Date Nights!

Jason and I decided that we want to celebrate our anniversaries every month! Luckily they all fall consecutively. The 28th (the day we got engaged - July 28, 2010), the 29th (our beginning - March 29, 2008) and the 30th, (our wedding day- July 30, 2011). The 28th, because it's the day he proposed, is his day to do something special for me. The 29th is my day to do something for him, and the 30th is our day to pick something special together (but we won't start celebrating this yet obviously! 204 days!!) We realize that we'll be poor college students so we don't want this habit to break the bank...but it doesn't have to be something extravagant or expensive. It can be as simple as a special letter or as much as a weekend get-away (when we're actually rich)!

Our pre-marital counseling book, Saving Your Marriage Before It Starts, talks about three ways to keep your marriage alive and passionate through all years and circumstances. It involves cultivating passion, commitment, and intimacy. To do this, each category has specific things to aim for:

Cultivating Passion:

* practice meaningful touch

* plan mutually enjoyable experiences

* compliment your partner daily

Cultivating Commitment:

* assess the high value of commitment

* meet your partner's needs

* honor your partner's promise

* make your commitment part of your being

Cultivating Intimacy:

* spend time together

* listen with a third ear (aka: actually listen)

* practice unconditional acceptance

* focus on commonalities

* explore spiritual terrain together

This is part of why Jason and I want to celebrate our anniversaries every month, as a way to "cultivate" our relationship and future marriage!

On the 28th Jason brought the ingredients for making his mom's famous tostadas and cooked me dinner!! It was so yummy and such a special treat! He even learned how to make homemade salsa! Then he sweetly turned it into a "family date" and took my mom, Nathan, Josie & I to ice-cream at Cold Stones. We also rented the movie - Josie's choice - Ice Age the Meltdown.

On the 29th I took him to a Griz game vs. Northern Arizona. Heidi and Coty came too. Then we all went to City Life Center to play basketball and came back here for dinner! I had a card for him as well as the "Letters to my Future Husband" I'd written in junior high! Most of them were cheesy "I'm sitting in math class right now and I have basketball tonight" but a couple we really really special!

A Great Birthday Present...

For my birthday Monz and Meaghan gave me money and a note with instructions to use it for a date with Jason. So last night we decided to dress up and go to Ciao Mamba, but it was super busy so instead we went to Johnny Carinos. He even brought me flowers before we left!! It was so yummy and so special. We had such a wonderful time! It was funny, because when he got to my house to get me,  my dad made me sit on the couch and had Jason came upstairs to get him. Then he sat down across from us and acted all stern and questioned Jason, like "where are you going and when will you be back" and he lit the "courting candle" too! It was funny.

I have such a great boyfriend and I love dating him and spending time with him! God has blessed me so much! And I'm thankful for my sweet friends Meaghan and Monz who would give me such a great birthday present!