Sunday evening...already?

Our weekends at home (in Atlanta) have been few and far between since we've been married. We started off at the beginning of football season- that's a given, we're in Tuscaloosa/Birmingham for every home game. Add to that four pregnant women in our families/close circle of friends at the same time (two in Birmingham, two in Kentucky)- lots of baby shower, lots of baby arrivals, lots of baby baptisms, lots of trips between Atlanta and Birmingham, Atlanta and Kentucky, and even Atlanta to Birmingham to Kentucky back to Atlanta. Add to this Thanksgiving, Christmas, The National Championship (hey, that totally counts as a holiday to a Bama fan), and now we are getting into wedding season. Add all of these weekends together (and oh approximately 24,000 miles on my Honda since the fall), and our weekends in our own home are slim to none. So when we finally do stay here, they are typically jam-packed with lots of to-do's. This weekend was no different.

We have made it a priority to do things with our Atlanta friends when we actually are in town, so Friday night we enjoyed a delicious dinner at Murphy's in the Virginia Highlands area with some friends of ours. Jessica and John Lee were married two weeks before us (and as a side note, had their first date two weeks before ours). So it's always fun to catch up with a couple who are in the same life stage we are, and laugh over each other's newly-wed stories that come with trying to figure out this whole marriage thing.

Saturday, I worked out, finished up some dresses for my niece (see pics below), and then headed to a sewing class. (My sweet husband husband purchased a fabulous sewing/embroidery combo machine for me a few months ago, and I received three free classes with the purchase of machine.) Although I grew up sewing with my mother and Nannie, I didn't figure it would hurt to take the free classes, since it's quite possible that the sewing part of my brain could be slightly dusty. This was my first of three classes, and much to my expectation, I was the youngest student by approximately 50 years. :)

Once I came home from my workout, sewing class, and grocery store, I found that my loving husband had taken it upon himself to get some things done as well. Let me preface this by saying that he did this ALL on his own- without a single prompt, suggestion, or request from the wifey.

1) He cleaned out the closet. He went through each and every one of his shirts, chose which ones to give away, throw away, and put into storage. He then color coordinated the closet, and arranged his side of the closet to separate polos, button downs, t-shirts, pants, jeans, shorts, and suits.

2) He cleaned out the garage. He took out every single box, golf club, fishing pole, etc, pressure washed the entire garage, threw away things he didn't need anymore, and then placed the remaining items back in the garage, and made room for both of our cars.
3) He pulled weeds out of our front flower beds.
4) He did loads and loads and loads of laundry.
5) He vacuumed the entire upstairs.

Let me repeat, he did this all on his own. I cannot begin to tell you how much this meant to me. I am so fortunate to have such a wonderful, loving, and selfless husband that goes above and beyond to show me how much he loves me. He racked up some serious points this weekend for all of his hard work, that meant sooo much more to me than it would have, had I actually asked him to do all of this.

We ended the evening with a delicious steak and scallop dinner (cooked by Hunter) and a movie. Of course I fell asleep during the movie. I always do. I'm not sure why, but it is something that always happens to me, and it has for as long as I can remember. You would thing that the least I could do after Hunter did all this hard work for me is to stay awake during a movie...oops. :(

Sunday we enjoyed our Sunday School class (which we love), and a wonderful message on tithing. We have been working to make this a priority since we've been married, but it's always encouraging to hear a message that is so applicable in your daily life. It is one of our daily prayers to keep God in the center of our marriage, and in the center of our finances. Those are both big requests, knowing that to ask Him to take control, you have to be willing to give Him everything you have. The main point that Dr. Merrit drove home today was "God takes whatever we give him (time, talent, attitude, heart, money, etc), and multiplies it so that we are blessed, and so that others are also blessed." Wow. I don't think we hear this enough. I should go back and read my notes on this message daily, especially the days that I feel like my efforts are meaningless.

We finished a wonderfully busy weekend with some much needed pool time, and a few more minutes of yard work. We also purchased and hung our first hanging plant:

Overall, a wonderful weekend of getting things taken care of around the house, being able to sleep in our own bed, not putting 300+ miles on our car, and most importantly, having lots of just Hunter and Sarah time, which makes me happier than anything in the world.