Christmas Gift Getaway!

After all my worrying that my hubby had skipped out on getting me a gift this year for Christmas, he surprised me with an incredible get away to Chateau Elan for just the two of us! He got some serious brownie points this year!!

He arranged for my mom to come to the house and take care of the kids for us... unfortunately, Rhyan had gotten up that morning and all day had off and on ran a fever. She was acting completely normal after a dose of motrin, though, which is a tale-tale sign of it being viral instead of bacterial. (Great tip from our Dr: if they have a bacterial infection and you give meds, they will still be pitiful and not feel well... if its viral, they'll be "normal" on motrin and only pitiful w/ the fever... its not a science, obviously, but a very good rule of thumb to follow on when to take them to the dr vs when to wait it out...). I felt HORRIBLE leaving Mama with my sick girl, and equally HORRIBLE for leaving Rhyan when she was sick, but our night at Chateau Elan was a "use it or lose it" kind of thing...  So we decided it was just one night and we were local, so we went...

The evening started out with a couples massage at Massage Envy. My, i do love a massage!!!

And then on to dinner at Midevil Times. I had bought tickets for Jeff for Christmas and we decided to just roll it all into one night of fun... a night of gifts to each other! We had a GREAT time at Midevil Times!

We were seated in the red knights section which was right next to the King's balcony!

We really had a fun time at Midevil times! Like i said, we were rooting for the red knight. As soon as we saw him we thought he wouldnt win b/c he's kind of thin and the green knight was super buff.... but we were WRONG! I mean, i MIGHT have something to do w/ the fact that the thing is staged ;-) But no joke, our knight was so fun! He was great at getting us excited and he had a constant smile on his face!

The food is so so. I mean, its just a fun experience in general, but the food is not gourmet or anything! We had tomato soup (which i've never eaten), a chicken leg, potato, a rib (random?!) and for dessert, an apple pastry. Like, the kind you can get at Kroger! HA! But it was  yummy none the less!

OH, and from this experience, Jeff has new aspirations as a retired man. He has decided he will be the King at Midevil times in his retirement days. But he made sure to let me know that i would NOT be queen with him and that since only the Kings daughter is in the show and I'll clearly be too old to play that role, that I'll need to contain my jealously when he finds himself working with a young, beautiful maiden... 

sure....

Our hotel room was beautiful!

The room came with breakfast the next morning and a bottle of red wine. We dont drink, but we hated to waste the wine so we brought it home. Anyone want it? I'm thinking it'd be a good gift, but then I cant bring myself to give someone alcohol! HA! I know its a "nice" gift, but it just seems awkward!

We decided to treat ourselves to dessert at Chateau Elan. We could have ordered something off the menu, or it was an option to do an all you can eat dessert from their buffet. We went with the buffet so we could taste lots of things... turns out, dessert is NOT the chateau's forte. Cakes were dry. Pies werent good. Basically, i'm just glad they had a chocolate fondue fountain so i could get my money's worth! :-) But again, it was a nice experience to just sit and enjoy each other...

That night, my mom called a couple of times b/c Rhyan was upset and wanting us to come home. The thing is, she was TIRED. And i knew if she would just go to bed and sleep, she'd be better in the morning. So I talked to Rhyan on the phone to try to calm her down and told my mom to just put her to bed. She ended up taking a dose of motrin, going to bed and being FINE the next morning. Fever free the rest of the day...

Breakfast, as i said, was included in our package. So we made sure to take advantage of it! And oh my, was it goooood! Totally made up for the cruddy night before dessert!

We took our time and got home around noon or so... I'll admit that rhyan's being sick threw a loop in the plans for the night b/c i was pretty stressed and worried about her. But I AM glad that we stayed, especially since she did fine all night. And it was incredibly sweet of Jeff to plan the get away for us! I told him as we left the Chateau that I dont ever want another Christmas gift in a box again... I want a small get away together. That time away and with him was the best gift he's ever given me! AND, he benefits, too... so I'm pretty sure our Christmas to each other is set from now on :-) And for me, thats just perfect!

Love and War

We started a marriage class at church this past Sunday. There are 4 couples, including our fearless leaders, our Pastor and his Wife. I didnt even have to "drag" Jeff to it. Not that things are "bad" at all, but I think we're both interested to see if we can make this thing called marriage any easier for the two of us.

I thought I'd share a paragraph from the 1st chapter.

Because marriage is hard, sometimes painfully hard, your first Great Battle is not to lose heart. That begins with recovering desire- the desire for the love that is written on your heart. Let desire return. Let it remind you of all that you wanted, all that you were created for.
And then consider this- what if God could bring you your heart's desire? It's not too late. It isn't too hard. You are not too far along nor are you and your spouse too set in your ways. God is the God of all hope. He is, after all, the God of the Resurrection. Nothing is impossible for Him. So give your heart's desire some room to breathe.
What if the two of you could find your way to something beautiful?
THAT would be worth fighting for.

I dont know about you, but i know that i want the best marriage I can have. For me. For our children. For Jeff.

But most of all, I know that this relationship is the one that is most closely relates to my relationship with Christ. We (his children, his church) are referred to as his "bride" so often in the New Testament. And i know that my relationship with Jeff and how i treat him will either bring God glory, or it wont. It will either please my Heavenly Father (and build up my husband) or it wont. Either way, it is a relationship I will answer to Him for.

So for these, and may other reasons, I am excited to start this journey of growing in a closer relationship with my husband, and the Lord.