Gourmet Dining

A couple of weeks ago (yes, weeks...I need to learn from my friends Jessi and Erin's examples and be more on top of things :) our sweetheart husbands made us dinner.  Us girls got to relax with our kiddos while the guys cooked us a fabulous practically gourmet meal of feta cheese chicken, fruit salad, steamed veggies and dessert, the most important part!  Check out this feast!

Our Chef hubbies: Ryan, Dale, and Brett.  They humored us by wearing the aprons :)

The Dads showing off their boys :)

Dale awkwardly hugging Ryan :)

Dale and Trey

After dinner we played "The Celestial Dating Game."  Dale and I were a little behind.  Apparently it's hard to win when your husband says your favorite season is "Pepper" and your favorite toy is "Chapstick" :).  The Millers rocked the game with an awesome win!  The Hymers were a close second, and then there was us.  We came in third.  Dale and I are going to study up and then demand a rematch :).

Day Dates

I LOVE day dates. I think I even like them more than night dates. On a day date you get to go to the movies AND lunch, because you can do it cheap by hitting up the matinae and the 2 for 1 lunch special. On day dates you get to spend MORE time with your sweet little baby and your incredible husband because you have ALL DAY instead of a 10:00 curfew so you can get up for work the next morning. On day dates you get to bypass crowded restaurants and skip rush hour traffic. AND...on day dates you get to spend time in the SUN! :)

Today Dale and I went on the best day date! We started with picking up a delectable Jamba Juice, then went to the Planetarium and watched "Sea Rex". Trey was a champ at the movie, but screamed his little heart out on the way there. Luckily he made up for it by flashing us his adoring smile during lunch at Applebees. I LOVE Trey smiles :). After lunch we picked up some chocolate and caramel covered pretzels at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory and spent an hour watching the kids (and a cute little grandpa :) get soaked at the water show. On the way home Dale dazzled us with his Kermit the Frog and Theodore the Chipmunk impressions :). Can you see why I love day dates!? What a great way to spend a Thursday!

No longer skeptical...

Right before I went off-track one of my friends sent me home from school with a stack of books to read.  I've heard of these books before...apparently they've made quit a stir in the local reading community.  There was a waiting list 1,000 people long to check out the last book in the series from the library.  1,000 people long!  Must mean these books are pretty good, right?  I've been pretty skeptical, not really wanting to read them during my precious off-track time.  But with another push from my friend, Dale and I decided to read them together.  I'm sure you've heard of this series, and have probably read it yourself...they call it "The Hunger Games."

Read it...love it!

Dale and I started reading Friday night.  The plan was to read 1 chapter a night, alternating turns to read out loud.  We didn't stop reading until 1:00 in the morning.  Saturday we took it with us on our "Day Date."  We decided to use up some of our gift cards and free food type stuff.

Typical Dale pose...ready for anything!

We split our "FREE MEAL" at Cafe Rio, and read our book while we ate...and in the car on the way home...and between using our Free Ice Cream Coupons and American Eagle Gift Cards...in fact, we didn't even use all of our gift cards because we got sucked into the book.  We even read to and from visiting my grandma later that night.  Long story short, we finished the book today...Sunday.  Couldn't put it down.  Onto the next!

Rollerblades and Road Rash

I guess I should start out by admitting that I am a huge klutz. Apparently I have absolutely no sense of balance and should not be allowed on rollerblades. Dale on the other hand is amazing. Tonight he was jumping benches and swerving in and out of basketball hoops with the grace of an olympian speed skater, while I was trying desperately to keep myself from eating gravel. We had the genius idea of taking up rollerblading a couple of weeks ago. It sounded completely harmless. We both knew I wasn't terrific, but thought if I practiced enough I would get the hang of it. So in our niaveness we went out and bought ourselves some brand new rollerblades. I will admit that we were trying to be smart and we also purchased me some nice knee pads and wrist guards. We've been out a few times and I've taken a few falls...more than I'd like to admit! Let's just say that my wrist guards are worn in :).


My rollerblades are the top ones and Dale's are the sleek black ones.


Well, tonight we went rollerblading with some friends, and we ended up at the top of a very LARGE hill. Hills terrify me...well, it's not actually the hill itself that scares me, but the speeding down and not being able to stop myself that sends shivers down my spine. Dale and I have conquered this problem in the past by tag teaming. He leads and I hold onto his waist and he guides us slowly down the hill. It's worked before, so once again we took off down the hill, Dale gracefully gliding and me clinging desperately to him. We started out pretty slow...but then we started going faster and faster until we were passing cars with ease. The only problem was that my feet couldn't quite keep up. I started wobbling and then just as we were nearing the bottom I lost control and tumbled to the ground, bringing Dale with me. I'm not quite sure what happened after that, except that Dale skidded and rolled, then came to a halt. He sat up with kind of a dazed look on his scratched up bleeding face, then jumped up and just shook it off. Poor guy, he got the worst of it. I'm not sure how I only managed a skinned elbow, because he's got a skinned face, knee and hip. The really sad part of all of this? It only makes me more determined to learn to rollerblade! So, instead of hanging up my skates and moving onto a sport that requires less coordination, we'll be back on the road as soon as we heal. Wish me luck!

Dale's battle wounds...all because he was trying to be a gentleman!



