Ah, Valentine's Day. I remember when we used to call it "Singles Awareness Day". Since there is a no-dating policy at the ranch which prevents us staff from dating each other, most of us are single with the exception of the married, long-term staff and the few that have girlfriends/boyfriends off the ranch. I wasn't expecting much, as I am one of the single folk, but I should have known better, being surrounded by such loving people!
Remember in elementary school when you'd give and receive cutesy Valentine's Day cards with Batman or Strawberry Shortcake on them? Well, we have a staff mail center and some of the staff decided to bring us back to the past :) Though... instead of Batman, we had The Prince of Persia, Jake Gyllenhaal. Haha. No picture, sorry.
But even with the holiday, we had to work. We cleaned the round-up room, which was fun, because it is head to carpet WOOD! All... 15-20 feet of it. I don't know the exact measurements, but it was quite an undertaking.
This painting is said to be worth $40,000. It's beautiful, and quite large. It was very heart-pumping, taking it down and putting it back up again, since we were afraid of damaging it. We live life on the edge, here at the ranch. :P
What's this? A surprise!
We had a special delivery from Tony! It turned out that the lovely Warnock children baked us cookies! One batch for the Cabin girls, and another batch for the Watrii! One, two, three... AWWWW!!!
"Wishing you a smile-a-minute, lots-of-fun-in-it Valentine's Day!" The signature above "REB A" is from Rebecca Warnock, our favorite (only) little girl at the ranch :)
Oh Lindsay, our fearless cabin crew leader, tackling the ceilings with Murphy's Oil like the professional she is. Even using that ladder we couldn't get up to the ceiling, it was that high. We ended up having the maintenance boys finish the center rafter :) Thanks guys!
And after a hard day of work, we girls had a third surprise! The men of Lost Valley made dinner for us!
Cooking, serving, cleaning... they did it all! From left to right: Nate (maintenance), Coulter (kitchen), and Paud, the chef of the evening (kitchen).
To show our appreciation, the girls decided to dress up for the occasion. From left to right: Tish (gift shop), Lauren (kitchen), Anna (kitchen) and Lindsay (cabins).
From left to right: Anne (head chef), Caroline (cabins) and Kammie (cabins).
Roommate picture! Chelsea (wrangler), Rachelle (baker) and me (watrii).
The lovely Hannah and I are the two new watrii this season. Yay for newbies!
When we sat down, our appetizers were already set for us. Paud calls this "Lost Valley Sushi", avocado (yum!) and red onion, cilantro/parsley (I couldn't tell which) and a tarty sauce, placed upon slices of cucumber. Delish!
Our wonderful chef, Paud (who has worked in many fine restaurants before coming to the ranch), rings the bell to announce each course.
And time for the entrees! Here is Paul (wrangler) trying his hand at serving. Good job, Paul!
For the first course this evening:
Charred New Zealand Lamb Loin with Roasted Red Bell Harissa, Parsley-mint Pistou & Shallot Demi-glaze
"Why, thank you, Zack (maintenance)!" thinks Sarah (waitrii) to herself as Rachelle watches with amusement.
Yum! The parsley-mint "pistou" was delicious with the lamb. Oh, heaven!
For the second course of the evening: Roasted Airline Chicken with Mediterranean Chickpea Salad, Susan Snap Peas & Feta Tatziki. I didn't understand much of what Paud said, but it was delicious!
For the third course: Roses! Just kidding :) Jeremy (accounting?) was so sweet to present each woman with a rose as a token of appreciation.
"And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love may have power to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ." Eph 3:17-18
Happy Valentine's Day!
Men of Lost Valley Ranch
Oh, how sweet that was. It was a good reminder that Christ's love is amazing, that I am cared for by an awesome God, who knows me and cares for me in ways I cannot even fathom.
"But what is dinner, without dessert?" - Lumiere, Beauty and the Beast. Dark chocolate cake with cherries or...
Tropical something or other... I forget. It's basically an elegant key-lime pie. It was quite good, even though I don't like sour foods. I always gleek when eating sour foods and I don't like the feel of the muscles in my salivary glands exerting such great amounts of force :P
I was so blessed by the dinner the LV men put on, and it wasn't only because of the fancy food or the roses and excellent service, but it was because they put so much thought into making something special for us ladies. At least for me, it's really the thought that counts! :)
To top the evening off, I watched one of my favorite romantic comedies, "You've Got Mail", with some of my favorite ladies at the ranch.
The End.
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