Playing Cupid

When I got home from work Friday, the day following Valentine's Day, I knew something was up. My house was immaculate. Now, normally my house is pretty tidy, but inevitably I always have a couple of little clutter piles scattered throughout the house. Whether it is a stack of mail on the kitchen counter or a pile of puzzles Bryn and I just finished making, there always seems to be something left out. A little warning bell should have gone off, but to be honest, I was so excited to come home and see my kids. 

I had just finished my first week back at work after an 9 month maternity break and, truth be told, I was missing my kids. I love my job, and am extremely good at what I do, but I always have a hard time leaving my babies. The extra money is nice, and having adult conversations has done wonders to my sanity level. I only work 2 days a week 10 hours a day. Not only does this allow me to keep my license current, but it also allows me to just be "mom" the rest of the week. There are all sorts of arguments out there about being a working mom vs a stay at home mom that I don't really want to delve into. There are good arguments to be made on both sides. However, for me personally, I feel that I am a better mom when I have the opportunity to "miss my kids," and makes me look forward to the time I do get to spend with them. I feel pretty lucky to have the best of both worlds.

Back to my super clean house. After looking around for the kids, Nate walks in the front room and says, "My parents took the kids out to dinner, so it looks like we get to have dinner. . . alone." As all parents will admit, the thought of having dinner sans children is enough to send tingles down the spine. Nate decided he wanted to head into Salt Lake for dinner which I agreed to only after telling him that we couldn't be too long because I didn't want my in-laws to have to worry about putting my kids to bed. 

We tried to go to this new Italian place, but due to the wait, had lettuce wraps at Pei Wei instead. I was getting a little antsy by this point seeing how it was 8:30 and we still had to drive to Farmington to get the kids. Nate gets on the 1-215 beltway insisting that it would be faster and then decides to call his mom and check on the kids. While he is on the phone, he missed the exit, and I shriek, "Nate, pay attention! We are going to have to drive halfway up the canyon before. . . " I stopped mid-sentence and then looking at him suspiciously asked, "Where are we going?" A big grin stole across his face and he replied, "To Park City. Happy Valentine's Day!"

He then proceeded to tell me all the scheming and planning that he had done by making arrangements for the kids. I suddenly felt a little foolish as I started going over all the tell tale signs indicating that Nate was up to something: a spotless house, Nate's parents taking only the kids to dinner, a black duffel bag in the back seat. 

We pulled up to a nice lodge, got the keys, and walked into our room.

Call me crazy, but I was expecting something a little nicer and that didn't smell like stale Ramen Noodles and weed. So was Nate. His face fell and he grabbed his phone calling over his shoulder, "Don't touch anything. I will be right back." No problem there. I wasn't about to to sit on that couch. If I did, I would probably contract Hepatitis or some other undesirable disease.

He was gone for about 15 minutes before he came back with a triumphant look on his face and said, "We are switching rooms." As we hauled our bags to a different building, I was curious as to what he said to the desk clerk. So he told me the story. Apparently, he told the desk clerk there was a problem with the room, that the room we got put in was not the room he had booked. She asked, "Well, what type of room did you book?" To which Nate responded, and I kid you not, "Um. A nice one." Oh how he makes me laugh. I can only imagine the look on the desk clerk's face when he said that. Needless to say, she didn't see that he had ordered an upgraded room and even flipped through pictures on his phone and said, "See, here. This is the type of room I booked."

We walked into our second room which was much nicer with a gigantic hot tub, fireplace, and most importantly was completely devoid of any offensive smells. We had a great time and even got to sleep in, something that rarely happens these days.

I insisted on eating at Kneaders because I heard that they had an amazing French Toast platter. For once, there was a dish that lived up to all the hype. It was delicious. We wandered around Park City for a few hours sipping on hot chocolate before heading back to Salt Lake to finish some shopping at City Creek. When we went to pick up the kids, they acted as though they didn't even miss us and wanted to stay with the grandparents. I think I even heard Bryn ask, "How come you're back already?" However, she quickly changed her tune when I pulled out some new Princess panties we bought at H&M. With a quick wave, she said, "Bye Grandma, I have to go home and try on my new panties." 

That Mr. Burk is quite charming and is pretty darn good at playing cupid, even when his carefully plotted plans don't always play out the way he had envisioned them. I am ok with this. It keeps things interesting.