little rock staycation

wow, so life has kind of taken over and i'm way behind on this thing. so...here's to the start of catch-up. :-)

first off - july 31, jason and i celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary. it's hard to think back to 8 years ago. it seems forever ago and just yesterday all at the same time. around our anniversary, jason read this article about a couple who got married really young and wonder how they survived it. it's a great little piece, and even though our situation was quite different from theirs, i do look back and wonder how we stayed together. it is by the grace of God, that's for sure, and i am so thankful for that. i think it's pretty great that we met when i was 17 and we are still happily married today. yes, we have our ups and downs, our fights and differences, but he is still my best friend and i can't even imagine any other person that i would want to be doing life with.

anyway.

so, for our anniversary, we don't get each other presents (although jason did get me a dozen orange roses - my absolute favorite - because he is a super sweet over-achiever like that), but spend time away from life, which was just perfect this year. it was perfect timing and such a needed break. life and work and kids have gotten a little crazy, so to have a whole weekend to think of nothing but ourselves - well, that was perfect. we decided to just stay in little rock and see a couple of places we've never gotten around to and just relax. we wanted to explore little rock's local gems and see what this city has to offer. i had full intentions of being a full blown tourist and taking pictures all weekend, but i think i only got this one:

jason not looking at the camera while waiting for dinner

we started off friday evening with dinner from kBird, the best food truck in little rock. well, ok - i have heard of a lot of other yummy ones i want to try, but this was delish. he makes thai food and it was probably some of the best thai food i've ever had. (in fact, i'm pretty sure i've tried each weekend to get jason to go back. it hasn't worked yet, but i am determined to eat there saturday.) we got a hotel room for the night, just to get away, so we took our food and went to the hotel and enjoyed cable tv, the pool and hot tub, and not having to clean up after ourselves. total bliss.

saturday morning, we checked out B Side, a local favorite for breakfasts. we had heard great things about it and it did not disappoint. nothing will ever really replace cathy's corner, our all time favorite breakfast place, but it was a good substitute for little rock.

after breakfast, we decided to check out the arkansas arts center. it was pretty good. i am not a super huge fan of art museums, because i don't have the patience to appreciate all that they are, but jason loves them and so i tolerate them. as far as art museums go, i was impressed. we got there right as a tour was starting, which was nice, since i have zero knowledge about anything art related. and a tour did make it much more enjoyable because we got a lot of background knowledge we would not have gotten just looking around by ourselves.

next, we strolled on over to the central high museum. it was really neat. it is crazy to think of all of the historical significance and everything that happened right there. if we live in little rock long enough (who knows if we will...) that is where our kids will go to high school. i would definitely recommend a stop if you are in or around little rock.

after central, we were starting to get hungry, so we headed over to root cafe, a local place that lots of friends have raved about. and again, it did not disappoint. the atmosphere was fun and original and the food was delish. it is definitely on my list of new favorite places to eat. we stopped and got some coffee at boulevard bread, a local coffee place to kill some time before our next stop.

and our next stop was little rock's only "legal" distillery. we took a tour and learned how vodka, gin, rum, whiskey and bourbon are made. it smelled kind of bad, but it was fun to learn about the distillery process. did you know that gin is basically vodka infused with juniper? yep. did not know that.

so then we went home and took naps. well, i took a nap, jason watched olympics. that may have been a highlight of the weekend. an uninterpreted nap with no agenda that i needed to wake up for. after i woke up, we decided to go see a movie. we settled on the dark night and rushed over to the theater....and then realized that we went to the wrong theater and had 45 minutes before the movie started. oops. that may have been my fault. so, we watched about 30 minutes of ted before the dark night started. it was pretty funny and definitely a movie you don't have to know the whole story line to enjoy.

sunday we slept in, enjoyed a big breakfast, and went to get the kids. it was a great weekend. i enjoyed getting to see a little bit of little rock and intentionally enjoy some of the local gems we have heard about. i enjoyed not having the kiddos for three days and being so happy to see them when i picked them up. i enjoyed spending a whole weekend with jason with nothing to do and nowhere to be so we could just make it up as we go along. i'm so thankful for him and that we've got 8 years under our belt and hopefully many, many more to come.

weekend review part 2: valentine's day/jason's birthday

so, as i said yesterday, we left siloam after sunday school because we had plans for sunday night. a few months ago, jason noticed that martin sexton, who is pretty much his favorite musician ever, was coming to little rock. conveniently, the concert was a week before his birthday and a few days before valentine's day, so it worked out that the date night was our valentine's day night out and the tickets were his birthday present.

we dropped the kids off with jason's mom around 6 and went out to dinner. our first plan was to make dinner at home, but we were running short on time, so we ended up going to the house, which was delicious. and i'm glad we went out. we don't go on many dates anymore. if we do things without the kids, it's usually with friends. which is fun, but different than an actual date. we have some nights at home together, but by the time the kids go to bed, dishes are done, etc etc, it's late, we're tired, and usually just end up watching a tv show and going to bed. lame. so, getting dressed up, going out, spending time with no kids, no time constraints - it was a breath of fresh air.

after dinner, we picked up our friends, shannon and steven, and headed downtown. we had bought tickets online to make sure we would get them - well, not a problem. it was a really small crowd, but that was great from our perspective. we sat front and center and it was a wonderful atmosphere. most of the other people were there also for the music - not just a random show.

yay for date nights! 

the show was amazing. chris trapper opened, who we had never heard. he was really good. funny, good singer, good performer, good songs.

