August 31, 2020|

Why Your Kids Need You to Prioritize Your Marriage

We have young kids and know just how easy it can be to focus all of your time and energy on them each day. But we also know that as they get older and we have homework, school and extracurricular activities to worry about, the harder it will be to make time for your marriage. And it is VERY important that you do prioritize your marriage! Not only for the sake of your marriage, but for your kids as well!

August 24, 2020|

Stonewalling in Marriage: 4 Things to Do When Your Spouse Shuts Down

Stonewalling is a term that refers to negative communication patterns, where one withdraws, is evasive, or uncooperative during discussion. Stonewalling is relevant in the political and legal realms, but is perhaps most applicable to marriages and interpersonal relationships. In marriage, stonewalling occurs when one or both spouses shut down communication to deflect, delay, or avoid conversation, thus rendering topics meaningless or unimportant.

August 19, 2020|

How to Prioritize Your Marriage in the Postpartum Stage

One of my goals is to encourage couples to make their marriage a priority in every stage of life. When you aren't actively investing in your marriage relationship, you will find that you don't know each other on a romantic or sometimes even friendship level anymore. And when the kids are grown and gone, you might not have a marriage relationship to focus on anymore. These tips will help you continue to make your marriage a priority in the craziest stage of your lives.

August 17, 2020|

How to Keep the Romance Alive Postpartum

If you don't make effort to keep your relationship going, before you know it, your kids will be grown and gone and you won't know the person that you are married to as anything more than your partner in parenting. For this reason, I believe that those weeks after you add a new little one to your family are some of the most crucial for your marriage. And I hope to help couples keep the romance alive during that time.

August 12, 2020|

9 Parenting Books to Read That Will Strengthen your Marriage Relationship

Every couple focuses on putting together a room, buying clothes and packing the hospital bag in preparation for their new little one. My hope is that couples will start to work on strengthening their marriage as well. I thought I’d share a few of my favorite parenting books for couples. I hope they will help the two of you get started as you prepare for your baby.

August 10, 2020|

Six Ways to Prepare for a New Baby Together

One of the biggest things I think couples can do to strengthen their marriage before baby comes is to prepare for the new baby together. This will help to get you on the same page with your parenting things. But it will also help you connect. And it will strengthen the relationship that you have as husband and wife. Your lives are about to change drastically, and your relationship will change as well. Make the decision to let this transition in your lives make your marriage stronger!

August 7, 2020|

Social Distancing Friendly Date Nights Out

I know so many of us are antsy for life to get back to "normal", whatever that looks like now. We want our kids to be able to go back to school, and participate in all of their extra-curricular activities and play with friends. We'd love to be able to plan on future events for sure. And I know don't know about you, but I want to get back to our regular date night routine! We've been able to go on a date night out a handful of times over the last few months. And while they haven't been the same as we're used to, they've been refreshing and much needed. I wanted to share some social distance friendly date nights that you can enjoy going on, if you get the chance to go out!

August 5, 2020|

Ways to Be Intentional with Your Marriage When You Are Always Together

A lot of couples have been together 24/7 over the last few months. For some marriages, that's the norm. Some spouses run businesses together, others work from home on a regular basis. Regardless of your situation, just because you spend all of your time together, doesn't necessarily mean it's quality time. Even if you're together all day, every day, you need to be intentional about prioritizing your marriage, if you want your relationship to continue to grow and thrive. I've got a few tips to help you make that happen, in your various stages of life.

August 3, 2020|

How to Best Communicate Expectations in Marriage

Expectations in marriage can be a tricky thing. One of the most common causes of disagreements and upset between a couple are unmet expectations. And the majority of the time, those unmet expectations are due to a lack of communication or misunderstandings. With a little intentional communication, those expectations in marriage can become really simple.

July 24, 2020|

Marriage Books Every Couple Should Read Together At Least Once

I like to find meaningful and useful gifts when I go to weddings. Kitchen gadgets, towels and house tools are all great! But I love to pair them with a date night idea. Or a couple of my favorite marriage books. If I could, I'd bundle all of these books together and gift them to every couple I knew getting married. But I'm not that rich, so instead I pick just a few of my favorites.

July 22, 2020|

The Best Marriage Podcasts

This post includes all of the marriage podcasts that I listen to and love! I’ve binged every episode of these podcasts. And I listen to their newest episodes when they air. Most of the podcasts release a new episode weekly. And they have timely advice and tips for the current season, upcoming holidays or common struggles that they see couples talking about around the internet.

