Recent Date Nights

We don't have cable or dish or anything to get TV channels, so Jacob & I watch our shows online after they air on TV.  Last week was the season premiere of The Office!  To make the premiere a little more fun, we had an office-themed party! (Just me & Jacob... but it's still a party.)  I got the ideas & printables from The Dating Divas (I just LOVE their blog, if you haven't noticed).  Jacob had been sick all week & was feeling really rotten, but we still had a good time. 

Our office-themed food:  Stanley's Free Pretzel, Big Tuna Sandwiches, & Dunder Muffins

Saturday we had our first date night from Jacob's birthday present, which I explained in my last post (in case you have no idea what I'm talking about).  Our date night was Jamaican-themed, so I made Jerk Chicken.  The recipe I used was not authentic Jamaican Jerk, but it sure was delicious!  I was a little worried as I was blending all of the ingredients into a gross-looking greenish slop to pour on top of the chicken, but it was SO good.  I started getting excited as it was cooking because it smelled amazing.  (You're also supposed to make jerk chicken on the grill, but we don't have a grill, so we had to settle for baked.)  We had rice and zucchini with the chicken--no special Jamaican recipes there, just normal rice & zucchini.  I also tried a recipe for baked plantains with cinnamon & sugar, but they were awful.  Most of the recipes fry them, but I didn't want to stand over the stove getting scalded by hot oil, so I went with the oven recipe.  Maybe they would have been better fried, but I don't think I'll ever buy plantains again to try... they just tasted so bad.  Anyway, we also listened to Jamaican music on the computer as we ate.  After dinner, we watched Cool Runnings, which was even better than I remembered from when I would watch it as a kid.  I was worried it would be one of those movies that aren't as fun to watch as an adult, but it's definitely not.  It was even funnier than I remembered.

Sadly, I took no photos of our dinner or of anything else on our date night.  It had been an awful day, and the kids had been terrible, and it was hard enough just to get everything ready for the date and get the kids in bed so that we could have our kid-free date night, so I didn't bother with taking any pictures.  I regret it now, but oh well!  For our next date, I'll definitely make sure I get some pictures.  In October, we go to Germany for Oktoberfest! 

Jacob's Birthday Present, Part 2

This first thing wasn't really part of Jacob's present, but I got 29 pieces of wrapped candy, typed out 29 reasons that I love Jacob, and glued them onto the candies.  I put them all in a brown paper lunch bag and stapled a cute heart tag onto the bag (which said, "29 Reasons I Love You for Your 29th Birthday!").  Then I stuck it in his backpack for him to have while he was at his classes on Friday.  Again, it wasn't really part of his present, but it was something to make the day before his birthday a little special. :)

The second part of his present was this:

I got the idea & the printouts from here.

Basically, we will be "traveling" to a new place each month over the next year.  I made us each a passport and plane tickets for each trip.  There are even passport stamps to glue into the passports for each place we go!  I also gave him an itinerary, showing where we are going each month and the date of each date night.  And for the plane tickets, I looked up each airport so I'd have the right airport codes, and I chose airlines that actually fly to each airport.  We will have each date night here at home, after the kids have gone to bed.  And the best part is that we can do it all for free!!  I haven't planned each date out completely yet, but I'm planning on us making/eating food from each country and watching a movie that either takes place in that country or is filmed in that country.  There are also some other random activities planned, depending on where our date is each month.  And I plan on decorating a little bit for many of the places we are going to, as well!  For some of the months, I chose a specific location for a reason.  For example, in October, our date night is in Germany so we can celebrate Oktoberfest!  In June for our anniversary, we are going to India in remembrance of our first date.  On our first date, we went to an Indian restaurant in Provo called The Bombay House.  (After our first date, I ignored Jacob for about 8 months and turned him down every time he asked to hang out... haha... but that's besides the point.  It was still our first date!)  It's going to be fun!!!

Our passports!

Saturday was Jacob's actual birthday. We drove to Odessa on Friday to stay the weekend with his family & celebrate with them. We had Jacob's birthday dinner & cake on Friday night, and on Saturday, Jacob & I went on a date! Jacob had wanted to go to Panda Express, and we had planned on just eating there, but I changed our plans at the last minute and took Jacob on a surprise picnic. I looked up parks in the area and found what I felt was the best park of them all... it had a lake and a gazebo and was just really pretty! I was worried it would be too far from Panda Express and I would have to choose another park, so I was happily surprised to find out it was a 3-minute drive from the restaurant! So we picked up our food and had a picnic in a gazebo. It was perfect. I also brought the books we've been reading so we could lay on a blanket in the grass and read for a while after we ate dinner. There was a wedding going on in the park just a short distance from our reading spot on the grass, so that was kinda cool! On our way home, we stopped at Quik Trip for milkshakes for dessert!

Our picnic in the gazebo!  (Just ignore the random people on the side... they came as we were cleaning up & getting ready to leave.)

pretty bridge

another view of the gazebo

the lake at the park... I took this picture from our reading spot.

Where they were holding the wedding reception.

You can see all of the people standing & watching the wedding ceremony, just on the other side of the playground equipment.  I could see the bride & her father as they walked down the aisle.

Jacob's Birthday Present, Part 1

I mentioned months & months ago that we wanted to set up a desk area for Jacob in our room so he'd have a quiet place to study.  We reorganized and rearranged and moved the black computer table upstairs to use as Jacob's study/homework area, but that's as far as we ever got.  We weren't ever able to find a cheap chair (we didn't really take the time to look too hard), and the table became a dumping ground for anything and everything that we didn't have a place for.

Jacob's birthday is on Saturday, so I decided to fix up his study area as a birthday present!  I spent over 4 hours cleaning and then reorganizing all of the crap... Yes, it was that bad.  So you can get some idea of how awful it was, I took a few pictures!  I forgot to take a picture right before I started cleaning, so I took a few on my phone about an hour into the cleaning process... every pile on the floor and on the bed was crap that had been thrown under or on top of the table! (Please don't judge us!)

The next thing I needed was a good chair.  I called around to a bunch of used furniture stores to see what they had, but they were all asking 30-35 dollars for a cushioned desk chair, which was still way more than we could afford right now.  So I sent a message out to the freecycle world, not really expecting a response, but I got one!!  I am super excited about the chair... it's in perfect condition, it moves up & down for different heights, and it's cushioned & really comfortable.  And did I mention I got it for FREE?!

Finally, I used wordle.net to make a print to hang above the table (I got the idea from this website).  I used Jacob's name and a bunch of words & phrases that describe him--most were serious but a few were silly--and then I had it printed at Walmart into an 11 x 14.  The print took me FOREVER.  The website is awesome in that it does all the hard stuff for you--all you have to do is type in the words you want and then customize the colors & font and all of that stuff.  But it makes the print into a pdf file that you open in Adobe Reader.  To print it at Walmart, I needed a jpg.  I am NOT good with computers and converting files, so it took me a good 3 or 4 hours of messing around to finally get it to do what I want.  But I finally figured it out!  I framed it and hung it up, and I just love how it all turned out!  And the whole thing only cost me 11 bucks (for the print & frame).  I can't wait for Jacob to get home today to see it!!!!

Once I get our bookshelf cleaned off & organized better, I will probably move some of the things on the table to on top of the bookshelf, giving Jacob more table space for books & stuff.  But that will have to wait a few days!