February Festivities

February has been a fabulous month so far! We decorated our house to bring more love, cheer, and warmth into our home. We also got some Valentine's Day leggings to feel extra festive. Leo fell in love with our heart table runner and seems to love sitting anywhere we place fabric or a blanket. He is such a snuggler. I also enjoyed a molten chocolate latte from Starbucks thanks to my love.I love all things seasonal.

I also consider heart shaped sugar cookies as a requirement for Valentine's day. My grandmother made them for us each year and I like to continue the tradition. I have been working on finding the perfect sugar cookie recipe and feel like I am so close.The current recipe I use is mostly sugar, butter, and flower with vanilla, almond extract, and coconut extract.

We also painted a string of wooden heart lights. I found these lights at Target for around five dollars and felt they were an absolute steal. We spent a Saturday night in painting them. The whole family got involved including Leo who jumped on the drying project and spread paint all over the place. He is such a character! My favorite heart is the rainbow heart Tracey painted right in the center of the string of lights. We had so much fun preparing for Valentine's Day together. It was our very first one we were able to celebrate in person. 

After Valentine's Day we went out for a date at one of my favorite pizza restaurants. We had hoped to spend the long weekend by the pool, but the rainy weather had different plans for us, so we went out for pizza and worked on a home improvement project. I also got a cannoli which is one of my favorite desserts. Tracey went with her classic favorite, cheesecake. 

For the last two months we have considered many options about where we want to live as our lease is up at the end of March. We looked at bigger apartments at our complex, visited other complexes, and researched rental houses. After much debate, we decided to remain in our apartment for another year and decided to finally hang up photos on the main wall in our family room. It was so much fun buying the last few frames and hanging up pictures and art that is very special to us. We both love looking at all of the memories displayed on our wall. The wall includes wedding photos,map art, photos from our travels, the drawing of our family I got Tracey for Valentine's Day, the Mrs and Mrs sign Tracey got me for our anniversary, and other favorites. We have a little room on the end to expand our photo wall and look forward to adding more memories to our wall.  

In February, I got my new passport in my married name. We are planning a trip to England this summer to spend some time with our family in England. We are looking forward to time with family and friends, sightseeing in London, and Nandos. My parents plan to come on our trip. It will be the first time our families will meet each other. We are so excited to show England to our American family and for some quality time with our family in England. Here are some photos from our very first trip to together in England. 

As we live in a desert, this is really a beautiful time to soak up the sun and enjoy the lovely weather. We plan to spend as much time as we can outside and together. As I write this post, I have 9 days of work left until spring break. Tracey was lucky enough to get a few days off so we are already planning out our time together.  

What fun February festivities have you been up to? We would love to hear from you. 

- Shannae Johnson