Date night challenge

Our church is currently doing the Date Night Challenge. It is encouraging couples to do 5 dates in 5 weeks. February is family and marriage emphasis. Dan and I usually go out on dates a couple times a month to keep our marriage healthy but we decided to take the challenge and go out each week. Other than the strain on the budget, it has been great. We have had the chance to go out to dinner and actually have some good conversations without interruptions! This week, my mom was in town so she watched the kids for us. I had to have my ring inspected so we stopped by the mall. Dan spotted the Bungee Bounce in the mall and said he had always wanted to try it. Since the price wasn't too bad, we decided to do it. It helped that the mall was pretty empty since we were getting snow. It was a lot of fun and we were able to jump and do some flips. We even offered entertainment to some of the passersby!!

Mardi Gras

Our neighbor, Nancy invited us to a Mardi Gras parade at Keylime Cove. It is actually very kid friendly and you don't have to earn your beads! The kids had fun seeing the people walking on stilts, the jugglers, and the face painters. The line was too long for the kids to get their face painted, so they were a little disappointed. Maybe next time :) There were a lot of people dressed up in costumes like the Jelly Belly and Jack Sparrow from Pirates. The boys weren't too keen on getting their picture taken with them though :) The parade was actually pretty good length, with all the different departments having their own "float". They even handed out candy so the kids were thrilled with that. It was a fun evening.

The guys

Jack Sparrow :)

Jelly Belly getting ready to do the Conga!

Wow she is tall!

Hanging out by the water falls

Amazing to get a picture of Elise smiling and looking!

Happy with Daddy!

Fun masks

Crocodiles in the float

Nancy's M&M float

Nancy and the boys

Dan's Birthday

Dan celebrated his birthday last week. He had a busy day of meetings so we met him for dinner at church and cooked a pizza. We also brought him an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen...yum! Earlier in the week, we went out to Red Robin for our traditional free Burger and sundae. We are so thankful for the wonderful husband and dad that Dan is. He keeps our family grounded in the Lord and brings a lot of fun and laughter to each day! We love him lots.


Happy Birthday Dan!!

Dan and the boys

Isaac did a great job taking this picture :)

Dan and his little girl!!

Spa weekend

Dan is an amazing husband! He and the guys in our couples small group surprised us ladies with a spa night at Lake Geneva. They made all the arrangements and thought of everything. There were five of us total and we went to the Avani Spa at the Abbey Resort. The night before the trip, they gave us a huge basket of "goodies". When we got to the resort, we opened the basket and found a rose with a letter from each of our husbands. We also had "spa bags" that they had designed for us. It was perfect because I had forgotten to bring a bag to bring down to the spa!

We left Fri afternoon and had the afternoon to enjoy the hot tub and spa. As part of the package, we each were able to choose a service so I had a manicure and pedicure done. They were 50 minutes each so it was very relaxing! Afterwards, we went out to dinner at a restaurant at the resort. The resort was providing s'mores outside of the restaurant so we decided to indulge in dessert after dinner. It was a little chilly but lots of fun and very tasty!

We had a nice night just hanging out and chatting. Of course we missed the kids but it was nice not being interrupted and having some girl time. We were able to be lazy and sleep in the next morning. They had a zumba class at the spa so 3 of us decided to go to it. I had never gone to one before and it was a lot of fun. It was a good workout too. We took our time getting ready and went out to lunch before heading home.

It was a great weekend that was a total splurge for us but so appreciated. I am even more grateful after I learned what a trooper Dan was while I was gone. On Fri night, Dan was finishing up some things and getting ready to head to bed around 11:00 when Levi woke up with a stomach bug. After helping him and cleaning up his bedding, Elise awoke throwing up too. He had a hard time getting Elise to go back to sleep because she was wide awake. He finally got both of them back to bed around 3:00 and caught a couple hours of sleep before Isaac woke up at 5am! Poor guy. He was thankful that none of them were sick at the same time so he was able to help them each and not be too overwhelmed. When I arrived home in the afternoon, he had most of the laundry done and the house looking great. What a man!! I had no idea what was going on until I pulled in the garage and Isaac spilled the beans :)


Our spa bags (with Frances Chan from our study of "Crazy Love")

Our basket of goodies

Anji, Amanda, Kathy, Kristin - checking out the suite!

Roasting marshmallows for our s'mores!

Saying good-bye to the spa!

Kathy, Kristin, Anji, Jenny, Amanda

Great girls weekend!!