“The Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me” –Gladys Knight and the Pipps

Our Valentines Day this year was one like I have never had before. Jerrod wouldn’t tell me at all what we were doing, so I had no idea what to expect. I really have the best husband in the world. He is constantly surprising me and making me feel special. Some people don’t like surprises, but I really do. And I really married the right man for that.

Before we left, we exchanged cards with the kids. Then, Jerrod, Kennedi and Kaden gave me cards and a gift. The card from the kids was so cute because it included a big heart sticker that said, “Very Loved Mommy” Kennedi put it on me and I wore it proudly for the rest of the night.

Jerrod had two books made of all of my past blogs. I love it so much. I love having all of my blogs put together in one book by year. That is why it is so important for me to include all of these past things. Because I don’t want to miss out on anything when the year 2009 gets put in a book! This is such a fun way to journal…now if I could only be better at it!

We left the kids with a babysitter and took off on our night. I still had no idea what we were doing. I really just thought that we would go to a nice romantic dinner and then come back to be with the kids. So, when we pulled up to a Casino, you could imagine what was going through my mind. I didn’t believe Jerrod at first. When he pulled up to the Emerald Queen Casino, I just burst out laughing because I thought that he was trying to throw me for a loop. When he parked, I was still laughing so hard that I was crying. I just kept saying, “We better not be going to a casino!” He got out of the car, and I just sat there expecting him to get back in the car and say “just kidding”! But he never did! So, we walked into the casino and stood in an amazingly long line for a buffet. Evidently, this buffet is really good and it has all you can eat seafood (which I love). We were standing there for a while, but it hadn’t really moved at all. We were both hungry and Jerrod kept asking me if I just wanted to go get food in the Deli. I said that I didn’t want to spend our Valentines Day in a smoky casino deli! Then he said “Well, we are on kind of a time crunch.” And then he held up two tickets to the Gladys Knight concert that we were going to later that night. I was so excited. I have seen Gladys Knight before at a concert at BYU-Idaho and I just remember her being a fantastic entertainer! I knew that we were in for a fun night. So, we decided to scrap the buffet idea and we drove to Red Robin for our romantic Valentines dinner. We ate some good burgers, shared a milk shake and hurried back to get to the concert.

Our seats were pretty good. We were right up close behind the VIP section. My favorite part about the whole thing was seeing the black people who were all dressed up fancy for it. And, let’s be real, they know how to enjoy a concert and have a good time, so at times, the people around us were just as entertaining as Gladys Knight was. Gladys Knight was amazing. Even though we may not have known every song that she sang, she made it very enjoying! Towards the end of the concert, our babysitter called us. I couldn’t hear her in the concert, so I ran to the bathroom and called her back. She was crying because Kaden had been crying non-stop for about 45 min! I tried calming her down and walking her through a few things, but in the end told her that we were on our way home. I ran back to Jerrod and told him that we needed to leave. So, we left the concert just a little bit early. Needless to say, that wasn’t exactly our Valentine’s plans, but what do you do when you are a parent??!! Sometimes you have to adapt to the situation!

Right before we got home, the babysitters mom called us to say that Kaden was okay and that he was asleep now. Well, we were already almost home, so we just went home. It turned out that Kaden just had a really big bubble and needed to burp. Poor kid. But, on the positive note, Kennedi was asleep in her own bed when we got home, so I was very appreciative of that!

After we got Kaden settled down and into bed, we were both so exhausted from the day that we both crashed instead of being able to enjoy the rest of our romantic evening! Sometimes the only thing we can do as parents is to laugh and love the curve balls that our children through at us. Sometimes we talk about how we don’t even remember what it was like before we had children…then we always end with something like “what did we do?” and “I wouldn’t wish for it to be any different right now. “

I married the most amazing man and the words to the title of Gladys Knights song, The Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me” are truly how I feel. Jerrod has taught me the real meaning of love and is constantly making sure that I know that he loves me. Sometimes I wonder if he knows exactly how much I love him right back. I hope so. I guess that I just get to make sure that I am showing him everyday as well!