Overnight in Sioux Falls...By Ourselves! (February 7-8)

Since Mark and I have had kids, we've had exactly one night so far by ourselves. Last year, we only had one kiddo, but this year we have two! Thankfully, Mark's Dad and Step-Mom are a phenomenal help, and volunteered (happily, even) to watch our two little guys while we have a night to ourselves!

This was, by far, one of the best gifts we've ever had! Last year, it was a nice break, but we hadn't told anyone at that point that I was 11 weeks pregnant, so the "break" was interrupted for me by a restless night, and mild nausea coming and going...oh, and I couldn't even go in the hot tub!

This year? Oh man did we need the break! Our littlest guy has been keeping some pretty ridiculous hours (up between 3 and 5 times a night...fussy...clingy), not to mention that this past week we both came down with colds, so we definitely needed a break.

Our overnight date consisted of a nice dinner out at Applebee's (also courtesy of Dad and Pam from Christmas - thanks, guys!!), followed by lounging and being complete bums in our fancy room at the Sheraton with leftover fancy schmancy cupcakes left over from a work function.

I think one of the greatest indulgences for parents of young kiddos is silence...AND being able to lay around like bums without having to get up to tend to little ones.

After an alright night of sleep (I missed my pillow and should have brought it!), we woke the next morning feeling somewhat refreshed (as much as you can be when you're both sick) and after snacking on some muffins and bananas we had picked up the night before, we headed down to the pool area to soak in the hot tub for a while. It was HEAVENLY. We split our time between the hot tub and pool all by ourselves for a good hour before anyone else showed up.

It was so nice not having to worry about entertaining our kids and just doing what we wanted to. We had a nice, lazy morning being bums, resting, and soaking up every minute of this alone time together. We needed it!

We checked out around 11am and made our way over to Chevy's for lunch.

I was GIDDY! Mark wasn't all that impressed, but I was in heaven! In fact, I do believe that Crispy Chicken Flautas with Jalapeno Jelly should most definitely be on the menu in heaven. After every bite, I was closing my eyes and moaning lol It has been WAY too long since I had Chevy's. It's what I order every time, and I don't even care what the rest of the menu has.

Mark went for the chicken chimichanga and wasn't nearly as emotional about it as I was. In fact, I'm pretty sure he was figuratively rolling his eyes at the production I was putting on about my flautas, but he would never admit it haha :)

We ended up talking and relaxing and just...sitting there for quite a while. It was a nice change of pace - especially having been so under the weather lately.

The rest of the afternoon was a bit more of a blur. I know we stopped at Michael's and Once Upon a Child, but I also recall feeling pretty woozy (totally dehydrated that day, and I paid for it when I got home that night). We managed to make it with no time to spare to West Mall 7 to see Captain Phillips. If you haven't seen it, SEE IT!! It was excellent: One of the best movies I've seen in a LONG time.

We didn't dawdle after the movie long, since you know, it was going to take so long to get home. hehe :)

All in all, a wonderful day. We were both bummed that we spent the whole weekend under the weather, but we still definitely appreciated the break to just be people and not parents for a few hours.

We were definitely ready to see these faces again :)

We had been eating out a lot lately, and decided we wanted to make sure to have a nice homemade meal together at home Saturday night, so we left around 3pm to head back to Worthington to pick up the kids.

They apparently had a fun weekend with Grandpa, Grandma, Aunt Jess and Uncle Tyler, and slept great for them, thankfully! We visited a little but then got going home to get started on some spaghetti (YUM!)

It's encouraging to me that Mark and I can still spend time away together and catch right back up where we left off without it feeling strange. It makes me so thankful that we spent the first five years of marriage getting to know each other, and that we can rest assured that once the house is not quite as full, we'll still be able to pick back up where we left off and enjoy each others' company :)