Couple's Retreat 2013

I think it is safe to say that I am more of the "grand gesture" person in Matt's and my relationship. I come up with crazy ideas all the time for places to go or do or ways to show him I love him. For example, before our wedding, Matt and I were living far away from each other (he in Midland and I in Inola). I wanted him to have some words of love and encouragement in that special time before we got married so I sent him a card every day for about 60 days prior to our wedding. I thought it would be fun for him to get something in the mail he could look forward to...and wasn't a bill. I am always trying to find different and creative ways to show him that I love him because I think that's important in all relationships or they get stagnant.

Don't get me wrong, Matt is incredibly generous and loving, his methods are just a little different. We have read The 5 Love Languages book and Matt is more about quality time and I am gifts. It feels so materialistic to say that mine is gifts, but that's also how I communicate my love. I send people things, I buy them little things when I am thinking of them. As a result, my Christmas shopping is typically done in October. Matt is the kind of guy that will just go and fill up my car and wash it while I am working on a project and I don't even know he is gone. I think he may also have the love language of acts of service.

All that being said, when Matt planned an entire weekend get away without my knowledge or asking for my input, I was pretty blown away. He even did a "reveal" which included a PowerPoint presentation of where we were going and things to do while we were there. He decided we needed to get away on our own before I went back to school and we had a lot less time together. That just melted my heart. He's giving me a run for my money on the "grand gesture" department...

He has always talked about how pretty the Broken Bow area is down in Southeast Oklahoma. I've never been there, despite being just about every where else in this state. One night while I was reading, he booked a cabin for us in a small town next to Broken Bow, "Hochatown."

  

On our way down we stopped in McAlister at Pete's place which is also home to the Choc brewery. It had all of these little private rooms which was neat and I can imagine very difficult to get into on the weekends. We checked out the Whispering Meadows Vineyard while in McAlister. They had a lot of really great wine. We bought 2 bottles and somehow Matt picked the only wine I didn't like and I didn't reference my notes before he bought it. We later poured it out. I have never ever poured out a bottle of wine but whew it was bad. 

There were some great places to eat in Hochatown as well. There were only a few (very small town) so we tried them all. There was a pizza place called the "Grateful Head" and while we were there we were convinced (like almost to the point of asking) that one of the characters from Duck Dynasty was there having a meal with his family. 

Matt did a great job picking out the cabin as well. Really romantic and nice! A girl could get spoiled!

 The area is well known for their trout fishing (apparently even in winter!) so we bought our fishing licences and went to the stream. We didn't catch anything, but it was still fun. Well that's not true. I caught other people's lines and a couple of trees when I tried to mimic what I saw a guy down stream doing when he was "fly fishing". Apparently I haven't mastered the art.

We drove around and checked the area out. The deer were a little less skiddish than my typical experience with deer. They even posed for pictures! They did decline autographs.

 One evening we drank some wine (oh and we checked out the local winery "Girls Gone Wine". Neat atmosphere, not awesome wine). We built a fire in the fire pit and just talked for long time and discussed Dave Ramsey's "Total Money Makeover" that we got as a wedding gift. Turns out if you sit there for too long, the soles of your shoes may start to melt. Not that I had any personal experience with that.

Pistol seemed to enjoy the finer things in life. He said that as long as he didn't have to ride in the car he would go back any time.

I hope we do this every year, it's nice to just spend time away together and discuss our goals for the year. Here's to 2013!!

Posted in: being married,Travel