Date Night - Forts + Love Letters

With Cameron being in Chiropractic school, we are on a pretty strict budget. This means no babysitters, unless we swap with another couple in our ward. I really don't want to stop having date night, though. It's one of my favorite times of the week. And yes, we are grateful for Nash and Gray, but I married Cameron. And our marriage will always come first to me. We are a team, and it takes time and effort to keep a marriage strong.

Because he's in school, I have taken it upon myself to plan dates. I have no issues with that. Cameron always spoils me rotten, and I love surprising him. I'm sure he'll plan a date or two when he gets the time, but for now, I don't mind making that my responsibility.

Last Friday, we went on an extremely cheap date, and it was a total blast! I had to share.

First, I sent him this invite [If you right-click it and save it, you can totally use it too, if you want!]


When he got home, we had dinner, did baths and bedtime for the boys and cleaned up the kitchen until it got dark.

I walked up to him and asked if I could take him out and our date began. I gave him a list of things that we needed to get together. A lantern, 4 blankets, a sleeping bag, 6 pillows, the laptop, an extension cord, two strands of Christmas lights, the treats, book and pen, and the fan.

And we made a fort in our backyard. I didn't have high expectations for it, but man it turned out pretty romantic! What do you think?





From there, we each ripped a page out of the book "Chocolat" and wrote love letters to each other by blacking out words on the page. I was surprised by how hard it was, but it turned out really great! We laid back and watched the leaves in the trees and just talked without interruption. Cam brought two bags of Dove Chocolates for our treat. Which we fed to each other. Don't knock it til you try it. Sounds cheesy, really is awesome. There is something so peaceful about being outside. The air was thick. And yes, there actually was a firefly! Which just makes my whole day, because I love them.

We plugged the baby monitor in outside so we didn't need a babysitter. Our boys were sleeping peacefully in their own beds, and I didn't have to worry one lick about them. I was surprised, too, by how alone we felt! After a round or two of monopoly deal, we went inside to watch Psych and call it a night. Just a simple, relaxed evening.

We will definitely be doing something like this again. We acted like teenagers. So fun. I can't wait to plan another date!