Valentine's Day 2018

I have turned into the worst Valentine ever. I need to really step up my game. I hardly have any decorations, I didn't make cards for anyone, no chocolates, no flowers, NOTHING! But I did let the kids go crazy with crafting supplies. They made a ton of Valentines to hand out to friends.

Tanner took this picture of him and Ella at church one Sunday while I was in Relief Society. Church has been soooooo good lately!

Sweet Rayleigh... her teacher is a saint.

Rayleigh took this of me after church while I was making rice crispy treats for the missionaries.

Baby Ella Bella fell asleep next to me one day while I was paying bills. Cuz she's the perfect child.

The Monday before Valentine's Day, the kids were out of school. So a bunch of moms all got together for a fun Valentine's Day party! We had cup cakes and decorated bags and then all the kids handed out the valentines they had made for each other. It was kinda windy so that made the passing out of card pretty difficult. But they all had a blast running around playing together at the park and us moms loved spending time together too! We have a great community here and I love our ward!

The kids have had WAYYYYYYY too much sugar this week and I'm about ready to lose my mind over it. I had to get them out of the house so on Wednesday (Valentine's Day) we headed on down to Adventure Playground in Irvine. We love this park! It is the best! Parker found all kinds of "big kid" games to  play like chess and foozball, they had music playing from a big speaker, there was a painting project set up, and lots of trucks to play with in the sand. Kids can do no wrong here: they can run and jump and climb, get dirty and wet and make messes, read and relax and doze off, build and destroy- it's amazing and the best part is: IT'S FREE! We could have stayed ALL day but we had to run home before getting stuck in bad traffic. The kids slept on the way home and when Ella woke up half way home and was a little sad (this was the first time this has ever happened so we were confused on what to do) we turned on the Greatest Showman soundtrack and she fell right back asleep! 

Baths were in order when we got home and we picked some flowers and added bath salts to make the bath "valentiney".

I was feeling the mom guilt about not providing a more crafty and creative Valentine's Day. We had no pink, heart shaped pancakes, no candle lit fondue dinner, no chocolate hearts wrapped in red foil, no balloons and cards from Mommy. But when Jack ran up to me, squeezed on me tight and said, "I love you Mommy." I knew I'd done something right.

You know I'm a sucker for a good sunset and this Valentine's Day sunset did NOT disappoint. It was like the sky was celebrating with all its pink hues, too!

I told Tanner all I wanted for Valentine's Day was for him to be home for dinner and help me get the kids to bed. Well, he wasn't home that early but he DID bring me my favorite Mediterranean dinner and Cold Stone for dessert! He also had flowers and a card for me. What a guy!!!! We watched Netflix and put our phones down and that, you guys, is romance with 4 kids and after 13 years of marriage!

I guess I'm feeling glad that I get to celebrate "Valentine's Day" whenever I feel like it because I get to live with the ones I love the very most forever! And maybe next year I can put love notes in mini red mail boxes and heart attack Tanner's car...