I confess this week hasn’t been
the most fun we’ve had in our lives. My dad is still very sick, and we’ve had
many plot twists throughout the week. It’s hard to put together a fun Friday
post when life feels the opposite of fun.
But I do love Valentine’s Day,
so in honor of it tomorrow, I thought I’d look back over our Valentine
celebrations from years gone by. I thought I’d choose one of my favorite things
from each of them!
ONE. My favorite thing about our first
Valentine’s Day was the at-home celebration we put together. Ryan cooked the
entire meal, and it made my first ever Valentine’s-Day-in-a-relationship a true
joy. He sent me roses at work, we had dinner in our dining room – by
candlelight – and it was so perfect.
TWO. This year included a visit to DeBrand, where we shared a chocolate float. It was so delicious. DeBrand is always a good idea on Valentine’s Day!
THREE. Another at-home date year that
featured a fondue dinner. Fondue is such fun food. We didn’t yet own our own
fondue set, so I borrowed one, and we had a great time cooking our dinner in
the fondue pots!
FOUR. Ryan arranged a cooking class date
for us, and it remains one of my favorite dates we’ve done. We cooked fancy
food and then ate it together. (I would love to do this again sometime. It was
a blast!)
FIVE. We had dinner out at Ruby Tuesday
(best salad bar ever…I sure miss it!) and then we went to a yogurt place for
dessert. We found out when we arrived that if you would kiss at the register,
you could buy one yogurt, get one free. NO PROBLEM!
SIX. We went out to Red Robin and (on a
whim) decided to stop by the Cake Bake Shop for dessert. It was our first time
to ever go, and we had no idea how fortunate we were to get a table without a
reservation. I’m pretty sure that would no longer be an option! We loved our
cake!
SEVEN. This was the year that we were caring
for Ryan’s mom during her illness, so we were on a caretaking shift on
Valentine’s Day. We went out for our own date a few days later. We had a gift
card to a Mexican restaurant, so we went there for dinner, but we also had fun
furniture shopping at Bob’s! (We have subsequently bought several things there,
but that night was just a fun looking night.)
EIGHT. Ryan planned a really fun overnight
getaway for us this year! I was working at the church in Kokomo, and he picked
me up after work and surprised me with a trip to one of our favorite Airbnbs
we’ve ever stayed at. It was on the canal in Indianapolis and had a great view
of the skyline. There was a burger restaurant IN the building – and a coffee
shop, too. I loved this extra special date so much.
NINE. We were at WillowBridge for this
Valentine’s Day, everything was still wonky from the pandemic, and we decided
to stay in and enjoy a proper at-home date again. Ryan grilled, we had fondue
for dessert, and it was the sweetest day.
TEN. We had a new family member for this
Valentine’s Day, and she got all in the mix! We were in the throes of ALL the
puppy training, so we stayed in and had Chinese takeout – and photo shoots with
the best dressed Valentine’s girl in the house!
ELEVEN. We were about a week away from moving
to the lake on this Valentine’s Day, so the day was filled with cooking at
home, patching holes in the walls of the house we were selling, and falling
asleep to a movie with Lexi between us. And yet – just being together
was a gift. We appreciated it.
TWELVE. We were contestants in the Newlywed
game at Swiss Village, and we won! That was a lot of fun. This was right before
my parents moved there, so they didn’t get to see the fun. That night we
grilled out and ate at home!
THIRTEEN.
And last year we
were back at Swiss Village to watch my parents receive a certificate for 70
years of marriage. It was a sweet memory. After work we went out to Fulton +
Main (a restaurant in Berne) for dinner!
And this
weekend we’ll celebrate ou4 14th Valentine’s Day together. He’s
still my very favorite person and I am excited to make another year of memories
in our dates!
I love you,
Ryan! Happy Valentine’s Day…a day early!
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