3rd Anniversary

With baby #2 on its way, Jared and I decided that our anniversary gift to each other would be that we would take a trip and spend some time together just the two of us. Our anniversary is December 21st which was a Sunday this year, and since Taylor's birthday is on the 18th, Jared decided to ask off of work on Thursday and Friday, and then we'd have the whole weekend together. Nate & Alisha graciously offered to watch Taylor for us, so we dropped her off on Friday and then headed up to Nashville. I had told Jared that I really wanted to go to the Opryland Hotel. I know it's beautiful during Christmastime and have not been there since I was in the 7th grade. At first, we weren't going to be able to go because all of their holiday/vacation packages are so expensive (plus there are lots of hidden fees that they don't mention!). Jared tried looking into other places to go, but I'd already had my hopes set on Opryland, so in efforts to be a super husband and make his wife happy, he went to expedia.com and booked a room at the Opryland Hotel at a cheaper rate :-)

We checked into the hotel around 3:30-4:00pm, and then hiked a mile to our room. I forgot how huge that place is! Jared had already made reservations for us at The Melting Pot. I have been wanting to go there for years, but we've never had a chance to. (They're supposed to be opening one in Huntsville at Bridge Street soon!!) Now, this is a very expensive restaurant and is generally about $85-$100 a couple for a full meal, so we decided to forego the full meal and just go there for dessert. (The chocolate fondue is all I really care about anyway! haha) Instead we went to the Opry Mills mall that is right next to the hotel and ate at the Rainforest Cafe.

They sat us in the elephant area which Jared was very excited about ;-) (If you've never been there before, the animals "come to life" every 15 minutes and there is a "rainstorm" every 30 minutes, so it's a pretty noisy restaurant.) They turned out to be kind of pricey themselves, so I ordered a salad, Jared got steak & shrimp, and we shared. My salad was ginormous! I wish I had gotten a picture of that thing. It was really good, and I am still craving the coconut shrimp that Jared had. After we ate, we bought Taylor a souvenier from the gift shop- a stuffed tree frog (it's kind of like a bean bag and is really soft). Then we headed to downtown Nashville to The Melting Pot. We got really lucky and got a parking space right on the street almost right in front of the restaurant.

You get to choose what kind of fondue you want, and we chose the Chocolate S'mores fondue. It's milk chocolate with marshmallow cream and crushed graham crackers. Then, they brought out a plate full of strawberries, bananas, marshmallows, pound cake, cheesecake, brownies, rice krispie treats, and graham crackers.

It was everything I hoped it would be and more... haha

Don't pay attention to Jared's face because he enjoyed it just as much as I did! Then, when they brought out our check, they said if we donated $10 to St. Jude's Hospital, they would give us a $20 gift card. Now that's my kind of deal!! Not only are you giving to a GREAT cause, but we have an excuse to go back and enjoy that fabulous fondue again!

After dessert, we went back to the Opry Mills mall to watch a movie at the theatre there. (As we were walking up to the theatre, there was a guy standing outside with a bunch of girls around him- and by a bunch, I mean like 4 or 5- and we heard him say that he was out there selling his CD. Jared said "Hey.. wasn't that guy on American Idol?" I really didn't recognize him at first, but it turns out it was Corey Clark. You know, the one who claimed that he had an affair with Paula Abdul. Yeah, it looks like his career is going well.) We purchased tickets to go see Four Christmases, but as the movie started, the audio was all messed up and kept making this really annoying noise, and you couldn't even hear what the actors were saying. Several people got up to complain, but we couldn't stand it for very long. Everybody was getting up to leave, so we left our theatre and went and watched Yes Man (with Jim Carrey) instead. It ended up being really funny, so we weren't disappointed at all.

Then, we went back to the hotel to take pictures of all the lights and decorations outside and to get pictures of the inside of the hotel now that it was dark. The window view from our room was of the inside of the hotel, and it was beautiful. There was a huge Christmas tree directly outside our room.

Check-out was at 11:00am, but there was a Godiva chocolate store in the hotel, so we had to make a little stop there first. Now, normally I wouldn't eat chocolate in the morning before eating breakfast, but there was no way I could pass this up. We got a milk chocolate frozen drink (kind of like frappucinos at Starbucks only like 1,000 better!) and some chocolate covered strawberries which I saved for later. We ate breakfast at IHOP. I love IHOP, and it had been a long, long time since we'd been there. Then, we went to the Opry Mills mall again and did some shopping before heading back home. Their Old Navy actually carries maternity clothes in store, and it was all 60% off, so I got 3 sweaters, a dress, and a pair of pajama pants for a little over $50! I also got some cute flat shoes at another store because the only winter shoes that I have have heels on them which is not very fun when you're pregnant, so I am very happy about my comfy flat shoes. Jared got a few pairs of athletic shorts that were on sale, and I think that's it. He's not one to spend money on himself, and he probably thought I spent enough for both of us!

After that, we headed back to Huntsville, and although it was a short trip, we had a really great time, and I'm glad we were able to spend some time together just the two of us. Thanks, Nate & Alisha!!