An (After) Valentine's Day Tea!

On Saturday, Sharon, my sweet Mother In Law, and I hosted a Ladies (After) Valentine's Day tea! (For a quick side-note, I'm borrowing these pictures from both Sharon and Kathi as I, unfortunately, forgot to take pictures!!) Sharon and I had such a wonderful time planning and preparing this tea for our wonderful friends and family!

Here I am preparing the food. We served 3 types of tea sandwhiches: Cucumber, Pineapple Cream Cheese, and Egg Salad. Cucumber was my favorite! We also served fruit, veggies, cheese and crackers, jello pink salad, nuts, chocolates and cheesecake for dessert! It took us all morning to prepare!

Here's Sharon in front of the finished food! Next, she rushed off to get ready as we welcomed in guests who were early birds! We didn't really pencil in early birds in our plans! Oops!

For drinks, we served coffee, a variety of hot teas, and I made this raspberry iced tea! It was delicious!

Here is Sharon and I all dolled up at the tea!

Kathi's daughters Victoria and Jessica enjoying their lunch!

We went around the room and had each lady share how they knew either Sharon or I and say something sweet about their husband (or what they would want in a husband, or dad - we had a few younger girls!).

Later, friend Alisha, and I sang a sweet love song, Ice Cream by Sarah Mclaughlin. Alisha and I both lead worship at our church and Sharon had asked me if we'd sing a song. I was a little apprehensive at first but talked with Alisha and we both agreed to do it.

Here is Sharon and her good friend Shannon. Shannon and a few other ladies blessed us with hostess gifts as the entered the house! It was so sweet of them to bring these unexpected gifts!

Here are our friends Desi and Lisa. You've probably seen them both on Sharon's blog! They are such sweet girls who love the Lord with all their hearts! They are fun and great to spend time with! (Glad you could be there girls!)

Kathy and I getting the dishes washed. Kathy, Desi, and Lisa all helped out with the dishes! We were so thankful to have the help! After all, there were a total of 25 women there! Lots to wash!

And here are the sisters!

I'm so glad we could do this tea and give our friends and family a treat like this. The only thing that could have made it better would have been lots of sunshine! We'll have to do a Summer tea!

My Funny Husband and the Surprise Valentine's Gift!

Hi Ladies! I'm sorry I haven't posted these last few days! I've got lots to share with you this week!

I hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's/Presidents Day weekend! Ours was so great, I couldn't have asked for more! It was a wonderful first Valentine's as newlyweds. We had a relaxing Valentine's evening, spent Sunday afternoon and went to his parents that evening. Monday, we spent the day at the coast due to our day off! We had such a good time!

Mackenzie came home Friday evening with a gift hidden behind his back. He told me he had something for me and handed me this little tea light candle holder.

I said, "Oh! Thanks honey! That was really sweet of you. What is this for?" (Forgetting that Valentine's is tomorrow!) He said, "Happy Valentine's day!". And my response was "Oh! How sweet of you. Thanks." (Trying to hide my disappointment) Now let me mention that we are trying to be frugal and save money. However, I looked at the back of the candle and noticed the price tag. $1.99. I also noticed that it was from Goodwill. Not that this is a bad thing. I LOVE thrift shopping and finding good bargains. However, on this Valentine's day, I was a little bummed. I secretly hoped that I would at least get flowers. I probably sound horrible!

But, none the less, I did my best to be grateful of this gift and was still touched that he got me something. Little did I know....

A few minutes later, Mackenzie asked me if the gift was OK. That if it was sufficient. I had to be honest. I said, well it's great but I was kind of hoping for
something like flowers...

M "Oh I'm so sorry honey. Can I please try again?"
Confused, B said, "Um sure."
M: "Well would you like me to try again tonight or tomorrow?"
B: "Um...tonight would be OK..."
M: "Close your eyes." (Ruffling in his jacket), "OK!"

He pulled out a little box with this in it:

I was COMPLETELY surprised! Mackenzie was so thoughtful to give me this. I couldn't believe it! Here we are supposed to be saving money and he pops this out! We are still trying to be frugal but he said that he really wanted this Valentine's to be special. And it was special. With or without the necklace!

The funny thing about this whole story is, Mackenzie actually wanted me to be really upset about the candle holder. He wanted me to say something like, "Oh...is that it?" haha. I just couldn't do something like that to him. Even though those thoughts ran through my head. I definitely don't expect him to get me gifts like this all the time, but it was a very nice surprise.

Tomorrow, I'm going to be sharing about our trip to the coast, but here's a little preview! Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Be Mine, Valentine

Happy Valentine's Day!

I hope you all have a wonderful day, spending it with your loved ones!

We're going to have a quiet day, go to an inexpensive dinner, and then I am going to make a fancy dessert! We're trying to save some money this year and keep it low-key, so it'll just be romantic at home! I'm ok with that!


This weekend will be quiet, but I'm excited because we're going to take a day trip on Monday to the coast! Hopefully I'll have some beautiful pictures to share!

One more thing, today is the 150th anniversary of Oregon achieving statehood! Happy anniversary Oregon! I just love this state!

Please don't forget to join me tomorrow for Worship and Praise Sunday! Read more here! I will have Mr. Linky up tonight at 8:00pm if you'd like to post early!