February 2026 Randoms

(That's from my page-a-day calendar, in case you were wondering. 😄)

This brought back such sweet (pun intended) memories when I saw it! I loved the Sweet Valley Twins series when I was in elementary/middle school. I read and owned all of the books. I still have several of them in a storage container somewhere. 😊

David's birthday was at the beginning of the month. It was his first birthday married to me. Last year, we were less than a month into our relationship, and I made him dinner and got cupcakes. This year, there were presents, a small family get-together, and homemade cake.

I made this lemon sheet cake from scratch (the frosting too), and it was really good! 😊

David took these pictures of the Boston Temple at the end of a winter day. We really do love it there.

My friend Meredith saw this kitchen towel at the store and got it for me. My friends know me well!

This is my new favorite nail polish.

A cozy scene for the TV

This looks like a good book. I like the cover and the title.

Fun topiaries up the street from our place

Another cozy scene, this one for Valentine's Day

David went to Montana for five days to visit his father, who sadly passed away at the end of March.

This was his dad's last visit to the lake house that he built and loved.

There's David's winterized sailboat, and the frozen lake (also winterized). 

More Valentine's Day things!

Roses galore in the backroom at the florist shop in town!

 Pale pink roses are my fave 😍

There's my valentine with pale pink magnolias behind him 😍 (picture from April 2025, cropped for supreme handsomeness 😉).

I organized a Galentine's lunch with friends at The Wayside Inn the day before V-Day. It was fun!

I explored upstairs a bit before lunch. I like old desks like these.

We thought it was funny that they put a lemon rind in the hot cider drinks like this. 😆

Their French onion soup was cheesy and delicious!

This is one of the companies I work for as an editor.

Another book I want to read. There are so many!

A pretty picture that John sent from his mission in Colorado:

Speaking of John, he turned 21 in early March! He's now officially an adult! We sent him a package with a card and gifts. He's doing well on his mission and will be home this summer!

Sam, Veronica, David, and I went out to dinner at Ichigo Ichie, a hibachi grill we like. Yum! 

Wisdom, Humor, and Inspiration in February 2026

 {I know it's almost May, and here I am still posting about February! Life has been busy, and I've been away on vacations for half the month. In May, I plan to document March AND April and get all caught up on the blog!} 

The restored gospel of Jesus Christ is the ultimate comfort.

This is a balance I strive for...

I read an interesting book that made me Google this topic when I finished it. I believe this is true, and it's fascinating!

AI is such a pain. I barely use it on my own (despite an AI overview being in my Google search two pictures above 😆), and I plan to continue barely using it.

Planning is fun; I love it!

PHLEGM for me over STEM any day!

Cool!

A Valentine's Day for the Birds

 For our first married Valentine's Day, we did something unique. We went bird-watching with our friend Bryce, who's an experienced bird-watching hobbyist. We were trying to find owls (my favorite animal, as many of you know), along with any rare(ish) birds that we might see. It was a cold, fun adventure, and we both learned a lot. I'm definitely gonna get more into bird-watching as I get older! 😃

We saw a hawk eating something way far off in a snowy field. This picture was taken through a telescope lens with the camera lens pressed up to it.

We also saw eagles, including young eagles like this one who still have their brown feathers.

It was nice to get back in the car between bird-watching stops!

We went to Plum Island, where I'd never been before.

A frigid tundra by the sea

We were looking for snowy owls in the nearby trees and over the fields and dunes. They're sometimes spotted here in the winter.

David is in the background, Bryce is in the foreground, and I'm at the top of a tower (where, ironically, there was a dead bird).

We stopped one more time at a spot where we'd looked for snowy owls a little earlier. This time, Bryce found one with his scope! It was so unforgettably awesome to see it in the wild! It was very distant and hard to see (it blended right in with the snow), but we saw it through his scope! We got some okay-ish pictures with the cell phone camera pressed up to the scope lens. 

Do you see it!? 😄 It's right in the center.

Here's a close-up. You can see why it's nearly impossible to see it at a far distance with the naked eye.

It was awesome!

On the way home, we stopped at a park, where we saw mallard ducks (I love their colors!)...

...and a beautiful forest, where, way up high in one of the trees, was a barred owl. It was too hard to get a picture of, but it was really neat to be able to see it.

A couple of hours later...

Early that evening, we went out for a romantic dinner at one of my favorite places, The Wayside Inn. We ate in my favorite room in one of my favorite spots, right by a front window and the fire. (What can I say, the day was full of favorites!)

We didn't get any of the above specials and we each got prime rib instead. It was perfectly cooked and DELICIOUS!

And then a dee-lish chocolate mousse dessert to finish things off.

David had made some heart-shaped frosted sugar cookies that he brought back from his trip to Montana, and they were...delicious (I'm not using a thesaurus, okay? 😆).

It was a sweet and memorable first married Valentine's Day together. I'm looking forward to many more V-Days with David in the future! 💕