February 14, 2012 Happy Valentines Day!

I have had a love/hate relationship with this day for many years!

As a child I loved Valentine's day. I loved waking up in the morning and finding that the Valentines Day Cupid had left me a little heart shaped box of chocolates on my dresser, and that I was sure to come downstairs to some sort of yummy Valentine's Day breakfast. Then of course there were the fun Valentine's Day parties at school. All the little cards from friends in my class, and way too many cookies, chocolates, and other junk food!

As I got older, Valentines Day was more of a "Who is cool and who is not cool" day. I dreaded going to school and being one of "those girls" who was not called down to the office to receive her roses, teddy bear, and whatever else the girls with boyfriends had had delivered to them at school that day. It was always heart wrenching to watch those girls walking back from the office with their arms full of things and huge smiles on their faces.

I still remember the day I was a Junior in High school and my name WAS among the huge list of girls being called to the office to pick up Valentines. My Daddy had sent me flowers that year, and it was one of my best Valentine's days ever! I was so proud to walk down the hall with flowers from my Dad.

There were actually several years beyond that that My Dad sent me flowers on Valentine's Day. I remember working at State Farm and seeing the florist come through the door. I of course wanted to hope that the flowers were for me, but never got my hopes up too high. My Daddy always pulled through though. Even if that bouquet wasn't for me, the next one usually was! He was always well aware at how much I disliked Valentine's Day and always made it his mission to make it a much better day!

Then there were the years that I spent living away from home. My Mom always made sure to send me a Valentine's Day package filled with cookies from home, chocolates, and of course some kind of cute little Valentine surprise like a shoe, or some earrings. Bless her heart, my Mom STILL sends Valentine's day packages to all of us! I don't know how she gets them all put together and sent with all the other stuff she has to do, but it's a tradition I still love, one that Chris now loves, and my kids look forward to.

Now I am at a whole different phase in my life. I'm the Mommy and wife now and Valentine's day has taken on a whole new meaning...again!

I have had wonderful Valentine's Days for the past 6 years. In fact I think the last 6 years of Valentine's days have more than made up for the hard ones in my past!

This year was of course no different. I thought that I had had my Valentine's Day yesterday in SLC, but I should know by now, that's not how Chris works. I got up and got Keric and I ready so that he could go to school today. He of course was very excited to go to school because today was his Valentine's Day party.

After I dropped him off I ran to Wal-mart to get a couple things for dinner tonight. When I got home Chris had a Valentine waiting for me. Of course his card made me cry, along with chocolates and the Breaking Dawn movie. It was a nice surprise!

I picked Keric up from school, all covered in frosting and a red punch moustache, holding a huge bag full of Valentine's from all his classmates. When I got home I had Cafe Rio waiting for me for lunch along with laundry being done and an order to take a nap. LOL Like I would turn THAT down!

For dinner Chris made us all his famous Valentine's Day breakfast. This has been a tradition at our house for the past 6 years, and one that I don't think we will be able to give up. :) Chris made us all heart shaped Chocolate Chip Pancakes with strawberries, chocolate sauce, whip cream, and this year sparkling cider to drink. In years past we have had chocolate milk, but I found the cutest little champagne flutes at the dollar store, and decided to mix it up this year. :) The kids LOVE this meal, and lets be honest...so do the rest of us. :) I mean seriously, what's not to love!

After we put the kids in bed, Chris and I watched Breaking Dawn and then headed to bed. It was really a FULL and FUN day!

I truly am a very blessed woman. Probably more blessed than I deserve, but I'm certainly not going to complain!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!