Date Nights....

Summer was a hot one this year and so we spent time discovering new places together on dates. 

The new family favorite is a shaved ice cart called Totally Chill. 

How lucky am I that I get to call this guy mine? 

Valentines Day

This year for Valentines Day we were able to find a sitter and go out on a nice little last minute date. 

We ate dinner at Red Robin, which included the works-- appetizers, dinner and dessert. It was pretty busy, but we didn't mind the short wait. After we headed over to Ross where my sweet husband let me get some new socks that I was badly in need of and I helped him pick out a new belt for work. After we walked over to Joann's where I looked at fabric for an upcoming project I have. 

We held hands and laughed and kissed. 

The night reminded me that Valentines Day is about the little things and I feel like I couldn't be any luckier than to have this guy by my side through the thick and thin of things... 

Everyday life.

January is usually the month that drags for me, it's post holidays and the weather's usually blah, but we wrapped up the last of month by going on two dates. Our first date night was to the LDS Portland Temple... always a good place to feel loved. 

And our second date night was to Outback Steakhouse. 

We just so happened to eat some amazingly delicious food and then forgot our leftovers because we were so engrossed in our conversation with each other. That's a good sign that the date was a success in my humble opinion. 

And interlaced in between all the fun stuff we did together on date nights we had A LOT of craziness with kids. This little guy has developed quite the attitude as of late.... 

And just when I'm beginning to dread another day with a pack of crazy rough housing boys 

I witness such a special moment like this one: 

And it restores my faith in my purpose as a mother and the job I'm doing here at home. 

One morning I woke up to a morning poker game... never a dull moment over here...

And some days nap times result in a tornado of destruction.... 

...But I seriously love all my boys so much that I feel lucky to be a stay at home mom and be a part of their craziness full time. ;)

Date "Night"

Tyler and I recently had the chance to go out on some dates. After dropping the boys at my parent's house for a two night sleepover we went to see World War Z. It was pretty intense and we both enjoyed it, despite the zombie story line. 

The weather, as of late, has been a little bizarre. It's been cloudy and cold in the morning and then by afternoon sunny and hot. It's like we're living at the coast, except that we're not. I still can't get used to wearing long sleeves in the morning and short sleeves by night. It throws me for a loop. Tyler's been itching to go golfing for a while and he originally was going to go by himself, but then decided it would be more fun if I was there. Of course it would. I'm a pretty fun person. He has yet to talk me into actually playing, but I make an excellent chauffeur. Since it was a Wednesday morning the course was pretty sparse, and so we could take as long or short as we wanted. I think it was nice for Tyler to not be in a hurry and we just enjoyed spending time together. Eventually towards some of the last holes we got caught up to a group of old guys and so we hung back not wanting to crowd them out. That's when Tyler hit some of his best shots. 

Hole in one...... 

Just kidding. 

But he did make a birdie shot. :)

Best golf cart driver. 

Period. 

After we finished golfing I had to return some things at the mall and we eventually decided on heading down town for lunch. We had picked a new Chinese place called Mandarin Cove, but due to separate lunch and dinner hours we missed the window for lunch time and had to change courses. 

Instead we chose a Thai place called Bangkok Palace. 

Tyler ordered the Pork Pad Tai.

 It was seriously so good. 

My fancy Star shaped rice: 

I had sweet and sour chicken. It had a delicious sauce and even had cucumbers, which I thought would be gross, but actually added a sweet crunchy aspect to the dish and I was pleasantly surprised. 

We will definitely go back. After stuffing ourselves with Thai food we needed a good walk and what better place to do it than on the waterfront of the Willamette river? 

It was such a beautiful day. 

When we'd done enough walking to clear up some room in our stomachs we headed over to a local ice cream joint on 23rd street which has gotten rave reviews from family and friends:

I made sure to look at reviews online for any helpful advice and I'm glad I did, because we came at the perfect time when the line wasn't through the door and around the block. We waited like 10 minutes and got to sample like 6 different kinds. Which sounds like a lot unless you know that they have some very unique flavor combinations.... 

You would think that some of these would be pretty gross... I mean olive oil and ice cream don't mix, right? Black pepper or cilantro in my sweets? Uh... yeah we were a little leery. 

That is until we sampled some.... 

Then we were TOTALLY on board. 

I got Blackberry birthday cake and Almond brittle with Salted Ganache.... 

oh. 

my.

gosh. 

It was seriously, heavenly. 

Tyler got Strawberry with Cilantro Lime Cheesecake and Sea Salt with Caramel. 

Both were equally as good as mine, though completely unique flavors of their own. 

At 10.50 for two ice cream cones it's a little on the steep side. 

But trust me every once in a while it would definitely be worth the splurge. 

Oh. 

SO. 

Good!

After all the eating we did, we went for a run together on a trail near our house that night. It was nice to run with Tyler, even though I know he's not really "running" like I have to to keep up with him. I can't really manage to talk much because I have to focus on breathing so that I don't hyperventilate. However, just hearing our feet on the ground in perfect rhythm and listening to his steady breathing allowed me to enjoy spending time with him that much more under the circumstances. 

One of the things I love about our relationship is that we're not identical. Tyler and I couldn't be more different in a lot of regards, but we compliment each other quite nicely. We're both equally stubborn and passionate, though in different areas. He pushes me where I need it and I help remind him how to be sensitive to other people's needs, mostly mine but I am so thankful  for a wonderful husband and for the chance we had to spend time together. 

Thanks mom and dad! 

Little Family "Date": Miniature Golfing

We braved a lil family outing when the weather got nice. When Z was about 2 1/2 weeks old we decided to take the family miniature golfing. It was a bit chaotic, but we all had fun and soaked in some seriously much needed vitamin D!

Blazers v. Clippers

Tyler was able to score some tickets to the Blazers/ Clippers game for a great price from a discount he receives through work. We decided it would be fun to treat my youngest brother, Karter, and my dad to going with us.

 Although the seats were a little higher up, we still had an enjoyable time. I had a hard time trying to zoom in (which my camera does well), but not being able to use my flash. Thus some of the pictures are a little blurry, but you get the idea.

 The players lining up for the national anthem.

 My favorite part, aside from watching the actual game) was getting to see the cheerleaders (something you don't get to watch on TV). I love being at an actual game-- hearing the crowd roaring to life, watching the dancers and cheerleaders, feeling the vibrations from the speakers and the arena, seeing two people get chosen from the crowd for silly free throw shooting games, observing people become incredibly outrageous over a bad call, I love the atmosphere, the music, and most of all I love that I get to be there with my husband. Watching him light up, feeling his hands get sweaty when the score is close, seeing him smile because he's happy to be watching something he loves, and best of all getting a couple of kisses. :)

 What more can I say, except for that we had a wonderful time, the Blazers won (whoo hoo!), we had great company, awesome food, and left the game with our free Chalupahs! :) Ha ha, we got a good laugh about that since the tickets we paid for and the overpriced food more than paid for those Chalupahs we got when they scored over 100 points, but it was still fun.

After herding out of the arena, somewhat cattle style, we had the most entertaining part of watching people cram onto the trams. We were lucky enough to be able to get on one later that wasn't so full.

Thanks for an awesome night of fun babe!