Okay guys, i am going to give you the true secret to this! It is tried and true and will definitely work! ;-)
First you find out what your wifes dream is, and the key to this is that it has to be something you can actually do! Then make it happen! It is that easy! Well, maybe not easy---let me explain.
My wife had this dream since she was a kid that she could work with at risk youth at a children's home and be a parent figure to those that were removed from teh home for abuse or neglect. She wanted to have a chance to show love to all the children that had not been given that love by their true parents. She wanted to show kids what it is to be loved for who they are and not what they do. Shortly after we were married I pushed her to do this, which of course meant I had to sacrifice also. This is the key!
My wife and I have been houseparents for at risk youth for 4 1/2 years. We started out with kids addicted to drugs and alcohol. We then moved to kids with severe behavioral outbursts and then to kids that were removed from the Los Angeles area and had been involved in drugs and gangs. A little over a year ago we moved to a place with more "normalized" kids. We have worked with both boys and girls at different times. We can now have up to 8 girls in our home from the ages of 10 to 18 years old. My wife and I love doing this but it is very draining. So I get the benefit of picking the vacations/hunting trips and she just wants to enjoy some quiet time away from the kids when we get it. On my elk hunt this last year, she bought a three day fishing license and went fishing while I was out hunting. When I got back to the trailer she had some trout cleaned and cooking for dinner!
Back to the key! The bigger the sacrifice the better off you will be. I just remind her every now and then about what I go through living with 10 females( forgot to mention even my dog is a female), and I get to add another hunting trip to the schedule!
The other thing that helps is that her and I have held off on having our own children, so when we have a vacation we don't have to worry about kids, the home we work for takes care of providing relief houseparents.
So I challenge all of you men to find out what your wife really wants and to make it happen! See what you get in return???
And for all of you saying "yeah right, it ain't worth it", I will be thinking of you this fall and winter when I am hunting!