Youth Group Valentine's Dinner

Tonight, the youth group hosted their first fund raiser of the year - a Valentine's Dinner.

It was originally my idea, so I felt like it was my little pet project.

And so, when things began to go wrong, I began to stress out.

And when I start down that path, and things continue to go wrong? I can simply lose it.

I'm so thankful for a wonderful husband, who deals with me when I lose it :)

From money issues, to finding out that several of the older teens were not going to be able to make it, to food items being forgotten, and reservation issues, things just seemed to keep mounting up, and all I could see was my vision of this nice romantic dinner crumbling.

Thankfully:

Walmart is only a few miles up the road, and the younger members of the youth group stepped it up a few notches and totally rocked the night out !!

A ton of work went into the evening, but we did end up having a good time.

And I believe everyone who came out had a wonderful time as well.

D&I arrived at the church around 2:30 to begin setting up.

He thought I was crazy - the dinner didn't start until 6, why show up so early?

Well, let me assure you, we used almost every spare drop of time between 2:30 & 6 :)

Everyone seems to underestimate how much time it takes to simply set up tables - a lot!

Plus, decorating the tables, and prepping the food - it all takes a lot of time.

But the results were lovely!

It was a lot of fun though to plan a dinner and be in charge.

I've helped out at so many "food" events, to actually plan one was so awesome.

And it was fun to hear the kids complain at the end of the night;

"My feet hurt and this is a lot of work, but it's FUN waiting on tables."

Yep - decorating all romantic for a dinner and cooking is all green grass & flowers, but it's the people-factor that makes the sun shine. 

If it wasn't for the people to eat the food and sit in the romantic atmosphere, what good is anything? They are what make the whole experience enjoyable.

So, a huge thank you goes out to the happy couples who came out and supported the youth group!

And also a huge thank you to the youth group - specifically all the younger members who really stepped up their game and rocked the whole night's socks off :D