Complete with deep thoughts, a fabulous quote, a bunch of pictures, and plenty of cheesiness. We're good at cheesy.
So this whole Valentine's Day thing....I find it interesting.
You get the people who are very adamant that it is a ruse. "Obligation Day", "Hallmark Day", all those other names they call it. "I love my husband/children/family/friends/dog/whateverfloatsyourboat on every day of the year, I don't have to wait till February 14th to express it!" they cry.
Good point. I very much agree. They should know every day of the year that you love them!
But to me just as I spend every day of the year thinking of, believing in and doing my best to follow Jesus Christ and then celebrate with even more focus at Christmas, I spend every day loving my family and friends and yet still enjoy spending a little extra focus on it on that holiday. Even if Hallmark created it. Which does them no good in my case because I don't drop money on cards anyway.
I like holidays.
I don't understand the haters. I do believe that everyone will have good Valentine's Days and not so good Valentine's Days, but I believe that your attitude plays into it more than your circumstances.
Of course this is coming from someone who was raised by a mother who was constantly optimistic. Goodness-our car broke down outside Jackson Hole WY one year as we were headed home (hours away), and she tried to spread enthusiasm about our "adventure" as I headed off to the highway with my father in hopes of someone taking pity on us so we could bum a ride back into town. Ah, life before cell phones.
Anyway.
I hope you chose to make your Valentine's Day fabulous no matter where you find yourself in life right now.
I have been extremely blessed, with an amazing husband who does show me just how much he loves me every day. Though I feel like I'm always grasping to keep up with his fabulousness, I hope I accomplish the same for him. I saw this quote again the other day and was reminded of not only how much I love it, but how true it is...
"I am satisfied that happiness in marriage is not so much a matter of romance as it is an anxious concern for the comfort and well-being of one's companion. Any man who will make his wife's comfort his first concern will stay in love with her throughout their lives and through the eternity yet to come."
- Gordon B. Hinkley
(I'm pretty sure he'd be ok if you swapped out "man" with "woman" and
"wife" with "husband" and applied it in reverse)
And now, not to say "look how fabulous our Valentine's Day was!", but to share ideas because I find myself roaming blogs in the weeks before holidays gleaning ideas (though pinterest has significantly decreased that work!), I give you Vday, our way.
Ours was a little spread out this year. Since Aaron had Monday night off from clinicals this week (yay!!), he was able to come home before it was the middle of the night. Being the sweet guy he is, he brought me roses and dinner. Which was doubly great because whatever I made for dinner for the kids just didn't look the least bit good. We live in the middle of nowhere, so takeout always ends up lukewarm by the time it gets home, but I do have to say that it was without a doubt the very best 9pm lukewarm takeout date I've ever had in my entire life! I neglected to take a picture. dangit.
(also, I could live of Olive Garden's Lasagna Fritta.)
Today Aaron was off facing the world while I was home facing the herd.
We started the day off with pink waffles.
(i swear they were pink)
Complete with heart sprinkles of course.
I also would have totally gone the whipped cream and strawberries route, but I was almost out of cream. whoops.
After shuttling 5 kids off to school with valentines in tow and Charli off to preschool, Lincoln and I delivered his little valentines and started working on cinnamon rolls.
Which of course needed to fit the day.
We went with both the cream cheese frosting and the messy glaze.
I neglected to factor in that kids would be so full of junk from school that they wouldn't want an after school treat today, so we now have breakfast for tomorrow. Works for me!
With baking done and Charli home, we headed off to drop Aaron's Valentine goodies off at work.
There were some fabulous (and fabulously cheesy) ideas all over bloggyland, so I used some from others and some of my own to put together a treat basket. I was just going to drop it off at the front desk, but I realized that there was no way to carry the basket and wrangle three littles in the doors, especially with the awkwardness of a growing belly, so I made him come down and get it. What a nice wife I am! "Here honey! I'm being totally over the top so I can publicly embarrass you, so would you come and get it from the car? Thanks!"
In his little basket....
You can tell which ones I printed from other sources because they are all cute and fancy and fun, and mine are a little border with words pasted on. Yup, I'm all sorts of good with a computer.
One of my favorites was actually this:
A fancy little gift bag with the Skor on it. Apparently everyone in the office wanted to know what was in that one!
So what was in it? Well, being Valentine's Day and all.....
Oh come on! Publicly I'm very much a G rated person, PG at worst!
It did give the guys a good laugh.
I did not get a picture of the whole basket put together. I did remember to take my camera with me so that after getting the basket from the store and putting it all together I could take that picture. Somehow that counted in my brain.
For dinner with the kids we dressed up the table.
Everyone had their own special little treats too.
I totally slacked on the food though-usually I do something cute like heart-shaped pizza with heart-shaped pepperoni, or make everything pink and red, or something like that, but tonight they wanted tacos. So we just had tacos. But they were tacos made with extra love. Or something like that.
I was a nice mom and rented them a movie on a school night (*gasp*).
That won't happen again for a long time.
I am hoping they sleep well tonight as they crash from their sugar highs.
And now I wait for Aaron to come home.
A little more Valentine's Day left. The plan was rose petals and Hershey kisses from the front door to our bedroom (kissing the ground he walks on), but with older kids who have a habit of getting out of bed, that's kind of awkward. Gone are the toddler years when I could have used the explanation "Oh no! I spilled, now go back to bed so I can clean this up!". Dang. So instead, starting at the front door,
"10 things I love about you" for my love, floating through the house.
I could have easily found 100 things to do, but balloons get expensive and I am cheap. Not to mention that getting 100 balloons home would have been tricky, even in my giant van.
But how can you not love a guy who not only gets you the fabulous skirt you've been wanting (this one-and it's a thousand times more wonderful in person, I'm wearing it now), but does something truly wonderful for you as a Valentine's Day gift.
What exactly would that be?
Well, Aaron hates to run. I obviously enjoy it a little bit. One of my favorite runs to do is a local 5k that happens every year the first weekend in June. This year it falls 3 days after this baby is due. So the chances of me running it are pretty much zero. Even if I go overdue, I know he wouldn't be a fan of me running when way too pregnant, which I definitely would be if I went overdue. My three oldest kids ran this one last year with me and are looking forward to doing it again, as is child #4. So as part of my Valentine's gift this year, Aaron agreed to run this 5k since I won't be able to. (that was the rolled up paper with "you make my heart race" in those photos above) If you are not a runner, you may appreciate what a big deal that is. If you are a runner who is married to a non-runner, you really appreciate how much that gesture means!
I married the best man in the entire world.
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