Did Someone Say "Surprise Trip?"

I didn't keep my promise about not harrassing Dan for the entire car ride. I kept asking him random questions. He didn't leave me at the side of the road though, so...kudos to Husband for not abandoning his wife on Valentine's Day.

We stayed in Greer, AZ. It's about 20 miles from New Mexico in Northern AZ.

When we first got there, there was snow on the ground, but it was mostly just ice. The picture below is from the balcony of our cabin, taken as soon as we got there. You can see the ground and the deathly piles of ice that nearly killed me. Twice.

This was our cabin, taken the next day after it had snowed. It was beautiful, had a fireplace and a strange squirrel decor theme. Check my flickr pics for a couple squirrel shots.

"Up to a foot of snow." Heh heh.

I was not dressed appropriately. My jeans actually froze. Dan was ok with just his fleece and gloves but I have a low tolderance for temperature changes. I was cold.

There was a stream/creek/river between our cabin and the main lodge where breakfast was served. We crossed a small bridge to get over there, and I tended to spend more time slipping and sliding than walking.

When we were leaving the next day, we had to clean the snow off my car. While Dan worked, I took a variety of photos. I am helpful.On the way back, the road was closed into Payson due to the snow. The cops made us detour through Globe. We were kind of upset at first. I wanted to go through Payson again and see how it looked with snow. I was sad that we'd have to drive through Show Low again and see the grey watery sleet that they called "snow." However, we hit the mountains and some beautiful foggy scenes.
The trip home took a bit longer than we thought. Between the snow, detour and rain coming into Phoenix, the drive took an additional 2 hours. But Dan let me go to Scrapbooks Etc. since we entered the valley down in Mesa. Technically it added to the total return trip time, but it added to the overall happiness of Sara. So, kudos to Hubby again.

This last picture is on here just because I thought it was hilarious. A topless club in Heber had a cow as it's sign. Yeah, I bet the girls there are quality.

Thanks for my surprise Valentine's trip Husband! I had a lot of fun and am looking forward to many more road trips with you in the years to come!

Dear Husband...

I'm sorry I make it so difficult for you to surprise me. I'm sorry I harrass you to the point of you wanting to tear your ears off. I'm sorry I pester you with questions until you crack and tell me my presents earlier than the holidays.

However, I am not sorry that I always find out. I have no patience. You knew this before you married me, and thus it's your own fault.

Love,
Your Wife

---
Dan is whisking me off on a wintery getaway as a Valentine's Day gift. He already told my boss that I'd be gone and has planned everything in advance. I don't get to know where we're going until we get there. I was considering harrassing him the entire car ride, but part of my Valentine's gift to him is that I won't ask him 4 solid hours of questions about our ending destination. You're welcome Husband. I love you.

Oooh..shiny!

from The Noisy Plume, originally uploaded by Klick Here.

Because Dan is a sucker for puppy dog eyes, I got part of my Valentine's Day gift early. It also helps that I already knew he was buying it for me. I don't do subtle hints, I practically moved his hand on the mouse to order it myself.
The Noisy Plume does some lovely work with gorgeous stones and silver. I had my eye on this necklace from a previous post on her blog and begged her to put one up for sale. Lucky me, she did and she gave me notice that it was available! I immediately told Dan that I needed it. It arrived in a small white box inked with a pattern on the top, a small bit of twine wrapped around it and a tiny pink feather. I would have taken a photo of my wearing it, but my mom took my camera with her to Ohio this week. Thus, you see a stolen photo from The Noisy Plume's Etsy shop.
Thank you Jillian for this fabulous necklace! And thank you husband for not ignoring my whining for presents!

I Heart Presents

valentines_treats, originally uploaded by Klick Here.

Valentine's Day is next month. Because I love online shopping, I have been on a hunt for a great gift for Dan. We had agreed not to exchange gifts, and then he told me that he had already purchased a gift before we made the agreement. Thus, voiding our verbal contract. I should sue.
So I began my hunt last night. I am pretty proud of my ability to find The Perfect Gift for someone within 24 hours of beginning my search. My husband's gifts always seem to thwart me though. I was super proud of my Christmas gift ideas, but those took me months to figure out. And Valentine's Day, well, I'm starting with less than a month til the holiday. This does not seem like it will have a happy ending.
He called me just a few minutes ago...

Dan: I thought of two great gift ideas for Valentine's Day that you could get me!
Me: OK. What are they?
Dan: They just re-released Final Fantasy 2&3 for the Sony PSP.
Me: ...I don't think you understand the meaning of the term "great idea."
Dan: But those are games I would never go out and buy myself!
Me: *sigh* OK, what's the 2nd great idea?
Dan: Those were both of them.
Me: You can't count two games in the same series and two different gift ideas. That's cheating.

So, I'm kinda back to square one. I bought him the PSP as his Christmas gift and I don't want to buy him additional games as a Valentine's Day gift. How romantic would those be anyway? Here sweetie, have some more items to help encourage your addiction to video games. Please, ignore me and any homework you may have and instead, pretend to be a large sword-weilding superhero who saves bikini-wearing princesses from frog mutants. Kissy kissy!