The pictures don't do it justice! What a sweet hubby I have!

Date Nights Continue :)

So taking turns to plan out our date nights lasted all of 2 weeks :). It gets too crazy when we only get 1 date night a week and other things come up. Oh well! We're back to planning them together. This week we went to Mulligans. The plan was to hit the batting cages. I've gotta admit I was pretty excited about this- it was different...out of the ordinary....something we had never done together. But once we got there it kinda lost its appeal. There were a bunch of 6 year olds and their dads occupying most of the cages, and you have to wear a huge heavy looking helmet when you bat! So much for doing my hair for date night :). We got looking at the miniature golfers, and decided they looked like they were having a lot more fun. Long story short, we ended up on the golfing greens.

Dale happens to be quite the golfer :). He was also in charge of keeping score...He kept trying to cheat for me and gave me 3 holes in ones I did NOT actually earn. What a sweet sneaky guy :). It was a great night! Afterwards we hit up Arctic Circle for a Raspberry Cheesecake shake and found a movie at Redbox. What a great night with my handsome hubby :).

Getting antsy while waiting for our turn...the trees smelled wonderful though!













Getting ready for the game winning shot...or my 5th try making it in the hole :)













Dale, ready to work his golfing magic!

Date Night!

It seems that since we've gotten married, date night has kinda gone by the wayside...not every week, but it just doesn't happen as consistently as it used to. We're busy married people now :), and it seems that by the time Friday night rolls around we're not really up to planning. Solution? We've decided to take turns planning our dates. This week was my turn. I picked Dale up after work and took him to the Draper park with the beautiful Gazebo where he proposed to me. Luckily it was a beautiful day! We had a picnic dinner on the grass. I was a little worried we wouldn't be able to eat there because I had driven by earlier in the day and there was a wedding in progress. Luckily by the time we got there they had split. We were going to play Frizbee afterwards and then go miniature golfing at Mulligans, but the wind had picked up and by the time we finished eating we were done with being outside. We decided to go see "Bedtime Stories" at the dollar movies instead. I had lots of fun with my sweet hubby! I am loving this new plan :), especially because this week it's Dale's turn! Can't wait to see what he comes up with!!

Lovin' date night!













The lovely Gazebo where Dale proposed :)













Our delicious picnic dinner! I realize it just looks like a bunch of tupperware containers, but I assure you, it was tasty!

The Festival of Colors

Okay, so it's actually been a while since we went to The Festival of Colors, but I figure it's better a little late than never! It was a good experience once we got there, but the part I remember most is the horrifically long walk there and back! We parked miles away and walked 45 minutes to and from the Festival! Here's a bunch of pics from the event.

The Temple at the Festival of Colors













Standing above the action on the top of the Temple













Dale taking pics...













The view from the top of the temple...we didn't get there until almost the end, but it was crazy how much color was everywhere!


























Dale, looking handsome as always :)













Check out the craziness in the background!!













These last 2 pics are looking out over the grounds after everyone threw the colored chalk! Those white papers all over the ground are the chalk wrappers. Those people gathered around the front tent are rocking out to the Hindu band that was playing.

7 Needs of a Starved Marriage

Last night Dale and I spent our Friday Date Night at the church at a fireside entitled "The 7 Needs of a Starved Marriage". We absolutely loved it and wanted to share what we learned:

Men's roles: Provide, protect, and preside
Women's roles: Nurture

1. Safety- Couples must feel safe:
- emotionally
- financially
- spiritually
- physically
- Men have huge egos that can get in the way when they communicate
- Women have egos too but don't let their egos get in the way of communication
- Men bond by ACTION
- Women bond by COMMUNICATING (this is why we love to talk!). Talking makes women feel safe.

**Being a marriage counselor, he spent quite a bit of time on this first subject. He said the reason people fight is because NEEDS are not being met- we aren't feeling SAFE. Most people dance around the real issue and have a lot of "smokey" fights. Smokey fights are never about the real issue. For example, we might fight about a partner who spends too much money, but the real issue is we don't feel safe financially with our partner. Or we might fight about a partner who spends too much time working...the issue isn't actually about the work, but about emotional needs not being met- it's an emotional safety issue.

2. Trust: We must trust each other emotionally, physically, spiritually and financially. It's hard to love someone you don't trust.

3. Appreciation: Everyone feels appreciated differently. A great book to read as a couple is "The 5 Love Languages!"

4. Respect: Do you feel like a daughter of God and that he's a son of God?

5. Valid: Does your opinion feel validated?

6. Encourage: Do you feel encouraged by your partner?

7. Dedication: Long term dedication requires that we are dedicated to each other.

These are the 7 needs in a starved marriage, but what about the solution?

Solution: It seems like a no-brainer, and is much easier said than done, but Charity is your answer! Serve them! We MUST learn to be charitable to our partner.

How do you get charity? Service and prayer- He mentioned that we need to pray for ourselves and ask that we may see past our partner's faults.

At the end of the night he gave us a homework assignment (kindof a switch for me :)-

Cuddletime for 20 minutes every day for 3 weeks

Cuddletime rules:
1. No groping (this is a time to TALK with your partner :)
2. No griping (it's not a complaint session- just talk about you as a couple- not work, kids, etc.)

Dale and I loved his counsel and hope you can get something from it too!