CLIMB ME A WALL

J + D Date #31

B +C Date #22

Since both of us had Groupon Coupons to The Quarry that were expiring at the end of the month, we got together and made a date out of it.

We always love hanging out with B + C, so having them with us while we used up our Groupon was like icing on the cake! We all cheered each other as we tried to conquer each wall---and then laughed about how quickly our forearms fatigued.

Climbing is certainly something we should do more of...not because we need to get into better climbing shape, but because its so dang fun!

Anyway, it was a fabulous outting followed by a delightful dinner at Zupas!

Thanks again for making it so fun, B + C!

Lets do it again soon!

CLIMB ME A WALL

J+D Date #31

B+C Date #22

Rock climbing at the Quarry

Since both of us had Groupon Coupons to The Quarry that were expiring at the end of the month, we got together and made a date out of it.

We always love hanging out with B + C, so having them with us while we used up our Groupon was like icing on the cake! We all cheered each other as we tried to conquer each wall---and then laughed about how quickly our forearms fatigued.

Climbing is certainly something we should do more of...not because we need to get into better climbing shape, but because its so dang fun!

Anyway, it was a fabulous outting followed by a delightful dinner at Zupas!

Thanks again for making it so fun, B + C!

Lets do it again soon!

Wings and Wandering

D&T

Date #33

Loved this week's date night.  Got a GROUPON for the Wingshack - D's favorite food maybe.  Then since he was so spoiled with food, he wandered from store to store with me just looking at things for the girls back to school and birthday lists.  We did not even buy anything, but we had a great time!!

Concert Under the Stars

M&R
Date #31
Concert Under the Stars

Monday was our anniversary. 8 years! We went to Olive Garden, but that night we took our kids. Not very relaxing, or romantic. Hubby bought us tickets to go to a concert to see Brian McKnight though. I liked his music a lot when I was in high school, but haven't listened to him in years. R&B isn't really my top choice in music and I don't enjoy it as much I used to, BUT this concert was really good! I was pleasantly pleased.

So anyway, we got babysitters Saturday night, and enjoyed a lovely four hour date night. We stopped at Zupa's for some take-out. Then headed over to the concert.

There is no denying that Brian McKnight has a voice as smooth as butter. He really is an amazing talent. Not only does he sing (very well), but he writes his own music and plays nine instruments.

It was really refreshing to hang out with my hubby listening to romantic music, under the stars on a perfect summer night. We watched the clouds in the distance light up every few minutes during the concert. By the very last song, the storm had reached us and we watched a huge lightning storm on the drive home.

It was such a good night.

TV SHOW & TELL

J+D

Date #30

Trying to catch up......

July was a nutso month but we're back into making sure we're focused on each other.

This date, after we put the kids down, we turned off our phones and I pulled out my clippers.

I usually cut D's hair while the kids are up, but we made it part of our date tonight. :)

Then, after D was all cleaned up, we snuggled up to each other and played TV SHOW & TELL. I chose my favorite show to watch and he chose his and, even though they were TEVOed, we took turns flipping back and forth between the two each commercial break.

While we fastforwarded through the commercials, we snacked on jelly beans and sour candies and giggled about how silly each of our shows were.

We love to snuggle. We love to watch shows together.

We love home dates!

Happy 8 years!!

B+C

Date # 21

HP and Butterbeer, in a fort

We celebrated our 8 year anniversary on Monday!

We've never done anything huge for our anniversaries. Lack of money and grandparents who live nearby, keeps us from doing anything too extravagant. This year we made a fort in our living room, got a babysitter, and made dinner together.

Since we're still reading Harry Potter together, we decided to watch The Goblet of Fire in our fort and make a Harry Potter-ish dinner. We made a meat pie that turned out to be really delicious. We also tried our hand at making BUTTERBEER! Yum! recipe here.

We had a nice, relaxing night together before B and our boys went out of town, the next day. It was nice to have a home date where our kids weren't sleeping in the other room. We had the house all to ourselves. No stress. A great way to celebrate 8 years married to my love. It was perfect.

Some advice from the "experts"

During a moment of wanting to let my brain go numb (which I do by mindlessly going through internet pages) this article caught my eye:

10 Ways to Divorce Proof Your Marriage

which lead to this article:

12 Bold Ideas to a Happy Marriage

I love that within both of these lists resides that advice of having date nights!

If date nights can lead you away from divorce and make a happier marriage,

KEEP DATING!!!

Yay for date nights!

Read these articles!

Oregon Trip

T & D

Date #32

D and I took a little trip without the kiddos to attend one of D's buddy's wedding.  D was a groomsman in the wedding.  We stayed in a house with nearly the whole wedding party and bride and groom (11 people total) and it was a blast.  Between the wedding dinner, the wedding itself, and then a little exploration of Portland the day we left - I think it was easily a months worth of dates.  We had such an incredible time and played and connected in a way we don't get to do very often!

I love going to weddings - its so romantic and just reminds us of our own wedding - which often seems so long ago (and other times like yesterday).  Not to mention in was one of the most beautiful weddings I could even imagine in one of the most beautiful places.  It was fun to play newlywed and party with our friends without the kids for a few days - but love coming home to our real life, cause nothing is more rewarding than that.

One of our favorite parts was the last day we had a few hours to kill before our plane took off and so we jumped on the light rail at the airport and just went exploring. We totally stumbled upon the weekend market, which was awesome.  After 2 days surrounded by people and having everything planned, having some time just for us to do whatever we felt like was awesome.  We love traveling and playing with friends, but we also learned we need to do more trips just ourselves (and we loved the no plan, just explore feel)  to really bond and sort of re-live the honeymoon feeling. 

A Late Night Movie

M&R
Date #30
Late Night Movie

During a crazy weekend, Hubby and I were lucky enough to steal away a few hours to catch a late night movie. We decided to jump on the Thor bandwagon. We loved it. It was much more funny and lighthearted than I thought it would be. Besides the movie, it was nice to just sit next to each other and relax for a couple of hours.

This summer has been so so fun, but I think we are feeling ready to be back in a routine, especially with the kids. Can we really be the nearing the end of August?? And did we really mess up our "one date night a week" track record? Yes! Darn it! I'm afraid so.

We're still trying though. How is everybody else doing? I think we need to have a motivational group date to get us all back on track. :)

Can't wait to see more posts on what everybody has been up to!