Sweetheart's 2018

 The Sweetheart's dance is a girl's choice dance. Girls ask the boys. Ari was determined to make this happen this year. I didn't know the boy she was asking, and since group dates are usually more fun anyway, I told her she needed to get together with some friends as part of her plan. Luckily she has her friend L. who agreed to come with her. 

In Utah it is kind of a "thing" that you ask the person in an elaborate way. We didn't get a chance to take a picture of Ari's invitation for her date --it had to do with a box of DingDongs. We rushed her out the door to go to hte movies as a family, and she finished putting it together in the car when we were leaving the movies and on the way to the boy's house. You have to doorbell ditch your invite. Apparently. Above is his response for her. Poor kid tried to doorbell ditch his response while we were having a big party. For any neighbors and local friends reading this that weren't here --- I will hit you up with the next party I promise! There were so many people I wanted to invite that I couldn't --it made me sick inside. I have a list made already for next time. 

Anyway there was a sign on the door telling people to walk in and the doorbell rings. We knew who it was!

This is her friend's invite for her date. We thought it turned out pretty cute! They got caught leaving it on the porch. By the boy they were trying to invite. Oh well! It's all in fun.

 Next job was picking a dress. We had one week at this point, which is pretty down to the wire. Luckily I have an angel friend who kind of collects formal dresses. She has 5 daughters, and so shops the sales, and whenever she sees a good deal she picks it up. Anyway I hit her up for some help. These were Ari's favorites.

 You will see what she picked in a minute. Meanwhile....Influenza B hit our house. Jeff went down first, then Kai and I fell on Valentine's day morning. The horrible thing is, that Jeff had bought tickets to the ballet in Salt Lake. Not something he habitually does! They weren't cheap either. We both felt like crap. We showered, got dressed, I unwrapped a full pack of cough drops and put them in a baggie in my pocket and we went. 

 Can you tell? Don't tell the CDC. 

 This is a gorgeous theater. Very baroque. Which, for me, the fancier the better. The costumes and the music and the dance --all gorgeous. I was so glad we went. However, I went through all of my cough drops, and most of a second pack we bought in the lobby during the intermission, so we left before the third act. We were both worn out and my stomach hurt from eating a million cough drops.

Enter complication number three for our week. I had agreed to do a dinner for the Sweetheart couples before the dance. I tore my carcass off of the bed to shop for ingredients Friday, and was hoping for a miraculous healing by Saturday. Yeah that didn't happen. I just pushed through. It took me hours, and washing my hands literally more times than I could count, wearing a mask all day, wiping down the whole house with clorox wipes (thank you Ari), but we got it done. And I think we didn't pass anything on. I hope. I didn't really know what else to do. 

 Moving on, here was our menu: Caprese salads, house made vinaigrette, Four cheese baked ziti, chicken breast stuffed with feta, sun dried tomatoes, and pancetta with a fresh basil cream sauce, raspberry chocolate tiramisu, Italian cream sodas.

 She picked the blue :) 

 The date. He seemed like a really nice kid.

 Ari and her friend.

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