What Can I Say...He's a Romantic

My husband is a romantic.

He's always been the most romantic guy I've ever heard of. And, well, I happily accept that trait.

Our Valentine's days are always filled with lots of laughing, food, and relaxing. This year was obviously special. It was our last year as just us two in the house. While we're beyond excited to have our plus one with us next year, we definitely took advantage of this last year and made sure to enjoy our time together.

On Saturday, we went out for our Valentine's dinner to a steakhouse in Lubbock called Las Brisas. Yes, this dinner was out of our price range, but next year, we won't be able to go anywhere since we'll have a 8 month baby with us, so I figured we could split the cost of the next two Valentine's, and suddenly it didn't look so expensive! : ) Evan, again...remember...the romantic, had gone to Blockbuster and rented a few romantic movies and had planned our evening out. We went to Las Brisas (and when I opened my car door, there were a dozen roses...sigh...I'm a lucky gal) knowing they would give us at least a 1.5 hour wait. After they did, we went home with candies and sodas (we live about 45 seconds away from this restaurant). We cuddled on the couch, watched the DVD rentals, and lazily strolled back for dinner once our wait time had passed. My favorite part of the meal was how little we talked about the future. Lately it's been hard to not talk about my growing belly, but it was nice to be reminded of who we are without that. We're a couple that never runs out of things to talk about, things to smile about, and things to laugh about.

Yesterday, Sunday, I woke up with the ingredients to make homemade cinnamon rolls. We made them together (FREAKIN DELICIOUS. Find recipe here: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/06/cinammon_rolls_/) and watched the Olympics. Last year Evan made our house "Hotel Lacefield" by drawing a bath and using our guest room as a massage parlor. I was in love with that idea and he knew full well that if there was ever a year where my muscles could use the relaxation, this was it. So Hotel Lacefield came around again better than ever!

Evan and I have a $20 limit to our gifts and he always stretches his bucks. He gave me "Chicken Soup for the Couple's Soul." These books are really near and dear to my heart. When I turned 13, my Mom bought me "Chicken Soup for the Teenagers Soul" and when I got engaged she bought me "Chicken Soup for the Brides Soul." Evan and I have always read these stories to each other by choosing a random page number and reading that story. We had to start marking which stories we had read to each other because before we knew it, we were hearing the same stories multiple times. Evan's second gift was continuing a picture book he gave me two years ago. He made this photo album documenting our nearly 8 years together.

After a bath and gift exchanges, we made Asopao together (my favorite Puerto Rican dish) and it was amazing. After dinner, my masseuse was ready and Evan gave me a great massage (even my hands and feet got a massage! Glorious!).

Do you know who else got a Valentine? Liliana! Daddy wrote her a sweet little card asking her to be his forever Valentine. I'm getting teary eyed just thinking of the sentiment...

I love Valentine's Day. It doesn't have to be with a significant other. I just love the idea of making sure to take time to tell people you love them, to take the day as a mini-vacation for love. I know you should do it everyday, but who has time for that? People get busy and I don't know about you, but Evan and I don't regularly get the opportunity to spend 6 hours together without any interruptions.

Next year, we'll have our additional cutie patooty Valentine by our side. I can't wait.