July 20, 2020|

Seven Apps Every Couple Should Have on Their Phone

Modern technology has made a lot of things in life more convenient and it has brought a lot of good to the world. But with that good comes a lot of issues as well. I wanted to share a few of my favorite apps for married couples. These are apps that you can use to strengthen your marriage. And that will do a lot of good for your relationship if you choose to use them!

July 15, 2020|

Things Not to Do with The 5 Love Languages

When we talk about The 5 Love Languages, we tend to focus a lot on what we should be doing. But I never hear anybody mention the things you shouldn't do. That's right, there are things that are a DON'T when it comes to your spouse's (and your) love languages! These are the things that speak the opposite of love when you do them. And just like the actions or words that fill up your spouse's love bucket. These things can take away from the love that your spouse feels.

July 13, 2020|

Love Language Dialects – Why Speaking the Same Love Language Isn’t Always “Easy”

while couples who score really similarly on the quiz think that things will be easy for them, they often find that to not be true. That's because within every love language, there can be different dialects. Love language dialects were something that I recognized early on in my own marriage. And then during an online date night put on by The 5 Love Languages a month or so ago, Gary Chapman addressed the dialects.

July 10, 2020|

Four Simple Ways to Connect with Your Spouse on a Daily Basis

One of the biggest things that I try to stress when I talk about making your marriage a priority is that it isn’t about lots of grand gestures. It’s about intentionally connecting with each other through small ways on a daily basis. It’s those little efforts that will build up to make a big difference in the health of your marriage. You can easily do something every day to connect with your spouse, show them that you see them and that they are important to you.

July 6, 2020|

Growing Together Instead of Apart in Marriage

one thing that I'm always so grateful for is the fact that all of the struggles and celebrations have brought Joe and I closer together instead of driving us apart. We are a better couple today than we were even a month ago. And I honestly don't think that our marriage would be where it is right now if we hadn't been through the things that we had in the last year. It's all about growing together in marriage, instead of apart.

July 1, 2020|

It Just Keeps Getting Better – 4 Tips for Enjoying Every Stage of Your Marriage

I'm hoping that these three tips will help you find more joy in the current stage of your journey through life together!

June 29, 2020|

How to be Happier in your Marriage

I know that there are a lot of different things that contribute to the level of happiness in your marriage. But there are a few things I think that you can both do to increase that happiness, external forces aside. I hope that implementing these tips in your own marriage will increase your personal level of happiness with the relationship!

June 24, 2020|

How to Enjoy a Dance Date Night by Laughing Out Loud, Having a Blast and Deepening Your Relationship

Have you ever heard of the endorphins that release when we hug? It takes about 15 seconds for their amazing pleasure effect to activate in our bodies. Endorphins literally release an immediate power boost of happiness, and all it takes is some physical touch to get some. Who doesn't want more of that!? If a 15 second hug can have such amazing effects on our mood, what can dancing in each other's arms do for a couple, if not for a 3 minute song, the entire night?

June 22, 2020|

Non-Traditional Wedding Anniversary Gift Ideas

I know that there are themes for each year's wedding anniversary gift. There was one year that I followed those themes. But I like to think more creatively and not limit myself to a theme when it comes to gifts. There are a lot of great anniversary gifts out there that don't necessarily fit the traditional mold. So I decided to put together this post of non-traditional anniversary gift ideas to give your spouse.

June 17, 2020|

Marriage Education vs. Coaching vs. Therapy

Just like there are a lot of career options in the Family Studies field, there are a lot of ways to work to better family and marriage relationships as well. I have chosen the path of a Family Life Educator, because that's what's right for me. But I thought I'd fill you in on those other ways that professionals choose to work with families. Not only to give you a look into my profession. But to give you an idea of the resources out there available to help you strengthen your relationship.

June 15, 2020|

5 Practical and Meaningful Anniversary Traditions

We like to make our anniversary a really special occasion. Our usual date night just doesn't cut it when we're excited about heading into another year of loving each other! It’s a big celebration and we usually go all out. If you're looking for something different to do for your next anniversary, pull out one of these ideas. They are creative and meaningful and will do a lot to set you up for a successful marriage in the years to come.

June 12, 2020|

Raspberry Buttermilk Muffins

One of my mom's favorite summer foods is raspberries. And my kids look forward to when she has some from the garden or the store and always shares. We eat them fresh, make jam with them and put them in a lot of different recipes. These raspberry buttermilk muffins, or really any muffin she makes, usually disappear into our bellies before they even have the chance to cool off.

June 10, 2020|

Create Your Own Outdoor, Drive-In Movie Date At Home

One of my favorite summer traditions is going to the drive-in or checking out the local movies in the park series. Our current stage of life comes with few obstacles that keep us from enjoying those activities for date night as often as we'd like. So we've found fun ways to switch up our movie dates with this fun at home alternative. You don't have to have a projector or a fancy setup to enjoy this outdoor movie date. But if you choose to "go big or go home", that's ok too!

