NewSpring Church - Wichita, Kansas

We decided that since we spent last month’s date night in Hazmat Suits (hardly qualifying as a date night), we deserved a nice dinner out. Since this was about re-commitment and how things were in the beginning of our relationship, we got one dinner (sitting side by side), split it and fed each other dessert.  The thing that was most daring and definitely out of our comfort zone was to end the night in the back of a police vehicle.
(Fortunately, the officer had done a date night program with his wife at their church too! So he was game. Bless him.) We then decided that it was appropriate that we re-committed ourselves under the arches of the Federal Credit Union’s ATM as most of our funds pass though it so quickly, it seemed nice to spend a little time with them.

Bless you all for coming up with Date Night Program, and those assisting with the programs and looking after our little ones.

NewSpring Rocks!

We started off by dropping our son off for some fun of his own. Then we went to Johnny Corinos for dinner and dicussed our questions while waiting on our food.  After dinner we brainstormed about an “unusual/out of our comfort zone” kind of place to have our picture taken.  We decided to climb to new heights by having our picture taken atop the “high dive” at Crestview. We then drove to the entrance of our neighborhood (which happens to have a stemple at the entrance) and renewed our vows, complete with dental floss rings!  Thank you Newspring for the best dates!

We are really loving the great date experiment .The one from March we did late.. We actually did it when we went to Aruba and we had the chance to tell people at the restaurant we went to all about our church and the great date experiment.They thought it was a wonderful idea and I must say we agreed with them..Thank you for all you guys do to put this together.We also had a hard time finding a dessert we had not already had but we did try alot of fish dishes we had not had…Our meal that was ordered at the restaurant was really good but we did have to switch with each other he liked mine better and I liked his better..Overall it was great ....

This was our second great date and we had such a great time! This picture was taken right before we went outside to carve our initials into a tree. It was so much fun running outside in the dark with just a small flashlight. We felt like little kids that were going to get caught at any second. We carved our initials and even put the heart around it. It was such a fantastic moment, permanently punctuating our great date experience into a tree that will always be in our backyard. It will be a constant reminder of our love and the special moment we shared under the stars, feeling like we did when we first met, butterflies and all. We are counting down the days until our next great date! Thank you NewSpring!

We had been looking forward to our first “Great Date” since we had missed the first.  Chris agreed to let me choose Freddy’s since I had been wanting to go there. Chris chose the cashier who looked the most outgoing before asking him to choose our dinners. The cashier thought we were crazy, but said since he was new, it was a good test for him.  He gave us his favorite burger, which I usually get and Chris was less than excited about.  Also, Chris did not think I shouted “My husband is hot!” loud enough, even though it was loud for me! The restaurant was fairly crowded, so we were the focal point for many families as we took our first exclamation point picture.  We enjoyed the questions because most were things we had never discussed even though we have been together since high school.  We then headed to the mall with the heater on full blast.  We hit mostly green lights the whole trip, which never happens! Once at the mall, I was somewhat distracted, but we managed to have another really good discussion about our questions. Chris considered it a highly successful trip to the mall with good conversation and no purchases! After that, we went to Dillons and split up to find our desserts. I chose frozen lemonade because it reminded me of all the summer baseball games we had gone to together and how I always thought the frozen lemonades they sold looked good, but Chris was to “frugal” to spring for one!  Chris chose a yummy assortment of baked goods for me. We drove to a place with a little waterfall where we used to go and talk when we were dating.  Since it was so chilly, we sat in the car and fed each other our desserts.  We then headed home to commemorate our date on the garage wall.  Thanks NewSpring for an enjoyable evening!

Is this a dessert or is it bird feed?
Date Night 2 was another fabulous night – thank you for making this available!  (We’ll get to explaining the picture in the next paragraph.) We started w/ dinner at Schlotsky’s by allowing the owner to choose our sandwiches…. He gave us a 10% “date night” discount and a free dessert (which we saved) because he said, “Every date night must have dessert.”  After finding out there were no bowling lanes available until after 9 p.m., we headed to Town East (with the heater on full blast) and walked around the mall… which included a stop at the “wig shop” and Frederick’s. 
Now for the reason we chose THIS PICTURE. Choosing a dessert that we had not tried before turned out to be rather difficult and gave us quite a laugh at the same time.  We stopped at Picadilly’s for desserts, and I bought Craig a “heart healthy sugar-free muffin” since he is such a health nut (I happily received a cinnamon crunch muffin from Dillons).  Obviously, Craig had never had a healthy muffin, and after taking one bite…. it is safe to say he will never have another one!  After taking the first bite, Craig crinkled his nose, coughed a bit, and stated, “You have to try this.”  I took a small nibble and giggled as I said, “Don’t worry, you don’t have to eat the whole thing.”  “Oh, don’t worry, I’m not planning on it!” Craig replied.  He then made some statement about letting our son feed the birds with it and started to wrap it up, but came to the conclusion that it couldn’t get any drier.  After a few more comments regarding the poor muffin, I heard through my laughter and tears,  Craig saying, “If I had to eat like this due to health reasons, I think I would just rather go ahead and have a heart attack and go to Heaven. The words ‘dessert’ and ‘heart healthy, sugar-free muffin’ should never be in the same sentence!”

