Not only did we do a staycation to celebrate our Six-nniversary, but we did a homecation! We dropped the girls off at my parents’ Friday night, went a quick little dinner date, did some grocery (had to do extra on Saturday morning too) then headed home.
It was super duper nice to have peace and quiet in the house, wake up late (9am is late for us), go to the grocery together, cook together (okay, Ben cooked and I watched and chatted), have romantic dinners by the candlelight, watch movies, not change any diapers, and just do a lot of loungin’ and lovin’ all weekend long. We weren’t in the mood to be out and about. We spend so much time making our house a home, working to pay for our house and getting caught up in the busyness of life that we never just get to really enjoy our home and relax in it. The weekend was exactly what we wanted and needed. I think I am about ready for another homecation!
On Saturday night, the menu included Brown Rice Paella (substituted soyrizo for chorizo) and rice pudding for dessert. The paella was amazing, but my rice pudding… um, not so much. We even got a paella pan and Ben got fancy cooking it outside on the grill (thanks to a crash course from Alton Brown). We set up a little romantic spot outside for us and enjoyed the food, each other, and being under a canopy of twinkle lights.
Sunday night’s menu was Chicken Tikka Masala (substituted greek yogurt for whole milk yogurt and heavy cream) on basmati rice accompanied with some fresh Mango Lassi. My dessert this night turned out much better than the rice pudding! The recipe was pretty good, but it did have a bit of a “canned tomatoey taste”. We will be trying another recipe in the future.
We totally loved being able to enjoy our home, kitchen, and our backyard. The best part was just being together. We are able to have 6 years under our belt only by God’s amazing grace. There is nothing special about us that we are able to sustain a happy marriage, the only reason we are able is because of Christ. When we celebrate our marriage, we are celebrating Christ and the covenant we are in with Him and with each other.
The girls came home late Sunday night and we continued our celebrating with them by taking them to the beach the next day and we ended the night grabbing some yogurt at our favorite place around the corner.
It was an utterly perfect and completely chill weekend. We definitely need to have more of these!
And in case you missed our slice of life videos, I made a couple for our homecation. I couldn’t find my Zumi so these were made using Ben’s iphone and the iSupr8 app. It is pretty cool, but the developing is kind of a pain. I will be definitely looking for a much more quick filming friendly app.
Every time we go on a trip, we normally have a special playlist to help us mark that time, even though we didn’t go anywhere, we still had one, so all weekend long we listened to Me & Mr. Cassidy. Love them! Hope you enjoy our videos…
And in case you are wondering, the workshop went fantastic! There is so much to blog about it and that will be coming some time this week. And now that the workshop is over, I promise our love story will continue too…
It sounds like you had a wonderful weekend at home. My husband and I like to do this too, every once in awhile they sleep at their Nana's house and we hang out at home and do stuff locally all by ourselves.
Your slice of life videos are beautiful, what special memories you will always have.
thank you so much for sharing your life with us! it's so wonderful and encouraging to see a real life couple who love each other so deeply. and thank you for sharing the fact (not in this entry, but before) that sometimes you argue, but you bounce back. it's great to see a couple lean on God and each other and keep forging ahead through life 🙂 congrats on your anniversary!
Aww this was just the sweetest. LOVE the videos! You two look so in love.
P.S YOU are stunningly beautiful pregnant!
<3
Your staycation looked so romantic and beautiful!!
<3
few more weeks!! =)
oh my goodness, your homecation looks & sounds so perfect. your place settings are so lovely. and the food looks delish! hope you are able to have another weekend like this in the near-ish future!
That looks like one of the best anniversary celebrations ever. I love homecations! The videos are so precious!
Love it!
Congratulations on 6 wonderful years… wishing you many more too.
PS. Your movies are awesome!
I love your massive pregnant belly! Many, many congratulations on your anniversary, you guys are the cutest x
Homecation sounds awesome! The videos are brilliant! Thanks for sharing! 6 years is special!
what a blessing to be able to stay home and sleep in your own bed! happy 6 years : )
oh ruby, i'm following your blog since a while and i love your posts and your family. you're such a great, inspiring person. i wish i would live near to you to join the workshop, but my home is over the ocean ^^' – i hope everything is going to be great at your birth. i'm so excited of the name of the baby 😀 love, s. from austria.
Happy Anniversary Ruby! It sounds (and looks!) like you had a joy-filled weekend. I love those simple moments that are nothing and everything all wrapped together. Also, that mango lassi looks insanely delicious! H xo
you two are so adorable! wishing you many more happy years 🙂
I love the photo of the paella ingredients. Very cool! XOXO
Double wow! Both of these videos were so sweet ♥♥
darling videos. such fun memories to treasure. xxoo
happy 6 years to you and your dear benny!
looked like a heavenly way to spend your anniversary 🙂
Staycations are the best! I love the little video. And the music is great. Listening right now. Thanks for sharing. And I love the idea of certain music as a soundtrack to vacations and whatnot.
I wish there would be a “like” button here, so I could just press it and let you know that I like what you do and how you do it and your family and everything that is on this blogg. I don't really know what else to say, I just “like”.
We just celebrated three with a stay-cation. Fun to read about yours. Love your blog!
in love with the videos! love you!
Just wanted to pop past and tell you that you always inspire me…to stay positive, to keep the faith and to make the most out of all. Love this post! Lots of Love from South Africa x
Your weekend home with out the kids sounds wonderful! This is my favorite chicken tikka masala recipe
mhttp://allrecipes.com/recipe/chicken-tikka-masala/detail.aspxasala recipe
It's sooo good. It calls for skewering the chicken and grilling it, but I usually lay it out on a cooling rack on top of a cookie sheet and bake it or just grill, no skewering.
have you tried the 8mm app? Happy Anniversary!
I'm so happy to have stumbled across your blog – it's so sweet and full of love in all directions. Thank you for sharing your lovely life with us!
Happy anniversary and here's to many more –
THOSE ARE BEAUTIFUL!!!!
this looks like it was a lovely celebration!
Ruby, I admire you so much for making every part of your life special and memorable. I'm so glad you and your man had this special weekend without the girls. Also, thank you for shining your light constantly. Happy 6 years!
* Julia
I absolutely LOVE these videos! You guys are such a beautiful couple, and with three gorgeous girls you make the perfect little family. Sounds like you had a lovely weekend xxx
I love watching/seeing your videos! They make me so happy! 🙂
Love your ideas ! Your girls are stunning and so are you ! I love brave women who can have so many so close together I had 4 in 3 years 🙂 Look forward to following you !
this is my favorite chicken tikka masala recipe- i found it on tastespotting and its legit delicious! http://rx4foodies.wordpress.com/2011/03/01/holla-its-chicken-tikka-masala/
my sister also is like panicked that you aren't going to finish posting your love story! please please don't stop!
tif- don't worry! my part is written down, ben just is lagging a bit on getting his down. i bug him everyday!
hi ruby – may i know where you got the striped straw? thanks, and happy anniversary to you and your husband!
love your videos!! i'm obsessed with all those camera/video apps too 🙂 have you tried the 8mm app?
it looks about the same as supr8 except it comes with a bunch of films and you can either develop normal videos already on your phone or record it right there which makes it super easy to catch quick moments:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/8mm-vintage-camera/id406541444?mt=8
and yes please post more of your <3 story - i cant stand the suspense!
you are my inspiration. thank you for this. xo.