Dating Costs Less Than Divorce

I know, I said it! The "D" word: DIVORCE.

No, Jeremy and I are NOT getting a divorce. And one reason why is because we DATE.

Talking about Divorce

This is my phone background:)

When I went to BYU I had the opportunity to combine my background in journalism and my new study of Human Development/Family Studies. I worked with a professor that was building up a new website for those thinking about divorce. I wrote several articles, including a three part series about how divorce is more common in families with special needs children.

-It's hard!
-There's no time for you, let alone your spouse
-Your child requires so much time, money, mental effort, etc. that it is hard to have anything left for your spouse.

Because I have two children with special needs I've always worried that maybe that disqualifies me from a happy, long-term marriage, but that's not true! And this is why I loved researching about divorce:
- I found hope that it doesn't have to happen to me
- I learned so much about what it means to have a happy marriage
- There is fabulous research, especially by Gottman. He is the true love doctor! You can learn about the Four Horseman he discovered here and more.

Here is a link to the website and my article. Check out the website for some excellent information. If you are thinking about divorce or want to gain knowledge about what a healthy marriage is, this is a great website backed by great research.

Talking about Dates

Sometimes our silliest, most spontaneous dates are more fun and memorable than ones that are all planned out and cost a lot.

One of my favorite dates was going to the local dollar store. 
We decided to buy three different gifts (you can do as many as you want):
1) Something useful
2) Something funny (we thought we would do something not totally off the wall that was still somewhat useful, but you can choose. I'd personally rather have a mug that says, "Bacon is the reason I get up in the morning" over a can of fart goo. But to each his own).
3) Something yummy

For something useful, I got Jeremy some seeds to plant because he loves planting and growing anything! Jeremy got me a kitchen utensil. The dollar store actually has some decent ones for a buck.

For something funny, Jeremy got me the romantic mug I mentioned above. Ha ha. I got him a grabber dohickey to pick up things while you are still standing up. That, my friends, was epic.

For a treat, I gave him some off-brand of those Little Debbie brownies with sprinkles on top. He loves sweets. And he got me a bag of Reasons. Those have sentimental value for me. When he was just home from his mission he stopped by my apartment at  USU and gave me Reasons, then told me that there is always a "reason" to stop by. It was so cheesy romantic and cute!

Now, if I were to do this date again I would either change the treat part or carefully check the merchandise, because both were super hard treats! Ha, but we ate them anyway!

That was a really memorable date and so simple. Definitely a budget friendly one, too!

Last night's date was wonderful
We have been very blessed to have supported living for Isaac that makes it possible to go on dates regularly and for more than just an hour!

Jeremy had been gone most of the week for work, so I was really looking forward to going on a date. We had a few ideas of what to do, but we decided we would go out to dinner. One of our go-tos is Olive Garden. Classic. They have yummy breadsticks that you just can't pass up! Dinner was great and all, but the real fun came after.

We decided to find a mountain trail we could leisurely walk. We came upon an area we had been before, but found a different trail head we had no idea was there. So we took it!

It was a short trail that lead to an open spot with a great view over the valley. There were benches to sit on, too.

We just talked and looked at the sky. Jeremy pointed out venus and we talked the stars, our kids, and everything in between. Jeremy has always been easy to talk to. It's nice:)

We were about to go when Jeremy said he wanted to check out the side of the mountain that had some purple rock. I don't know why, but we were there for like an hour looking at the different colors of rock and talking about it. I felt like such a nerd! They were actually quite beautiful.

Long story short, I felt like we were an engaged couple again. I love my Jeremy

Oh yeah, look at that pose:)