Saturday's Date

Hello, my friends!

First off, let me apologize for my long absence. Health issue after health issue continued to plague me, leaving me dealing with one issue or another from Christmas to this past week. At long last I am FINALLY starting to get back to normal. Since it has been two weeks I am not even going to try to catch you all up on everything that has happened, but I do want to go back to this past weekend. 

On Saturday Aaron was off and I was feeling a bit better for the first time in awhile. We decided we wanted to do something, and I pulled out our date book. 

Now if you know Aaron and I and our relationship up to this point then you know that we have both been through a lot in life, and finding each other was literally a God-send. And we have both shaken off our pasts and a lot of the baggage and we find our strength in God and each other, as well as a determination to live each day to the fullest, and embrace every adventure that comes our way. 

As such, last year I ran across a book called "The Adventure Challenge: Couples Edition", and I bought it for Aaron for our First Anniversary. The traditional first anniversary gift is paper, so it fit perfectly! 

The way the book works is you scratch off a date, and whatever it is, you have to do it. It gives you clues ahead of time on what it might entail...such as leaving the house or staying home, if it is going to cost money, if you may need to get a babysitter or visit the grocery store, etc. 

Past dates have included me having to non-verbally direct a blindfolded Aaron through the process of baking a pie, building a blanket fort in the living room while making s'mores over a can of sterno and watching a romantic movie, recreating my parents first date at Corinthian Hall while wearing similar clothes, and going to the thrift store to pick an outfit out for each other and then going out for dessert. It has been a blast...things you would never think of doing on your own, but so much fun! Highly recommend!

SO...back to Saturday. We scratched off our next date adventure titled "Recipe for Disaster". 

Recipe For Disaster Date

The date entailed going to a bookstore and picking out a cookbook, and then finding a stranger to pick a recipe for you to go home and make.

Aaron and I loaded up in the car and headed for Zona Rosa to Barnes and Noble Booksellers. When we got there we stepped into the middle of chaos, as nothing can ever be normal with us. LOL.

The fire department was there, and we were like "Oh boy". Once we got inside we could easily figure out what was going on. The elevator was stuck with two young ladies inside, and the firefighters were desperately working on trying to get them out.

Fire Truck at Barnes & Noble

Fire Fighters Working on Elevator

We quickly found the cookbook section where I found a cookbook by one of my favorite online cooks, Ree Drummond (AKA Pioneer Woman). The book I chose was "The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Dinnertime". 

Now I had to find a stranger that looked like they might have a minute or two to help. Everyone looked like they were on a mission or were so grumpy that I didn't think I would get a good a response. But finally I spotted her...our new friend Kaitlyn. 

Kaitlyn Chooses A Recipe

I approached Kaitlyn and asked her if she might have a moment to help us with something. She did, and I explain what we were doing and all about our book. She gladly took the book and looked through it for a moment before settling on a recipe...Bow-tie Chicken Alfredo. Good choice, Kaitlyn...good choice!

After we left Kaitlyn I had another mission. Alysia has struggled with reading since we got her. I have slowly been teaching her to read, but she has never enjoyed it, and would only do it when absolutely necessary, while hating every second of it. BUT! This week she has finally took off with confidence, and has been reading daily on her own accord before and after school. She went to the bookshelf one day, picked up her first on-her-own chapter book, and started reading and she couldn't put it down. Since then she has finished that book and is halfway through another one. I am so proud of her, so I had to get her a reward. I searched out one of my favorite books from when I was a child to present her with a gift.

Charlotte's Web

Book Inscription

Ok...back to our date. We left the bookstore and headed to the Sunfresh that was closer to home to pick up a couple of items we needed for our recipe. Since I had most of it, and we took a picture of the recipe instead of buying the book, the entire date cost us about $15. 

We got home and Aaron and I cooked the recipe together. It turned out delicious, and we had a great day! Alysia was thrilled with her new book, and couldn't wait to start reading it so has been reading snippets of it in between the book she was already reading. Book included, our cost for the entire day was $25. Cheap entertainment for a day so full of love and togetherness.

I highly recommend this book for adventurous couples. There is also a singles version, but I have no idea what it holds. And I believe there is a family edition as well. Who knows....someday when Aaron and I finish this one (probably a long time from now), maybe we'll have to start that one.

Well...that's all I have time for right now. Stay tuned and in a day or two I'll fill you in on Sunday's adventure! Have a great day!