After taking more than 15 trips in the last year and not paying for a single flight or hotel room out of pocket, mine doesn't even say anything and just smiles wondering where we're going to next.

just started this fun miles game myself. we have had a nice portfolio of daily spending cards to maximize rewards so the wife is used to that. I stopped before adding a card for groceries else she get a little frustrated. After showing her the bonus rewards I have accumulated over the last few months, when I asked if she was ready to open her first card for this new hobby all she said was "which one?"

I think telling her last week that my original plan of using the miles/points for our pentennial hawai'i trip might not be the best use and suggesting my parents watch the kids while we go to the saychelles or somewhere similar made her realize we are really getting somewhere :)

I still have not convinced her to load her own blue bird but i am sure that will come in due time
I have not really changed her spending too much with the new applications since meeting spend has been easy with AP and chase gcs.

currently I have her doing:
penfed visa - 5% gas
citi forward - entertainment 5% (usually we are together)
fedex amex - anything else 2%
target - target card

Most of her big purchases we discuss (as with mine) so I can usually get the right card in there. The only thing we lack for daily use is a grocery card. I hate her specialty store cards that do not allow autopay. I guess I could start mailing blue bird checks to them instead of paying with the bank account. I just find it so much easier to write her BB checks to deposit at the bank.

My husband has seen the benefits of this game, so he is onboard. I just hand him the next card I need a spend on. I have more problems with friends. Wondering how much any of you try to work with friends on this??

My wife's attitude is basically the same as that of the OP's.
I do a fair amount of churning for both of us (mainly biz cards)
Periodically she will ask "why does this have to be so complicated", and so I just take all her cards other than 1 Amex and 1 VISA and put them in the safe, and then she's happy (or at least not unhappy).
And then we fly half way around the world in F and stay in suites in great hotels and that reminds her that it's worth the (very minor) hassle.....