It’s hard to believe just 4 short years ago, I was anticipating the birth of our first son today. And was I ever sad to see my Valentine’s Day Due Date come and go with no baby! (He waited until 8am tomorrow to kick things into gear.)

It was not our most romantic Valentine’s Day to say the least! 🙂

When we were first dating we got ALL fixed up for Valentine’s Day, I mean tux and all, and went to Wichita to a fancy-schmancy restaurant with our good friends, Melinda & Nate.

Ah, the good ol’ days! 🙂

Can’t quite imagine blowing the money on a dress, tux and fancy dinner now, but it sure was fun then! How things change!

This year, we celebrated on Friday, so today will probably feel like just another day! Shopping for a new outfit is a thing of the past, so I just wore something from my closet that I’ve worn a million times. Oh, the sensible joy of it all!

My best friend, Kasey & I, planned a night on the town. Check out our hot dates….

We got the hook up from our amazingly cool friends, to dine at The Newport Grill, a new upscale seafood restaurant in Wichita. In addition to freshly flown in seafood, they offer dishes using locally grown beef, chicken and fresh, locally grown veggies too, whenever possible.

It was AMAAAAZING! We totally got VIP treatment thanks to Monty’s job title. (Well that, and the coolness of Monty himself)

We started off the meal with Duck Confit and a few swigs of some complimentary wine, to “bring out the flavor of the duck”. I am NOT a wine drinker, but it really did just that!

We also tried the Rock Shrimp Cigars, which are delicious little shrimp roll ups with pineapple sauce and sprouts, so stinkin’ amazing!

This is the part where the photos stop, because course after course of the most amazing, decedent food was coming out, and I was FAR too busy oohing & aahing (and let’s be realistic….feeding my face) to take any more!

I had the Surf n Turf; Lobster and Filet Mignon with asparagus and potato wedges. We all passed around our food, so I also got to taste a fantastic Arugula Salad with Goat cheese, an award-winning Salmon dish with homemade ravioli, Ribeye with the most incredible sauce I have ever tasted, and some awesome homemade, melt in your mouth tater tots. Even the bread and sea salt butter are good at this place. 5 stars all the way!

Dinner was brought to us at an efficient but leisurely pace, the server never bringing out the next course until we were all through with our existing course. If you are a “Foodie” and you live to eat rather than eat to live, THIS is the place for you. We dined for 2 1/2 hours!

Before heading to our movie, we ordered dessert: Grandma’s Banana bread made into a Bread Pudding, with bananas, a rum-caramel sauce with ice cream…it was absolutely delicious! The guys had us in hysterics and we laughed until we cried because apparently, dessert was the quietest part of the whole evening. All they could hear was Kasey & I saying “Mmmm!” and our spoons clanking! 🙂

Afterwards, we went to see the movie “Just Go With It”. What a great date night movie! It was such a fun night, and so good to get out of the house for the evening, in honor of Valentines Day!

Thanks for babysitting Nana! (Sorry all I had to feed you was Mac n Cheese and Popcorn Chicken, Ew.) And a big thanks to the Noggles’ for a fantastic evening of fine dining!

So, on to today………

Valentine’s Day on a Monday. Oh boy! I am currently in scruffy house clothes doing a kazillion loads of laundry, how romantic! Back to reality, right?! 🙂

Back in the olden days, Dale might have sent flowers today……

(Something FABULOUS like this! Except RED where the purple is.)

…but I always tell him to save his money.

Darn this sensible side of me!

We just don’t spend money on this stuff anymore. Maybe because we are lazy in our love, or maybe because it seems like a waste when we could be spending that $50 on groceries.

The last time Dale sent me flowers randomly, the first sentence out of my mouth was, “What did you do?!” Followed by, “No, you may not go on a week-long golfing trip, so don’t ask.” 🙂

Maybe one day we’ll splurge on this sort of thing again, but for now, we just do lovey-dovey Valentine cards.

Here is one I got for Dale:

Ok, not lovey-dovey, but he’ll think its hilarious. Don’t worry, I have a mushy one too, but I won’t share it on here. Winking smile

(I am sure you’ve read 100 just like it at Hallmark and can use your imagination.)

Well, I hope you enjoy a romantic evening with the one you love!

Or, just snack on your kid’s leftover Valentine’s Day party treats, while you deal with cranky, sugared-up kids, and wait for your hubby to get home from work, so you can MAYBE watch a romantic movie before falling into an exhausted, we-have-4-kids-and-a-mortage-induced slumber…

Hey, whatever works!