and then came martin. ya'll, if you have not ever heard of him, listen to his music. right now. do it. he is amazing. his voice is incredible. so much variety, so much heart and soul, so unique. we've seen him live three times now, and he blows me away each time. he never sings a song the same way twice. we were literally five feet away from him. "great" does not even begin to describe it.

he makes a lot of awesome faces

jason, stephen, and shannon enjoying the show

chris trapper joined him on one song - they made a pretty good duo

monday morning, we got to sleep in since the kids were gone, which was another breath of fresh air. if that had been the end of the weekend, it would have been wonderful - but we got an added bonus of a snow day! (well, for me. jason still had to work, but he closed, so we had the morning at home).

such a fun weekend. rest, family, date night, friends, food, music, sleep - pretty much everything i could have asked for. 

it's been seven years tomorrow, since we said our vows...

well, actually it's been seven years yesterday since we said our vows. but that's not how the song goes.

we celebrated with a great date night, kid-free evening, and a relaxing day. we usually go on a little get-a-way for the weekend, but we figured that our china trip in two weeks can count for that. it was a great weekend and i loved my time with jason.

seven years. a lot has happened. a lot that i did not expect, some that i did. lots of laughs, a few tears, a couple of moves, a couple of countries, a couple of kids - here we are. i have loved the journey and i really am looking forward to what's ahead. i doing life with anyone else - real or imaginary. love you, jason!

my husband the rock star

Appreciate: What’s the one thing you have come to appreciate most in the past year? How do you express gratitude for it?

this one is easy. jason.

my husband is wonderful. i have always known this - i mean, i wouldn'tve married him otherwise - but this year, i have really learned to appreciate how awesome he is.

this has, by far, been the hardest year of our marriage. moving across the world, living with family, having kids, buying a house and getting a real job will do that. i really liked the life we had in palestine - the shorter work week, jason's flexibility with his schedule, our proximity to where he worked, the amount of outside activities he was involved in. all of that changed when we lived in the us. all of a sudden, his work day was 9 hours, plus the drive. he had to go to work, even if i was sick or hiba was cranky or i was tired or whatever. he started playing rugby, which took way more time and commitment than i was expecting. we moved into a house that we own, which is a lot more work than people tell you. and all of this was done after moving to a brand new place halfway across the world from the life we were used to. it was hard to adjust to all of this. the first few months were rough. not a lot of good communication, a lot of frustration.

but then, once we started to adjust and actually talk about stuff, life has gotten a lot better. jason works really hard to make sure i am happy and well taken care of. he works hard to make sure we're provided for. he plays rugby so that he doesn't go crazy and has found a good balance of spending time doing that and spending time with our family. he makes sure that i have time to hang out with my friends when i need it. when he is home, he plays with our kids, helps with bedtime, does the dishes (well, sometimes), watches my favorite tv shows with me. he encourages me to be involved in things i want to be involved in and makes a real effort to work out the details of that.

when we lived in palestine, jason did all of the above as well. but we did have a lot more time, one kid, and just a different lifestyle. so i just figured that it was normal for husbands to be this involved in their kids' lives, this willing to help out in ways besides going to work and making money. but what i've found is that it is not necessarily the norm. and once i realized that, it helped me to appreciate all of the work and energy jason puts into being a good husband and father way more than i had in the past.

i've tried recently to really tell him how much i appreciate it. if i have a moms night out, i tell him thank you even though i feel it is something i deserve. if he does the dishes after dinner, i tell him thanks even though it is one of his jobs. if he spends sunday afternoon playing with hiba and matthias so i can sit on the couch and watch football, i tell him how much i appreciate it even though i think obviously he should play with them and give me a break. i've learned to let him know how much i love him and how thankful i am for all he does, even if it's things i think are normal. because maybe they are normal, maybe they're not, but either way they are wonderful and i need to show my appreciation for what he does.

because he is great. and he should know that.

5 Down, Lots More to Go

this weekend, jason and i went to haifa to celebrate our 5-year wedding anniversary. it was a really nice trip. we left hiba with erich and candice, which made it way more enjoyable. we realized that it was our first time away from her since she's been born, so it was about time. she has spent the night with some friends of ours here before, but we've never actually gone away. and for two whole nights! it was great.

we stayed at a little guest house in the german colony. the guest house was not quite as great as advertised, but it did have a well-working air conditioning unit in our room, so i was quite pleased with that. the german colony was great. it had tons of little cafes and restaurants, a really nice area to walk around, a great view of the ocean, and it's right at the foot of the baha'i gardens.

saturday we hit the beach for most of the day. i sat under an umbrella, listened to my ipod, and watched people most of the day - which was actually a lot of fun. there were a lot of interesting people there. and it was so nice to just relax and not do anything. i saw way more speedos than i've ever wanted to, including several on fat, old men. i really hope that this whole speedo phenomenon isolates itself to europe and the surrounding area and does not spread to the u.s. but anyway....

besides the beach, we enjoyed some great meals and went to see the newest harry potter movie. that was jason's present to me - he hates movie theaters, so it was a really good present. we also got a lot of time to just relax and hang out together, something we haven't gotten to do a lot lately. it was fun to look back over the last five years and think of what we've done and where we've been. if you told us five years ago that we'd be living in bethlehem with one kid and one on the way, i would not have believed you. it's fun to think of where we'll be in another five years - we really have no clue. but it's been a great five years together and i'm looking forward to seeing what is ahead.