he got there, we stayed to the end of Swing Night (some years we've left early), and we had a great time! The band sounded great, the lineup of soloists was entertaining, and the food was nice. We danced a few songs together (Josh is a wonderful dancer and I always enjoy dancing with him) and Kanyon even surprised us by dancing a few times with a friend (the first time she asked him, and then he asked her).

The Relief Society/Elders Quorum had a joint activity the week after Valentine's with a nice dinner and a Family Feud style game about love that Stacie Oliverson created. We sat at the same table as Lexi Schroeder, Ryan & Tiana Hilton, and Leslie & David Deschaine (all of whom became our teammates). We had SO much fun that night and laughed a ton! And our team was the winner, which is always an added bonus! ;) This was my favorite church activity of the year!