Nerf War

Shane and I have been so overwhelmed by the amount of attention our goodwill date night idea raised.  It is clear that so many couples are trying to keep their marriages strong and fun too!  We have our own issues and I promise we are far from perfect but we LOVE being together.  So, I’ve decided to share ideas weekly with everyone.  This is not to say that you should imitate our marriage, because you shouldn’t.  We may do things you won’t like (trust me, I’ve heard it all) but we may do some things that are right up your alley.  Either way, I hope whatever we share can be an encouragement to you to keep your marriage/relationship growing every day!

This week I wanted to share our nerf war saga.  I have no idea who to give credit to for this so if you know please email me and I will give them their due credit.  This all started long before I even knew Shane.  I saw a pin on pinterest for a nerf war and I thought, “man, I want a marriage like that”.  So, when I found the fella that was made for me I knew I had to do it.

I got off work before Shane one day and went and bought some cheap nerf guns.  I left a note on the door that read the following:

                           Welcome home!

1.       This gun is yours.  You have 10 darts.

2.       I’m waiting inside with my own gun, also with 10 darts.

3.       When you come in, it’s war!

                            Loser does the dishes.

                                  Love you!

I then proceeded to strategically hide behind our fireplace where I could watch him read the note on the garage door (the door we ALWAYS use) and be ready to attack when he came in.  However, I was so excited that I stationed myself there about 15 minutes before he was supposed to be home.  So, as you can imagine, I got bored and started playing on my phone. 

While I was innocently playing on my phone waiting to hear the garage door open, the front door swung wide open and Shane unloaded his nerf gun on me.  All 10 darts came flying out like he was shooting a machine gun.  He comes running in, rolls through the living room like James Bond (he has a flare for the dramatic), and reloads all his darts all while I’m trying to figure out how I missed him getting home. 

Needless to say for the next hour or so we played nerf war in our house and had a blast.  I ended up losing, but we were so worn out from our intense nerf war we opted to eat pizza and skip dishes all together.

We kept the note on our fridge and every once in a while we will break out the nerf guns and have a rematch just for fun!

So, ladies (or gentlemen) stop by whatever store meets your budget and do a little nerf war shopping.  For those of you with kids, bring them in on the fun, it takes less than $20 bucks and will keep you entertained for way longer than your favorite television show!

#Goodwilldatenight

Well since our facebook post has gone viral I figured now was an appropriate time to detail our date night a little more.

Shane and I try very hard to be intentional with date nights.  We have a baby girl and it is so easy to get wrapped up in her and her cuteness.  So, in an effort to keep our marriage first, we try to go on a date night one night a week.  And we try to make them fun!

Shane heard of another couple who went to Goodwill and picked outfits for their date nights and so we just had to do it.  To most people’s surprise, the whole date night was Shane’s idea.  But, we are very competitive so we had to add some rules to it.

Rule One: You each get $10 in Goodwill to shop for the other person and they have to wear what you pick.  This was so much fun.  We found some crazy stuff in Goodwill and made each other try on outfits until we found the perfect one.  This cued the insane laughter from the start of the date night.  My husband is absolutely goofy so as you can imagine I tried on some CRAZY outfits.  We ended up only spending $13 for both masterpieces.

Rule Two: Once you leave Goodwill, it’s like fight club, no one talks about it.  We had to resume date night as normal and pretend like we had no idea our outfits were off the wall.  We went to Longhorn for dinner so of course we had to wait for a table.  The minute we got out of the car we had to put on our game faces.  People were snickering as they walked by and we got a lot of side eye from the hostess.  Again, to most people’s surprise, NO ONE said a word to us about our outfits.  Everyone just looked and laughed behind our backs I’m sure.

Rule Three: You have to pick fake names and go by them all evening.  This didn’t start as a rule but after we saw the outfits we knew it had to happen.  When I walked out of the dressing room Shane said “Ethel get your choir book and come on” and from that point on I was stuck with Ethel.  And really, who wears more plaid than a “Roger” which I affectionately shortened to “Rog” in front of our waiter.

Y’all I don’t think we have laughed this hard in a long time.  Marriage is tough, parenting is tough, and honestly life is tough.  But everything is better when you’re doing it with your best friend.  So, have fun and make sure you hashtag all of your pictures with #goodwilldatenight so we can laugh at your pictures too!

***Disclaimer- to all of the people posting that Shane and I are “goals”, thanks.  But, we are both very off the wall, sinful people.  We only have a great marriage because we put our relationship with Jesus Christ first and let Him tell us how to live and love.  Without Him loving us and showing us how to love each other we would be nothing!