ValAntines Day!

So as most of you know Valentines Day is a BIG DAY in the Valantine home! It's Brandons parents anniversary, Brandons birthday, and (before we got married) was our dating anniversary! I never know how to go about Valentines Day because Brandon does stuff all day long for me on HIS birthday!? I made the rule YEARS ago that it is HIS BIRTHDAY UNTIL 5 P.M and THEN it's Valentines Day but he's not very obedient to this rule...

This year for ValAntines day our stake was putting on a dance and I decided to go and take pictures because I'm the ward bulletin board person AND the ward photographer but that meant I needed a date and Brandon has always told me he's "shy" about going to dances .... ummm have you MET my husband!? YEAH RIGHT HE'S SHY!! So I decided to ask him High School style so he couldn't tell me no :) 

The dance was way fun! A bunch of our friends went and we there was even an awesome old guy band!

 But Brandon was right! I COULD NOT get him to dance!! He just stood and laughed and enjoyed everyone else and was too shy to even shake his hips!! 

He was FINE with slow dancing, he can even waltz and stuff but I had to use physical force when it came to anything like a swing dance! What I don't get is his mother is the Snow Canyon Dance Company Head Coach AND teaches all the social dance classes at 2 schools!!? HOW DOES THIS BOY NOT DANCE?!? looks like we'll be taking some dance classes from mamma Valantine this year! lol it was still way fun. (even though I looked UBER pregnant in my "valentines day dress" that I BARELY got zipped up ha ha ha)

FOR ValAntines day we made a nice big candle light dinner at home and exchanged Birthday/Valantines day gifts! I got brandon a "man gift" for his birthday complete with a king size Reeses, the movie Red and a gun cleaning kit lol. I was really REALLY excited about what I made brandon for Valantines day though! So Brandons nickname for me is his
Ukrainian Love Tank
... don't ask....
and before we got married I made him read the 5 Love Languages (IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THAT BOOK READ IT!!) In the book they use an analogy called your "love tank" and as you do things for your spouse they're love tank fills up! You need to be sure to always keep your spouses love tank full otherwise thats when your marriage can go south.... Brandon thought that was just HILARIOUS and now is always GREATLY concerned... "sweetie... how is your love tank doing?..." 

..... (eye roll)...... 

If I ever say something snarky or snappy to him 

"sweetie do we need to fill up that love tank of yours?".. 

anyways so since he calls me his Love Tank and he's SO CONCERNED about our love tanks I decided to make him one! :)

I filled it full of candy and TONS of little notes that he can read everyday to  "keep his love tank full"! Things like
 -thanks for always helping with the dishes
-you are the best husband!
-I am so proud of all of your achievements!
-keep working hard! We love you!!
-thanks for supporting my love for football and golf
(had to throw a few funny ones in there...)
It'll never be empty because i'll keep putting notes in there as I think of them throughout the next few months and he'll always have a little pick me up! 

Now Brandon, being the amazingly thoughtful person that his is, always knows JUST what to get me! This year for Valentines Day he got me the BEST PRESENT!! 

 laugh all you want but my SANITY is on the brink here and this pillow is the answer!! Let me explain... So with pregnancy comes LOTS of crazy hormones and it's a vicious VICIOUS cycle! we'll start from the top...

long day or working and bending over = back pain and uncomfortable pregnant woman > 

going to bed early > 

3 MORE hours of laying in bed with now even more noticeable back pain > 

a bad morning > 

a bad day and MORE back pain and MORE crazy hormones from left field > 

after 18 weeks she's not allowed to lay on her back anymore>

not sleeping AGAIN > 

more bad days and hormones > 

which leads to more stress and more back pain > 

more of the grumpies because you haven't SLEPT in weeks!! >

NOT A PLEASANT PERSON TO LIVE WITH!! 

So as you can see I think this may have been a gift to both Brandon and I :) Now like every good husband Brandon will come home on Valentines day with flowers.. this year was different... this year he walked in with this..

He could tell I was confused because he put it on the table and said 

"LOOK! I got us a love fern!" ha ha ha ha I love him!! 

he said at the store he was looking at all these flowers and thinking "wow... these will all be dead in 2 days" and then he saw the plant! 

In his embryology class he learned that plants are good to have in the house for babies and pregnant women, but then he added 

"plus I figured if we can keep this plant alive we'll be FINE with a baby! PLUS if it dies we at least come away with a cool vase thing?..." 

ha ha ha ha So the love fern it is! 

We'll see how this little experiment goes I guess :) 

after the gift exchange and dinner we went to see a movie!

We actually QUIET liked it! As with all movies now days there were a few lines or scenes we REALLY could have done with out but all in all it was really good! We had free movie tickets too so that made it even better! So that was a really long post but I think we sufficiently covered Valentines Day! Stayed tuned though we MIGHT be going to vegas with Brandons cousins this weekend for they're birthdays (they were all born within a week of each other) So that should be a fun one!

Hope you all had a good Valentines Day with your sweetheart!!