Babysitting Woes & Eric Church

Am I seriously the only one with babysitting issues?  I mean...really.
I can't be the only one who doesn't live close to family and struggles every time I actually want to go somewhere with my husband.  But...it definitely feels that way.

When friends invite us anywhere as a couple, I'm thinking....either I'm going alone or we have to shell out $100 at the very least.  It's like okay, it's worth it because every marriage needs it.  Girl time is also needed, for less than a $100...hmmm...and Shannon usually agrees because he'd rather hang out with the kids than attend most of my social, dysfunctional gatherings.

Last weekend we attended the Eric Church concert with our friends Amber and Jeff Wissing.  Of course, they had family to watch their children.  And, our babysitter suddenly had much cooler plans than heading to our house at noon so we could drive the three hour trek to Denver to watch the concert.  I was struggling with whether I should plan on going alone...or bagging out altogether if we couldn't find someone.  Thus the life of a mommy and daddy far away from any family.

Luckily, my friend Amber saved the day as always.  She called a few people, including her daycare provider's daughter, who agreed to keep my kids.  Because Amber trusted these people, I knew I could.  And, they ended up being some of the best sitters we've had to date.  Thanks Amber!!!

The minute we left the house, I started to feel the stress leaving.  I'm a party girl at heart and love a great time!  Shannon immediately started worrying though, so I had to work on squashing his fears and convince him our kids would be fine.  Soon, he was on board, and after we'd met up with Amber & Jeff, we were on our way to parental freedom.

The concert was amazing.  I love a country singer who can sing with a unique twang about drinking Jack Daniels and Jesus saving him all in one breath.  You see, I relate to that!

We danced, drank, and just enjoyed one another's company.  The concert was held in an outdoor ampitheatre of red rock (it's also called Red Rocks...imagine that). It was beautiful, to say the very least.  If you know Eric Church, you know he's an amazing performer...and at the very end...he sang one of my favorites, Springsteen.  He had everyone open their phones (much safer than lighters I'm sure!) and sing along.  The entire crowd became one mystical, swaying group as the lights from their phones glowed down toward the stage.  I felt like I was in heaven!

The next day, we hurried home to reach our children...whom were having so much fun, they didn't even want to leave with us.  Go figure.  We looked at eachother on the drive home while the kids were bickering with one another about sharing a toy...and our eyes told what our mouths couldn't say; back to the craziness.

You see, our children will sustain and survive...and likely even have more fun with us being gone.  The real people that we need to worry about our ourselves.
Shannon told me something after that concert that made me really think, he said; "Trina, you really are a lot of fun."  Translated to; "you're normally a bitchy pain in the arse who's always stressed out.  It was nice to get back to the real you for a night."

$150 later for the babysitter...not mentioning food, drinks, the concert tickets and gas....we're still ahead. Whether for a happy marriage or just pure insanity relief...a break is always much needed and fully accepted.  ~Trina