Just The Two of Us

So, I don't know if anyone else in the big wide world has noticed, but being unemployed can be a little stressful, for both big and small reasons. Since September, we've had a no frills, no fancy food, and (it seems at times) a no fun policy. This has made it a little difficult for Patrick and I to come up with free, creative date ideas.

We have, historically, made a decent effort to have at least one date night a week. But certain times have made it more difficult than others--like right after Cambrie was born. Just like then, lately we've been forgetting to make it a priority. With the lack of time dedicated to just us, it's been harder to stay on the same page when it comes to both everyday occurrences and big decisions.

This weekend, however, we decided to take some time to ourselves. With help from Patrick's mother (babysitting, and a little gas and food money), we were able to take a day-long trip to the South Carolina temple. For those who are less familiar, temples built today are built for the same reasons they were built in the Old Testament. They are places of peace and prayer. It had been a while since Patrick and I had had a chance to visit the temple, and with the stress and uncertainty in our lives right now (not just the lack of creative date ideas :-) ), we knew we needed to make the effort.

The drive was four hours each way. It was so refreshing 1) to not have to feed crackers and make faces at a little one in the back seat for the entire way, 2) to not have to change a diaper in the back seat or a nasty public bathroom, 3) to have a no pressure time to talk about random, silly, important, and interesting things with no one but each other. It was really fun to realize three hours into the trip that, hey, we actually do still enjoy each other's company. Sweet! I guess I'll keep Patrick around a little longer.

We brought a sack lunch and ate it in the car. It brought back wonderful memories of road trips past. About two minutes from the temple, we found this amazing sign:

And here we are at the temple!

We're so glad we were able to make the visit. We left renewed, refreshed, and with much more peace regarding our lives right now. It was one hundred percent worth the drive, just for that.

Thanks to my wonderful mother-in-law, we were also able to have something other than leftover soup heated up in a gas station microwave for dinner (that had been the original plan--sad, I know).

By the end of the day, we were certainly exhausted. But we were also very happy. Hopefully we won't let time slip away nearly as quickly again before both visiting the temple and having a real date.

Hope everyone else had a wonderful Valentine's Day/Weekend!