Date Night

What are some dates you've done at home that cost little or no money?

Caring for the sprouts and the spouse

Tonight I gave my husband an Anniversary gift of a photo slideshow on DVD. They were all pics of the two of us together. I didn't put in any pictures of us with the baby and I really liked that. We've been married 5 years and I was thrilled with the amount of pictures I was able to put in of just the two of us throughout our relationship. The pics filled up a four minute song. That being said, I had TWO, count them ONE-TWO, pictures of us alone since our baby was born last September. And these two pictures happened to be at the same place on the same day and I purposefully had someone take them because I knew I was going to be doing this gift for our Anniversary. It made me think two things:

1) I need to take more pictures of my husband and I.

2) I was thinking about an Oprah show I saw a year or so ago. An author of a book about marriage and parenting was on the show. She said it was most important to love your spouse, and your children second. Women in the audience were up in arms about it. I saw the author's point. I mean of course you would do anything for your children and you put so much time and effort into caring for them. I definitely spend more time with my child in the day than my husband. BUT, I do see keeping our marriages strong as being so very vital. A happy marriage can definitely affect our parenting and our children. I think marriage can affect all aspects of our health too. As a fairly new parent, I sometimes see seasoned families and wonder what the parents do to keep their marriages thriving or what they don't do that makes their marriage suffer.

I don't know if I really have a point, but just wondered if anyone had thoughts on the subject.

V-day-Just around the corner...

Well ladies, Valentines is just around the corner. Mark and I don't usually do anything too huge and exciting, but we do like to spend the night together--go out to dinner or something of that sort. Last year I "heart attacked" his truck--I cut out a bunch of paper hearts and put stuff on them --like "Hot Stuff" and "Be Mine" and all kinds of dorky stuff like that and taped them all on the inside of his truck. It was really fun! This year I wanted to do something cheesy and cute again--so that he knows he is on my mind. What are your ideas? What traditions do you all carry on with your special ones?

Stress!!!!

So, it's been one of those weeks in my household! It seems like everything that could possibly go wrong has....until an hour later when something else goes wrong! I was at a meeting at work this morning, thinking about my ride to work in my husband's truck with a broken thermostat (did I mention it's approx -20 degrees in Michigan???) and wondering why things haven't gotten better. And then I rode in the elevator and helped a stranger find where he was going after another nurse was rude to him. I realized I was nicer to a complete stranger than I have been to my own husband. Then the thought occurred to me that maybe I haven't learned my lesson yet. Maybe I need to learn to handle stress and trials a little better, before Heavenly Father is going to lift my burden. So.......what do you guys do to overcome extreme stress, and avoid being complete bears to those you love??????

Be Mine

Valentine's Day is just around the corner. I was wondering if anyone has any great gift/romantic ideas to celebrate the occasion. I'm at a loss, and this is NOT a good sign since this is only our 4th Valentine's Day together! Yikes!