Just When it Seemed the Fall Retreats Were Over....

Can you guess what we're doing this weekend?? That's right, we're attending yet another retreat.  This one, however, is one of my favorites.  It's our student ministries volunteer retreat, where we get to spend a few days investing in our volunteers and getting to know them better.  We have some training sessions scheduled, but also some times to just hang out and relax together.  I always love going to this one because it's one of the rare times we get to be with other adults!  Although most of our volunteers are "young adults" so we always have a great time!!  Plus, we're staying at a hotel, so there will be some swimming, some playing, and lots of eating out!  My kind of retreat!!  Anyway, we leave in the morning and will be home Sunday afternoon.  

Tonight I had Travis take another picture of me, because I swear things are growing overnight now!!  I literally think I fall asleep at night and wake up with all kinds of new stuff going on...this growing a baby inside you is crazy stuff!!  I love it, but it's become an adventure to discover what new twist each day brings.  The most alarming of them all however, is the rate at which my rear end is growing along with my stomach.  I'm okay with the stomach continuing, but I'l love for the rear end to stop!  It's getting hard to fit into my in-between maternity jeans...I may actually have to make the jump to full on maternity jeans soon...YIKES!!  

This picture is me at almost 14 weeks, and after we got home from eating at a Japanese Steakhouse tonight.  We went out on a date together, but unfortunately ran out of time for my portion of the date.  The "plan" was dinner then a trip to "Babies R Us", which I have been waiting to do for weeks now!!  But our dinner took a ridiculously long time and we didn't have enough time to do both.  My bedtime is much earlier these days.  I have my limits about how late I want to stay out!!  Anyway, we didn't get to go, so that means that we'll have to re-schedule that trip.  One of us was disappointed about that, but I'll let you guess who that was.  We still had a great time out and met some interesting people.  I don't think we'll go back to that particular restaurant however.  We've definitely had better.  

It's been awhile since we had dinner out, just the two of us.  Part of me wants to enjoy this freedom and go out a lot while we can, but the rest of me just loves the thought of dinner at home and an early bedtime!  I'm trying to appease my husband though, who LOVES to go out!  That will be a hard adjustment for us when the baby comes.  We've been spoiled and had 5 years to go out whenever we felt like it.  I'm so thankful for those years and I hope we try hard to protect nights out after the baby.  The good news is that we're in the right profession for baby sitters!  I've had endless girls offer to babysit and many that I would actually consider!  I have a hard time imagining us hiring a babysitter though!  I'm kind of used to being the babysitter, not needing one!! 

Would you like to know where this sweet dog will be spending his weekend?  He'll be attending the retreat with us, "Chillin at the Holiday Inn!"  The hotel that we're staying at is pet friendly and doesn't charge for dogs!  We have our own room, so Ryley gets to come with us and hang out!!  That means nothing to him now, but in the morning when we're packing our stuff up and he starts to get nervous (because he knows what suitcases mean for him) he'll be THRILLED when we ask him if he wants to go for a ride in the car!!  That's all he has to hear and he'll run to the front door waiting for us.  I love that.  So, all of the Armstrongs will be enjoying a night out at the hotel tomorrow and having a great time with our friends.  I love weekends like these!