roles, races & relaxation

This week has been a little crazy at work, so I am just now getting to the blog. But I could not go without telling about the awesome weekend we had out in Jonesboro, Louisiana. We vacation in Jonesboro because our dear friends, Grayson and Ashley Allen, live there.

We got in Friday night and they had a yummy taco dinner waiting for us. I bet we spend 2-3 hours at the dining table, eating and catching up. They have such a fun, comfortable home. I love to pick Ashley's brain about weddings, marriage, being a wife, etc. So we had a slumber party in their bedroom while the boys bunked up in the guest bedroom. Ashley and I stayed up even later talking about china, silverware and all the fun stuff. Turns out, we registered for the same formal silverware!

The next morning Dave and I convinced them to show us their wedding video. It was great - their wedding was pre-kristen and dave, so it was fun to see Dave's toast and all of them celebrating. They had a beautiful wedding - cannot believe they planned it all in 4 1/2 months! Then we took off to Ruston to have lunch at this cute little patio restaurant. We talked for several more hours about honeymoons & vacations with them in the future. This is something Dave and I are really looking forward to! We stayed so long that we caught the Kentucky Derby right before we left. We all bet with others in the restaurant and Ashley almost won with Eight Belles. Unfortunately, the poor horse had to be euthanized (sp?) due to a serious fall.

After getting snocones and heading back to Jonesboro, we cooked dinner. Us girls prepared the sides and I am really excited because Ashley taught me how to cut an avocado. The boys grilled steaks and we went back to the dining table for several more hours of marriage talk. This time, we discussed marital roles. It was so interesting to hear them talk specifically about how their backgrounds shaped so much of their expectations of each other. Dave and I are currently trying to look beyond the big day and really prepare for marriage, so we were hanging on to their every word. It was fun to talk about how our relationship will play out, particularly with us working together. We also talked about spiritual roles and how that can be a little confusing at first. Dave and I often talk about our love languages...how we feel loved, not how we show love. It is important to practice your spouse's love language and not your own. We realized we needed to figure out each other's spiritual languages too. i.e. what motivates you spiritually? They gave us some great advice and perspective on how some stuff will be figured out quickly and other stuff will take years...and that is the beauty of marriage - it is never a finished product.

It was a wonderful getaway and we look forward to many more in the near future!