Oktoberfest (10-29-11)

So maybe I didn't do a post about my date last week. We were in Cedar and I arranged breakfast with our friends one morning. That counts, right? Anyway, Jeff was a better planner this week than I was last week.

We had a German night as we celebrated the German drinking holiday of Oktoberfest.

Jeff got busy in the kitchen whipping up authentic Wiener Schnitzel and German Potatoes.

It's always nice to have someone else worry about dinner and it was fun to get a taste of Germany.

Next we carved/decorated pumpkins. I didn't want to deal with the mess of clearing out the innards of my pumpkin so I got creative with some extra paint and glitter I had lying around.

Jeff took the traditional approach with a cleaner twist -- rubber gloves.

Mid-carving we continued our Oktoberfest celebration with German mugs filled past the brim with (root) beer (floats).

Okay, so we could only find one German mug which was really an Austrian mug but let's not get too critical.

As I got the glitter out for this creative project, I thought about how my mom never let me play with glitter as a kid. I always thought she was so mean. I always told her I'd clean up the mess. What's a girl's childhood without the sparkle of a little glitter here and there...and EVERYWHERE!

I sure am glad I didn't waste my time pulling out my pumpkin's guts. Because then I wouldn't have been able to spend the second half of my night walking around the kitchen cleaning up the effects of the glitter bomb that must have happened mid decorating.

If you walked in our house right now, you'd probably think we put glitter on the ceiling fans and purposely gave our house some shine. And that's after trying to do some damage control. 

Mom, I'm so sorry I doubted you and your glitter phobia. I'm afraid my daughters (assuming we eventually get a girl or two) will live the same glitterless childhood I once had.

Jeff's pumpkin ended up being much cleaner and much more creative! Check out that T-Bird!

I'd say we've gotten a lot better in our pumpkin accessorizing than when we were first married.

Sarah High - Jeff came over to my side of the table to carve for a little bit as he checked out my glittering techniques. I saw his pumpkin nearing the glitter tube I had on the table, so I warned him not to knock over the glitter. Jeff was in a pumpkin carving zone and didn't hear me. Just as he said, "What?" his pumpkin bumped the glitter and it spilled all over the table. Then I realized being a mother gives you the skills to see disasters and messes that are about to happen. I was glad to see my skills are so keen.

Sarah Low - I glittered the house mere hours after I had vacuumed the floors. And I hate vacuuming.

Jeff High - That his German meal turned out.

Jeff Low - His pumpkin fell apart after being outside all night.

Back to Our Roots (10-14-11)

We're trying to soak up every last minute of nice weather so we took advantage of the sunshine and started our date off with a walk.

Actually, we really started our date off by dealing with a...tiny...water valve unplugging issue while trying to turn off our sprinklers for the winter. Let's just say we flooded the neighbor's lawn, water was spraying everywhere, Jeff's hands were bruised and we had to make a quick call to the city maintenance man. It was a bonding experience -- perfect for date night.

The walk helped dry us off.

And then after Eli was snug in bed, we whipped out the Monopoly board for the first time in three years. Monopoly has been the biggest source of conflict in our marriage. After a few tense games at the beginning of our marriage, we shoved it to the back of the game closet and silently vowed to never touch it again.

But we figured we're so much more mature now. And less competitive. Surely we could handle the stresses of a game of Monopoly now.

But once I got a little money in my hands, I was back to my old greedy ways.

We have some major pet peeves with each other and our Monopoly strategies. Jeff builds up hotels in the blink of an eye. And he NEVER lands on my properties after I get houses on them. I won't make a deal unless I'm getting the very obvious better end of the deal. Jeff will do anything for Boardwalk and I'll do anything for those worthless railroads. I don't know why I love them so much. All my old first married Monopoly memories came back very quickly.

After a deal Jeff was slightly hesitant about, we traded properties and got Bankruptcy Alley going.

Despite our pet peeves, we played nice.

The game went back and forth for a while, leaving each of us hungry for the win. Just as we were both sick of rolling those die and praying we'd skip all the hotels on the board, Jeff landed on my most expensive property and solemnly calculated his losses. Game over.

Yay for me.

Eli was a cute sleeping baby in his new P.J.s the whole time. Is it just me or does his head look really flat in this picture?

Monopoly night was a success. I'm glad we dared to dust it off and give it another go.

Sarah High - Winning the game and watching Jeff try to scrounge up enough money to pay me.
Sarah Low - Jeff landed on all the railroads first and bought every one of them. I had to pay $200 whenever I landed on a railroad by my second time around the board.

Jeff High - Going on a walk.
Jeff Low - I won't make a fair deal.

Love Lab (10-7-11)

Whoopsie. Between General Conference, a BYU football game and visiting family...I missed my window of date night opportunity last week. We did spend a lot of time together, but we didn't officially "date." Since our break, we're back with new vigor.

Our night started with taking arms-length family pictures as we were waiting for 5:30 to roll around.

Eli thought this activity was entertaining. He would come pose with us, wait for the flash, run around the house, and join us again for another picture. By the end, his smile was a little forced.

We were waiting for 5:30 to roll around because we were scheduled to have dinner with my Dad so he wouldn't be so lonely on his last night without my Mom. My Mom went on a 10-day cruise with her parents and sister -- leaving my Dad home every night eating pickles and ham for dinner.

We never turn down a free meal, so we were happy to keep him company.

With stuffed bellies, we continued our date at home...in the love lab. Jeff's brother recently read, "The Seven Principles of Making Marriage Work" by John Gottman and he recommended we read it. (Maybe he thinks our marriage needs work? I chose not to be offended.)

I actually vaguely remembered my Marriage and Family Relations teacher in college talking about this Gottman fellow in most of his lectures. And after seeing the book, I'm 99% sure it was one of the many novels in my education that I was supposed to read, but politely declined. And now I'm realizing why I only got a "B" in Marriage and Family Relations. Not because I was bound to be a bad future wife, but because I didn't take interest in Gottman's ramblings on his "love lab."

John Gottman set up a "love lab" where couples could go and live for a week while being videotaped and assessed. Gottman did this for 30 years and then created a book on what makes happy marriages. He would record their behaviors and then follow up on them years later to see if they were still together and then he would find connections between marriage behaviors and divorce rates.

Being married and reading the book by choice makes it significantly more interesting.

When I saw he had exercises for married couples to work on together, I knew it would make the perfect date night. I was right.

We played "20 Questions" where we picked 20 questions out of a list of 60 and saw if we could answer them about each other. Then we played "Survival Game" where we had to choose 10 things we would take with us if we were stranded on a desert island. Then we talked about how we met, our engagement, our wedding, hard times and good times.

Turns out we know each other pretty well. And turns out these activities made for a fun, reminiscent date night. We survived the love lab.

Jeff High - Taking pictures before dinner.
Jeff Low - I beat him at the 20 Questions game.

Sarah High - Hearing all the things Jeff actually remembered I had said when we played 20 Questions.
Sarah Low - We got stuck waiting for a train to cross on the way home. Which was actually more funny than it was low because every time we get stuck behind the train we start cursing my brother who works for Union Pacific. But I do hate getting stuck behind a train. Especially when said train is only going 10 mph.