One of my favorite family traditions is our Love Day breakfast. Sitting down as a family for a yummy breakfast with gifts and love notes on the table. In reality, this tradition is ALL me. I set the table the night before, plan the menu, write notes, buy chocolates & gifts . . . It's my gift of love to my family on this fun day. :) Now, Valentine's Day fell on a Sunday with 9am church and a Primary lesson on my plate - but we still made sure to breakfast in style.
On the Menu:
Chocolate Chip Muffins (always)
Breakfast Casserole
Strawberries
Orange Juice
Everything was prepared the night before. All I had to do was pop the casserole in the oven for 40 minutes and we were ready to eat.
Payton got his first bottle of cologne! Tommy Boy. Scott actually wore the same cologne when we were dating.
Conner got a new Star Wars t-shirt. It's become clear that he pretty much only wants to wear Star Wars shirts to school each day, so we needed to expand his collection!
Anna got a collection of washi tape and lip gloss! She's been wearing the lip gloss nearly everyday so I think that was a winner.
I read an article in which they asked men what they wanted for Valentine's Day. The vast majority of the responses fell into 3 categories so I did my best to fulfill those requests for Scott:
- Food - I got him a gift certificate for dinner at Texas de Brazil. Bring on the meat!
- Time - I threw in a DVD of Zoolander (which we watched) along with the promise to go on a date to see Zoolander 2 (The DVD came with one free movie ticket)
- I'm pretty sure you can guess what number 3 is. ;)
And here's me - halfway ready for church! Scott gave me a yummy Edible Arrangements bouquet. It was just the thing I needed/wanted after eating so much candy this month!
And the day ended with the most beautiful pink sunset! We sat on our back balcony, eating chocolates (I have an addiction), and discussing plans to get out and enjoy the beautiful weather over the next couple months. It's pretty amazing right now!
Backing up to Saturday night . . . . we decided to have a fancy family dinner of steak, garlic mashed potatoes, and wedge salad. Yum-o! Everyone helped and it was delicious!
Saturday morning we attended the funeral for a sweet 12 year old girl in our ward, Brinley. She passed away a few days earlier after a long battle with brain cancer. It was a beautiful, moving, inspiring service celebrating her life and the talks touched on the plan of salvation and the blessing of experiencing sorrow so we can fully understand joy. Everyone wore her favorite colors - hot pink and teal - in her honor.
Anna had a Valentine's Day party at school on Friday and she went to town making her Valentine's Day box. On the drive to school she said, "Everyone always makes flat Valentine's Day boxes. I don't understand why no one makes their 3-D." Hers included unicorns, a girl & a boy on a swing (I later learned this is Anna and her dad), Studio C Valentine's Day cards, and so many scrapbooking papers & stickers. She loves to create!
And this is the Valentine's Day card that she designed. We printed them as 4x6 photos.
The week before Valentine's Day we were invited to a couple's Valentine's Day party. There were several fun games & activities but there was one in particular that was the highlight of the night. Ahead of time the men were given an assignment to write a poem to their wives. It was supposed to be a secret, I think? A day or two before the party Scott mentioned this and forewarned me that he had fulfilled the assignment but by no means was he going to read it in front of the group if asked. I told him, ok, no big deal. I know not to push him in social situations! Scott sets his own rules and boundaries and will do what he wants to do. After being married for 17 years I completely understand that part of him and know to tread lightly, just being HAPPY if he agrees to come!
The next day he told me that he was working on a second poem that he would be willing to read to the group, if it came to that. Nice job planning ahead, babe.
So it came to his turn to share his poem. He stood up and told us that he had written a Valentine's Day haiku. As he held two pieces of paper in his hand he explained that he had actually written two haikus - one was rated G and the other was rated a strong PG-13. He then set both pieces of paper on the ground, face down, and told me to pick one! Ack! I was dying - half laughing, half mortified! I drew one and luckily - phew! - it was the G-rated version.
Ah, how sweet!
As for the other haiku? Out of curiosity it was also read to the group, but it doesn't go any further than that!
And just one last picture from Valentine's Day because I love it.
