I can not believe this was our 6th Valentines day together! I had to recount several times because I was so surprised. I would love it if time would just slow down! As I have stated a million times over, Valentines Day is one of my favorite holidays. I sent my sister a text of all the things I was doing for Lyle’s love week and she sent back a text saying “I’m mad you just said Valentine’s week.” Go big or go home right?! Lyle has always made this day so special for me. From renting a puppy to a lobster dinner on the beach in Cancun to a shopping spree in Park City to a romantic night in New York City and a fun getaway in St George he has always gone above and beyond. This year Lyle took me to Vegas/California for a warm getaway! I wanted to celebrate him every single day so when he fly into town I had decorated our room so cute and put all these sticky notes on our bathroom mirror saying all the things I loved about him. Ya know things such as “you have great taste in women” and “our babies have a shot at green eyes.” Haha I also put serious things but those are some of my funny favorites. 

I baked one of his favorite things, my cherry pie! I put a fun spin on it this time and I was so happy with how it turned out. I’ve been baking my way into his heart since 2013 and I think he is pretty happy about that. I think that’s why he married me… 😉

I did a “Treat Yoself” day (if you know you know…Tom and Donna might just be my spirit animals). Anyway I did all his favorite candies and drink inside plus a bunch of other things like a foot massage or a night of Smash and just made the whole day about him and everything he loves. I also did heart shaped pizzas one night and made a special picnic so we could watch the Bachelor and some other fun things!

The next day I blindfolded him and planned a whole date night just for him! I took him to dinner at Ruby River (where we met and a place he lovesss) and then I went through our love story. We went to the spot he accidentally told me he loved me, the place where he really told me, then I took him to Coldstone because my roommates had a thing where you had to buy the apt ice cream when you kissed a guy. When I told Lyle this he said you better get them something real good, not that generic brand ice cream. So I got the best, Coldstone. After that we went to the temple and I pulled out sparkling cider and and glasses and we just focused on us and it was perfect. Then we went to see Forever my Girl which was not part of the plan but I absolutely love it and Lyle said he wanted to see it (he was lying).

The funniest part was we were at a stoplight and this man looked over and looked alarmed and then I smiled and he started nodding like he approved and gave me a thumbs up haha. SO AWKWARD. I mean could I have simply driven him there without the blindfold? Yes. But it wouldn’t be nearly as fun. On actual V day I woke up at 5 am to go to the gym. I seriously couldn’t sleep I was so excited (you’d think it was Christmas over here…) and after that I made him this special breakfast. I saw a variation of this on Pinterest and I tried to make it my own and make it well rounded. Also, that is fresh squeezed OJ guys. I had to get on his level this year. I walked in singing  “Happy Valentines Day to you!” to the tune of Happy Birthday and he was so surprised!

After that I unfortunately had school (ya know, adulting) but Lyle picked me up and had driven to SLC to get my favorite donuts, reeses hearts (all I said I wanted) and a bag of other goodies. I don’t think he understood the whole no presents thing…We spent the evening relaxing and watching Valentines Day (tradition) because we were leaving for our trip the next day!

I didn’t take too many pictures on our trip. I have been seriously slacking with that but the pictures I did take are mostly of food haha so I guess Lyle gave me what I like to do most as my present, eating. The first night we went and saw Black Panther at midnight (this was one of my presents to Ly) and ate at Tacos El Gordo. This place was highly recommended and it was so good.

Eats:

–Tacos El Gordo (loved the alpastor one! I have a video not a picture)

–Dirt Dog for some amazing elote

-Panera (okay I know this is a chain but I LOVE Panera. We probably went once a week in New Jersey. Their lemonade is so good and I love their bread.)

–Creamberry (not only did they have icecream but these had these fun cookie shots that you could put icecream, hot chocolate or milk inside and top with whipped cream, marshmellow, etc.)

–Sloan’s homemade ice cream in the Venetian (I am sure the ice cream is great but THE COOKIES ARE OUT OF THIS WORLD. I am literally yelling because this cookie was amazing. The main thing with these babies is they are kept on a warmer so when you get your cookie it is soft and warm and gooey. I was craving cookies and we were having a hard time finding them and this will be a place I go back to every time I visit. They reminded us of our all time favorite place in NYC. This was the reeses one but they also had chocolate chip and I think some other flavors too.

Some other places that I wanted to try were Brunos Taco Bar (for their churros!), Kitchen Table (for amazing brunch) and Sid’s Cafe (for that cinnamon roll omg). We also love Shake Shack, Ghiradelli for yummy treats and Yard House but we can get those in other places so we tried to find places we could only go to in the Vegas area but if you haven’t tried them they are favs.

Also, Pink Box Doughnuts!

In St George…

25Main- Best. Cupcakes. Ever. Before I was a donut connoisseur I was a cupcake one. The only other cupcake place that rivals this one is Molly’s in NYC. These are the softest and freshest cupcakes. I love that they aren’t too sweet either and the flavors are all so so good. I always stop here. My favorite is the Strawberry Shortcake.

Benja’s Thai and Sushi-it was my first time trying this place and it was amazing. They have such good lettuce wraps and I got shrimp friend rice. Lyle got some type of pad thai. He had been there before and he loves this place.

We also love Anasazi (fav dinner spot here), Bear Paw for brunch, and the bread twists at Pizza Factory which are way bigger than the ones up here!

and last but not least,

CrushedPB in San Diego- For these cinnamon roll pancakes. Game Changers. I live for breakfast food. In the words of Ron Swanson, “there has never been a sadness that can’t be cured by breakfast foods.” No truer words.

We laid on the beach, wandered the walk of fame, explored the strip, ate yummy foods and played with puppies. The weather was not too great on Monday or we would have gone on some hikes but we can’t complain. We kind of just did whatever we wanted each day. I couldn’t ask for a better man who supports me in everything that I do. This basically turned into a food log so sorry about that. Hope all of you had the best love day. Oh and I can’t forget my other valentines. How cute is he?!

XO Cait