Blackberry pie and dating

I do not have a lot of pie-baking experience. I've made an apple pie and a few pumpkin pies, and one of them turned out bad, so I'm especially afraid of screwing up. But a couple of weeks ago I decided to make a blackberry pie and we invited over our new neighbors, the Rigbys, to share it with us. I was pretty nervous it wouldn't turn out and we'd have no dessert for dessert night! But, it turned out amazing! Ask Burke.

I still haven't figured out how to crinkle the edges right, but I'm a work in progress.

A few weeks ago Burke went camping with the young men and I studied all Friday and Saturday. Our initial date night plans for Saturday night had fallen through, and we hadn't decided what to do instead, but we just knew we really needed a date. Last minute we decided to go out to dinner at a teeny cafe not too far away, take a walk on the beach, and make smoothies. I just have to say, it was one of the most needed and best date nights ever. Simple things.

I think maybe now we've learned to make dates a priority. We hadn't been doing too well with them the last few months and we could tell. Regardless of what we do, deciding to go on a date and making it a date just makes things better. So Redbox could count. But grocery shopping doesn't. Usually. It just takes a conscious effort to make the evening "you and me time."

Oh yes, and I got a hair cut. A big one. I donated the minimum of 8 inches. Umhmm. Still getting used to the shortness.