Intentional Couple Time - Part 1

One of the biggest things we are trying to be intentional about this year, is spending quality time with each other. We do really great working through survival mode together, and that is how we have spent most of our marriage.

When life "settles" down a bit, we find ourselves wondering what to do with each other. It would be silly to pack the house as we aren't moving, there is a general lack of crying babies to rock well into the night right now, and thanks to working on some our house trouble areas there are fewer tornadoes to clean up after.

This pursuit of spending time together, often leads to getting sucked into a  Netflix vortex. While that is relaxing to a point, it isn't very helpful as far as a deep couple bonding experience. So to fit with the intentional theme of the year we have been discussing ideas of how we can spend more quality time together.

There are five ways we are trying to be more intentional about spending quality time together:

1. Following a show. We do enjoy a good show, and one that comes out weekly allows us to have "our" show that we follow and discuss together. We have watched America's Got Talent almost every year since we have been married, and often have another show or two we follow throughout the year. We are trying to have this in addition to date night. 
2. An almost nightly chance to read a book together. We are currently reading Keep Your Love On by Danny Silk. We haven't consistently had a quiet time together for years, but are trying to get into the habit right before bed (made more possible due to stream lining or evenings). 
3. Date Nights. mostly post-bedtime dates but also the occasional oh-my-goodness-we-actually-got-babysitting-and-can-leave-our-house date nights. Theoretically this is on Wednesday, but tonight we are actually having a post bedtime date, and our last planned activity is to write this post together about ideas on how we can do date nights on the cheap.  
4. Going more places as a family. When we are driving for a while, the kids often talk/play (and fight) among themselves and we get the best chance to talk as we aren't nearly as tired as in the evening.
5. Having friends over. This might seem like an odd one to add here, but it is something we really enjoy doing together. In fact, it is one of our biggest shared interests. We aren't just getting to know our friends better and have a fun night of fellowship, we grow as a couple as well.

Tomorrow we will share some of our post bedtime date ideas.