An Epic Valentine's Day

As far as Valentine's Days go, this one rocked! We started with a wonderful morning at our LDS Temple in Oakland, which is where Erik and I got married fourteen years ago. (Learn more about our temples here.) In fact, it's also where his parents got married and mine too!

Fountains, bridges, and palm trees lining the courtyard in front of the Oakland Temple

Any temple is a wonderful place, but this one is extra special to us, and being there just felt right. I always feel so much happier after a visit. The Oakland Temple is one of my favorites because 1. Look at it! I love the Asian inspired design, the gardens, etc.:

Oakland Temple grounds seen through one of the bridges (Image Source)

Flowers in bloom on the terrace garden of the Oakland Temple

2. It's full of memories. Not only did my parents and pretty much Erik's entire family get married there, but...

Erik sat me down on this bench, overlooking the bay, got down on one knee, and popped the question

When we were dating, Erik and I spent a lot of time at there doing wonderful work inside the temple, wandering the terrace gardens, and sneaking kisses on the stairs. It's also where Erik proposed to me. 

Den sat on the bench (pictured above, the bench you can barely see on the lower right corner), and told us how being there reminded him of our wedding, his other son's wedding (they also got married there), and his own. Such a special place!

That afternoon, we got to set up our Valentine's Day spread. 

Our poor daughter was really upset this year because it's her last year in elementary school and they wouldn't let her class do Valentines! But she really enjoyed our little party, so we hope that helped a bit.

My Hallmark Kiss Kiss Bears collection minus the Christmas ones that broke ages ago :(

We finished off Valentine's Day with homemade Belgian waffles topped with berries and hand-whipped (because I couldn't find the beaters for the mixer—guess what...Erik found them in 2 seconds after he got home! Grrrrr) whipped cream. So good!

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