Have your cake and eat it too!

These past three days have been heavenly. They were not your typical everyday type of days. I forgot how nice days like these are, as well as how needed they are every so often. These past few days were the, "have your cake and eat it too" type of days. Except in our case it was have your Ice Cream and eat it too!

I woke up Friday morning still feeling on top of the world with just having celebrated Payten's fifth birthday and Joseph's birthday, that I wanted to keep the goodness going and since all the birthday cake was gone, I decided, well actually Emmett decided, we should have Ice cream for breakfast. After taking Zachary and Makenna to school, Emmett followed me around with the container of ice cream, saying, Ice Cream Pleeease. Which I thought to myself, what a prefect way to start off keeping the "goodness" feeling going! So Emmett and I had ice cream for Breakfast and boy was it good! This picture says it all,

After that, the day just kept getting better! The morning and afternoon went slow and smooth, which helped in having a relaxing, laid back, fun day with Emmett and Payten. Then the evening came and Joseph and I were able to break away and go on a date, something we have not been able to do in a long time. It really was a much needed reprieve for the both of us. It reminded me just how important going on dates with your spouse is. We did not do anything super special, just went to dinner, did a little shopping and ended our night with a movie. We had dinner at Kneader's Bakery, which I absolutely love! Then we went and walked around Toys R Us, (yes, I said Toys R Us!) because we needed to find a birthday present for Makenna's friend whose party was Saturday. After the fun filled shopping came the movie and let me just say that my husband loves me. He knew that I had been wanting to see Austin land the Movie for sometime now and instead of seeing a movie we both would have loved, he set aside his ego and took me to see Austin land. It was great, I loved the corny-ness and silly comedy of the whole movie. It really was a light hearted movie that was much needed for it gave me the laughs my soul had been missing for a few weeks now. Seriously, it was a date geared toward me and I know my husband did it on purpose considering the resent events I went through. I came home knowing that I was a queen in his eyes and he absolutely, 100% loves and adores me. What a lucky lady I am! But it does end there!

Saturday was even better. With the help of our sweet niece, Shelby, Joseph and I were able to go to the Temple and be apart of our other sweet nieces sealing to her husband and baby. To say it was beautiful would be and understatement, it was heavenly. It helped remind me of what is important in life and put things back into proper perspective. Congratulations, Chelsea and Russell and little Carter! What a glorious day! I pray you will always remember it and the feelings and words that we felt and shared. After the temple, Joseph and I went and got a bite to eat at Zupas Cafe, another one of my favorite places to eat. Which was a nice surprise, as well as amazing, for we never get two dates in a row and we got it. It was so much fun to sit and talk about what we felt in the temple and just laugh together. These moments were such a great reminder to me of how much I adore and love my husband and how lucky I am to have him as mine forever!

Once our mini lunch date was over, we went and walked around Dana Park shopping center while waiting for Makenna's birthday party to be over, which was at Girlie Girlz Boutique in that same shopping center. Girlie Girlz is one of Makenna's favorite places and they put on awesome birthday parties. Makenna had a great time being a Mermaid! This video shows just how much fun she had,

Such cute girls and such a great way to celebrate a little girls special day. After the party was finished, we went home and since Shelby was still there and she had no plans for the day, Joseph and I decided to take advantage of the extra help and time, and go and take an afternoon nap together! Seriously two dates and a nap all within hours of each other, pure awesomeness! Joseph and I woke up feeling refreshed and on top of the world! Shelby was feeling pretty good herself! This is how us Merrill's pay our babysitters, Spa Zachary and Kenna,

So not only did Joseph and I get a much needed refresher, so did our babysitter, with the help of our cute kids! After our lovely nap/break, Joseph did some yard work and Shelby, Makenna and I went out to dinner and did some shopping! I have forgotten how much fun it is to go out with just the girls! (even if these girlies were half my age!) I love my niece and my daughter, they are two of the cutest girls around! We laughed and laughed and laughed! It was so much fun! We bought a few outfits for each of kids, went grocery shopping and then just drove around town talking. It was a great night of fun. Here is one of the outfits we bought Makenna,

Isn't she darling?! Seriously, these past three days have been great and today was no exception! It was nice and relaxing, mixed with a little spiritual nourishment. I could not have asked for a better three days! I am so looking forward to what this week brings and hopefully enjoying more fun days ahead. I pray you all had lovely weekends and that you all have great nights.