Valentine's Day

I get it, Valentine's Day has a bad rap. "It's cheesy" or "the card companies made it up" or, this one is the best, "If you really love someone you don't need a holiday to show them you love them." Well HELLO Valentine's Day is awesome, and underrated. It is a chance to celebrate the love that you feel and share everyday in a not so everyday kind of way, if you get what I'm saying. Kirby and I tell each other we love each other every day. We find simple ways to show our love through service every day. But that doesn't mean that we don't want an excuse to dedicate an entire day to that love. I mean, if Valentine's day is cheesy, then what about anniversaries? How do you feel about that? As for the card companies, we make our own, so that excuse is lame. Anyway, what I am trying to say is that I love Valentine's Day because I love Kirby and I love any extra chance to dedicate an entire day (or weekend) to being as mushy gushy as possible.

Since Valentine's Day fell on a Sunday this year, we started on the 13th. Kirby and I have gone camping every summer/fall since we have been married. This year, with Henry's birth and the traveling back and forth from Texas to Idaho, we just couldn't make it work. I decided that I wanted to take him camping in our living room for his "present." I had it all planned out that when he was at the gym I would hurry and set it all up. But...Kirby hurt his back pretty badly and decided to skip the gym when he woke up that morning, still in pain. So I told him to lay in bed for at least an extra hour, since his back hurt, and that if he had to come out to the living room to warn me first...so basically he knew I was working on something...oh well.

I pushed all of the furniture into the entry way and hung up a sheet to hide the pile of end tables on our little couch. I then went to work hanging stars from the ceiling, setting up the tent, and building my first fire. Luckily, all went smoothly and Henry and I dragged him out of bed to see the finished product. The three of us spent the rest of the morning snuggling in the tent and looking at the stars.

We had gone an entire week without eating carbs, and what did we miss most? Pizza. So where did we go for lunch? Pizza Pie Cafe. There we ate our fill in carbs, contemplated the universe, discussed which candy bars are best, and tried to figure out how to name each of our children after Harry Potter characters, but in such a round about way it would be too subtle to notice. (Henry James anyone?)

Then we came home where Kirby surprised me with a dozen perfect red roses, and an entire bag of my favorite chocolates.

We finished the night with a heart shaped pizzam followed by cupcakes and sparkling cider, during a romance movie, in the tent. Talk about a perfect night!

I love my full sized Valentine and my mini Valentine, and I can't imagine finding this amount of happiness anywhere else. I never dreamed I could be filled with as much love as those two fill me with.