June 5, 2020|

Ways to Make Father’s Day Special for Your Husband

Every year mothers get a lot of pampering and attention on their special holiday. And while we treat dads on Father's Day, I don't think we do as much as we could. They deserve our love and appreciation and affection just as much as mothers do! Every year, my kids and I do everything we can to make Father's Day extra special for my husband. We don't do all of these things, but pick one or two to make the day extra special for the man we love so much!

June 3, 2020|

Father’s Day Gifts Your Husband Would Love to Receive

Do you give your husband a gift for Father’s Day? Or do his gifts come…

May 29, 2020|

Food Subscription Boxes Perfect for Date Night

There are so many fun food subscription boxes out there. Some are built to let you create an entire meal or treat together. You can make a date out of creating AND eating. If you're a couple who loves eating food, but doesn't necessarily enjoy making it, there are boxes for you as well. In this post, you'll find a variety of subscription boxes to add some yummy to your date night routine.

May 28, 2020|

Hobby Based Subscription Boxes for Married Couples

There are subscription boxes for an escape room style night at home. Arts and crafts boxes curated specifically for couples. You'll find subscription boxes for couples who love board games or video games or building puzzles. And even boxes for those couples who are outdoorsy or love sports. You're bound to find a subscription box or two to make your date nights more meaningful.

May 27, 2020|

The Best Sexy Subscription Boxes for Married Couples

When I titled this post "the best sexy subscription boxes for couples" I meant it. These are the subscription boxes that are going to give you the most bang for your buck. They're going to give you exactly what you're looking for when you look for a "sexy subscription box" and so much more.

May 26, 2020|

The Best Date Night Boxes for Married Couples

At least once a month on social media, I see someone ask for suggestions for date night subscription boxes. After doing some research, I found quite a few subscription box services that fit the marriage strengthening description. But every post I found only shared links to a few boxes. I knew there were a lot of other great ones available so I started researching. I've scoured the internet and social media looking for the best date night subscription box companies.

May 22, 2020|

Date Night Ideas for Parents to Enjoy After the Kids Are In Bed

After dinner is cleaned up, the kids are in bed and the dishes are done, what do you and your spouse do at night? Do you binge watch Netflix together or move to opposite sides of the house to do your own thing? Or do you look for ways to connect and have fun together? Have you ever considered planning a mid-week date? I wanted to provide you with some great date night ideas for parents, to get you started!

May 20, 2020|

Tips for Making Date Night At Home More Intentional

"How do you make date night at home feel different than every other night at home?" This is a question that I get on a fairly regular basis. It's something that people are really curious about right now, as our only option for date night has been at home or nothing. So I wanted to share some tips to help you make your time at home together more intentional!

May 18, 2020|

Tips for Adjusting Your Date Night Routine in New Stages of Life

When you set date night and your marriage aside, it might not seem like a big deal, but long-term there will be consequences. Putting your marriage on the back burner leads to a weakened connection. You'll drift apart and although you might still be great partners in some areas of life, you'll be more like roommates than husband and wife. Regular date night is just one of the things you can do to keep your marriage strong throughout every stage of life.

May 15, 2020|

3 Gourmet Paper Bag Popcorns – Date Night in the Kitchen

We didn't need a movie theater or overpriced popcorn to have an enjoyable movie night. We simply needed a couch, a DVD player, and a little bit of forethought. And though we sometimes miss the giant bucket of buttery movie theater popcorn, we've found alternatives that we love even more that really jazz up the night. And what's better is, that they're fun to make together beforehand. If you've got a nearby Winco or local grocery store with a great dry goods section, have some fun shopping there together and come up with your own ideas for great add-ins!

May 13, 2020|

Movies You’ll Both Enjoy Watching Together for Date Night

The first couple years of our marriage, our obstacle was always what we movies we should watch for date night. I prefer romantic comedies and Joe prefers action or the type of comedy that you find in Adam Sandler movies. Now, rather than suffering through each other's movie choice, we've found movies that we both can enjoy watching together. If you're one of those couples who sometimes struggles to find something that you'll both have fun watching, I hope you'll find something on this list that you both like!

May 11, 2020|

Connect More on Your Next Movie Date Night

Because of the limited opportunity for deep connection, it makes sense to me to say that even after you're married, you should avoid making every date night a movie night. That being said, when you do choose to watch a movie together or pick that for your date night activity, I have a few ideas for how you can make those dates benefit your marriage relationship a little bit more.

Category: Date Night