Anniversary Get Away

Jake and I just got away to celebrate our 10 years of marriage, for 24 wonderful hours. With no children. Let me repeat that. 24 hours child-free. To remember that we are not only Daddy and Mommy but Jake and Amy. Husband and Wife. It was wonderful.

We called a babysitter... a brave one. (Thanks again Drea. You so totally rock.) Booked a hotel on Expedia. Bought movie tickets on Fandango. Called ahead for dinner. And off we went.

When we got to the hotel (the Cool Springs Marriott) we found out that they were actually hosting the "Weekend to Remember" marriage conference by Family Life. And so all of the King and Queen bed rooms were booked. Ugh. So Jake explained that it was our 10th anniversary and they said they'd see what they could do. We left for dinner and not 20 minutes later, they called back and had a bigger room for us. :) Awesome.

So not only did they move us to a beautiful King room on the very top floor with a view of the Cool Springs city lights, but sent up Champagne and Chocolate covered strawberries as well! What a sweet blessing. It was absolutely perfect.

The next morning we slept in... together! Which never happens!! We usually take turns sleeping in on Saturday. How did two night owls have six children who are early birds? Maybe when they're teenagers... Anyway we hadn't been able to both sleep in, in a long time. And it was wonderful.

Then we had a nice brunch and today was beautiful so we did some furniture shopping. It was so relaxed and nice to just hang out with my best friend.

Once we got home it was back to making dinner, wiping noses, changing diapers, doing dishes, doing laundry.... Jake had to turn right around and leave for a youth group event and won't be home until tomorrow. And I think I'm getting a stomach bug the kids had last week. Yep, back to real life.

But it was an amazing 24 hours. Next year we might do the big return trip to Maui that we'd hoped to do for our 10th anniversary. But this was wonderful and it was just what the doctor ordered. A much needed refresher and perspective shift. A time to remember that I am not just a mommy of six. I'm a wife. And a very, very blessed one.