"I Want to Put a Cloud In My Mouth"

[The title of this post has nothing to do with what I'm actually going to write about. It's something a friend of mine said when we were talking about how whipped and smooth we like our mashed potatoes to be.]

Art and I returned a few hours ago from a "Laugh Your Way to a Better Marriage" conference. If one every comes to your area, you should go. Both Art and I commented that our faces hurt from smiling and laughing so much.

There are a million marriage books and conferences out there, and they all have great things to teach you. What's different about this one is that Mark Gungor does it with humor. He's just a funny guy! Even when he's being serious, he's funny. I also like his style of being straight-forward. He doesn't tiptoe around the issues. He did a full hour on sex, and he was almost....graphic? Not graphic. But he speaks more plainly about it than any other pastor or speaker I've ever heard.

I like pastors who are willing to tell it like it is, even at the risk of offending people. Because if it's truth, it's truth, and they're not going to soften it for the sake of those who might get upset.

So yeah, we really enjoyed it. And not only was the conference great, but it was in a beautiful location. We had to drive a couple of hours to get there, and the conference was Friday evening and Saturday morning, so we booked a hotel room with a gorgeous view. We were actually going to make a weekend out of it (stay through until Sunday), but when we heard the forecast for snow, we changed our reservations. It's kind of too bad, because we haven't really gone away, for the sake of getting away, since our honeymoon.

But with the money we would have spent on that second night, we instead went out for a really nice dinner on Friday evening. We ordered a rack of lamb. I have never had meat that tender before. It was better than steak. There's a reason it's so pricey!

The other good thing about only staying one night is that we'll get to go to church tomorrow morning, and the Thanksgiving potluck afterward. Since we've only been going to that church for a little more than a month, we still don't know people very well. I thought the potluck would be a great opportunity for that, and I didn't want to miss it. And now we won't!

Okay, let me show you some pictures from this weekend.

This was our room. I only remembered to take pictures right before we checked out, so that's why the bedding is all crumpled.


On the other side of the wall from the bed was this room!


It had a TV (there were actually two TVs in the whole suite), a fireplace, couches, and a kitchen area. Pretty sweet huh?


And this was the view from our room:


Same view, but taken from the ground, later in the day.


The conference was right down the road from where we stayed, so we could just walk there. But oh my word, was it COLD and WINDY!!!! I haven't felt that bitter icy blast since living in Manitoba. It even affected the room we stayed in. We were on the fourth floor, and when we first got to the room, we cranked up the heat as high as it would go. And we turned on the fireplace.

An hour later, we were both still wearing our coats. In our room. Thankfully, by the time the evening session of the conference was over, our room was toasty.

The wind and snow and ice followed us home though. As I'm sitting here typing this, I can hear the wind howling outside. It's unusual for this part of Washington to get this winter weather so early, and it isn't usually accompanied by arctic blasts. Thankfully, this is supposed to be short-lived. It's going to get a little warmer during the week, enough to make the roads less treacherous.

So, in summary: Mark Gungor makes people laugh while teaching them things that will enhance their marriages, we still got to have a romantic getaway, even if it was only for one night, and the weather outside is frightful, and I hope it goes away soon. Although, I do love the snow. But I don't love the wind or the ice.