Family Valentine Photos

Shortly before Valentine's Day, Zak had us write down family activities to choose weekly, and drew out family pictures for Valentine's Day. He's been working on improving his photography skills at work, where he has helped photograph products. We grabbed the camera, tripod, and our little one for some evening family pictures.

 Also, some playtime pictures of Miss V and Mommy.

Shrimp Valentine

Although Valentine's Day is on Saturday this year, I wanted to surprise Zak at work, so I decided to do it on Friday instead. I will forever compare my gifts to the bacon roses, so I again turned to Pinterest. Zak was in the room when I found an inspirational picture from Project Denneler. It didn't give any instructions, but showed a plate full of heart-shaped shrimp appetizers. Grandma Sue discovered Zak's weakness for shrimp a bit ago, so I knew I had a winner.

This morning I speared the pairs together with toothpicks, and then found kabob sticks to make a bouquet. I didn't have any styrofoam, so I went with an apple in the vase to hold the sticks.

We share the car right now, and I knew Zak needed it for a product photo shoot at which he was helping around 10:30. I loaded Miss V onto my back with the Boba, and carried the shrimp toward Zak's nearby workplace, leaving at 9:30. I'm glad we left when we did, because he actually had to be at the photo shoot earlier than planned, so we only caught him as he and co-worker Brooke nearly drove past us. Handing it to him through the car window wasn't the romantic way I had pictured, but he grinned with delight just the same.

Happy Valentine's Day, Husband.

Strawberry Valentine

Zak put in his notice two weeks ago, so Valentine's Day was his last day as an employee before venturing out on his own as a full-time web designer. V and I ate lunch with him yesterday, and today we surprised him with some strawberry "roses" surrounded by a host of valentine cards. We got some beautiful homemade cards from Aunt Niki, and V got "My First Valentine" pajamas from Grandma and Grandpa.

This will be a fresh start, and Zak has prepared so much for this opportunity. We're so proud of him.

Valentine's Day 2013

It's difficult to compete with last year's bacon rose bouquet, but I still wanted to do something special for Zak this Valentine's Day. I found some Wizard of Oz valentine cards for kids, and went with that theme. I got a bunch of yellow candies with a few others thrown in a yellow container I decorated. I hid the cards amidst the candy (and hid a Justin Bieber card in which the Bieb asked Zak to be His). My bulk candies offered some extras that just wouldn't fit in the container, so that was to share at home. Zak goes to work shortly before 8:00 A.M., and I had to work at 8:45, so I tried to prepare most of it the day before, and then drop it off on a detour to work.

We got home about the same time, at which point he surprised me with a potted plant, which he knew I wanted, and some gourmet coconut chocolates, made especially for me.

He was named "Star Performer" at work, and won a restaurant gift card. We used it the night before Valentine's Day, thinking it wouldn't be as crowded. There was still a thirty minute wait, but the hostess gave us a notifying device, so we watched part of "Tarzan" on my tablet until our turn came. Life is so different from when I was little and one didn't have electronic devices everywhere to entertain. Dinner was delicious, and as always when multiple servings of the soup and breadsticks are offered, I took them, so I had delicious leftovers for Valentine's lunch. Zak had agreed to make dinner for us that night, so he grilled tasty burgers for us, and then gave me a nice massage. Oh, I do love my husband.

Valentine 2012

My sister, Cassie, sent a picture of bacon roses, probably because on Christmas Eve Zak was singing "Merry Bacon and a Happy New Bacon."  I went with the idea, and made some bacon roses for Zak (along with a Justin Bieber poster that came with the Valentines I bought for Zak last year). I went inside Melaleuca's entryway for the first time to deliver them.  Bacon roses:  the woman's solution for the Valentine's gift question.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Bacon-Roses/