This was our favorite exclamation point picture, as we never had a formal wedding with a wedding cake and all the amenities most have enjoyed. This picture was the finale as we had just enjoyed not only being able to be one on one with each other and not be distracted by the normal nightly events, but topping off our Great Date we had just finished feeding each other or deserts in front of Dillons on Rock Rd symbolizing that only we can feed each other what the other desires.

We had to pick up our packet and go on our date after everyone else because we live in Oklahoma, but we were very excited about the Great Date experience.  We’ve only been married a year, but we have three children and don’t have a lot of time to ourselves.  We went to dinner and had a blast going through all the questions.  Brent called me Magic Princess for a week after.  After dinner we went to the Dollar Tree for our gifts.  I felt like a kid running around the store trying to hide and find something fun and appropriate!  We had to opt out of the dancing outside because it was too cold, but it definitely sparked some romance in our relationship and we can’t wait to do the next one.  In fact we had so much fun that I passed my packet on to my brother and told him to take my sister-in-law and we would watch their boys while they went!  Thanks Newspring for giving us this awesome opportunity!

Although a couple weeks “late”, we finally went on our date last night.  It was great!  Since we live way north of Wichita, we started our date at Tuscon’s in Salina.  We cheated and had our appetizer and our meal there, since it’s our favorite restaurant.  We enjoyed discussing the topics on our way to Salina and also while at the restaurant.  Next, we parked the truck and I headed to Dollar General and Keith went towards Dollar Tree.  I bought him a pack of SweetTarts (because he tries really hard to be tart, but I know that underneath all that he’s really sweet), also a sponge because he’s always been there to clean up my (life) messes.  He bought me a box of Hot Tamales.  No explanation needed.    We finished our date at Dairy Queen.  Before I ordered, I asked him if he’d prayed for me yet (for self-control).  He hadn’t, so I ordered my favorite Georgia Mud Fudge blizzard.  We danced in the garage to “Moon Dance” by Van Morrison (had to sing it, it wasn’t on the radio) and enjoyed a kiss on the steps.  Great Night.  Thanks, NewSpring for making this available to us out-of-towners!

Being the planners that we are, we had made reservations at Kobe Steakhouse before we even arrived at the church to receive our packets.  So appetizers, dinner, and dessert were all in one place.  The good news is that we had plenty of time to have our conversations and work through our questions in the packet.  After an exquisite steak and lobster dinner, we were starting to run short on time, so we headed to Dillon’s on our way back to the church.  Kim bought me a packet of “Cars” stickers because she knows I love that movie and I bought her a box of Little Debbie Star Crunchies ‘cause they’re her favorite.  After our run through Dillon’s it was time to head back to the church where we picked up Evie and headed home.

We started our date by dropping off our daughter at the church to help with the babysitting.  We went to Timberline and had cheese fries, one of our favorite appetizers.  We cheated and stayed there for our dinner.  We were trying to take the pictures with our phones and camera when a young kid came over and offered to take our picture.  I’m sure he just couldn’t take it any more.  I know we looked silly, us old people trying to take our own picture.  We saw other couples there, and couples coming in when we left.  After talking to one of the other couples, we decided the area restaurants will probably like our date experiment as much as we do.  Steve being from Oklahoma State got the cowgirl name in right away.  When I heard about the $2 gift, I knew we had to go to Target.  I bought Steve Sponge Bob candy; I love to hear him laugh when he watches the show.  He bought me a mug, because I like hot tea.  After I checked out at Target, I see this guy sitting by the door on the bench with his purchase watching the checkout lines.  I smiled and said, “You must be on your date.”  He got the biggest grin and said, “Yeah.”   After that, we went to Cold Stone for dessert where we ran into one of the couples we saw at Timberline. It was fun running into so many couples. We did learn next time to split the meal and dessert; we were stuffed by the end of the night.  Normally we don’t go out on a date but once a year on our anniversary. So thanks Rick, Kelle, and NewSpring we wouldn’t have done it without you!  We’re looking forward to the next five dates and hopefully after that it will become a habit.

We were unable to go on our date on Friday,due to working 12 hours on friday and having to be up at 3:30 in the morning .So we went on Monday night,and had a great time. We went to Texas Roadhouse,got a free appitiezer because we had a coupon card as a fundraiser for the Clayhouse Summer Camp.We found out that Onion Blossems dont work to well when kissing later on .Then we went to the dollar store and we ended up getting KU stuff for each other. The questions helped us open up to each other. Next to Jesus, my wife is the best thing that has ever happened to me.

While we aren’t marriet yet, figured since we have been dating for 5years figured this would be a good chance for us to really get to know each other and renew our feelings for one another.

We decieded to do our date night Saturday, we started out at Old Chicago and hate a huge plate of Nachos and looked over the packet and answered the questions. Left there and went to Barnes and Noble to have coffee and there wasn’t a seat in the place, so we left and headed to Target to get our $2 gift. He purchased a candle because I am the light of his life..awwww (considering he has a hard time showing his romantic side..this I will always remember..I don’t even want to burn the candle!)We decided to make our dessert coffee and took it home to enjoy the rest of our date and talk.  We are looking forward to the next one!

Thanks Newspring for this awesome opportunity!