My Funny Valentine

Let's rewind and take a trip back, back to January 2005, the month Jon and I met. I was the membership committee co-chair in our singles ward. That meant I was in charge of making sure all new people were at the ward they were supposed to be, that their picture was taken and that the records guys had the new people names. We had 15-20 new people a week... it was kind of a time consuming calling. But, that is where I met Jon.

Jon was new, my membership committee person was very impressed, I was uninterested. But after chatting a few times and hanging out in the same group once or twice, I was slightly more interested. That and I realized he was actually taller than me.

So, skip forward to our FHE Valentines day activity. Jon shows up with his boy posse, each clutching handfuls of different elementary school supplies, colored paper, markers, scissors, glue, crayons, etc. They all grabbed a table and got to work. I stopped by to check out the construction scene a few times but was quickly shooed away. Finally, Jon handed me the most strange looking valentine I had ever seen.

I scanned it in my computer for the first time today and it has definitely lost some of its original luster six years later. In its glory days, its was a full television screen with a large circular sheet of paper that ran through the television set. Keep in mind at the time I was working for Channel 8 news, thus the running theme.

To prevent any illegibility (and to correct the terrible spelling) translation:

"The Beginning: Turn to Channel 8 News"

"Breaking News Flash: 'Today someone has stopped traffic at the Spaghetti Bowl (a common traffic site problem in Vegas)'"

"Looking closer, apparently it's a man with a sign"

"It says K.C. is... huh... there it is folks.. and the front..."

"Truly it must be a desperate man folks."

Pretty cute huh? I would think most girls would be generally impressed with this creation. And, don't get me wrong, I was impressed. But, what you don't see is he made three other creative valentines for other girls. Yes, as he points out, mine was the coolest, and supposedly "Will you be mine?" would have said "will you go out with me?" if one certain girl hadn't been leering to prevent any such announcements (those are his words) but still, quantity definitely devalues a bit.

But anyway, it definitely wasn't the end as Jon and I started dating shortly after. I have kept this one token of our dating time and love how much it reminds me of our first meetings together and to see how far we have come.

And that is the last valentine I have ever received from my husband. Seriously.

But, Jon and I aren't big holiday people. Even the big ones, gifts aren't really our thing. And if I were responsible for creating a return valentine to all of the crazy, creative stuff he could come up with... yeah it would not be impressive on my end.

But my creative valentine man has returned. For our Valentine's FHE, Jon insisted we all make a Valentine for another member of our family. Rhode had Scarlet, Scarlet had me, I had Jon, and Jon had Rhode. Rhode, Scarlet, and I were done in a very timely manner. Jon took more than his allotted time, but we were patient and enjoyed our exchange. Here is what he had created.

To explain a little, Rhode is a tad bit obsessed with ghosts and the difference between real/pretend. I thought this was too adorable.

Rhode was also impressed but occasionally he would look at the front of the card and his lips would start to tremble as he would say, "Mom, that ghost is scaring me!"

I would reply, "No Rhode! It's a happy ghost! Look at his smile!"

To which Rhode would instantly smile, remembering how much he liked it.

That happened about five different times.

Scarlet was happy with the entire activity until she received her Valentine from Rhode. He isn't so big with the crayons yet and her card consisted of three red lines. To say she was disappointed is an understatement.

So Jon grabbed the last piece of paper and got back to work.

She was much more impressed with dad's handiwork.

I might have let him off the hook for future homemade Valentine creations, but the new generation might be a little more demanding of his skills. Dad has been pretty popular since the card publications.

But, don't worry, I gave them Valentine candy so I am still the favorite.